Plant Alchemy With KNF: Korean Natural Farming And Jadam

[CBDMed]

Glad to see you are having seed success!
I am hoping to read all of your threads, as I can find time.
I will look forward to the seed test!

 

[scottreid1966]

For a foliar application, filter and dilute 1:25 and add a small amount of a wetting agent like aloe or an organic soap.

Hi Azi.
I am preparing my JMS and was wondering about the aloe. l Should I snip off the tip of a leaf and squeeze a few drops into the litre?
Cheers!

 

[Bode]

When just making the microbe solution, the only ingredients going in should be starch (rice, potato), and a source of microbes (leaf mold, homemade compost). After the solution is ready to distribute is when I'd add aloe for plants. Happy Smokin'

 

[Azimuth]

Hi Azi.
I am preparing my JMS and was wondering about the aloe. l Should I snip off the tip of a leaf and squeeze a few drops into the litre?

The aloe is used as a wetting agent when adding to your sprayer after the JMS is made. To do that add a chunk of aloe leaf and water to a blender and let her rip. It will be foamy and you'll need to play around with water to aloe ratio to get it thin enough to go through your sprayer.

Then strain it and the JMS into your sprayer and use it immediately.

When just making the microbe solution, the only ingredients going in should be starch (rice, potato), and a source of microbes (leaf mold, homemade compost). After the solution is ready to distribute is when I'd add aloe for plants. Happy Smokin'

Thanks, @Bode !

Starch, microbes, non-chlorinated water and a little sea salt for extra minerals is all that's called for, although I don't always add the sea salt.

 

[scottreid1966]

The aloe is used as a wetting agent when adding to your sprayer after the JMS is made. To do that add a chunk of aloe leaf and water to a blender and let her rip. It will be foamy and you'll need to play around with water to aloe ratio to get it thin enough to go through your sprayer.

Then strain it and the JMS into your sprayer and use it immediately.


Thanks, @Bode !

Starch, microbes, non-chlorinated water and a little sea salt for extra minerals is all that's called for, although I don't always add the sea salt.

Geez Azi. Just sprayed some dandelion tea on my little ones. Been in the bottle for a week now and....piewee! So stinky!
Should I discard the made foliar spay after use or the stink is good? I definitley won't do my indoor mature plants with them, too much stink!
Also may I ask if it is too late to add the aloe to my tea. I have a plant ot 2 of that. Non cannabis is Andrea's department.
Cheers!

 

[Azimuth]

Azi. Just sprayed some dandelion tea on my little ones. Been in the bottle for a week now and....piewee! So stinky!

Should I discard the made foliar spay after use or the stink is good? I definitley won't do my indoor mature plants with them, too much stink!

We mind the stink, not the plants. And it just gets better with age. Eventually it will mellow a bit to what I call a "springtime horse barn" smell, or sometimes like a bokashi bucket smell.

Also may I ask if it is too late to add the aloe to my tea. I have a plant ot 2 of that. Non cannabis is Andrea's department.

You can add the aloe to the extract bucket to let it breakdown, or simply add it as a surfactant by blending a chunk just before use.

 

[Azimuth]

Aerated Worm Tea

 

[ReservoirDog]

Hi Azimuth, I’ve been away from the forum a couple of weeks dealing with life and thankfully I had put some plants in my 27gal SIPs (sub irrigated planter) just before the hubbub. Good thing, I wasn’t able to provide daily care and a DWC plant would’ve died from the heat and lack of attention. I’m going to show you some pics here and describe.
My matrix is 60%peat, 40% perlite as recommended by Octopot. Mixed in is 4 cups WC, 1 cup slow release tomato organic fertilizer, 1 cup aged dried chicken manure and 3 cups Dolopril (a soluble, pelletized dolomite product I use in the veg garden raised beds).

I also did something a little unique, I discovered, during a recent low tide, that about 12 inches under the brackish creek/estuary/upper harbour floor that my place backs onto there is a large deposit of blue clay. Blue clays found under rivers and lakes are used in beauty industry to clean pores etc. It’s remarkably good at this because it has the highest Cation exchange sites of any natural soil type. It’s flooded with the things. Cation sites are a bit of a liability with peat, and is why coco grows faster. I dug up a bunch and have buffered 100 gallons of peat with this blue clay, flooding it with cation exchange sites. I have plenty left if a recharge seems needed down the line. This should turbo charge nutrient pickup by the plants and so far that is what I’m seeing.

