The AltarNational Garden

[AltarNation]

Cool man, very interesting... I have some straw that I stole from accross the street after they harvested last fall, lol. (Left over remnants that they didn't bother cleaning up.) maybe I will try throwin' some in to a tea mix... thanks dude.

 

[polyarcturus]

remove the seed. a bale from lowes is like 5$ comes deseeded. but free straw is whats up. all my shit started from going in my front yard where the city dug up some shit and covered it with straw. needed some for mushrooms and said fuck it threw it in the soil. few months later. well needless the say there is a bale of straw in the garage and im about to use half in conjunction with my vegetables and flower beds as well as my indoor garden.

 

[Sincerely420]

come learn what straw can do check out my latest update on my thread. kelp mean is nice but breaks down pretty fast. straw builds the soil as well as provides the area for fungi to harbor on.

Def. gonna check you out Poly. Gonna check you out tomo when I got a moment to look thru things rather than skimming!
Makes since to me for sure tho

 

[Sincerely420]

both i use a small amount in tea but i mix a fair amount into the soil.

You break it up a bit before putting it in the teas I'm assuming?

 

[Sincerely420]

remove the seed. a bale from lowes is like 5$ comes deseeded. but free straw is whats up. all my shit started from going in my front yard where the city dug up some shit and covered it with straw. needed some for mushrooms and said fuck it threw it in the soil. few months later. well needless the say there is a bale of straw in the garage and im about to use half in conjunction with my vegetables and flower beds as well as my indoor garden.

I'm also gonna mix some mushroom compost into the soil that I reamended bro! Read a lot of good things about it lately!
The more compost the better, as long as you can keep the soil loamy! The compost is the BEST fertilizer!

 

[AltarNation]

remove the seed. a bale from lowes is like 5$ comes deseeded. but free straw is whats up. all my shit started from going in my front yard where the city dug up some shit and covered it with straw. needed some for mushrooms and said fuck it threw it in the soil. few months later. well needless the say there is a bale of straw in the garage and im about to use half in conjunction with my vegetables and flower beds as well as my indoor garden.

I honestly have no idea if there's seed in it or not... I think MAYBE part of the harvesting process is to take the seeds off first, then the straw separately? I don't really know though, haha. Not a straw farmer. Maybe I will just buy a bale like you said, lol.

 

[Javadog]

I want to add that the water from soaking, or pasteurizing, large
amounts of straw is actually an herbicidal material.

Now, as I said, this is for large amounts. 6 gallons or more of chopped
straw and a similar amount of water.

We warn mushroom cultivators to be careful when disposing of it.
("Do not dump it on the lawn!" ;0)

The effect of a small amount could well be beneficial....straw is the
starting point of very nice mulch for plants too, after all.

JD

 

[polyarcturus]

I want to add that the water from soaking, or pasteurizing, large
amounts of straw is actually an herbicidal material.

Now, as I said, this is for large amounts. 6 gallons or more of chopped
straw and a similar amount of water.

We warn mushroom cultivators to be careful when disposing of it.
("Do not dump it on the lawn!" ;0)

The effect of a small amount could well be beneficial....straw is the
starting point of very nice mulch for plants too, after all.

JD

i have not seen/heard this i will look into it. good to know tho, but from exp, i think its compatible with cannabis growing and an fair amount of other plants with more benefit than harm.

 

[polyarcturus]

I'm also gonna mix some mushroom compost into the soil that I reamended bro! Read a lot of good things about it lately!
The more compost the better, as long as you can keep the soil loamy! The compost is the BEST fertilizer!

yep yep they are sellling it at my local menards now. imagine that. but ive been hip for a while, i always add my finished mushroom substrates to my soil, plus if im lucky i might get a few shoomies out of the deal.

You break it up a bit before putting it in the teas I'm assuming?

i chop it up pretty fine for my indoor plants, but outside where things decay faster i leave it whole plus the shovel and mixing it good will do most of the work.

 

[AltarNation]

Haha... so... yeah.. stretch is on going, and I don't know how much worse it'll get, but right now it's like, kinda working out, because the C99's stretched significantly more than the raspberries... so now they're about even in height again, lol. I took one C99 down off the two bricks I had used to create a platform to buy an extra 3"... the two behind are still short enough to not bother, but kinda expect them to shoot more considering how much this front one came up already...

