Building A Better Soil: Demonstrations & Discussions Of Organic Soil Recipes

[intuitional]

Thanks for the welcome. I'm still trying to take in all of the information, there's so much to learn. I saw an opportunity to put in a little info so I thought I'd contribute what little I could. I hope to be able to share much more in the future. If anyone is interested I'd definitely suggest looking into some mushrooms as a side project. Lion's mane is outstanding. Tastes like seafood, it will ruin you once you've had it because you'll crave it from then on. Lion's mane also has excellent medicinal properties as well.
What I like the most about my mushroom side hobby is that I can recycle my substrate right into my soil that's cooking for my plants. I know exactly what went into my compost and where it came from (no brainer), and it's not used up because mushrooms don't compete for nutrients the same way that cannabis uses nutrients in the soil. I can grow Lion's mane, reishi, oyster, and whatever else I feel like trying on straw-based substrates which turns out to be outstanding compost. If I had access to a regular source of manure then it would be even better. I'm looking for sources on the manure.
I love reading this thread because it's all about returning things to the earth and staying away from bottled nutrients (and saving money). Mushrooms are really helpful in that way. My used substrate goes right to my cannabis and old cannabis soil just waits for more compost so nothing is wasted. For morels I use spent cannabis soil that has most of the amendments used out of it or would be in need of re-amending so I have a way to recharge that soil without adding anything.

 

[bobrown14]

Ahem.... did someone say mushrooms?? Oh oh oh oh, how about the silly variety?? I herd they also have medicinal value! Asking for a friend -->

 

[Van Stank]

Ahem.... did someone say mushrooms?? Oh oh oh oh, how about the silly variety?? I herd they also have medicinal value! Asking for a friend -->

I love shrooms....lol....Wish I could find a source for them where I am at!! Been a while since I took a good trip

 

[GodOfPot]

I suffer from something called "Cluster Headaches", extremely painful, I believe some of my meds(sumatriptan) carry 3 of the same psychedelic tryptamines that are found in magic mushrooms. I've also seen reports out of the U.K. about people there saying that taking shrooms during one of their episodes has shown to not only settle that episode, but prolong their next attack as well

 

[Van Stank]

I suffer from something called "Cluster Headaches", extremely painful, I believe some of my meds(sumatriptan) carry 3 of the same psychedelic tryptamines that are found in magic mushrooms. I've also seen reports out of the U.K. about people there saying that taking shrooms during one of their episodes has shown to not only settle that episode, but prolong their next attack as well

See, more reason to like them!! LOL

On a serious note, sorry about your headaches. I only have had one headache my entire life, a massive migraine and I couldn't have any lights on or even move if there were lights around. It was crazy.....only time I ever had a headache. So thankful for that.

 

[intuitional]

Ahem.... did someone say mushrooms?? Oh oh oh oh, how about the silly variety?? I herd they also have medicinal value! Asking for a friend -->

Magic mushrooms are definitely medicinal. Psilocybin has been shown to 'reset' the brains of patients with treatment resistant depression and actually relieve the symptoms. As far as I've read the effects aren't permanent but it's better than taking pharmaceuticals, right? Here's the article for those interested
Psilocybin has also been shown to treat PTSD and cluster headaches. I'm sure there are other conditions but I won't go too far into it. You can microdose to get the medicinal effects or take a dose just under the hallucinogenic dose and it will give you an amazing uplifted, happy mood for hours. It's an amazing mushroom and whatever you use to grow it on can be recycled to be used in your cannabis soil. Two natural medicines working together for effects that pharmaceuticals would cost you an arm and a leg for.
My eventual goal is to source horse manure and grow mushrooms, lots of them, to have enough for a decent source of compost which would give me a large amount of soil which, in turn, helps me grow more cannabis. Two of nature's medicinal creations working together to treat my ailments instead of pill bottles.
Psilocybin, as well as any other mushroom, spores are super easy to get online. It's not illegal to have spores of any variety only illegal to grow anything so you can procure them if you want to take up a hobby in microscopy. Of course, I don't do anything illegal and don't condone any of that. Always listen to your government, they know what's best for you.

 

[bobrown14]

Yes me either and the part about the government knowing whats best for me, yeah ..... no.. my government promotes GMO corn & pesticides they grow it with for human & feed-stock consumption. Paid for with our tax dollars I might add. And then there's paraquat and agent orange. Yikes.