So far growth rate in the SIPs is remarkable and no burning. Even though I added light organic ferts I am filling the res with Mega Crop 2 part, with 150ppm nitrogen at about 10-5-10. Will adjust this at flower. I like mega crop for its amino acid based chelates. I’m not dogmatic about grow media or ferts, but I refuse to drain to waste, use synthetic chelates, or air condition my crops. So it’s not that I’m unprincipled, on the contrary my red lines are very specific. I grow my own ferts and conditioners now thanks in part to yourself and anticipate using them next run. I’m excited about the blue clay also.

The idea is to slowly morph the matrix into an LOS after a couple of grows in it.

The res holds 6 gallons fertigation. The planter and wick “foot” are total 19gallons of matrix. I’m growing 2 plants in each container.

I have a small aquarium pump in each res that runs 15 min every 4 hours just to keep nutes stirred. I attached a Venturi with airline running down the fill tube for some O2, both are unnecessary. I can always pinch off the Venturi air supply if I simply wish to stir without O2 added. Too much aeration in SIPs is known to swing pH. I have a pump that allows me to monitor pH and so far so good. Pics:

The white PVC overflow keeps the water level 1 inch below the bottom of my planter, which is a second, shallower tote that nests inside and has holes in bottom so it can mate up with this large net pot that acts as the wick, yet maintain air space between itself and reservoir. It holds 25-6 litres/ 6 gallons which is great. This system could easily and passively be fully automated if watering once every ten days is too much for you by attaching control bucket for level and large reservoir. No pump needed. Because optimum moisture level is maintained and conditions never change plants rocket along at growth l level I believe comparable to DWC. A test I’ll record in near future. Indiv scrog scan be built, this run will have single tent-wide nets.

I watered from the top once only and wick has maintained ideal moisture since, there will never be need to top water and thus little compaction can occur. Plants have just taken off in these things. For pests I made a rosemary infusion that I mix with the ferts in res, also sticky traps and diatomaceous earth. Fungus gnats will be the bane of this system and when I can get a better pest control product I likely will, if proved to be necessary.

 

[Azimuth]

Hey RD, nice to see you back.

I built an outdoor SIP in a similar size container to yours using drainage pipe to define the reservoir. I've got 6 tomato, 2 cucumber, 1 squash, 2 basil, and a pepper plant in it which is probably way over planted but I've never had better vegetable plants, ever.

There does seem to be something to this pot structure. That reservoir only holds about 2 gallons and with that many plants I find myself watering almost every day, but even in the latest heat wave, the plants showed little, if any, droop.

Next year I'll add a few more as the other plants I have growing right in the garden soil are pretty pathetic in comparison.

I'm in the process of building my new 2 gal pots I'll use for flowering. Should be fun!

 

[ReservoirDog]

SIP info is thin out there. Have you read the major SIP threads on ICG and GrassCity? There is one onsite here on 420 that's low-info but good pics. Nonetheless, I picked up a lot from it by changing my frame of reference and applying a more intuitive interrogation. It all helps paint a picture of what's working for others, what's not, and, when we're really fortunate, why.

A lot of people interested in the method reasonably ask, "Why is this method not widely used given its apparent tremendous benefit for both grower and plant?" Why indeed. I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the matter. It's my suspicion that fertilization is the main issue, with grower machismo in 2nd place. Vis a vis ferts, there just aren't very many studies or even anecdotes that can be interpreted and then developed into straightforward PPM Rx's. The expectation amongst new growers today is that they should be able to find a feed sched. that fits perfectly right away. Older growers know how to find a plant's max and will do that every grow regardless the manuf.'s charts, this group have a better chance of getting it right, quickly but they are a shrinking cohort while the young, newer growers are a growing one. As for the other factor, well, because this method is very hands-off it offers less gratification and opportunity for those desirous of flexing on other growers, or otherwise slimy, ego-driven behaviours.

My first time using this SIP method in a container was last year's growing season when I grew 2 tomato plants in each SIP (10 SIPs total) (tomatoes were half determinant, half indeterm.) and were many varieties - it was my best tomato season ever for quality and quantity, both. I consciously made 4 distinct designs, all from 27&17 gal nested totes, with a mind to sort out what the impacting factors were in design and day-to-day ops.

