The Dons' Organic Garden

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
I wasnt trying to say that I was right or anything, just learning!
You were also right! Carbon char is just like army ration version of juicy Carbohydrates.. Enzymes and some sugar and you got ability for both to eat carbon technically. But yea, why work hard when the plants give you a buffet everyday! They'd start using the char like hotels vs feeding zones, per se, I imagine, tho in an apocalypse that could change.. Bio char riots perhaps..
You're accelerating everyone's learning by learning, its very good mon
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
You were also right! Carbon char is just like army ration version of juicy Carbohydrates.. Enzymes and some sugar and you got ability for both to eat carbon technically. But yea, why work hard when the plants give you a buffet everyday! They'd start using the char like hotels vs feeding zones, per se, I imagine, tho in an apocalypse that could change.. Bio char riots perhaps..
You're accelerating everyone's learning by learning, its very good mon
I have a compost pile started and it is where I have been adding my biochar. I was hoping that I could get fungi colonization before I use the soil, like I said, I am still fairly new to this. From what I read, it takes about a month for Myco to form a colony.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
You're accelerating everyone's learning by learning, its very good mon
Bang on.......I buzz off conversations like this, they make us all go do a little bit more research. After I read the paper Mustang posted earlier I found another great one..........but it was on my phone, I'll have to dig it out and attach a link. There isn't that much academic research been or being done into these things and I also think that we as a community are probably the best(most numerous using these methods) source of information in regards of yield results. I think it'd be a great idea for a University to try to pool info on the organic medicinal grows going on in the USA, there seems to be a load of you doing it.
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
I have a compost pile started and it is where I have been adding my biochar. I was hoping that I could get fungi colonization before I use the soil, like I said, I am still fairly new to this. From what I read, it takes about a month for Myco to form a colony.
All the biochar I use for my veg garden goes into my slow compost pile straight, as the compost breaks down it will charge the char with nutes, fungi and bacteria, but not mycorrhizal fungi. The myco fungi will not colonize biochar, they only germinate on living roots, they may hook on to biochar after colonizing a root, to extract the vast amounts of nutrients and water stored in it, but mycorrhizal fungi need a living root system to live. You may get myco spores in you compost, but they'd be likely to get devoured by other microbes/critters, before they get anywhere near your roots, where you actually want them.
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
All the biochar I use for my veg garden goes into my slow compost pile straight, as the compost breaks down it will charge the char with nutes, fungi and bacteria, but not mycorrhizal fungi. The myco fungi will not colonize biochar, they only germinate on living roots, they may hook on to biochar after colonizing a root, to extract the vast amounts of nutrients and water stored in it, but mycorrhizal fungi need a living root system to live. You may get myco spores in you compost, but they'd be likely to get devoured by other microbes/critters, before they get anywhere near your roots, where you actually want them.
Cool man!!! Its a nice bit of information... I am just trying to figure out how do do this without having to buy a bag of Myckos. I am spending less and less money on every harvest!
 

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
Check out this guys myco fungi research at Rodale Instititues experimental 333 acre farm and then holla at ya boi

Cut your costs of myco to under 1% while diversifying the species profile, increasing disease resistance, soil structure and water relations (tell me bout da fresh glomalin, mon)

http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/depts/NFfield_trials/0903/daviddouds.shtml

-heres's 2 quick examples from the article :

1) Build your own on-farm inoculum production system

View attachment 3488566
"A myccorhizae factory:
The basic procedure is for the farmer to construct a simple enclosure out of landscape fabric, fill it with a mixture of compost and vermiculite, and then transplant pre-colonized bahiagrass seedlings into the mixture. Over the course of the growing season the bahiagrass spreads within the enclosure and the mycorrhizal fungi spread and reproduce along with it. When the grass dies back in the winter, the farmer is left with a concentrated mycorrhizal inoculant that can be incorporated into his or her potting mix when starting seedlings in the greenhouse the following spring."

