Plant Alchemy With KNF: Korean Natural Farming And Jadam

[Gee64]

Thanks, @Gee64 ! This is quite timely as I'm starting to get my leaf composting station going today and I'm re-reading some of my composting references.

I'm trying something right now, and that is a small scale composting set-up using a 5 gallon bucket. I'm not sure it's going to work since most of the composting reading I've done says you really need a pile at a minimum of a yard/meter squared which is needed to allow the pile to heat up.

So, what I did was I filled a 5 gallon bucket with my partially finished leaf mold plus enough fresher fall leaves to fill the bucket and mixed in my last 6oz of my comfrey crumble. I was going to wait to see if the pile started to heat up in a day or two, but plugging the numbers into the calculator says I'll need a gallon of kitchen scraps as well so I'll add those in the coming days along with some JMS made from my fresh castings. I'm going to try two methods, the first with my normal potato flakes and the other with molasses and see how they compare.

Then I put that bucket into a larger container and stuffed dry leaves in between them to act as insulation, similar to the way hay boxes can serve as thermal cookers. Would be cool if it works.

This is a cool experiment! Can you please keep us updated?

Also this is aerobic composting so you need moist material, I water my compost exactly as if it were a house plant, and it needs access to a constant supply of fresh air.

 

[Azimuth]

This is a cool experiment! Can you please keep us updated?

Also this is aerobic composting so you need moist material, I water my compost exactly as if it were a house plant, and it needs access to a constant supply of fresh air.

Right, and I plan to mix it every three days or so. Some of the water will come in with my JMS that I started last night.

 

[Azimuth]

. I was going to wait to see if the pile started to heat up in a day or two, but plugging the numbers into the calculator says I'll need a gallon of kitchen scraps as well so I'll add those in the coming days along with some JMS made from my fresh castings. I'm going to try two methods, the first with my normal potato flakes and the other with molasses and see how they compare.

The two JMS's (one fed with potato flakes and the other with molasses) produced about the same amount of bubbles in the same amount of time, with the molasses version producing slightly large bubbles.

Both were added to my 5 gallon bucket of leaves and kitchen scraps I'm hoping to turn into compost.

 

[Gee64]

The two JMS's (one fed with potato flakes and the other with molasses) produced about the same amount of bubbles in the same amount of time, with the molasses version producing slightly large bubbles.

Both were added to my 5 gallon bucket of leaves and kitchen scraps I'm hoping to turn into compost.

Any idea as to how long it should take to compost?

 

[Azimuth]

Any idea as to how long it should take to compost?

I'm hoping it's the standard time frame with the leaf insulation serving to keep the heat in the small core. But I guess that's the experiment.

 

[Gee64]

Is this happening indoors or out?

 

[Azimuth]

Unheated greenhouse

 

[Azimuth]

So, based on a discussion in Keffka 's Thread with @Keffka and @Gee64 , I'm implementing a new strategy in my grow.

Basically, we were discussing how important fungi is to an organic grow and how it takes time to initially develop without the interference from bacteria. Most growers are using myco's like Dynomyco or Great White, but I'm going to see if the stuff I get with my ALM (Aged Leaf Mold) will work similarly.

So, what I'm going to do for my new standard practice is set up my next pot 6 weeks before pot up of the next plant in the rotation and plant a sacrificial plant to give the myco some live roots to work with as they get established and then, when I pot up my next plant, I'll cover crop the sacrificial one. It was suggested that a canna or hemp plant might be best to use since the myco might specialize, so I'll just use some of the seeds I made from my pollen chucking experiment since I have many hundreds of seeds from that that I'll never use.

I'll plant one of those along with a bean seed to fix some nitrogen in my mix and see how it goes. I'll also build the mix around an empty 9oz cup so I can transplant the new clone without disturbing the myco in any appreciable way.

I never really understood the whole cover crop thing, but if the true reason for it is to build the mycelium in the mix, then that makes total sense to me.

Interesting stuff to be sure.

Now that my CBG clone has finally rooted I'm going to pot it directly into the 2 Gallon SIP and veg it out for flower. The sacrificial plant currently in that container has kind of taken over and is a bit of a mess but I'll chop it down and plant the clone in the void I made originally with an empty 9 oz solo cup.

I'll see what the soil looks like and if there is any decent fungi built up before deciding whether I want to continue with this practice or not. I  do have some great bright white fungus on the soil surface so that's great, but I also have some mites and maybe thrips which I'm not that thrilled with.