I'd be happy to collect forum and thread links for what I've found about SIPs, offer a brief summary/impression of each, and PM them to you; You've likely seen these other forum threads but if not it's really the least I can do given all of the science-based, data-relaying and experiment-driven threads and posts you've been so diligent in posting.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Looking forward to hearing about your 2 gal flower pots.

Hey, I discovered another sustainability/full circle/permaculture aspect to KNF FPJ's! I have some brewing and since I like to use my winemaking cO2 byproduct to enhance my bottled cO2 system I figured why not do the same with KNF ferts while they 'cook'. Put a hole in bucket lid large enough for an air line and inserted one with a one-way inl
I made a similar system for just yeast sugar and water, again with air line w/ one way inline going into the tent, also heat matt but with the addition of weak little air pump also w/ inline one-way valve and also set on timer synched with lights. This is meant to force the co2 out of the pail up the line and into the tent

 

[Azimuth]

SIP info is thin out there. Have you read the major SIP threads on ICG and GrassCity? There is one onsite here on 420 that's low-info but good pics.

I have not, but am interested. There doesn't seem to be much info out there on this pot structure. Jeremy over at BAS makes the comment that "this is a very good design for rookie growers" or some such, "but once you get the hang of the wet/dry cycle you can get as good or better results that way." I don't know, I'm getting much better results using this method than anything else I've ever tried, and watering is brain dead simple.

A lot of people interested in the method reasonably ask, "Why is this method not widely used given its apparent tremendous benefit for both grower and plant?" Why indeed. I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the matter. I

Very good question. I think maybe it's not all that widely distributed as a concept although the original version is many decades old. Having seen the results I'm getting, I'll likely never grow with another process unless there is some downside later on in the game like root rot at the end after the container fills with roots or something. I've got a couple of SIPS in flower now as my first try at the entire cycle and so far, no issues.

It's my suspicion that fertilization is the main issue, with grower machismo in 2nd place. Vis a vis ferts, there just aren't very many studies or even anecdotes that can be interpreted and then developed into straightforward PPM Rx's.

Your comments earlier in the thread on Mineral salts as fertilizer should address that issue. Plenty of growers use Hempy with great results, but that is all chemical fert based. I'm trying to do it with organics and so have to use the soil as the place to fertilize. But, either way, this isn't much different from a regular way to grow except I don't have any over or under water issues. Ever.

The expectation amongst new growers today is that they should be able to find a feed sched. that fits perfectly right away.

This has been the most forgiving process I've ever used, but it certainly is unconventional.

Older growers know how to find a plant's max and will do that every grow regardless the manuf.'s charts, this group have a better chance of getting it right, quickly but they are a shrinking cohort while the young, newer growers are a growing one.

I think that's all still in play, it's just that this format is so much more forgiving, but tweaking the nute schedule can still be done. I'm still trying to dial in my organics so that doesn't go away.

As for the other factor, well, because this method is very hands-off it offers less gratification and opportunity for those desirous of flexing on other growers, or otherwise slimy, ego-driven behaviours.

Maybe, but I would think most growers just want healthy, happy plants and they either follow a tried and true method or try a few until they find something that fits them. I think that's why Geoflora and Grow Dots are becoming more popular since it's super easy.

The SIP structure is just a better watering method to me, but there is still the fertilizer issue to dial in as well.

My first time using this SIP method in a container was last year's growing season when I grew 2 tomato plants in each SIP (10 SIPs total) (tomatoes were half determinant, half indeterm.) and were many varieties - it was my best tomato season ever for quality and quantity, both. I consciously made 4 distinct designs, all from 27&17 gal nested

Same for me this year. I'm trying a bigger version in the vegetable garden and I've never had plants this good. Part of that is I have pretty crappy soil in the garden, but whatever. The plants in those SIPs are bigger, healthier, and much more productive than anything I've ever grown. And, by keeping water in the reservoir the plants don't droop even on the hottest days.

I'd be happy to collect forum and thread links for what I've found about SIPs, offer a brief summary/impression of each, and PM them to you; You've likely seen these other forum threads but if not it's really the least I can do given all of the science-based, data-relaying and experiment-driven threads and posts you've been so diligent in posting.

Yes please. I feel like I'm groping around in the dark with this stuff. I've read some theory and am trying some experiments to try to dial some stuff in, but would love to accelerate my learning curve.

 

[Azimuth]

Looking forward to hearing about your 2 gal flower pots.

I'll describe it in detail this weekend after I finish build it. I've got one already built but am changing the design and materials used so still working some things out.

 

[ReservoirDog]

I'm trying to do it with organics and so have to use the soil as the place to fertilize.

Interestingly, the major SIP threads on ICG and grasscity are all organics only and in fact probiotic/living soil-centric also.

Many unsubstantiated claims about fertigation from below not being possible are regularly made but they are coming from the perspective of LOS soil apologetics, not actual experience born of iterative attempts at success. Nonetheless, these threads are very informative, and as I say SIP threads on the Cannabis Forae I am aware of are virtually 100% organics-based and of those about 75% are living soil-centric.

Some people are quite intent on using cloth breathable pots no matter the design and these folks primarily create an open-topped rez from a mixing tray or something similar, then pile lava rock where they want the pot to be and merely place the matrix-filled "smart pot" atop the lava stone. In order to protect rez fluid from UV and potential algae blooms fabric covers are utilized. This design has too many flaws to my mind, but I could envision something made from a cylindrical reservoir, like a Rubbermaid garbage bin, and then a cloth pot with a slightly shorter diameter used permitting you to sink the entire pot down into the bin.

I quite like Octopots design myself. In fact, if you download their user instructions PDF, quite a bit of decent operational intel can be gleaned.

From basic engineering textbooks I've discovered that it's critically important that, if utilizing capillary action for irrigation, one must avoid layering of different ingredients in the pot and instead make an even mix of all ingredients. It may work one day but the difficulty the water has overcoming these borderlines is such that a mere drop in air pressure can be enough to halt the whole system.

I'll compile the SIP thread links for you this week.

 

[Azimuth]

Thanks, Res!

Interestingly, the major SIP threads on ICG and grasscity are all organics only and in fact probiotic/living soil-centric also.

Good to know. Makes me even more interested in reading thru.

Many unsubstantiated claims about fertigation from below not being possible are regularly made but they are coming from the perspective of LOS soil apologetics, not actual experience born of iterative attempts at success.

Interesting. That does actually match my experience both with Hempy and now my SIPs. Even my fish fertilizer didn't have any impact thru the reservoir. Much better from above thru the soil, and even better when combined with extra microbes.

But your point of the nutes needing to be chelated and salt based may be the answer. @Buds Buddy 's recent grow Starting here was certainly very successful with fertigating through the res. I think he used MC for one of his containers?

Nonetheless, these threads are very informative, and as I say SIP threads on the Cannabis Forae I am aware of are virtually 100% organics-based and of those about 75% are living soil-centric.

That's great. Glad to know this isn't virgin ground we're plowing.

Some people are quite intent on using cloth breathable pots no matter the design and these folks primarily create an open-topped rez from a mixing tray or something similar, then pile lava rock where they want the pot to be and merely place the matrix-filled "smart pot" atop the lava stone.

To me, this is just a very simple and alternative watering process that produces far superior results to anything else I've tried. Now, can you get similar results by expertly applying a wet/dry cycle or by setting up an elaborate hydro system? Maybe, but this setup brings consistently great results with very little knowledge or investment.

Cloth pots and lava stones may be a way to improve it further, but a simple design works great on its own. Still, I'm open-minded to tweaks.

I quite like Octopots design myself. In fact, if you download their user instructions PDF, quite a bit of decent operational intel can be gleaned.

Good tip. I'll have a look.

From basic engineering textbooks I've discovered that it's critically important that, if utilizing capillary action for irrigation, one must avoid layering of different ingredients in the pot and instead make an even mix of all ingredients

Interesting point. Although the standard design is almost always based on some sort of wicking approach, I don't set mine up with that element.

My theory is that the wicking process is going to be either too much when the plants are small, or too little when they are larger. I had poor results a few years ago trying to dial that in.

In my set-up I don't provide for much of any wicking at all. Now, I do use a lot of organic material in my mix and that material sitting constantly in water just seems like a bad idea, so I went a different route, but it would seem to me that you'd need different levels of water flow for different stages of the grow if relying on wicking.

I'm not sure how one would dial that in, at least simply. And that's one of the beautiful things about these buckets - they are so simple to build and then run.

And of course different materials wick at different rates. Coco is different from perlite and from CSPM, and different still from those using lantern wicks or cotton t-shirts.

I actually think it has less to do with wicking than it does root access to air and sufficient and constant water. The wick, I think, is the weak link.

I'll compile the SIP thread links for you this

I appreciate that!

 

[scottreid1966]

Hi Azimuth, I’ve been away from the forum a couple of weeks dealing with life and thankfully I had put some plants in my 27gal SIPs (sub irrigated planter) just before the hubbub. Good thing, I wasn’t able to provide daily care and a DWC plant would’ve died from the heat and lack of attention. I’m going to show you some pics here and describe.
My matrix is 60%peat, 40% perlite as recommended by Octopot. Mixed in is 4 cups WC, 1 cup slow release tomato organic fertilizer, 1 cup aged dried chicken manure and 3 cups Dolopril (a soluble, pelletized dolomite product I use in the veg garden raised beds).

I also did something a little unique, I discovered, during a recent low tide, that about 12 inches under the brackish creek/estuary/upper harbour floor that my place backs onto there is a large deposit of blue clay. Blue clays found under rivers and lakes are used in beauty industry to clean pores etc. It’s remarkably good at this because it has the highest Cation exchange sites of any natural soil type. It’s flooded with the things. Cation sites are a bit of a liability with peat, and is why coco grows faster. I dug up a bunch and have buffered 100 gallons of peat with this blue clay, flooding it with cation exchange sites. I have plenty left if a recharge seems needed down the line. This should turbo charge nutrient pickup by the plants and so far that is what I’m seeing.

So far growth rate in the SIPs is remarkable and no burning. Even though I added light organic ferts I am filling the res with Mega Crop 2 part, with 150ppm nitrogen at about 10-5-10. Will adjust this at flower. I like mega crop for its amino acid based chelates. I’m not dogmatic about grow media or ferts, but I refuse to drain to waste, use synthetic chelates, or air condition my crops. So it’s not that I’m unprincipled, on the contrary my red lines are very specific. I grow my own ferts and conditioners now thanks in part to yourself and anticipate using them next run. I’m excited about the blue clay also.

The idea is to slowly morph the matrix into an LOS after a couple of grows in it.

The res holds 6 gallons fertigation. The planter and wick “foot” are total 19gallons of matrix. I’m growing 2 plants in each container.

I have a small aquarium pump in each res that runs 15 min every 4 hours just to keep nutes stirred. I attached a Venturi with airline running down the fill tube for some O2, both are unnecessary. I can always pinch off the Venturi air supply if I simply wish to stir without O2 added. Too much aeration in SIPs is known to swing pH. I have a pump that allows me to monitor pH and so far so good. Pics:

The white PVC overflow keeps the water level 1 inch below the bottom of my planter, which is a second, shallower tote that nests inside and has holes in bottom so it can mate up with this large net pot that acts as the wick, yet maintain air space between itself and reservoir. It holds 25-6 litres/ 6 gallons which is great. This system could easily and passively be fully automated if watering once every ten days is too much for you by attaching control bucket for level and large reservoir. No pump needed. Because optimum moisture level is maintained and conditions never change plants rocket along at growth l level I believe comparable to DWC. A test I’ll record in near future. Indiv scrog scan be built, this run will have single tent-wide nets.

I watered from the top once only and wick has maintained ideal moisture since, there will never be need to top water and thus little compaction can occur. Plants have just taken off in these things. For pests I made a rosemary infusion that I mix with the ferts in res, also sticky traps and diatomaceous earth. Fungus gnats will be the bane of this system and when I can get a better pest control product I likely will, if proved to be necessary.

Awesome set-up, RD! Looking forward to seeing the blue clay drainage and the rosemary infusion is interesting.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Thanks Scotty. If the blue clay really is 'a thing' it'll take a bit more than my current efforts to nail it all down but it is an interesting path to growth and fertilizer efficiency that we've yet to see explored commercially/publically. Initially, I meant to take some samples to add a mineral-laden BRIX-bump to some soil I'm cooking, but I just couldn't help myself after the light bulb went off when researching clay types, so at low tide I investigated this immediate environment a little deeper, literally, and, voila! I can't imagine there are too many locations where a river over some blue clay goes dry once a day to allow easy access but it does in my backyard due to being an elongated meeting place of the ocean and a river/creek. Anyway, glad I went out with shovel and pail for some investigation. I have been imagining Loreal executives of the near future being told by hired market researchers that their sudden, huge bump in facemask sales has all been to 30-something-old men who live in homes with garages, and getting a chuckle.

 

[ReservoirDog]

ALM

So, it's leaf raking mowing time in these parts so you know what that means. That's right, time for some more experiments.

This round will feature something I hope will prove an effective alternative to Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (CSPM) for me. Specifically aged leaf mold (ALM).

Leaf mold is made with a fungal breakdown process as opposed to the bacterial process we use in normal composting. This is a cold process that takes time, rather than a hot process as with most compost.

The process is quite simple. Pile up a bunch of leaves, ideally at least a meter square and high, wet it thoroughly, and let it sit for a while. Like a couple of years. This is not a quick process. The breakdown can be speeded up with the addition of turning and adding high nitrogen items but then you're back to a more bacterially dominated end product. So, time it is.

I started my first batch a couple of years ago in two 32 gallon garbage cans, wetting the leaves as I filled the containers. The same result can be had by filling black garbage bags with leaves, adding water, poking some holes with a pitchfork for aeration and drainage all around, and then sticking them somewhere out of the way for Mother Nature to do her thing.

It turns into a dark, almost black, crumbly, humusy end product. In my research I found many references to using it as an alternative to CSPM, so I wanted to see for myself.

EXPERIMENT 1:
My first experiment compared its wicking ability to that of Coco and CSPM. I dried each sample, screened them each to normalize particle size, filled my little propagator containers, set them in a bottom watering container and noted the time it took to fully rehydrate each sample.

Coco - 90 minutes
ALM - 12 hours
CSPM - complete failure (or at least I'm still waiting 3 days on)

Conclusion:
Although Coco was the fastest, the ALM proved to be able to rehydrate a fully dry container, and the CSPM didn't wick at all. To be fair, it probably would have fared better if not bone dry, but many of us let our medium dry out between waterings so I thought that would be the best thing to test.

I suspect many of those who oppose bottom watering have a CSPM based medium and this experiment shows why they may have been unimpressed.

EXPERIMENT 2:
My second experiment was to compare the water holding ability of the three mediums. I used 16oz by volume (dried) of each, weighed them and then oversaturated them in 32oz of water overnight to get them thoroughly soaked. Then I drained the standing water and weighed them again.

CSPM and Coco are often touted for their ability to hold water so I wanted to see how ALM would stack up.

MED. Starting Ending
ALM 98 grams 511 grams
Coco 49 grams 495 grams
CSPM 90 grams 469 grams

Conclusion:
The ALM held more water than either of the other two! It's starting weight was slightly higher than CSPM but that could be explained by the medium itself as it is not uncommon to have small bits of twigs mixed in.

Also it was interesting to note that after the overnight soak, the ALM had a froth of bubbles covering the surface showing some really good microbe activity, while the other two understandably had nothing going on. ALM appears to be very Jadam friendly!

So, it would seem that ALM is a quite suitable alternative to either of the other two without some of the downsides.

Coco is good but comes frome half a world away and can cause issues if not thoroughly rinsed. It also has a reputation for holding onto to certain nutrients causing lockouts if not addressed in the nutrient mix.

CSPM is extremely hydrophobic when dry and difficult to rewet if allowed to go dry, and in the process has very poor wicking ability which can lead to dry pockets throughout your medium.

ALM wicks reasonably well, holds a good amount of water, and adds life in the form of microbes to your mix. Leaves are also what I feed my worms so it would seem to be a good way to sustain a worm population in my pots. The downside is you have to make it yourself as it is not commercially available and it takes a loooong time (a couple of years) to do so. But it's free, so there's that.

So, based on these two experiments, I'm sold. But, as with all my experiments, I'll try it on my houseplants before testing it on my ladies, and I repotted a variety of plants this weekend to see how they like it. I used equal parts of ALM, perlite and worm castings.

And, as with all of my experiments, I look forward to my plants not dying overnight.

I've been rereading some of the 'classic' posts in the thread, knowing my predisposition to overlook important details when encountering new and exciting ideas. True to form I am picking up some new things that are helping me form new questions to be answered either in future research or experiment.

However, with respect to the experiment underway in this post, some recent experience corroborates your findings. Canadian peat moss does hold moisture exceedingly well. In fact, it will increase its moisture level via capillary action against even the forces of gravity better than any media I've come across, sans rockwool.

What I've found about peat's incredible water attraction and holding properties is that they get flipped on their asses should the peat be permitted to dry nearly 100%. Now, many growing matrices exhibit this repulsion of liquids when stone-dry. But, very few can swing from one extreme to the other, then back again, so breathtakingly well. Like peat, rockwool becomes more acidic if permitted to cycle from 100% to 1% moisture levels enough times, but, when dried it doesn't suddenly repel the same liquids it recently attracted so well. Peat moss, fairly uniquely, becomes strongly hydrophobic once highly desiccated, and it won't soak up water again the instant it is reintroduced. It takes much more water the second time to overcome this induced hydrophobia.

When growing in SIPs with 60% peat, 40% perlite it's my experience that very, very dry peat will not 'wick' moisture well enough to fight the desiccating forces of light energy hitting its surface layer. What is required when building a new SIP with peat, for me, is to fill the planter with a slightly moist mix. Then, the mix easily attracts more moisture from the reservoir and finds its equilibrium quickly, usually at 30% (3" below surface) in my case, and maintains it varying only with my tent's RH%. However, should you dry the mix again, say by temporarily removing the res, hydrophobic it will again become - requiring more than just the reservoir underneath to remoisten.

I understand that coco does have this trait in extremis, however, for me anyway, it will remoisten via reintroduction of the reservoir, even when drier than a dust fart.

Now, after reading, completely, nearly every discoverable SIP thread on the internet I've noticed that living soil SIP users, and growers with a lot of compost and little aeration, often comment that their soil is slightly wetter than they feel is ideal, even if the results, they note, cannot be argued with. I would highly recommend to any grower planting out a new SIP to add significant aeration in the form of pumice or perlite, esp if living soil or lots of compost are planned for.

 

[Azimuth]

When growing in SIPs with 60% peat, 40% perlite it's my experience that very, very dry peat will not 'wick' moisture well enough to fight the desiccating forces of light energy hitting its surface layer.

This experiment was done before my transition over to the SIP model so I was still in the wet/dry mode for the soil mix. However, in the SIP model I think your thoughts on starting a SIP with moist CSPM and not letting it dry likely overcomes the hydrophobic concerns with that medium I had at that time. It still has pH issues but in living soil that gives you the opportunity to add some lime and Oyster shell as a buffer which brings some calcium to the mix.

Another test for those inclined to use the wicking approach is how high can each media wick water, as that could help inform how deep a bed one could/should use. With wicking, since there will always be a perched water table, some minimum depth is likely most practical, but what that minimum is would be good to test, as well as the maximum height of wicking capabilities.

Ideally one could find the ideal depth to leave say, the top two inches dry, have a nice moisture level from 2" down to some level for most of the roots, and keep the perched water table far enough down that one avoids oversaturation leading to root rot.

Since I don't want much wicking action in my set-up, hopefully I can avoid that issue although it doesn't seem to be very prevalent from what I've seen. Having read most of the SIP threads on the net, your research is much more thorough and I wonder if you have the same conclusion in that root rot doesn't seem to be a significant concern with this set-up even though in theory it would seem perfectly set up for that problem.

I would highly recommend to any grower planting out a new SIP to add significant aeration in the form of pumice or perlite, esp if living soil or lots of compost are planned for.

Your grow bag idea can also help with the aeration issue and maybe that is why some have gone that route. Also, coco/perlite/worm castings might be a great combination with this structure.

 

[Buds Buddy]

KNF, or Korean Natural Farming is a practice that is gaining more popularity among organic growers as it seeks to use naturally occurring plants and microorganisms to help plants grow.

It generally uses the magic and alchemy of plant extracts made using mostly brown sugar, vinegar or alcohol to extract the goodies out of the plants. The output is often a liquid of some sort that is very concentrated, and therefore potent, and highly available to plants. Suggested usage rates are 1:1000. I generally go a bit stronger at 1:750 which works out to about 1tsp per gallon (1/4 tsp/L). A little goes a long way. So, 1 gallon of extract will make 750 gallons of infused water to feed your plants.

In her excellent thread ( Emmie's Backyard Fermented Plant Extracts From Dandelions! ) @Emilya shows how to make and store these magic elixirs. In it, she highlights the "Mighty Dandelion." Dandelion is one of the major "plant accumulators," which are plants known for their ability to mine and store a wide variety of nutrients and minerals in the flowers, leaves , stems and roots. Other significant plant accumulators include comfrey, stinging nettle, and dill.

Below I show the numbers sourced from a book called "The Regenerative Growers Guide to Garden Amendments" by Nigel Palmer. In it he goes into detail on the why's and how's of plant extracts, including those using brown sugar, water, vinegar and alcohol. Each has its place and I'd refer you to the above linked thread for Emilya's tutorial to make your own.

If you were going to use a single plant to make extracts to feed your plants, dandelion is a great choice. Stored in its leaves, flowers, and roots are a wide variety of minerals in a pretty good balance and at levels that are higher than most plants.

However, based on the data listed below, I'm going to suggest a couple of ways to improve on her "Mighty Dandelion" by using a combination of two different plants. These combinations provide even higher levels of most of the important goodies, are easier to harvest, and provide a much larger mass at harvest time which will provide for more liquid end product for those with larger plants and gardens.

My favorite combinations are (1) Comfrey/Horsetail Fern, and (2) Stinging Nettle/Chickweed, although a good single source input is actually cow bone extract from vinegar and, of course, what is considered to be the best of the best, a brown sugar fermented fish extract made from deep ocean blue fish like mackerel or sardines.

Comfrey/Horsetail Fern is my favorite combination. Comparing the average of the two combined plants to dandelion, they are higher in P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and about equal in Si, and S. They are also much lower in Cl, Na and Al (which I consider a good thing). AND, at harvest time, a single comfrey plant can be equal to many dozens of dandelion plants providing much more mass for your end product. And the other, Horsetail Fern, is super simple to harvest with your bare hands.

My second favorite is S.Nettle /Chickweed. This two plant combo is about equal in P, but higher in K, Ca, Mg, Fe, S, Na, and lower in Si, Cl, and Al. The challenge I have with this one is it is super high in Fe, Cl, and Na, with the Fe at levels that are many multiples above where most plants are and I wonder if it is too much. This combo is also easy to harvest in large amounts.

Cow bones by themselves are high in P, K, Ca, MG, and Na, while a bit light on Fe, and Si.

Or, you could simply do single plant extracts from any of those shown and know generally what your goodies list is.

Keep in mind that the table comes from a lab analysis the original author had done and YMMV. The numbers are in ppm, using brown sugar to make an fpj (fermented plant juice), except for the cow bones which are extracted with vinegar.

.................................P.............K..........Ca..........Mg..........Fe.........Si...........S.............Cl...........Na.........Al...
Fish (FAA)............836.8......1,013....718.8.......105.7.....2.57.....0.29....127.2......1,000.....109.3.......1.31

Comfrey..............270.8.......1,025....31.52......34.15.....2.06.....15.4......8.32............80.......0.58......0.31
Horsetail Fern.......42.1.......876.5....358.1......90.92.....6.74.....28.8....56.79.........300.......1.11......1.15
.....(av).................156.45.....950.75...194.81.....62.53.......4.4......22.1....32.51........190.......0.84......0.73

S.Nettle...............35.34..........376........861.........141.....1.57.....24.6.....70.17.....1,050......0.55.........0.9
Chickweed..........205.2.......1,277......6.84.......13.52...163.9.....13.5......18.88.......250....54.47......3.07
....(av).................120.27.......826.5.....433.8.....77.26...82.74....19.05.....44.53.......650....27.51......1.98

Dandelion......... ....128...........485........143......53.4.......3.17.......28.........33.5....1,340......3.25.......2.51

Dill.......................155.2........1,157.....167.5....55.35.......6.19.......7.6......46.24.......275......4.89......0.45

Cow Bones ........509.2........618.8.....1,691....453.5.....1.39......4.66.......24.81.........26.....95.44.......1.3

This looks like an interesting Topic. I'll be reading it over the weekend. Thanks for posting it !