2) do I need to say more?
It increases da yields of potatoes 50%, peppers 34% and herbs, who knows!?
who wants to do a side by side experiment !
@DonBrennon youre not talking about post #1965 from our thread are you? jk ..here buddy. i figured id find it for you since google searches always bring me right back to RIU, lol
 

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I have some Oyster shells to crush..!
How many should I add to 30gl of used soil?
Same for biochar kelp and alfalfa...thanks!
CU
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
I am just feeling my way around in the dark by asking questions, I dont want people to take my questions as fact. I am still unsure of the usefulness of Biochar and Bokashi and I dont want to mislead anyone...
I don't doubt the usefulness of biochar as a soil amendment, the ancient amazonian's used it to turn infertile land into the most sought after organic soil you could imagine.......terra preta.............this is a fairly long documentary, but well worth watching, I love this kind of shit man
 

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I have some Oyster shells to crush..!
How many should I add to 30gl of used soil?
Same for biochar kelp and alfalfa...thanks!
CU
Bonjour
Is this is a re-amendment of well amended used soil?
What else are you adding?
'US' Gallons or 'Imperial' Gal?

depending on how many minerals/nutrients are already in your soil (ie, what it was previously amended with) I'd say:
(US measures)

around 1-2 cups Oyster shell

Biochar is recommended at 10% of total soil volume, pre-charged or it will suck all nutrients out of your soil.............so 3 gal

Kelp.............throw 2-3 cups in, I don't think you can over-do kelp??????

Alfalfa????...............not sure.........I 'think' I have had problems with alfalfa in my soil mix, I've heard others have, I know a lot of other people swear by it in their soil mix. All the soil my plants are currently growing in have some in, but in future I'll only be using it in a tea if I feel the plants need a nitrogen boost or are stretching a little too much.
 

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I have some Oyster shells to crush..!
How many should I add to 30gl of used soil?
Same for biochar kelp and alfalfa...thanks!
CU
Oyster shells can even replace aeration depending on its form, granular vs powdered etc
Myself, I don't like powders as they clog drainage

I would start at 5% and work your way up .. I think the best aeration recipes use a variety of items and are in the 40-45% range unless their're in the 50 worms per cubic foot range, then aeration and compaction won't be issues ever ..

Same goes for Biochar (5% then grow)
altho 10% is listed as a good recommendation
Results seem good as long as activated or bio charged

As for kelp They say 2-3% of potting mixes tho 1% has also shown good results
I'm experimenting with all three amounts rn.

Alfalfa is best worked in thru compost, like Biochar, vs directly applied into soil, as we now know.
Dp as example uses jus one 1/2 cup to 1 full cup per cubic foot
IVe tried using double that, directly, with a five-day mellow only..and it can burn your tips on first two sets of leaflets a bit, after that it seemed all good.

If you do find stretching an issue, super cropping in the first 12 days of flower can help turn nodal spacing into an opportunity for extra yeilds.
 

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
Thanks!
I was looking for a N source to reamend a well amended soil
And a source of K too!?!
It is to mix in my soil
I will use teas soon
And for suppercropping20160117_191358.jpg...itis my cup of tea...lol!
CU
 

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
Thanks!
I was looking for a N source to reamend a well amended soil
And a source of K too!?!
It is to mix in my soil
I will use teas soon
And for suppercroppingView attachment 3606245...itis my cup of tea...lol!
CU
Super cropping's a much bigger part of my Sativa game both during veg as well as some point in the first two weeks of flower.. Not that LST isn't an even BIGgER part of my game,
But similar to how babies are more flexible and old people aren't,
Same goes for this plant..
Thankfully had some aloe vera skin handy as well as some medical tape..image.jpg

This aloe bandaid is packed with goodness.

And another trick, this diy Branch weight helps me find the perfect force to help keep a pinched branch in place just long enough to cancel auxin signals

image.jpg
 

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
Same strain as previous pic, SLCh..image.jpg
This is the other pheno

2nd pic..
Next to a vase of roses for scale.
image.jpg
Hard to see the 7 gallon fabric housing this organic gem.
Gonna be nice to see her in 8 / 9 weeks though.
Despite having no LST done to her. . Grew beautifully round and bushyimage.jpg
Nothing like a natural funky pheno hitting the flower room
 
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