Seriously tho, yes can grow Psilocybin mushrooms pretty easily. We taught our son to grow mushrooms as a senior science project when we home schooled him. He did a great job! We had a tough time keeping up with production. I read somewhere that it can cure addiction to alcohol and/or opiods ... and by CURE I me a cure not a treatment.

I was able to cold turkey opiods when I got out of the hospital a few years ago.. when I came home I was addicted to intravenous Dilaudid and oxycodone. Nice combo there... saved my life I suppose but could have ended it just the same. Kicked to the curb.. movin on. Can thank all those schrooms we ate over the years.

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Back to topic - I posted this in my grow journal the other day and thought this is a good place to post :


Here's a little info bomb on HorseTail Fern and what it brings to the table:


Horsetail Fern "Equisetum" - we use and cultivate E. arvense - it also has many uses for human health. This plant is over 100 million years old.

Horsetail Ferns contains Silica at 60,000 - 97,000 ppm

Here's a few other benefits from this plant material:

Silicic Acid - 80,000 ppm (rooting agent)
Phosphorus - 14,762 ppm
Calcium - 24,000
Magnesium - 4,730 PPM

NOTE: ratio of Calcium:Magnesium (a little higher than 5:1)

The biggest benefit = Carbohydrates - 737,000 ppm

Ever since I've been incorporating Horsetail Fern tea into my soil regime and IPM routine... NO PM/Mold and plants even clones of the same plants are much larger and yields have gone up since my plants are larger. Also pests and incidence of infestations of mites has gone down quite a bit as well. Still get mites from time to time but they never really get a very good grip and are mainly isolated to a few branches, then I wipe them out with Spinosad and neem.

Silica from Horsetail Ferns and Pro-Tekt are taken up by the plant and the plant actually builds a layer of Si in the plants protective layer (cuticle) that is the waxy layer on the leafs epidermis (skin).

Quoted from a study on the effects of Silicon and plants:

Link:
Probing the mechanisms of silicon-mediated pathogen resistance

"the enhanced resistance is associated with the higher deposit of silicon in leaf so as to form physical barrier to impede pathogen penetration and the activation of host defense response.

Since Si was found to control plant disease, physical barrier was traditionally used to explain its role in enhancing pathogen resistance. Si can accumulate and deposit beneath the cuticle to form a cuticle-Si double layer and thereby interfere with pathogen's penetration through mechanical barrier."

And there's more .... in that article linked above.

 

[TheFertilizer]

So I continue to have burnt tips, and more concerning, it seems they have kind of evolved into whole leaf margins being bunrt and tips basically falling off... Not sure what's going on here. The Panama x Malawi is most heavily affected, while the PGSC x Cherry OG is showing much less tip burns. I've heard Sativas are much lighter feeders when it comes to nitrogen and it makes me worried my mix is burning them.

I remember sharing that my original "super soil" mix was probably a little hot on the Neem Seed Meal, so I cut it down quite a bit with the Sunshine Mix #4 + EWC + Perlite "mild soil" mix that I made. The "super soil" had been cooked for 4 weeks and so then I'm pretty sure that the mixture I planted these into is close to the ingredients as followed.

2.4 cubic ft (18 gallon tote):
~30% Sunshine Mix #4 (Peat Moss, Perlite, Dolimite Lime)
~30% Earthworm Castings w Kep Meal and Rock Dusts
~40% Perlite
with
1 1/4 cups of Neem Seed Meal
4-5 cups of Bio-Live
~125 mL of Azomite

The tips were burning a little bit with just the "mild soil" mix that didn't have the amendments added and cooked, but simply EWC mixed up with Sunshine Mix basically. But now with the amendments added to I think I'm seeing more.

But what's kinda funny is I'm still seeing far more vigorous and happy looking plants that I'm use to seeing with Happy Frog and bottled nutrients lol

I think I may have been under-watering a little bit, letting the leaves get fairly droopy before watering to let the roots "seek water". Couple that with my extremely low humidity (between 16-32%) and I think it could be environmental for sure. I think I'm going to start foliar spraying them to try to help with the humdity.

 

[Van Stank]

I ran a grow in the winter up here in the north east and was dealing with low humidity....never had issues with the grow due to 16-24% for the first 2 months. You definitely have something going on. What is the Bio-Live?

 

[TheFertilizer]

I ran a grow in the winter up here in the north east and was dealing with low humidity....never had issues with the grow due to 16-24% for the first 2 months. You definitely have something going on. What is the Bio-Live?

 

[Timmo]

Fert, did those gnawed off looking tips start out normal, or did they grow looking like that?

