SpicySativa's Organic Garden

What's up fellow organic heads?

I'm starting up this thread to document all the various goings-on in my garden. It will also be a spot for any random thoughts, research, ideas, science, funny shit... just about anything, really, as long as we keep it POSITIVE.

I don't have long to type right now, so I'll start it off with some pictures. My tea brewer in action, my latest harvest of worm turds (black gold), my worm bins, and some XJ-13's at about day 14 or so of bloom.

Something is just a little out of balance with my soil mix this round. It's nothing major, but the XJ's have been just a little bit "off" recently. We did have a nasty cold spell here in CA, so I'm sure they're feeling that, too. The new growth has been coming out a little twisty/crinkly, but the leaves are mostly flattening out as they grow. I went ahead and checked the pH last time I watered, just for shits and giggles. Input (de-chloramine'd tap with a little dash of fish hydrolysate) 6.5, runoff 6.5 as well.... I feel funny even checking pH these days. It's been a while...

Anyway, I'm thinking this AACT will help bring things back into balance. We shall see.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

~SpicySativa

Mmmm i can smell the sweet smell of organic from over here

Smells good, doesn't it? Is it weird that compost tea smells really good to me? That sweet, earthy smell... Mmmmm... I could smell it the second I opened the basement door.

Lookin tight spicy. I like that brewer .... which reminds me I never checked out your thread on it. I totally forgot. A side-effect of weed I learn to live with.

Thanks, Stow.

Yes... What were we talking about again? Oh! Yes! Short term memory. That was it, right?

How do you work your worm bin. Do you feed them a special food? What kind of worms? I have a compost pile and they are all through it. Should I collect them to use?

Hiya!

The setup looks damn good! I prefer to call it the "Aroma" of organics. Don't you just love the smell. Once you get used to it, you can tell if it's brewing good or not.

Keep the thread alive and am booted up already!
Cheers mate

Peace and Love,
Toker.

I feed the worm bin fruit and veggie scraps, used coffee grounds, pulp from juicing, eggshells, cannabis leaves leftover after harvest. All kinds of things. The more variety the better, just avoid meats and fatty/oily or salty stuff.

I heard of using what they feed baby cattle. Like a formula or something. First you starve them for a little while then put formula under the surface an inch or two. Then they eat a lot and poo it out quick. Once they eat that you can feed them in a corner so most of them are away from the castings and just skim the first few inches to harvest. Just something I heard.

Crispy- I'm sure they'd eat that stuff in a hurry, but I prefer just using my food waste. The whole point of composting is to turn waste material into a valuable soil amendment. Seems silly to buy food for worms when I already generate enough fruit and veggie scraps to keep them healthy.

I love learning, time for me to start a worm bin

I agree. I compost all my scraps and it works just fine. I have a buddy who's mom has a EWC busyness. I just wanted to throw another method in the thread.

SpicySativa said:

Crispy- I'm sure they'd eat that stuff in a hurry, but I prefer just using my food waste. The whole point of composting is to turn waste material into a valuable soil amendment. Seems silly to buy food for worms when I already generate enough fruit and veggie scraps to keep them healthy.

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Nice. Thanks for sharing. Is the calf feed a grain-based concoction? Or alfalfa/hay? I've tried some castings from worms fed a grain-heavy diet (Vierras Worm Farm), and I wasn't overly impressed. The castings were a medium brown color instead of nearly black, which tells me they may not have had as high a humus content.

What's up everyone?

I hope you all had a great Christmas, or whatever other holiday you celebrate (or don't).

I spent a couple hours on Christmas morning building an outdoor compost pile to supplement my worm bins. It's my X-mas present for myself (and my outdoor veggies).

I loaded it up with roughly equal parts dry leaves (apple/pear/maple/dogwood) and green plant material (mostly weeds and grass clippings). I also gave it a few healthy handfuls of alfalfa meal, some oyster shell, and some various rock dusts.

I still need more material to really fill this thing up and get it cranking. I plan to stop by a couple feed/farm supply shops and see if they'll let me sweep up a trashcan full of alfalfa shreds/dust, and also ask my friendly neighbors if they'd like me to rake up their fall leaves for them, or haul any grass clippings.

I don't know. The castings I was given from him are black and doesn't stick to your hand. I make tea w/ them and it works awesome. I need to start a bin soon b4 I run out. Hey what is a good rock dust to use for my grow. Should I use more than 1. I'm in ffof soil.

SpicySativa said:

Nice. Thanks for sharing. Is the calf feed a grain-based concoction? Or alfalfa/hay? I've tried some castings from worms fed a grain-heavy diet (Vierras Worm Farm), and I wasn't overly impressed. The castings were a medium brown color instead of nearly black, which tells me they may not have had as high a humus content.

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Good rock dusts include basalt (or other "glacial" rock), granite, azomite, greensand, and soft rock phosphate. All of these can be used rather liberally mixed in soil or in worm bins or compost piles. Things like lime (dolomite or calcitic) and gypsum should be used sparingly.

Read up a little about Carrey Reams and William Albrect. Both of these fellows studied the use of rock dusts and other mineral sources.

I'm starting to get into the whole ionization process witch is a little much for me to take in the first few look overs. I have a brother who grows well and is in college so I ask him a lot of Q's. I am all about organic and i'm realizing how much there is to know about it. Little by little it will sink in... Hopefully. Thanks for the direction. Reems seems like the type of scientist I want to learn from since I believe in God too. Never fasted though.

Crispy - I'm not religious, myself, but I do feel Reams' was a step above most when it comes to understanding what goes on in the soil.

If you haven't already read them, I HIGHLY recommend the books "Teaming with Microbes" and "Teaming with Nutrients". Read those two and you'll come away with a solid base of knowledge about how soil and plants interact with each other.

Here's a good read if you want to learn about or refresh your memory on Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), soil pH, and soil minerals. Yes, it is posted on a website that sells various products, but it's a well-written, simple, and accurate description of what goes on in soil at a molecular level.

http://www.soilminerals.com/Cation_Exchange_Simplified.htm

No I haven't read them but I will check them out.

SpicySativa said:

Crispy - I'm not religious, myself, but I do feel Reams' was a step above most when it comes to understanding what goes on in the soil.

If you haven't already read them, I HIGHLY recommend the books "Teaming with Microbes" and "Teaming with Nutrients". Read those two and you'll come away with a solid base of knowledge about how soil and plants interact with each other.

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