Free CO2 with Living Soil

NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
One awesome observation I have made recently IMO is how the production of CO2 is so quickly stopped when temps fall below 78 degrees. I have observed high respiration at 78 degrees and virtually none at 75 degrees. On the wamer end, I see production slowing above 82 degrees but not stopping all the way up to 90. I have yet to go above that temp, but I assume that it would continue to slow until 98 degrees it would stop, but that is just a guess.
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
Experimenting with a 2:1 peat moss and Earth Worm Castings mix to see how much CO2 20 gallons will produce. I assume that the mix needs about three days for the fungi to start oxidizing the peat. I may find that I need to add fish because of the lack of nutrients in this ewc's, but at this point I don't know.
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
It doesn't appear that the peat and EWCs alone are enough to make this work but I am going to add a cup of soybean meal to the mix when the lights go on to see if that is the ticket. I did this experiment earlier in the summer but was not giving the attention to the exact temps, so I figured it was a good starting point but I figured I would see some CO2 after a few days(so far 0). I will give it two or three days to see if that is enough and if not I will add the bone char. I believe I will see significant respiration in a few days after adding the N.
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately again I have yet to get respiration for the simple mix of peat, EWC and soybean so today I added a half cup of bone char to the mix to see what that will do. The mix has grown a lot of mycelium on the top but nothing measurable in respiration of CO2. I am also wondering if the acid in the peat is an issue as I have always mixed coco with peat, but time will tell. I have had a tough time getting temps as high as I want to in my room with the cold weather outside so that may also be hindering it some.
 
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ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
NaturalFarmer said:
Unfortunately again I have yet to get respiration for the simple mix of peat, EWC and soybean so today I added a half cup of bone char to the mix to see what that will do. The mix has grown a lot of mycelium on the top but nothing measurable in respiration of CO2. I am also wondering if the acid in the peat is an issue as I have always mixed coco with peat, but time will tell. I have had a tough time getting temps as high as I want to in my room with the cold weather outside so that may also be hindering it some.
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Being able to reliably repeat your desired outcomes is an essential part of validation.
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
I could make another batch of my soil mix listed on the first page and create CO2 but what I am trying to do now is simplify it to figure out the minimum inputs required. I think it is possible that I need more aeration as well like I had with the rice hull but I wont know for a few more days now to see what the added Phos does..

If nothing then I will try to adjust the pH some.

At that point I will dump it onto my blueberry bushes and start over with a new batch.
 
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Floydshaman

Floydshaman

Member
Fantastic thread and bravo on siting all your sources.
Always appreciate it when an intellectual shares.

My question is..what have you found to be the ideal geo textile pot size?

Also,when you till..are you tilling the already used soil or to "turn" your compost pile?

This actually seems more intricate than no till.. More sensicle science applied. The peat things makes perfect sense!

And thank you kind Yoda for the smart questions! G-d bless the miserable forums and all the trolls of the land!
 
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ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Floydshaman said:
Fantastic thread and bravo on siting all your sources.
Always appreciate it when an intellectual shares.

My question is..what have you found to be the ideal geo textile pot size?

Also,when you till..are you tilling the already used soil or to "turn" your compost pile?

This actually seems more intricate than no till.. More sensicle science applied. The peat things makes perfect sense!

And thank you kind Yoda for the smart questions! G-d bless the miserable forums and all the trolls of the land!
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Lol, I'm ttystikk, nice to meet you.
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
Floydshaman said:
Fantastic thread and bravo on siting all your sources.
Always appreciate it when an intellectual shares.

My question is..what have you found to be the ideal geo textile pot size?

Also,when you till..are you tilling the already used soil or to "turn" your compost pile?

This actually seems more intricate than no till.. More sensicle science applied. The peat things makes perfect sense!
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Thanks for the response @Floydshaman. For me, the hydrofarm 45 gallon bags are great provided I put them on rollers prior to filling due to their weight. I don't really like the plastic-ish coating that the Smartpots seem to have. Maybe it was just me but they have always seemed to take longer to dry the bottom because of it.
I don't really till once the soil is mixed although I give the bags a kick quite often. I grow a lot of crops beside cannabis so after a few grows, I spread where I need it and start fresh. I get bored being stagnant too long when it comes to mixing soil and I have a lot of need for it in my field.

