The Dons' Organic Garden

DonTesla

DonTesla

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
basically saying that bubbling is worthless or "unorthodox" as he put it... which i suppose it could be... but if people brew alfalfa for N2 in their tea, why would it not form ionic bonds with the carbon surfaces?

another slam was i did not "activate" my biochar. which means having your own fire, burning the wood until it is almost used up, and extinguishing it thus "trapping all of its carbon".... well the last time i checked the carbon was trapped when the fkin tree grew itself, as that's what trees are made of primarily. so when you burn wood the products are CO2 and H20. the C in CO2 comes from the release of Carbon. so he is making no sense to me at all with this. but i'm the idiot i guess lol.

but according to him "it's people like you(me he was referring to) that fuck up and blame it on organics." lol.

it's all in the last 2 pages of the 8cuft super soil recipe thread in the organic section.

i agree, i want to solve the char mystery. i have seen NO reference to "activating" the char in a fire fashion. the words "charge" and "activate" were used very interchangingly in most all the studies that I read.

Edit: and yes, the compost char activation method is probably the best, but by no means do i think bubbling was unorthodox. i guess we shall see....
Click to expand...
Interesting ..
The way I saw it,
If Oxidizing the coal is one of the key elements..
But so is saturating and so is loading it with nutrients,
Not to mention inoculating..
I figured a brotha oughta soak it, add nutrients, let it evaporate (oxidize) and re-soak (saturate)..
Then I inoculated (ewc with a bubbler) but left chunks sticking out of tea, so they weren't totally submerged.
I wonder if that accomplished the checklist as I imagined..
Maybe one could just place it in some soil in a tub for two weeks and inoculate soil?
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
DonTesla said:
Interesting ..
The way I saw it,
If Oxidizing the coal is one of the key elements..
But so is saturating and so is loading it with nutrients,
Not to mention inoculating..
I figured a brotha oughta soak it, add nutrients, let it evaporate (oxidize) and re-soak (saturate)..
Then I inoculated (ewc with a bubbler) but left chunks sticking out of tea, so they weren't totally submerged.
I wonder if that accomplished the checklist as I imagined..
Maybe one could just place it in some soil in a tub for two weeks and inoculate soil?
Click to expand...
from the article i read, and many other sources, putting the biochar in compost pile rich with nitrogen is the best way to "charge" it. you get the macro/micro cation nutrients (most importantly N), and the microbes all in one shot.

i would be guessing, but if you saturate it, strain it, and let it run off to field capacity (let gravity remove any excess water and once that is done you have reached field capacity), then it's ready to be added to the compost for charging. i would think it will oxidize in the compost. i'll be trying this method next time.

the method you used DT, by no means seems unorthodox, and in the end, we shall see if it has positive, negative, or no effect on the bed. but i'm not making any judgments until i put at least 3 cycles through the container. i expect to see it get better with age. that is my hypothesis.
 
DonPetro

DonPetro

Well-Known Member
DonTesla said:
Interesting ..
The way I saw it,
If Oxidizing the coal is one of the key elements..
But so is saturating and so is loading it with nutrients,
Not to mention inoculating..
I figured a brotha oughta soak it, add nutrients, let it evaporate (oxidize) and re-soak (saturate)..
Then I inoculated (ewc with a bubbler) but left chunks sticking out of tea, so they weren't totally submerged.
I wonder if that accomplished the checklist as I imagined..
Maybe one could just place it in some soil in a tub for two weeks and inoculate soil?
Click to expand...
ShLUbY said:
from the article i read, and many other sources, putting the biochar in compost pile rich with nitrogen is the best way to "charge" it. you get the macro/micro cation nutrients (most importantly N), and the microbes all in one shot.

i would be guessing, but if you saturate it, strain it, and let it run off to field capacity (let gravity remove any excess water and once that is done you have reached field capacity), then it's ready to be added to the compost for charging. i would think it will oxidize in the compost. i'll be trying this method next time.

the method you used DT, by no means seems unorthodox, and in the end, we shall see if it has positive, negative, or no effect on the bed. but i'm not making any judgments until i put at least 3 cycles through the container. i expect to see it get better with age. that is my hypothesis.
Click to expand...
What i did was fill a container 3/4 of the way with my smashed bits of charcoal. I then added a handful of composted cattle manure, a handful of compost made from kitchen and yard waste and a handful of garden soil. Then i watered it all down with rain water to fill the container. I think i will let it sit for a few days maybe then strain it and bubble in ewc/bsm along with some alfalfa. I need to get this batch of soil going. Im already a week behind. I have a ton of new tomato seeds i need to test for germination and i figure i will keep a few of the strong ones going over winter.
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
DonPetro said:
What i did was fill a container 3/4 of the way with my smashed bits of charcoal. I then added a handful of composted cattle manure, a handful of compost made from kitchen and yard waste and a handful of garden soil. Then i watered it all down with rain water to fill the container. I think i will let it sit for a few days maybe then strain it and bubble in ewc/bsm along with some alfalfa. I need to get this batch of soil going. Im already a week behind. I have a ton of new tomato seeds i need to test for germination and i figure i will keep a few of the strong ones going over winter.
Click to expand...
oh i forgot to mention, the smaller you mash up the char, the more effective it is, as you are producing more surface area for CEC to take place. the next batch i will have no hunks the size 3/4". gonna try for less than 1/2" and more towards the 1/4" in. size.
 
