Droopy Dog
New Member
Maybe, this little project isn't finished yet, but I'll outline what I've done.
Well over a year ago, I read a short Rodale article where leeks were used to grow mycorrhizae. Mycos need roots to propagate and they love the Allium family (Onions, garlic, shallots, leeks ...). Apparently, they would get a good colony of mycos going on the leek roots, dig them up, cut off most of the roots to inoculate other plants/plots and replant the leeks to grow more.
I grow garlic and shallots anyway, but usually use old mix to grow them in. This time, I decided to use fresh mix and amended with an eye towards the recycle.
My mix is somewhere between LC's #1 and Subcool's mix, but not quite as hot. Garlic doesn't like a heavy N anyway. I did go about 2x as heavy with my slow release 'rock' stuff. Like Azomite, rock phosphate, greensand and so on. I also added gypsum, just for the garlic. I mixed a total of 12cf.
With this, I did 17-5 gallon buckets.12 of garlic and 5 of shallots, all planted the end of Oct.,2010. All the bulbs/cloves were dunked in MycoGrow Soluble before planting and everything got a soil drench of the same about a week later.
The garlic was harvested the last week of June,2011. All the buckets were full of fine roots. I left ~3" of roots on the bulbs and left the rest in the mix. I've since put all this in 30 gal trash cans, but have added no amendments or anything to 'recharge' the used mix. There is ~6cf of this. BTW, this used mix looks, feels and smells great! Doesn't seem 'tired' in the least, if that makes any sense. The shallots aren't done yet and haven't been harvested.
This *should* be full of mycos from the roots and plenty of BB from the EWC and so on, but I'm still debating on how to use it. Like use it straight up, after re amending of course, or, mix it 1/2&1/2 with fresh mix? I guess it depends on how much I need, because I'm going to do 2 things. One, I will mix up another fresh batch for this Fall's garlic and shallots. Two, all my old used mix will be going on my gardens. Some of it is 3 years old and time to retire. I'll do this after the first frost kills the veggies that are growing in it now.
What I plan to do for the future is nothing but recycled mix that has had Alliums grown in it for the first cycle. But, with a 8 month+ grow time, this takes a bit of long range planning. LOL
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I'm open.
DD
Well over a year ago, I read a short Rodale article where leeks were used to grow mycorrhizae. Mycos need roots to propagate and they love the Allium family (Onions, garlic, shallots, leeks ...). Apparently, they would get a good colony of mycos going on the leek roots, dig them up, cut off most of the roots to inoculate other plants/plots and replant the leeks to grow more.
I grow garlic and shallots anyway, but usually use old mix to grow them in. This time, I decided to use fresh mix and amended with an eye towards the recycle.
My mix is somewhere between LC's #1 and Subcool's mix, but not quite as hot. Garlic doesn't like a heavy N anyway. I did go about 2x as heavy with my slow release 'rock' stuff. Like Azomite, rock phosphate, greensand and so on. I also added gypsum, just for the garlic. I mixed a total of 12cf.
With this, I did 17-5 gallon buckets.12 of garlic and 5 of shallots, all planted the end of Oct.,2010. All the bulbs/cloves were dunked in MycoGrow Soluble before planting and everything got a soil drench of the same about a week later.
The garlic was harvested the last week of June,2011. All the buckets were full of fine roots. I left ~3" of roots on the bulbs and left the rest in the mix. I've since put all this in 30 gal trash cans, but have added no amendments or anything to 'recharge' the used mix. There is ~6cf of this. BTW, this used mix looks, feels and smells great! Doesn't seem 'tired' in the least, if that makes any sense. The shallots aren't done yet and haven't been harvested.
This *should* be full of mycos from the roots and plenty of BB from the EWC and so on, but I'm still debating on how to use it. Like use it straight up, after re amending of course, or, mix it 1/2&1/2 with fresh mix? I guess it depends on how much I need, because I'm going to do 2 things. One, I will mix up another fresh batch for this Fall's garlic and shallots. Two, all my old used mix will be going on my gardens. Some of it is 3 years old and time to retire. I'll do this after the first frost kills the veggies that are growing in it now.
What I plan to do for the future is nothing but recycled mix that has had Alliums grown in it for the first cycle. But, with a 8 month+ grow time, this takes a bit of long range planning. LOL
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I'm open.
DD
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