But, onward we go!

Also, I have great root bumps on many of the cuttings, but only one with roots, so I'll pull it out and then soak the others in a seaweed mix to see if the hormones can stimulate things and get them rooting.

 

[Azimuth]

I harvested my first batch of my Super Castings v2.0 today. This is the one that is leaf based and has all of my amendments and kitchen scraps added to it on a weekly basis, so it should be pretty good stuff.

I spread out the contents of the bucket to dry them and will process them over the next couple of weeks. The worms have been at it for about 6 months but it's not broken down as much as I'm used to, probably because it's been winter and the worms less active. I think a handful of red wrigglers could help as well so I may see about adding some of those.

What I do have should work great in the new soil mix I'm going to try out with my new cbd strain and all of that should come together in the coming weeks. My mini compost pile isn't heating up yet but it's just begun to have what should be a good mix of greens and browns, but in the meantime I added a few worms and castings to it to at least get some biological activity happening.

 

[johnehazeharvester]

I harvested my first batch of my Super Castings v2.0 today. This is the one that is leaf based and has all of my amendments and kitchen scraps added to it on a weekly basis, so it should be pretty good stuff.

I spread out the contents of the bucket to dry them and will process them over the next couple of weeks. The worms have been at it for about 6 months but it's not broken down as much as I'm used to, probably because it's been winter and the worms less active. I think a handful of red wrigglers could help as well so I may see about adding some of those.

What I do have should work great in the new soil mix I'm going to try out with my new cbd strain and all of that should come together in the coming weeks. My mini compost pile isn't heating up yet but it's just begun to have what should be a good mix of greens and browns, but in the meantime I added a few worms and castings to it to at least get some biological activity happening.

Where did you get your CBD strain? I'm thinking of growing one.

 

[Azimuth]

I'm getting mine from @Weed Seeds Express . Most of the seed banks have groupings of cbd varieties so you can read through and select something that fits your grow.

I had been growing ACDC, a high cbd pheno of Cannatonic, but that one is 80/20 sativa/indica and smells like a typical canna plant. I went looking for the opposite and selected Strawberry CBD. It has about the same cbd level as the ACDC about 15% and a thc level of about 0.2%, but is 80/20 indica and is supposed to smell like mushy fruit.

 

[johnehazeharvester]

I'm getting mine from @Weed Seeds Express . Most of the seed banks have groupings of cbd varieties so you can read through and select something that fits your grow.

I had been growing ACDC, a high cbd pheno of Cannatonic, but that one is 80/20 sativa/indica and smells like a typical canna plant. I went looking for the opposite and selected Strawberry CBD. It has about the same cbd level as the ACDC about 15% and a thc level of about 0.2%, but is 80/20 indica and is supposed to smell like mushy fruit.

Thanks I appreciate it. The main place I go also has CBD varieties. Just curious where you got yours. I'll check that site out.

 

[Azimuth]

Based on conversations we've had in both @Gee64 and @Keffka 's threads, I'm going to make some material changes to my grow. I haven't been this excited about a grow, I think, ever. Even when I started, I was more curious if I could pull it off since I knew basically nothing. But now I feel like I have a decent understanding of how all my different inputs work together so I'm excited to see how it comes together.

The first change is going to be how I start seeds. I have been using the 48 hour soak, followed by paper towels for anything that didn't sprout in the water but Keffka has convinced me to go directly into my soil mix based on This post . Also, based on Gee's input, I'll make a little nest of my finished Aged Leaf Mold (instead of his coco) to creadle the seed until it sprouts so I can take advantage of the onboard bacteria that comes with the seed. I'll also dust the seed in Great White myco to give the plant every possible advantage starting out. And, for regular seeds, I'll start them under 12/12 lighting for the first 10 days to help speed up the sexing process.

I'll start it out in one of my 9oz solo SIPs so I can stick it on a heat mat to help germination, then let it grow out a bit before transferring it into a 2 gallon SIP for veg and clone production.

I'm also making some changes to my soil mix. Last year I moved to a more fungal mix based on my Aged Leaf Mold, but I've read recently that canna likes a more bacterially based mix so I'll switch over to more of a compost base. That should have several advantages including more bacterial than fungal, be much faster to produce since it will take a few months rather than a few years to make, and should bring a wider variety of both nutrients and microbes to the mix. It will still be leaf based so I'll still have some minerals and the fungal base to it to support the myco fungus, but hopefully it will be a more diversified input.