radicaldank42

radicaldank42

Well-Known Member
DonTesla said:
Dear Journal,
the Original DP blend,
Rasta blend (blood and bone meal free)
and Vamp blends (w/ zeo)
have all been recycled,
and sifted to remove wood chips and larger debris,
and mixed to form a nice 2014 super blend we gonna the Stallion Blend ...
.
and thats going head to head in a no till sideXside..
its opponent:
the 1st mix of 2015, which we are gonna call the

-Ocean Farma Blend-
The (slightly tweaked, larger) 85L Base :
27% Coconut Coir (23Litres)
27% Perlite (23L)
**27% Poop Mix (23L=13L EWC + 10L OCManure)**
20% Humus Black Earth (16L)

+The ~1L Meal Mix:
Alfalfa Meal, 1 Cup
Neem Meal, 1 C
Kelp Meal, 1 C
**Fish Bone Meal, 3/4 C** (new)

+The 2L Rock Mix:
Greensand, 1Cup
Rock Phosphate, 1C
**Bio Char, 2C** (new)
**DE Rocks, 2C** (new)
Crushed Eggshells, 2C

+The 2L Fungi Food Mix:
Rice, 4 Cups or 1 per week
Oats, 2 Cups
Myco F, 2 Cups, post mellow

=90L OLSS (Organic Living Super Soil)

This Ocean Farma blend then has no zeolite, no steamed bone meal, no blood meal, (and no glacial rock dust yet), but does have the new amount (15%) local/diy ewc, plus bio char, de rocks, organic cattle manure and fish bone meal intro'd.. Should be a lil cleaner, cooler mix and even cooler end-burn too.

Ya mon,
Exciting experiment, can't wait to,try some finished product.
Fish bone meal is strong smelling though, gad damn.
There are no words to describe its potency other than run. Hahaha
-donTe
Click to expand...
have youtweaked this recipie out yet cause I'm about to use it but I'm going to use neptunes harvest new fish grow and bloom nute every two weeks for an added kick.im talking about the ocean farms blend.
 
littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
This looks like a great recipe!
I will have to check if all ingredients are available in EU...!
Thanks for sharing!
Have a great day ★
 
Grandpa GreenJeans

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
oh i forgot to mention, the smaller you mash up the char, the more effective it is, as you are producing more surface area for CEC to take place. the next batch i will have no hunks the size 3/4". gonna try for less than 1/2" and more towards the 1/4" in. size.
Click to expand...
I have a bag of crushed. I've been looking for a good recipie if anyone has one. Sort thinking I could just super charge the charcoal and use that as a stand alone amendment??
Is this too small of particle?
1447642922613.jpg
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Grandpa GreenJeans said:
I have a bag of crushed. I've been looking for a good recipie if anyone has one. Sort thinking I could just super charge the charcoal and use that as a stand alone amendment??
Is this too small of particle?
View attachment 3543772
Click to expand...
looks good. dontesla and I both bubbled our char in nutrient tea for a couple weeks and added the microbial ingredients in the last 48hours (or i did that anyway). use anything that has a + charge for nutrients and lots of it. i used alfalfa and fish hydrolysate. in retrospect i should have used more stuff. my no tills with the biochar mix and non char are ready to be planted, just dont have the situation figured out yet lol. oh yeah drain the char and let it dry and get some air to it...

just use the char as 5% of your mix....
 
Grandpa GreenJeans

Grandpa GreenJeans

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
looks good. dontesla and I both bubbled our char in nutrient tea for a couple weeks and added the microbial ingredients in the last 48hours (or i did that anyway). use anything that has a + charge for nutrients and lots of it. i used alfalfa and fish hydrolysate. in retrospect i should have used more stuff. my no tills with the biochar mix and non char are ready to be planted, just dont have the situation figured out yet lol. oh yeah drain the char and let it dry and get some air to it...

just use the char as 5% of your mix....
Click to expand...
I think it would be great to add to my bokashi fermenter. Or even soak it in the leechate. I'll play with it and post my findings.
 
littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I do like to try oxy compost tea...is there a thread on it...or how to diy the machine!
Cause I saw it at 120 $ for 8gl...it is a bit expensive I guess...
Have a great day ★
 
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