Soil growers advice please

[Hudo]

There's a few of us here. Come hell or high water. We're going to have a crack at it, regardless the outcome/result.

@Hudo fortunately it should subside with age.

it will wanna hurry up im nearly 50 now lol

 

[Squire]

it will wanna hurry up im nearly 50 now lol

Give it another 10 years you will feel it easing . Fuck I should know

 

[Sticky67]

couple more questions. test subject 4 will be a self made concoction? 1 is decomposed granite the same as granite dust? anyone used superfly black fly fertilizer they have as fast and slow product the slow just being pelleted form? and seamungas anyone use that shit cheers

I've been looking at Bardee myself, black soldier fly as a fertiliser but I'm a bit dumb when it comes to working out npk but it does look ok for the veg part with maybe a bit of extra pk at the end is what I was thinking..all these new fandangle ferts coming out, it gets so confusing. getting old maybe

 

[itchybro]

haven't seen what you've seen @Sticky67 but , black soldier fly frass is it ?

if it is , one of the more interesting things about the frass is the Chitin that's found in it
the flow on effect of chitin in the soil is plants response to it , known as Systemic Acquired Resistance or SAR for short

" SAR is a long distance signaling mechanism that provides broad spectrum and long-lasting resistance to secondary infections throughout the plant. This unique feature makes SAR a highly desirable trait in crop production "

Chitin in the soil can activate this plant immune response & there for the plant can protect itself more efficiently before being attacked

there's allot more to it than i wrote above but in short having a source of chitin in your soil mix is probably more important than the NPK you might be getting from it

 

[Hudo]

haven't seen what you've seen @Sticky67 but , black soldier fly frass is it ?

Yeah my local Bunnings has it but i cant find it on there website so I searched the brand and found it

Bardee | Superfly® The Good Stuff - Fast Acting Natural - 5kg

www.bardee.com

 

[itchybro]

thanks for the link @Hudo
Easy As Organics Insect Frass

 

[Hudo]

thanks for the link @Hudo
Easy As Organics Insect Frass

Yeah he said up the thread a bit it's where he gets his from

 

[Sticky67]

haven't seen what you've seen @Sticky67 but , black soldier fly frass is it ?

if it is , one of the more interesting things about the frass is the Chitin that's found in it
the flow on effect of chitin in the soil is plants response to it , known as Systemic Acquired Resistance or SAR for short

" SAR is a long distance signaling mechanism that provides broad spectrum and long-lasting resistance to secondary infections throughout the plant. This unique feature makes SAR a highly desirable trait in crop production "

Chitin in the soil can activate this plant immune response & there for the plant can protect itself more efficiently before being attacked

there's allot more to it than i wrote above but in short having a source of chitin in your soil mix is probably more important than the NPK you might be getting from it

Yeah it has heaps of benefits to it as you've mentioned and that's precisely what got my attention, the plant protection benefits sound great. You might be able to answer my question, they(Bardee) call it a fertilizer, can it be used as a stand alone fertilizer or is it more of an amendment? I suppose I could ask them but I always get the feeling companies will say what you want to hear so I'd rather ask someone objective I was thinking of using it with canna terra pro and see how it goes but yeah as most know I'm a bit dumb when it comes to npk and how to know if it's OK for growing.

 

[itchybro]

Yeah it has heaps of benefits to it as you've mentioned and that's precisely what got my attention, the plant protection benefits sound great. You might be able to answer my question, they(Bardee) call it a fertilizer, can it be used as a stand alone fertilizer or is it more of an amendment? I suppose I could ask them but I always get the feeling companies will say what you want to hear so I'd rather ask someone objective I was thinking of using it with canna terra pro and see how it goes but yeah as most know I'm a bit dumb when it comes to npk and how to know if it's OK for growing.