Kinda cool how I did not plan that at all, it just sorta worked out... I thought I was gonna have to leave them up on bricks, maybe even add more or get raspberries lower to even canopy, but it almost seems like these things WANT to form an even canopy to some degree, haha. Cooperative harem of beautiful ladies, what more can I ask for?

 

[PSUAGRO.]

Yes, Sincerely has been a great help! So lucky to have someone step up to offer so much help!

I thought the eco 1 was way too loud and vibratey, but I am trying to stay really stealth over here, so it might not be as big a deal to you... but the thing vibrated so much that even when I HUNG it from bungee cords, I could feel the vibration in the wall the cord was hooked on pretty damn strong... wasn't sure where I could put it that wouldn't cause me trouble so I just returned it and bought myself another petsmart pump, but this time I got the strongest one... total strength is only about a third of the eco 1, but it is doing the job effectively, I've gotten good results bubbling with it! I left my old one in too, just to reinforce it, and between the two it's been treating me right. And it's just as quiet as the really weak pump I already bought, so it's perfect for my needs in that sense.

Damn......Not what I wanted to hear; can't use it as well. What did you go with? Tetra whisper 100? that's the best they got at my local petsmart, which isn't stronger than the one I have. http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-AAPA15L-6-Watt-15-LPM-Outlets/dp/B002JPEVMC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366294703&sr=8-2&keywords=aqua+air+pump It's quiet and kinda strong but no fucking way is it putting out 15 lpm, that's a lie. I'm using this in a two and half gallon bucket for serious bubbling, but want to upgrade to 5 gallon and the pros say NO less than 35lpm or it's NOT brewing properly.

Real compost brewers run like 5-6 hundred for a 5 gallon and using over 100w pumps!!!!

sorry for the rant............be safe and happy growing

 

[Sincerely420]

Keep in mind bro that too much agitation in the water prevent the microbes from even reproducing! Is shreds them!
Also, I've got the tetra pump and I use it to brew by the gallon, then I just dilute my teas to stretch them between the plants I currently have!
I'm bumping up to the 5 gallon bucket brew for the next round tho, and all I plan on doing is getting another tetra pump and using the 2 of them to bubble up!

Psua I would say you should bubble the tea for 18-24 hours then smell it after wards. You can see that it worked if the tea is a lot darker than when you started the brew. And you can smell that it worked or didn't after you done brewing! If it don't smell right, toss it...If it does, pour up!
From all I've been able to gather bro, there isn't a lot of science out there yet to guide us in a specific fashion, so a large part of our brweing learning curve should be trial and error ya know

 

[AltarNation]

Damn......Not what I wanted to hear; can't use it as well. What did you go with? Tetra whisper 100? that's the best they got at my local petsmart, which isn't stronger than the one I have. http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-AAPA15L-6-Watt-15-LPM-Outlets/dp/B002JPEVMC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366294703&sr=8-2&keywords=aqua+air+pump It's quiet and kinda strong but no fucking way is it putting out 15 lpm, that's a lie. I'm using this in a two and half gallon bucket for serious bubbling, but want to upgrade to 5 gallon and the pros say NO less than 35lpm or it's NOT brewing properly.

Real compost brewers run like 5-6 hundred for a 5 gallon and using over 100w pumps!!!!

sorry for the rant............be safe and happy growing

Hey man-

My B, it was actually PetCo... I got their own brand name one, and it works good for me. It's really not powerful enough to match what "the pros say" I guess, so maybe you don't want to get it. It's working for me as far as I can tell, though. My brews smell right, and are even foaming up a bit, which I definitely wasn't getting with the old one...

I dunno, maybe this is junk too. Oh well. I can't really have something that loud in my house, and I'm not sure there is much of an alternative without dropping a lot of cash. I was trying to stay cheap.

Here's the one I bought:

http://www.petco.com/product/119290/Petco-Air-Pump-for-Freshwater-And-Marine-Aquariums.aspx?CoreCat=certona-_-ProductListTopRated_Fish_4-_-Petco Air Pump for Freshwater & Marine Aquariums-119290

First I bought the cheapest one with one output... then I bought the biggest one with four outputs... I use them together for five outputs...

the ratings are not listed on the site but they are on the box. Smallest to large, they are: 1.8L/Min, 4.0L/Min, 4.5L/Min, and 9.0L/min.

