Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

thanks microbeman for keepin us in check. 1st post on the new account lol. its hard for me to use the word mycelia in a non-mycology context...but i guess it is scientifically accurate. thanks for that

rrog - my soil is doing amazing except that a hard frost froze the top 2'' of it yesterday haha. And my german shepherd got into some of it and strewed about a gallon across the yard...but what are you gonna do lol. yelled at her a bit but who knows what that will accomplish. she also dug up some of my newly planted nettle and alfalfa seeds we'll see how they turn out...

just started a batch of recycled soil, right now it is just roots 707 from the previous run, the soil is pretty damn tapped because of how little I fed my ladies. I have about 5 cuft of soil, what would you recommend for amendments? I was thinking crab meal, neem meal, kelp meal, EWC, oyster shells, maybe some biochar, glacial rock dust, and maybe a touch of langbeinite or azomite or something for trace minerals and cal/mg. just not sure on how much of each to add...
Maybe this is a better question for CC lol, or maybe I just need to take the time to read through that whole ROLS thread and take notes...but I trust your opinion and I would always trust Microbeman's opinion I just don't know if he's gonna stick around RIU lol....

Oh also yesterday when I went to move the tarp with my soil, I found over 50 earthworms on the surface underneath the tarp and managed to scoop them up and throw them in the recycled soil bin didn't wanna add em to my worm bin cause I don't know what species they are (some were reallly grey...) and I don't want there to be any interspecies competition in the bin...

now to go turn my soil before it gets dark

Yeah I just started these bins, hoping to get some mycelium going soon though.

Cann said:

Oh also yesterday when I went to move the tarp with my soil, I found over 50 earthworms on the surface underneath the tarp and managed to scoop them up and throw them in the recycled soil bin didn't wanna add em to my worm bin cause I don't know what species they are (some were reallly grey...) and I don't want there to be any interspecies competition in the bin...

now to go turn my soil before it gets dark

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Those are alabama jumpers, I have a worm bin with only those in it. The vermicompost comes out much earthier smelling, and its much more muddy feeling than my red wiggler compost. They're fine; they can handle getting fed high fertilizers so i'll like having some in my pots with my growing plants.


Spliff

Microbeman said:

Just a quick note to state that hyphae refers to microscopic fungal strands and visible strands are mycelia which are composed of a multitude of hyphae. The type of mycelia one typically wishes to see are thread-like rather than fuzz (eg. moldy food)

~The Stranger~

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I blame the quality of my pictures for this post.lol

Microbeman said:

Just a quick note to state that hyphae refers to microscopic fungal strands and visible strands are mycelia which are composed of a multitude of hyphae. The type of mycelia one typically wishes to see are thread-like rather than fuzz (eg. moldy food)

~The Stranger~

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...glad to see you made it over ...bring the knowledge

Yes, bring it on!

SpliffAndMyLady said:

I blame the quality of my pictures for this post.lol

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No, strictly terminology, as Cann said. It is good to use the correct terms as much as possible as it clarifies communication.

Currently in the process of reading the whole recycled living soil thread on ICmag....on page 17 and I already have 3 pages of notes in my notebook thats how you know its good. I'm going to be up late tonight I can already tell...

maybe I'll post my notes as a summation once I'm done, if I ever finish....lol.

cracking a homebrew and then back to reading

I am a student of the soil

90 pages, 6 hours, 3 homebrews, countless bowls, and 8 pages of notes. so far so good. now to sleep. that thread is like sorting through a treasure chest so much great info. too much, actually....

tired

i love you! I have alot of reading to do. I just grasped compost teas and LOVE THEM as do the ladies, i feed beans, aloe, a spiderplant, 1 medicine man and 5 dog og 's with the peruvian bat guano high p guano(jamaican) maxi-crop, liquid karma, worm castings, etc. recipe, was looking at the neptune's harvest fish emulsions too but this guano one made my ladies THRIVE thankgoodness for knowledgeable organic farmers with a large knowledgebase! I am so happy right now you truly made my saeson with this help op sincerely thankyou.

Rrog said:

You guys get it. The worm is the real soil engineer. Compost is the heart of the soil. You can feed the worms the best rock powders, clay powders, plants for nutrient and hormone supply. The castings is what we need to focus on. At least IMHO. I think it's the holy grail of soil perfection and we can make it ourselves in a bag of worms. Holy shit! (pun)

This just seems much too right to be wrong.

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truer words have never been spoken verywell put!

I'll warn you right now im not going anywhere!

Good good!

For peace of mind, please tell me PH does not matter when brewing a AACT tea. Last night I was brewing my tea. The PH of the water was 6.5 and then I added about 100ML of molasses and my PH went way down to 3.7.. I always heard that PH'ing tea doesn't matter just want some final clarification. Thanks guys.

Yeah as far as i know its not an issue. something about it balancing itself out, but then again im newbish anytime i think ive grasped something i usually am schooled here but thats a good thing.

Not an issue.

I don't worry about it. I could water my plants with nuclear waste and they wouldn't care about the pH. . . the beauty of organics.

so guys i'd love to hear everyone's insight on flouride being in the water and its pro's and con's in regards to plants. I have no clue if it can be gassed out either, just saw my local water report and wanted to ask you guys insight.

Fluoride is poison, to humans and plants a like. I brush my teeth with baking soda, only way I can get them feeling clean without using toothpaste w/ fluoride in it. I'm sure it's not killing your plants, but if you water them w/ R/O water you would be able to tell a healthy difference imo.

hmmm, any idea's how i can get this shit outa my water? will a carbon filter get at it? This truly sucks becase I KNEW something was slowing things down, but ive always used this local water, To be honest i have no damn clue how they convince the taxpayers here that flouride in the water is fucken ok at all! 7ppms i think.