I think I am in the process of finding that the peat needs rice hull and soy.........so back to square one. Ill grab a 50 lb bag after Christmas and try again. Maybe the aeration, maybe the carbon in the rice hull itself.....or I am just being impatient and not giving the microbes enough time to digest the peat. Started all three times with the soil mix after three days.
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
Confirmation. Store bought EWCs "Wiggle worm" houses root aphid eggs without a shadow of doubt. Producing CO2 from the tote (300ppm-400ppm) but as the experiment went, I kinda screwed it up, so Ill try again after the holidays so I can pin down the inputs needed (Started a little after I added some rice hull, but that may have just been an coincidence). The time of three days to start digesting carbon may be off but I wont know until I mix up some fresh stuff.
 
natureboygrower

natureboygrower

Well-Known Member
NaturalFarmer said:
Confirmation. Store bought EWCs "Wiggle worm" houses root aphid eggs without a shadow of doubt. Producing CO2 from the tote (300ppm-400ppm) but as the experiment went, I kinda screwed it up, so Ill try again after the holidays so I can pin down the inputs needed (Started when I added rice hull, but that may have just been an coincidence). The time of three days to start digesting carbon may be off but I wont know until I mix up some fresh stuff.
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that is really interesting you should say that.I mixed up some soil last grow that was compost,happy frog,perlite,along with dusts,neem,kelp,crab,oyster flour,ect (bulldasoil).I only used my teas for nutrients/feeding (best harvest of mine to date).every month or so I would top dress with wiggleworm.at dusk one evening I went down and checked the garden (outdoors).I had spread the the ewc a day or two before.while I was down there that night,I ran my hand over the top layer of soil and saw things moving.with the flashlight (dusk) I moved some of the top layer away and could see HUNDREDS of tiny,tiny bugs moving about.some would go up the plant a foot or so then go right back down the plant.it was horrifying at first but they didn't seem to be harming anything.I tried telling myself they were beneficial lol.they did not hurt my plants,and they weren't aphids,but they were there.I figured it was from the ewc.any thoughts on what they were?
 
NaturalFarmer

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
natureboygrower said:
that is really interesting you should say that.I mixed up some soil last grow that was compost,happy frog,perlite,along with dusts,neem,kelp,crab,oyster flour,ect (bulldasoil).I only used my teas for nutrients/feeding (best harvest of mine to date).every month or so I would top dress with wiggleworm.at dusk one evening I went down and checked the garden (outdoors).I had spread the the ewc a day or two before.while I was down there that night,I ran my hand over the top layer of soil and saw things moving.with the flashlight (dusk) I moved some of the top layer away and could see HUNDREDS of tiny,tiny bugs moving about.some would go up the plant a foot or so then go right back down the plant.it was horrifying at first but they didn't seem to be harming anything.I tried telling myself they were beneficial lol.they did not hurt my plants,and they weren't aphids,but they were there.I figured it was from the ewc.any thoughts on what they were?
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Root aphids
corn_root_aphid.gif
or Fungus gnatsFungus gnat life cycle.gif


The root aphids will be clearish red/red legged crawlers in your soil and the fliers behave slightly different....more erratic if I recall correctly. The fungus gnats are a clear whitish worm. My guess is root aphids if not both.
 
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natureboygrower

natureboygrower

Well-Known Member
NaturalFarmer said:
Root aphids
View attachment 3856310
or Fungus gnatsView attachment 3856311


The root aphids will be clearish red/red legged crawlers in your soil and the fliers behave slightly different....more erratic if I recall correctly. The fungus gnats are a clear whitish worm. My guess is root aphids if not both.
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hmmm you may be right.insect frass got rid of them as I was using that from time to time.guess I won't be using that ewc anymore

edit.they were so small I would have to get my scope out for them to compare to your chart.but now that I think of it,they were red from what I recall.thank you
 
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