So I am basically getting 10.8L/Min with them combined. This is obviously about a third of what the pros recommend I guess, but I haven't had any problems... maybe I am not getting the microbial development I'm hoping for though. I really have no way to tell, save for noting that the smell seems right and it is foaming at the top now. (It wasn't with just the small one.) Sin said something about watching for the color to darken, so I'll look for that in the future... but honestly, with worm castings mixed into water, it's already pretty damn dark to begin with so I dunno how easy that is to gauge either...

 

[polyarcturus]

dude these "pros" are full of it. you can make compost tea with a stick, point being you just need the water to be moving and not stagnant.

what i would look into if you really want air in you water is a 6"+ waterfall effect(very simple to make with some tubing and a pump.)

as well as flooming.

 

[AltarNation]

dude these "pros" are full of it. you can make compost tea with a stick, point being you just need the water to be moving and not stagnant.

what i would look into if you really want air in you water is a 6"+ waterfall effect(very simple to make with some tubing and a pump.)

as well as flooming.

Hey poly... I was considering setting someting like that up actually, because I bought a cheap low end "aero cloner" off ebay and I haven't been using it to clone... came with a water pump and a T-unit with four spray heads on top... I was thinkin it'd be fuckin cool to aerate by moving the water, but then I stopped myslef in my tracks when I thought about all the sediment mixed into the tea... wouldn't that fuck with the pump?

 

[polyarcturus]

Hey poly... I was considering setting someting like that up actually, because I bought a cheap low end "aero cloner" off ebay and I haven't been using it to clone... came with a water pump and a T-unit with four spray heads on top... I was thinkin it'd be fuckin cool to aerate by moving the water, but then I stopped myslef in my tracks when I thought about all the sediment mixed into the tea... wouldn't that fuck with the pump?

shouldnt be any sediment too large for the pump, shouold all be contained in a bag of some sort only small sediment should make it into that water. but you shouldn't need sprayers micron of water droplet matters little in this case.

 

[AltarNation]

shouldnt be any sediment too large for the pump, shouold all be contained in a bag of some sort only small sediment should make it into that water. but you shouldn't need sprayers micron of water droplet matters little in this case.

Right on... maybe I will mess with it then, I'm sure I can come up with some extra tubing.

 

[polyarcturus]

i think i got an extra pump(bucket tubes) around here... we can have a little DIY vortex competition!

got to rest first its the heat of the day and i just finished mixing my flower bed! im sweating like crazy.

but im glad thats done all thats left is plant flowers, is mix vegi garden soil and bed, and clean up the backyard and thats easy work.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

So all these brewers are NOT necessary I mean shit look at this one http://www.rakuten.com/prod/vortex-brewer-150-gallon/242944713.html?listingId=248182723 my whirlpool has less horsepower...lol

This five gallon one http://www.simplici-tea.com/5gallonbrewer.htm it's got a 106w air pump !!! mine is 6watts lol..........IDK!! personally used chem ferts for most of my life/jobs and have chatted on these organic forums recently and they all say massive air is necessary or it is a waste of money. Fucking confusing and I rather not spend any more $$.

So poly you think a 150g submersible pump in the middle of the five gallon bucket and my crappy "15lpm" with airstones (told to ditch these as well) is sufficient?????

 

[polyarcturus]

So all these brewers are NOT necessary I mean shit look at this one http://www.rakuten.com/prod/vortex-brewer-150-gallon/242944713.html?listingId=248182723 my whirlpool has less horsepower...lol

This five gallon one http://www.simplici-tea.com/5gallonbrewer.htm it's got a 106w air pump !!! mine is 6watts lol..........IDK!! personally used chem ferts for most of my life/jobs and have chatted on these organic forums recently and they all say massive air is necessary or it is a waste of money. Fucking confusing and I rather not spend any more $$.

So poly you think a 150g submersible pump in the middle of the five gallon bucket and my crappy "15lpm" with airstones (told to ditch these as well) is sufficient?????

yessiree!

dont listen to the marketing. look at sunpulse(NO UVB!), "jesus OG"(really now, jesus? really?), advanced nutrients(did you know a fertilizer factory exploded?) ect. they want you the beleive thier lies and promises to make money$$$$$