Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

[Turtle Time]

If more growers could figure out how they could simply compost, the world would be a better place. Otherwise if we're buying bottled nutes (organic or not) we're supporting a company that inevitably cares more about our money than about us. I'd love it if everyone went to simple amended soil with their own compost.

I am going to start breeding my own nematodes, and meal worms (to breed the nematodes), along with red wigglers. There's endless amounts of free manure around here. So I should always have enough food for the worm, so they can crank out endless castings.



I'll probably compost whatever manure I can get my hands on that the worms don't consume.



Then all I'll need is some perlite, rock dust, a variety of meals (bone, blood, etc)



Yards and yards of nutrient (microbe) rich soil, for almost no cost.



Pick up a 5 gallon pale of molasses from the feed store for $20 to keep the microbes alive in my tea; and I think I should be well on my way.

 

[Rrog]

You re my goddam hero.

 

[Rrog]

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/QR/QRToC.html Clearly you must have read this at some point.

 

[Turtle Time]

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/QR/QRToC.html Clearly you must have read this at some point.

I am surprised I have never come across this (specifically) before. I have bookmarked it, and will be reading it immediately.


+Rep



If anyone else is composting, and would like to get things moving a little faster. . .


If it dries out, instead of just using water to moisten it, use worm tea. Misting fresh compost with worm tea and/or buring it in mature compost is also recommended.



You cannot overdo it with worm tea. Good for foliar, soil drench, clones, etc etc

 

[Rrog]

Please tell me where I can learn how to raise nematodes. Is there a site? Also, might you know where different species are available? You'd want an assortment.

 

[Rrog]

Turtle, that online book was written by the grandmother of composting back in 1946. Back when big chemical companies were already strangling farmers. See here compost activators made from different herbs. Really a fast and fascinating read. Compost is the coolest thing and it's free. Holy shit batman

 

[Turtle Time]

Please tell me where I can learn how to raise nematodes. Is there a site? Also, might you know where different species are available? You'd want an assortment.

You can buy them online. It's usually like $20 for several million nematodes.


Once you have them, you can get them to multiple by putting them in some moist bedding, and putting meal worms in with them. They enter the meal worms, reproduce until the meal worm explodes and then exit.


You can then take the meal worms when they are dead, but before they burst, and bury them in your plants' soil. The nematodes will then reproduce using whatever pests it finds laying eggs in the soil. As long as there's moisture and bugs in the soil (almost all bad), they will continue to reproduce.


In order to keep some nematode stock alive (in a tote or whatever), you need to keep giving them meal worms. In order to have a constant supply of meal worms, it is dead simple to breed them by letting a few purchased meal worms mature into beetles. You keep a couple dozen beetles in a tote with some saw dust and fresh fruit and you will see the eggs/meal worms in the bedding. You can then pick them out and throw them in a file gallon pale with some meal in the bottom (corm meal, oat meal, whatever).



For a small garden, all it would take is a couple 5 gallon pales and a couple of medium sized totes. That, along with a worm bin with shelves, and a compost tumbler in the back yard, and a 5 gallon pale for brewing tea. . .


Pretty inexpensive and enough to get started with a nice organic garden.

Turtle, that online book was written by the grandmother of composting back in 1946. Back when big chemical companies were already strangling farmers. See here compost activators made from different herbs. Really a fast and fascinating read. Compost is the coolest thing and it's free. Holy shit batman

I am always looking for new information on composting, vermicomposting, tea brewing, etc etc



Thanks again.

 

[Rrog]

Steinernema Nematodes are all I've ever seen, though others that simply eat protozoa and fungi are needed also. Thanks for that info. I'm going to read and research that a bit. Many thanks. [FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

 

[Rrog]

So given that you are bound to be producing more meal worms than needed (that's my first impression) I wonder if these extra mealworm carcasses can be tossed into an active compost pile. The heat of composting would kill the nematodes, but still their organic matter is going back to the soil via composting.

 

[Turtle Time]

So given that you are bound to be producing more meal worms than needed (that's my first impression) I wonder if these extra mealworm carcasses can be tossed into an active compost pile. The heat of composting would kill the nematodes, but still their organic matter is going back to the soil via composting.

Depending on how hot the compost is, the nematodes may or may not survive. But it certainly wouldnt hurt; neither in terms of supplying your soil with beneficial microbes nor with controlling the amount of pests that may live in compost piles that you don't want going near your plants.




Here is some more info about Breeding Nematodes.


If you search google (or even craigslist, depending on your area), you will find suppliers of nematodes. All different types. They will tell you what each species is best for, and how to best utilize them.



Most nematodes that you would put in your garden are not going to harm any of the other beneficials, so you can continue to toss the dead meal worms in with the plants without much fear of over population. If there's nothing for them to breed in (larva) they will just die out. No harm done.



Nematodes don't harm earth worms, plants or humans. So if you have too many meal worms, you can feed them to the chickens or pidgins or fish or whatever else you have. You can also simply toss them into your worm farm and let them clear out any pests that may be in there.

 

[Rrog]

Still a nice thread

 

[trichome fiend]

....my GHS, Trainwreck

 

[Rrog]

I'm reading the book. Like it as much as you. Nice bud.

 

[jcdws602]

Ebook is nothing like the real book......even though I might download a shared ebook if it is good I will still go buy it and add it to my collection......just my

 

[malignant]

off topic lets get back soil

 

[trichome fiend]

 

[Rrog]

Has anyone else had a chance to read this fantastic book other than Trich and me? One of the more interesting points really cemented into my brain is the total waste of time and effort associated with trying to pH balance true soil. The plant is in control. Right along the same lines is the waste of time associated with trying to flush true soil.

I say "true soil," compared to a medium being fed bottled nutes, "organic" or otherwise.

 

[trichome fiend]

the total waste of time and effort associated with trying to pH balance true soil. The plant is in control. Right along the same lines is the waste of time associated with trying to flush true soil.

...I sometimes attempt to explain this and there's alot of controversy...I just shake my head when I see these help threads concerning their runoff's pH too low/high and how some really think they're going to wash the bat shit out of the soil....wtf? Who am I to judge though ya know, this book set me straight truth be told.
...how's it goin brotha' Rrog?

 

[Rrog]

Trich, I feel the same way. Hard to change attitudes, and that's why this thread of yours is so great. It's full of facts that help to dispel myth and rumors. The book set me straight also.

Tell me Trich, what type of soil are you using? Also, have you heard about the "no-till" method?

 

[trichome fiend]

....this was an experiment that went well....I veg'd her in a 1 gallon pot of FFOF for 3 weeks ( cut tops twice early on), then I transplanted her into a 2 gallon pot 2 weeks into flowering.....she got water only througout the whole grow.