So, the new soil mix will be:
2P Old Soil for the strain specific bacteria, fungus and the partially broken down minerals and leaves
1P RWC, V.2.0 My worm castings got a significant upgrade with the addition of all of my inputs but now in a broken down and calcium carbonate encapsulated form
1P Compost (Leaf Based)
1P Fresh Dried Leaves Carbon source to be run through a shredder to make a very fine input
1P Aged Leaf Mold
1P Biochar I make myself and will charge with Jadam extracts of worm castings, comfrey and s.nettle
1P Sand This should provide a good long term source of silica and aeration, and will take several grows to fully break down
2P Pumice / Perlite I'll use up the big bag of perlite I have and then switch over to pumice

I assume the worm castings, compost and raw leaves will be mostly used up during the grow so by adding fresh amounts each round I'll be refreshing the mix, while also bringing in some of the goodies from prior rounds.

From there, I'll probably rely mostly on topdressing my crumbles, worm castings, fish extract, bug mix, and malted barley on some sort of a rotating basis, and do mostly rain water in the reservoir, at least during veg. For flower, my main input will be my Fruit & Flower mix and that one seems easiest to produce in a Jadam water extract.

Onward we go!

 

[Keffka]

Based on conversations we've had in both @Gee64 and @Keffka 's threads, I'm going to make some material changes in my grow. I haven't been this excited about a grow, I think, ever. Even when I started, I was more curious if I could pull it off since I knew basically nothing. But now I feel like I have a decent understanding of how all my different inputs work together so I'm excited to see how it works.

The first change is going to be how I start seeds. I have been using the 48 hour soak, followed by paper towels for anything that didn't sprout in the water but Keffka has convinced me to go directly into my soil mix based on This post . Also, based on Gee's input, I'll make a little nest of my finished Aged Leaf Mold (instead of his coco) to creadle the seed until it sprouts so I can take advantage of the onboard bacteria that comes with the seed. I'll also dust the seed in Great White myco to give the plant every possible advantage starting out.

I'll start it out in one of my 9oz solo SIPs so I can stick it on a heat mat to help germination, then let it grow out a bit before transferring it into a 2 gallon SIP for veg and clone production.

I'm also making some changes to my soil mix. Last year I moved to a more fungal mix based on my Aged Leaf Mold, but I've read recently that canna likes a more bacterially based mix so I'll switch over to more of a compost base. That should have several advantages including more bacterial than fungal, be a much faster to produce since it will take a few months rather than a few years to make, and should bring a wider variety of both nutrients and microbes to the mix. It will still be leaf based so I'll still have some minerals and the fungal base to it to support the myco fungus, but hopefully it will be a more diversified input.

So, the new soil mix will be:
1P Old Soil for the strain specfic bacteria, fungus and the partially broken down minerals and leaves
1P RWC, V.2.0 My worm castings got a significant upgrade with the addition of all of my inputs but now in a broken down and calcium carbonate encapsulated form
1P Leaf Based Compost / Aged Leaf Mold I don't have finished compost yet, so ALM it is for now
1P Fresh Dried Leaves These will be run through a shredder to make a very fine input
1P Biochar I make myself and will charge with Jadam extracts of worm castings, comfrey and s.nettle
1P Sand This should provide a good long term source of silica, but will take several grows to fully break down
2P Pumice / Perlite I'll use up the big bag of perlite I have and then switch over to pumice

I assume the worm castings,compost and raw leaves will be mostly used up during the grow so by adding fresh amounts each grow I'll be refreshing the mix, while also bringing in some of the goodies from prior rounds.

From there, I'll probably rely mostly on topdressing my crumbles, worm castings fish extract, bug mix, and malted barley on some sort of a rotating basis, and do mostly rain water in the reservoir, at least during veg. For flower, my main input will be my friut and flower mix and that one seems easiest to produce in a Jadam water extract

This all looks really promising to me. I’m intrigued by your leaf mold and will be watching how effective your malted barley is. I like your MOB (My Own Backyard) approach and think it’s what a lot of people should try for beyond just cannabis growing.

 

[Azimuth]

This all looks really promising to me. I’m intrigued by your leaf mold and will be watching how effective your malted barley is. I like your MOB (My Own Backyard) approach and think it’s what a lot of people should try for beyond just cannabis growing.

