Plant Alchemy With KNF: Korean Natural Farming And Jadam

Azimuth said:
I like to have as moist as a wrung out sponge which seems to be a good standard for many things organic, and I add water to the pile as I turn it every week or two.

I am getting heat in pockets of the pile, just not very broadly. But it'll get there. There's a whole contingent of composters that prefer cooler longer composting to preserve more of the elements but you don't kill weed seeds and the nasties if done that way, so maybe some combination of the two is what I'll end up with.

But compost happens whether we try to assist or not.
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Azi, I was back-reading your thread and saw this. Compost is about assimilating carbons and nitrogens, and nitrogen assimilation requires larger amounts of water, so if you dampen that compost up a bit, not soggy sopping wet, just damper, like a freshly watered plant at perfect moisture, you will get more heat faster.
 
Gee64 said:
Azi, I was back-reading your thread and saw this. Compost is about assimilating carbons and nitrogens, and nitrogen assimilation requires larger amounts of water, so if you dampen that compost up a bit, not soggy sopping wet, just damper, like a freshly watered plant at perfect moisture, you will get more heat faster.
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Yeah, I think that's what I learned throughout the season. After I started watering it as I turned it I got better action.

I spread it this weekend and was quite pleased with the end product. I screened about 50 gallons for over winter tote storage and the rest covered my various garden beds 3-4 inches deep.

This is the first serious compost application to the gardens so hopefully that will be reflected in next year's harvests.
 
Azimuth said:
Yeah, I think that's what I learned throughout the season. After I started watering it as I turned it I got better action.

I spread it this weekend and was quite pleased with the end product. I screened about 50 gallons for over winter tote storage and the rest covered my various garden beds 3-4 inches deep.

This is the first serious compost application to the gardens so hopefully that will be reflected in next year's harvests.
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Sweet!👍👊
 
One thing I did find interesting when I was screening the pile were a bunch of small, cotton ball type structures, maybe half the size of a cotton ball. Initially I thought they might be spider web cocoons (or whatever they are that one finds underneath outdoor furniture and such) so I tossed them aside.

But after a while I broke one open only to find a perfect little white mushroom encased in a protective film which I now assume was the fruiting body of mycelium. So those all got relocated to the storage totes to go forth and multiply!
 
Highya Azimuth,

I try to get some ocean water and seaweed every year for the garden, when I can think of it! Glad to see he approves! Happy Smokin'
 
Bode said:
Highya Azimuth,

I try to get some ocean water and seaweed every year for the garden, when I can think of it! Glad to see he approves! Happy Smokin'
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It sure is good stuff. I made some seaweed into a JLF and have taken to spritzing cuttings with it to give them some food while they root. I root in perlite and generally keep the clones in it for a month or so, so they need a little sometin' sometin'.
 
I got my seaweed JLF strained out today. Man, that looks like some  really good stuff. It's got a bit of a gelatinous quality to it. A real nice thick watery liquid.

About 6 months ago I took a trip to the ocean and filled a 6 gallon bucket with seaweed, mostly rockweed but also some kelp and a small bit of others, took it home and filled the bucket with rain water and a handful of worm castings. The seaweed wants to float so I set a plastic plate on top and weighed it down with a brick and left it all summer. I checked on it a few times but mostly left it alone.

Today I strained it through a kitchen colander that fits a 5 gallon bucket and got about 4 gallons of liquid and then I put the solids in a container that I'll leave out in the cold all winter with the expectation that as it freezes the cells will break open and the rest of it will process down next season.

At least that's the plan!
 
Wonder what its made of. :hmmmm:

I've made sea salt before which is made from dehydrated sea water, but that just concentrates the salt. That stuff says it takes out the sodium.
 
I'm trying something different with a round of clones, which is a Seaweed KNF sugar extract as a foliar after the first week.

I clone in straight perlite, misting twice a day with tap water and leave them in the container for about a month but they start looking ragged with deficiencies by the end. The best one or two get potted up but they then take some time to green back up with new growth.

So, I'm trying the use of plain water for the first week to encourage root formation but then switching to the Seaweed version at the beginning of week two.

So far looks like it's working pretty well with everything mostly green at week 2.5 and pretty good root development that I can see up against the wall of the clear container.
 
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