 

[TheFertilizer]

Fert, did those gnawed off looking tips start out normal, or did they grow looking like that?

As far as I can tell they grew like that. At first I thought they were mutated leaves from where I FIM'd but they're too high up the new branches to be from FIM'ing.

 

[Timmo]

I had trouble controlling the heat in my greenhouse this summer. A bunch of plants grew leaves like those at one point. At first I thought it was bugs, but eventually concluded that it was either heat stress or overdoing foliar feeding, or both. They resumed normal growth after that heat wave, like yours appear to be doing, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Not pretty, but whatever harm was going to happen has already and the plants are moving on.

I'd be more concerned about the mottled and partly dead leaves near the bottom.

 

[Van Stank]

That looks like its some pretty good stuff. I could see using that as an amendment for soil between runs.

 

[TheFertilizer]

I had trouble controlling the heat in my greenhouse this summer. A bunch of plants grew leaves like those at one point. At first I thought it was bugs, but eventually concluded that it was either heat stress or overdoing foliar feeding, or both. They resumed normal growth after that heat wave, like yours appear to be doing, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Not pretty, but whatever harm was going to happen has already and the plants are moving on.

I'd be more concerned about the mottled and partly dead leaves near the bottom.

Yeah that's what has me worried, I'm kind of thinking that they're progressing into that. Like the burnt tips is turning into those stubby tips and then mottled leaves down further. But I'm not sure because I've had some bad watering practices and have let them get pretty underwatered at some points and that's mostly when the leaves have gone yellow down below like that so I haven't been paying much attention to it. Been trying to keep the pots more moist now and thinking it was something other than under-watering.

That looks like its some pretty good stuff. I could see using that as an amendment for soil between runs.

Yeah it was recommended to me as kind of a "everything you need" amendment to add to a custom mix of stuff. I added the neem seed meal because I was hoping the azadiracthin in it would boost pest immunity.

The Platinum Girl Scout Cookies x Cherry OG plant is slightly affected but much less so than the Panama x Malawis.

 

[Radogast]

I had trouble controlling the heat in my greenhouse this summer. A bunch of plants grew leaves like those at one point. At first I thought it was bugs, but eventually concluded that it was either heat stress or overdoing foliar feeding, or both. They resumed normal growth after that heat wave, like yours appear to be doing, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Not pretty, but whatever harm was going to happen has already and the plants are moving on.

I'd be more concerned about the mottled and partly dead leaves near the bottom.

I'm not the least bit concerneed about the mottled, partly dead leaves near the bottom - they are near the bottom - a non-issue - probably light starved.
Is there any airflow past these lower leaves?

Leaves might also be water PH. Especially if higher than 7 and your microbial community is not established.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I found out yesterday that the place where the mushroom compost was available, will give it for free to anybody who just drives up with some pails or bags and wants it. It is tarped in their yard, it is actually a mushroom company and they sell it by the tractor Trailer Load has an amendment for farming.

 

[TheFertilizer]

I'm not the least bit concerneed about the mottled, partly dead leaves near the bottom - they are near the bottom - a non-issue - probably light starved.
Is there any airflow past these lower leaves?

Leaves might also be water PH. Especially if higher than 7 and your microbial community is not established.

Yup air flow is going underneath with a big tower fan and over the top with two propeller fans.

The pH over 7 is one thing I thought of too. My meters are both showing it a little over 7 and I know my tap water is usually 7.5 or greater.

I have a totally separate group of plants in pretty different soil exhibiting similar symptoms. They're in a large 15 gallon smart pot, and the bottom 2 inches is lined with my mix but the rest is EarthJuice Amazon Bloom. They didn't start showing these signs for a few weeks suggesting not until the roots got into my soil mix.

In the meantime my reader shows a hair above 7 for both soil types so I am wondering if I should try to pH my water inputs or just wait for my micro life to establish and buffer?

I have been inocculating with LABS too and wonder if maybe that's hurting more than helping.

Edit:

Speaking of inocculating with LABS, just checked the mix still in the tote after I inocculated it with LABS. It's aliiive!

 

[Radogast]

Speaking of inocculating with LABS, just checked the mix still in the tote after I inocculated it with LABS. It's aliiive!

Sweet fungi !

 

[Timmo]

Show-off time! Yesterday I took the tops off some White Widows I have growing in my hugelkulture-inspired beds (discussed a little on pg. 56 of this thread). It was tough choosing one for a "lunker" photo, because there were so many contenders. I settled on this one: