Plant Alchemy With KNF: Korean Natural Farming And Jadam

[Azimuth]

I would think one worm bin fed different things during veg or flower to coincide with applying the castings to a veg or flower lady.

I've got plants in all different stages and they take me about six months to make so that wouldn't be practical for my grow.

 

[Gee64]

Thanks @Gee64 . That's some great info but a lot to digest.

I make each of my Jadam nutes individually and then mix them when I apply them so I can mix and match things in differrent ratios and so could do the same for the veg vs flower castings. It's more a space issue that I'll have to give some thought to.

I add dried leaves when I add my kitchen wastes so they are getting good carbon that way. I don't have enough of my Aged Leaf Mold to use that yet, but I can see where that might be preferable.

Although my leaf mold may not be fully broken down, it is mostly there. I'm going to try a few things to accelerate the natural process without adding nitrogen or other bacterial sources as I want to keep it fungal.

I have to think I'm getting close to my goal of having a sustainable process that I mostly make myself from my backyard plants. Its been kind of fun putting it all together.

I could easily swap out 1 part of the leaf mold for say 1 part castings, which I would also help with aeration down the road as the castings melt away with water, I'd imagine.

Your aged leaf mold, when finished, is going to be stellar Azi. I wouldn't accelerate it if I were you.

I would just let nature do her thing on it properly in case trying to help it ends up hurting it, but thats just me, not me telling you what to do, I'm just extremely patient plus spoiled with ample indoor space and tons of EWC and used soil with a new batch always ready to go.

I'm a couple years ahead on the painfully slow stuff so that helps with patience too.

You will be terribly sad if you screw that Gold Mold up (Not to mention my own selfish interests in how it comes out, I don't want to wait 2 years to find out!)

Hey wait..I AM now going to tell you what to do. Split the mold in half, accelerate 1 half, and mail the other half to me for safe keeping!

Plus if I "accidentally" spill it in a pot I have a camera. I (unlike you) could take pictures of it growing!

 

[Azimuth]

Yeah, I've got a couple of barrels from last fall and my plan is to experiment on one of them. Unfortunately for you, shipping costs to get the other one to you are prohibitive. Sorry. but, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, though so that you can live vicariously through me.

I'm going to try a couple of different things.

First, I'm going to regularly mix up the leaves, likely on a weekly basis. This will get added air throughout the pile and hopefully increase activity. This part I started last week and will continue to see how it progresses.

Second, I'll add some of my FAA to hopefully feed, and therefore increase, the fungal activity. More fungus should mean faster conversion.

I'd like to get to the point where I can start adding it to my worm bins again. I had to stop because I was using it too fast and wanted to be sure I had enough for the pots themselves.

 

[Gee64]

Yeah, I've got a couple of barrels from last fall and my plan is to experiment on one of them. Unfortunately for you, shipping costs to get the other one to you are prohibitive. Sorry. but, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, though so that you can live vicariously through me.

I'm going to try a couple of different things.

First, I'm going to regularly mix up the leaves, likely on a weekly basis. This will get added air throughout the pile and hopefully increase activity. This part I started last week and will continue to see how it progresses.

Second, I'll add some of my FAA to hopefully feed, and therefore increase, the fungal activity. More fungus should mean faster conversion.

I'd like to get to the point where I can start adding it to my worm bins again. I had to stop because I was using it too fast and wanted to be sure I had enough for the pots themselves.

I hear Ya. You can never have too much. It must really suck being stuck with plain old super-cool non-leaf-molded EWC.

All those prime ingredients laying 'round screaming "What, no leaf mold!"

May have to start you a 2nd GoFundMe....

jus sayin...

 

[Azimuth]

The first round of my V2 castings will be finished in a couple of months. That batch will have kitchen scraps, dried leaves, some of my crumbles and my amendments.

Not as much crumble as later batches will once the growing season kicks off because it was a late decision on my part last season, but I did 5x my comfrey stand by planting extra roots, and I've started a bunch of s.nettle seeds in a jug out in the cold to get them properly stratified.

I'm really looking forward to the garden this year. I had the best plants ever last year with my outdoor SIPs, although the harvest was lacking a bit. But I think I've got the solution to that issue I'm anxious to put to the test.

 

[Gee64]

The I've started a bunch of s.nettle seeds in a jug out in the cold to get them properly stratified.

Outside already? Gentle winters must be nice.

I've actually heard stinging nettles are a superfood but have no idea really.

Do you consume them at all?

 

[Azimuth]

Outside already? Gentle winters must be nice.

I've actually heard stinging nettles are a superfood but have no idea really.

Do you consume them at all?

Yes, the leaves and roots are good for teas. Nettle seeds benefit from a cold period which helps them germinate, so I put them outside in the freezing cold all winter. They go through freezes and thaws so, when spring comes and the weather turns warmer, it's easier for the seeds to pop.

You can accomplish the same by putting the seeds in moist sand or potting soil in the freezer for a few months but I think there's real benefit to the freeze/thaw cycle rather than just the constant cold.

They have pretty aggressive roots that will spread and I'm going to grow some in a pot to make the roots easier to access at season's end. I did so last year but grew them in a big SIP and, not surprisingly, didn't get as much root as I wanted. This year they'll be in a regular pot and I'll let them dry out well between waterings so they build a more traditional water seeking root.

 

[Gee64]

Yes, the leaves and roots are good for teas. Nettle seeds benefit from a cold period which helps them germinate, so I put them outside in the freezing cold all winter. They go through freezes and thaws so, when spring comes and the weather turns warmer, it's easier for the seeds to pop.

That explains why Canada has so darn many of them!

I just did a bit of reading on Stinging Nettles. Not much, just an intro to them.

I had no idea how complete they are.

It says they like nitrogen rich soil and it says they contain a lot of calcium.

So their natural cycle will lay down calcium rich matter onto the soil to compost, and they love nitrogen.

A pattern emerges....

I need to add these to my compost.

 

[Gee64]

But the real question Azi, is..." What the heck are you doing up at 3am?

 

[Gee64]

Googling stinging nettles led me to comfrey.

You said earlier, if I recall correctly, that you grow comfrey too?

It says comfrey is one of the best compost accelerants there is, so if you do decide to speed up your leaves, fresh green comfrey is toughted as the best for this.

 

[Azimuth]

I've settled on the pair of comfrey and nettle for my base nutes because they are so complimentary to each other. Comfrey is high in NPK and low in just about all of the other elements, whereas nettle is almost exactly opposite.

Nettle is also higher in calcium and magnesium than other choices and also has high levels of Si and other things without being too high in any one thing.

Here's a post from early in the thread where I was comparing various plants to one another...

Another really good combo looks to be Comfrey/S.Nettle. The two are very complimentary to each other. Really good Cal/Mag and less Cl, Na, and Al. Better P, K, Ca, Mg, S, but a bit lighter on Fe, and Si when compared to dandelion.

If you pick complimentary plants, i.e. where one is high for a particular nutrient and the other is low, you can get a pretty nice profile that is reasonably strong in most without having too much of any one thing.

I looked at the ppm's from products like Jack's and their P:K ratio was about 1:6, so any of the combos shown are about in that ballpark.

.................................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
S.Nettle...............35.34..........376........861.........141.....1.57.....24.6.....70.17.....1,050.......0.55........0.9
.....(av).................153.07.....700.5.....446.3......87.58.....1.82......20.0....39.25........565.......0.57.......0.61

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

 

[Azimuth]

comfrey is one of the best compost accelerants there is, so if you do decide to speed up your leaves, fresh green comfrey is toughted as the best for this.

That type of acceleration is specifically what I don't want to do. Doing it that way would introduce a more typical compost style decomp and introduce bacteria but I want to keep the leaf mold more fungal in nature.

But yeah, comfrey is one of the best of the accumulator plants going. It's just too low in the minor nutrients to satisfy a hungry canna plant which is why I'm combing it with the nettle which brings in those others.

 

[Gee64]

Geez look at those nettles. Natures CalMag.

 

[Azimuth]

Geez look at those nettles. Natures CalMag.

Right. And that's why they're included in my nute mix.

The numbers come from a book that compared the element profiles of lots of different plants so I built a spreadsheet to compare various combinations and settled on comfrey/nettle.

Really good nute profile and super easy to harvest in quantity. Compares quite well to fish imo, and appreciably better than dandelion. Dandelion is most peoples entre into using plants as fertilizers but are a real pain to harvest in any appreciable quantity.

Plus, my combination has higher levels of most of the elements.

Win/win.

 

[Gee64]

Right. And that's why they're included in my nute mix.

The numbers come from a book that compared the element profiles of lots of different plants so I built a spreadsheet to compare various combinations and settled on comfrey/nettle.

Really good nute profile and super easy to harvest in quantity. Compares quite well to fish imo, and appreciably better than dandelion. Dandelion is most peoples entre into using plants as fertilizers but are a real pain to harvest in any appreciable quantity.

Plus, my combination has higher levels of most of the elements.

Win/win.

Yes I see why you chose these two. I'm surprised you don't see comfrey/nettle compost being sold commercially.

I have been stung by nettles so many times the thought of growing them is giving me ptsd Maybe a good Shrink can help me up my growing game. I grew up on Vancouver Island and nettles grow everywhere there. They seem to like swamps and creeks. I'm surprised Sips didn't work that well. Maybe a Swick to get the roots wetter?

 

[Azimuth]

Yes I see why you chose these two. I'm surprised you don't see comfrey/nettle compost being sold commercially.

The comfrey disappears pretty quickly when topdressed so there isn't much left to it to give it bulk. Maybe use it a a compost started in place of blood meal, or something.

But I've never seen the combined nute profile anywhere and  thats what makes the pair compelling to me.

I have been stung by nettles so many times the thought of growing them is giving me ptsd Maybe a good Shrink can help me up my growing game. I grew up on Vancouver Island and nettles grow everywhere there. They seem to like swamps and creeks. I'm surprised Sips didn't work that well. Maybe a Swick to get the roots wetter?

Oh, the SIP worked fine for foliage. I was also interested in the roots for teas and such and the SIPs only produce the fine feeder roots. Lesson learned. I'm going to treat it like the weed it is this coming season and make it work for its water.

 

[Azimuth]

Welp, my beautiful CBD plant turned out to be a male.

I've got two seeds left so I'm going to try again, this time planting directly into a premoistened 9oz SIP on a heat mat with a dome.

I've been persuaded by Keffka 's arguments and info about how the seed carries with it plant specific microbes, some of which would get lost in my typical presoak/paper towel process.

I do like knowing that the seed has cracked which I obviously won't have this round, but, let's see how it goes. I did plant my sacrificial plant that way and it worked fine and I assume it will for this one as well, but let's see.

But remember @Keffka that if it doesn't work, ima blame you.

 

[Azimuth]

I have been stung by nettles so many times the thought of growing them is giving me ptsd Maybe a good Shrink can help me up my growing game.

Just think of it in terms of "greater good" and all that.

See? I just saved you a counseling fee.

 

[Gee64]

Dr Azi to the rescue!

 

[Azimuth]

Yesterday I "fluffed" up my tester bag of leaf mold, crumbling up the chunks of matted leaves held together by mycelium filaments and passed everything over a 1/2" screen to get some foundation material for my next batch of grow mix.

I'll continue to fluff and crumble it weekly for a bit and see how it works.