Thanks, @Keffka . That MOB approach has been with me from the start and I'm getting really close, asuming the new mix works.

The only things I can't source from the yard is the pumice/perlite, and the meals and rock dusts I use as amendments, but virtually everything else I either grow or harvest and process myself. It's been quite a learning curve, but that's part of the fun of it for me.

The malted barley is a Clackamas Coot idea and I linked an interview he did with Kis Organics up earlier in the thread, but here it is again for easy reference. In it, he talks about worm castings, comfrey, malted barley, and lot's of other things. He's truly a legend in this style of growing.

 

[Keffka]

Thanks, @Keffka . That MOB approach has been with me from the start and I'm getting really close, asuming the new mix works.

The only things I can't source from the yard is the pumice/perlite, and the meals and rock dusts I use as amendments, but virtually everything else I either grow or harvest and process myself. It's been quite a learning curve, but that's part of the fun of it for me.

The malted barley is a Clackamas Coot idea and I linked an interview he did with Kis Organics up earlier in the thread, but here it is again for easy reference. In it, he talks about worm castings, comfrey, malted barley, and lot's of other things. He's truly a legend in this style of growing.

Yeah, I listened to all of the KIS episodes with Coot then went and listened to every other podcast he had been on. KIS does podcasts the best though.. Much more professional, organized, and doesn’t sound like a couple kids in their bedroom interviewing legends. Coots podcast with KIS is what made me listen to all of the rest of the KIS podcasts.

Coot is also where I learned about neem and sustainable peat from. He reminds me a lot of @Gee64 actually lol.

 

[Azimuth]

It looks more and more like the latest ACDC seedling is gonna turn out male. It's Day 25 and starting to show sex after beginning its journey at 12/12 for the first 10 days, and then back to 18/6.

No worries though as that is giving me the opportunity to move on to something else that I think will fit my grow better.

My new plant is a feminized Strawberry CBD. Basically a hemp plant at 15% cbd and 0.2% according to WSE. It's 80:20 indica:sativa which I prefer, and is supposed to smell like crushed berries in flower as opposed to the more traditional canna smelling ACDC which is 80:20 sativa:indica. We'll see.

So, all around a better choice for me and will nicely complement my other hemp plant, the CBG LeCreme.

I prepped a small container with used soil with a nest of my aged leaf mold on top, sprinkled with Great White, dropped the seed, covered with more Great White and another layer of leaf mold. I bottom watered to wet the medium, sprayed down the top, covered with a vented dome and then put it on the heat mat to start the process. I've never used myco before so it will be interesting to see the difference it makes.

In the meantime, I'll mix up a batch of my new soil mix to get ready for veg which I'll probably do in a 1L SIP container and then up-pot to a 2G SIP just before flip.

That's the plan.

 

[Azimuth]

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

Today I went in for a closer look at my plants to scope for bugs. I already knew I had a thrip issue on the 12/12 ACDC seedling, but then I discovered mites on another plant.

Usually I would then go to war with daily sprays of the sink sprayer and an every three day spray with Safer's Insect Killing Soap until I "won", but this time I'm going to treat it like an experiment and see if I can apply some Jadam knowledge to the task.

It will be great if it works since it will be a simple soil drench that could be even used as a preventative. I typically get an outbreak of one of the two bugs after each up-pot which is super annoying so having something in my tool kit to counteract it would be killer.

So, the bugs get a reprive for now. Hopefully I'm not setting up a bug overrun scenario, but ironically I want enough pest pressure to more easily gage the success of the experiment.

 

[Bode]

Highya Azimuth,

Do you think the bugs are coming in with the soil you've been using? I've heard of it a few times. Cooking it (outdoor grill) will kill all the little nasties in there. Happy Smokin'

 

[Azimuth]

Highya Azimuth,

Do you think the bugs are coming in with the soil you've been using? I've heard of it a few times. Cooking it (outdoor grill) will kill all the little nasties in there. Happy Smokin'

I think they come in with my worm castings. I don't want to kill off all the life in the living soil mix by heating it so I'm trying to find an efficient way around my issue.

I don't use a bagged commercial soil, but rather mix my own from stuff in the yard mostly. Bugs are part of the organic living soil world, but I could live without the mites and thrips.

Gee and Keffka tell me that getting my brix levels up will make the plants invisible to bugs so that's something I'm looking forward to and hoping my new mix plus my extracts will go a long way toward that objective.