Thanks for that info Bob, I appreciate it. Now I can get my Stank Soil tested and see what kind of improvements I can make.
Building A Better Soil: Demonstrations & Discussions Of Organic Soil Recipes
- Thread starter SweetSue
- Start date
GROWant
Well-Known Member
Not sure if this helps
I stumbled across this place. I have never used them. Their prices look very reasonable though.
Logan Labs results are insulting for that price.. I could probably eat the soil and give you better results, just saying. Save your money.
TF - right on all the way. I'm here to help you. fact is this is already been argued.
Here's your science to back up your claim and it comes from the federal government. I know scary but peoples starving is the fastest way to a revolution, and/or losing re-election:
Cooperative Extension History | National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Pretty cool we Americans have been worried about soil since ... forever!
That should get you armed with the truth! Pretty cool and we can apply it to cannabis. Grow our own food, fiber and medicine!
We were already doing that until "I am not a crook" I'm a narcissist, Nixon. Just sayin.
TF - right on all the way. I'm here to help you. fact is this is already been argued.
Here's your science to back up your claim and it comes from the federal government. I know scary but peoples starving is the fastest way to a revolution, and/or losing re-election:
Cooperative Extension History | National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Pretty cool we Americans have been worried about soil since ... forever!
That should get you armed with the truth! Pretty cool and we can apply it to cannabis. Grow our own food, fiber and medicine!
We were already doing that until "I am not a crook" I'm a narcissist, Nixon. Just sayin.
TheFertilizer
Well-Known Member
So far I haven't been able to find real conclusive research about the yields. The Rodale institute has a side-by-side crop of organic and conventional food and they seem to point to organic yielding more, but when I read news articles they all cite a mysterious study that seems to suggest conventional farms produce more tons of food per hectare of land.
The studies also seem contentious on whether organic foods have more nutritional value, and of course the taste thing is subjective.
Hi Everyone
Im slowly reading through this thread. It's a lot of information to absorb, im very interested in organic growing and only came across this thread a week ago, so it'll take me a bit to get through everything.
My last 2 grows I put coral pieces on the bottom of the pots and then fill with soil. I pick the coral pieces up on the beach and wash then off and clean them up and in the bottom of the pot. I'm just curious if this has any benefit?
Coral pieces before in the middle and just out of the bottom of the pot on the sides
Bottom of the pot
Inside the coral
Inside its like dusty white... what might this be?
Thanks
Iti
Im slowly reading through this thread. It's a lot of information to absorb, im very interested in organic growing and only came across this thread a week ago, so it'll take me a bit to get through everything.
My last 2 grows I put coral pieces on the bottom of the pots and then fill with soil. I pick the coral pieces up on the beach and wash then off and clean them up and in the bottom of the pot. I'm just curious if this has any benefit?
Coral pieces before in the middle and just out of the bottom of the pot on the sides
Bottom of the pot
Inside the coral
Inside its like dusty white... what might this be?
Thanks
Iti
Well since "conventional" farming started in the 30s (1930s), we've had famine and lots of sick and dying feed animals, not to mention fertile soil being turned into sand...
It's really not the argument about taste or yields, both of them are very short term. The argument is about sustainability. Humans have been farming for 10s of thousands of years sustainaby.
We started using chemical fertilizers and 10s of thousands of hecta-acres of land are no non-productive for food or feed stock. That's just in the USA. Add to that, the insanity of growing a crop (GMO corn) to turn it into fuel for cars at the same time there are people starving...
So conventional farming is growing fuel for automobiles at the same time people are starving... you won't find any organic farmers doing that.
I have other arguments for organic over conventional farming practices, but that one has to be the one that really should wake people up.
Take a look around, and see the majority of people are considered obese, and by majority that is over 50% of the population of the USA. We can thank conventional farming for growing food that is not nutritious. We humans are at the top of the food chain. We feed animals that we eat, feed stock that is grown in fields. If those feed stocks are not nutritious for animals, those same animals won't be nutritious for humans. Animals get sick, give the animals antibiotics just to get them to the feed lot where we feed them GMO grains, then onto slaughter and onto our tables. Not going to take very long before this practice starts to impact general health. I believe we are starting to see the impact of this and why there's a big divide over offering health care to everyone.
The folks with money can afford organic foods and don't care about the folks that can't afford them and don't want to pay taxes for healthcare for the folks that don't eat a proper diet.
As you can see.. this is a much larger issue than just organic vs conventional... add to that the FDA and all of our tax dollars the federal government gives farmers to grow and subsidize crops, to the point of giving farmers $$ to not grow a specific crop in the attempt to manipulate market prices of commodities.
Organic farmers don't get into the commodity thing. They grow local for their community. The local community will pay prices based more on availability and normal market economics. Conventional farmers get a price to grow a crop before the seed goes in the ground... if there's a drought, they get a guaranteed price/payout regardless of success or not. Thanks to your tax dollars and the FDA and crop insurance.
I could go on and on...
I suggest going down to you local CSA and sign up or just meet the people and see how grow local works in your community.
Grow local ... most all of that is organic that I'm aware of, it's here and it's happening. I don't think this is a trend, its finally here and getting back to the way humans have been farming for thousands of years.
Give thanks to the spirits of the land, oceans and heavens.
The round ball keeps turning.
I'm just a visitor here, hitching a ride thru the universe.
Hi Everyone
Im slowly reading through this thread. It's a lot of information to absorb, im very interested in organic growing and only came across this thread a week ago, so it'll take me a bit to get through everything.
My last 2 grows I put coral pieces on the bottom of the pots and then fill with soil. I pick the coral pieces up on the beach and wash then off and clean them up and in the bottom of the pot. I'm just curious if this has any benefit?
Coral pieces before in the middle and just out of the bottom of the pot on the sides
Bottom of the pot
Inside the coral
Inside its like dusty white... what might this be?
Thanks
Iti
What you are offering with this practice is several fold, and pretty awesome.
You're giving the micro-organisms a place to live - like a high rise apartment building.. with calcium in spades slow release. Likely a lot more macro and micro nutrients as well.
I put a layer of something similar in the bottom of all my flowering pots and water from the btm up...
Dusty white is the calcium being broken down by the roots AND the micro-organisms.
Keep using it over and over same with the soil you're growing in. Just have to amend the used soil with more nitrogen, hopefully in the form of compost.
For me, they look like calcium (gold) nuggets... my plants will likey! Thanks for sharing.. that it awesome.
Google "soil and coral amendments". Coral is a thing... going to have to have some shipped to me.
Hey bobrown14,
I can't give you any +reps now, and I was trying to decide which of your to posts I liked better anyway.
I was guessing at that answer for the coral in the soil, nice to have you do the research.
The bit about organic sustainability vs comercial supplements was something I grew up hearing from my father, by the time I was 10 it was ---"DUH --- Why would you grow any other way dude?" - and yes I did talk like a valley girl (or a skater) growing up in California before there were skaters and valley girls
Anyway
Awesome dude!
I can't give you any +reps now, and I was trying to decide which of your to posts I liked better anyway.
I was guessing at that answer for the coral in the soil, nice to have you do the research.
The bit about organic sustainability vs comercial supplements was something I grew up hearing from my father, by the time I was 10 it was ---"DUH --- Why would you grow any other way dude?" - and yes I did talk like a valley girl (or a skater) growing up in California before there were skaters and valley girls
Anyway
Awesome dude! 
intuitional
Active Member
You can buy cheap calcium from a feed store for your soil. I bought a bag of oyster shell for chickens, 40 lbs for under $10 and it's supplemented with coral calcium. Just check the back of the bag for analysis
Seabird Guano is also another good source of Calcium as well being high in "P". Its a great amendment.
I live near the ocean, would I just be able to scrap this off a rock and just add to soil? Or should it be mixed with sawdust and left to compost for a while?
GodOfPot
Well-Known Member
Think any manures would be too hot directly applied and need to compost first....
Question about the corals, if you're getting them off the beach from the ocean, would the ocean salt not be harmful? Do you process/rinse it to try and remove the salt prior to using it?
Question about the corals, if you're getting them off the beach from the ocean, would the ocean salt not be harmful? Do you process/rinse it to try and remove the salt prior to using it?
Yeah I certainly wouldn't use it directly in its raw form. Its really not badly priced for a box of it. I think 12 bucks or something. If you have access to a store or online shopping for it, I would go that route. I generally cook my soil with all my amendments in it for 45 days or so....that way they have time to be broken down. I also use the seabird guano as part of my flower tea regiment as its very high in the "P".
Yes i wash and rinse, then soak in a bucket for a couple of weeks. Then another soak/rinse in hot water, boiled in the kettle. That pretty much it. That should take care of any salt.
Cannoisseuras
Well-Known Member
Hey everyone I've been thinking about going organic so far I have red lava rock, azomite, mycoz and this
is there anything else I NEED besides rock phosphate and EWC or could I get by with the materials I have....by the way I have promix mp, is that ok or should I just buy some SPM
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!
What does LABS refer to?
TheFertilizer
Well-Known Member
I think it stands for Lactic Acid Bacilli Serum. It's a serum concentrated with lactic acid bacteria that is a probiotic innoculation ( as well as other uses ) for your soil. A similar commercial product is known as EM-1.
Lactobacillus Serum
I used it in my bubbler cloner solution last time around and it worked great to keep down fungi/bacteria without having to pH down the water.
It's basically just a beneficial bacteria that you can use to colonize your soil and keep other less wanted bacteria and fungi at bay.
Hey bobrown14,
I can't give you any +reps now, and I was trying to decide which of your to posts I liked better anyway.
I was guessing at that answer for the coral in the soil, nice to have you do the research.
The bit about organic sustainability vs comercial supplements was something I grew up hearing from my father, by the time I was 10 it was ---"DUH --- Why would you grow any other way dude?" - and yes I did talk like a valley girl (or a skater) growing up in California before there were skaters and valley girls
Anyway
I can remember sitting on top of a hill in Griffith Park looking at a Hollywood sign.... thinking "Dood.... this is sooo freakin cool". Then the santa-anna winds started blowing like 40mph to the ocean... could see the snow covered mountains and the ocean...air clear but DRY and HOT.
Seemed like a fire waiting to happen & the real estate prices.... Time to go home.
Is that coarse grind for the chicken feed? ... there's lots of stuff at the feed store. Can get Alfalfa and probably Kelp Meal... since it's a meal and all!
The coarse grind will be a little slower release but ... hey wait, chicken poop already broken down for you!
intuitional
Active Member
It is coarse grind but I do a little processing of my own with two cinder blocks. I just sprinkle a little on the top of one block and drop the other block on top then push the broken up dust into a collection tray or pound again depending on how it looks. It works well if you have a little cement in your smashing cinder block for weight. I can control the size of my coral calcium chunks this way so I'll have a mix of all sizes and varying rates of release. I'm in a smaller town so I have to work with what I have.
I'll see if I can get some pictures next time to give you an idea of the whole process. The chunks of coral aren't all that big to begin with, smaller than pea size, so it doesn't take too much to break them up.