we're all dumb without soil testing in a lab so don't sweat it
i would suggest it's a amendment , like using cow , sheep , horse , chicken manure , they all have more or less a bunch of different nutrients & like humans organisms prefer a diverse diet , with a diverse diet your plant most likely get a diverse set of organisms

you prob could use it as a stand alone food or as Vasili sells it as " Super " food but do you want to use only that as your nutrient source ? i would say no , you could def add it to canna terra though , just like anything don't over use it

one way you could use it with canna terra is top dress it = probably the most forgiving way to use any amendment is top dressing , just keep in mind if the top soil is always dry then there is no benefit achieved , using mulch & top dressing under the mulch layer will help to keep the top soil moist & the top dressed amendments utilized = organic matter needs to be eaten to turn it into a plant available form of nutrients

 

[Hudo]

Ok got a list of shit today to get my soil cooking for next run. The $$ it cost I could have just bought 4 bags of easy as loaded with all the science and data ut fuck like I said it's a disease now the prob is I haven't got the space to sore 150L of soil while it cooks. Can I cook 50 litres with enough Amendments for 150 then mix it into my base soil ?? Like a concentrate Or doesn't it work like that. Fucking rabbit hole

 

[Sticky67]

we're all dumb without soil testing in a lab so don't sweat it
i would suggest it's a amendment , like using cow , sheep , horse , chicken manure , they all have more or less a bunch of different nutrients & like humans organisms prefer a diverse diet , with a diverse diet your plant most likely get a diverse set of organisms

you prob could use it as a stand alone food or as Vasili sells it as " Super " food but do you want to use only that as your nutrient source ? i would say no , you could def add it to canna terra though , just like anything don't over use it

one way you could use it with canna terra is top dress it = probably the most forgiving way to use any amendment is top dressing , just keep in mind if the top soil is always dry then there is no benefit achieved , using mulch & top dressing under the mulch layer will help to keep the top soil moist & the top dressed amendments utilized = organic matter needs to be eaten to turn it into a plant available form of nutrients

Thanks mate..I'll look into it..

 

[Master Parker]

yeah part of my personality is for some fucked up reason I have to try make shit myself and usually spend more money than it would of cost to just buy the fucken things lol. I must attempt a version myself otherwise im not satisfied. like the mushrooms I can get em for free off a mate but nooo I had to buy fucking massive pressure canner jars dehydrator and all the other shit just to see if I can do it myself is a fucking disease. its nearly got me divorced many times

Never change mate, never change.

 

[itchybro]

Ok got a list of shit today to get my soil cooking for next run. The $$ it cost I could have just bought 4 bags of easy as loaded with all the science and data ut fuck like I said it's a disease now the prob is I haven't got the space to sore 150L of soil while it cooks. Can I cook 50 litres with enough Amendments for 150 then mix it into my base soil ?? Like a concentrate Or doesn't it work like that. Fucking rabbit hole

you don't think you can store something like these
75ltr rubbish bin $30ea
220ltr food grade storage drums second hand $18ea
i would mix on a tarp mostly by rolling the soil mix from side to side corner to corner back & forth
when i was happy i would store it in a similar barrel to the 220ltr above
i used the 75ltr bins to store homemade castings or compost & peat moss i brought that were around 200ltr bales
had a bunch of other smaller food grade buckets i would store amendments in , kelp meal , rock dusts , malted barley , biochar , gypsum , crustacean meal

as to your question yes you could
be better if you just make a total mix & store it as one but it's not a deal breaker if you made a concentrate then pad it out

 

[itchybro]

@Hudo oh & don't forget to add a little moisture to activate the mix to start cooking
it's a bit of a goldilocks thing , not to much & not to little water
too much & you could be cultivating anaerobic organisms , too little & it might not activate
it's the old grab a handful of your mix & squeeze , you wanna see only a drop or two of water drip out , as a rule of thumb
always better to lean to a little less than to much

 

[Hudo]

Aa

@Hudo oh & don't forget to add a little moisture to activate the mix to start cooking
it's a bit of a goldilocks thing , not to much & not to little water
too much & you could be cultivating anaerobic organisms , too little & it might not activate
it's the old grab a handful of your mix & squeeze , you wanna see only a drop or two of water drip out , as a rule of thumb
always better to lean to a little less than to much

Thanks mate.

 

[Hudo]

Anyone use these in there living soil and run worms in there grow. You could make them out of 500ml bottles or somthing and run 4 in big pot

Greenlife Worm Farm In-Ground Micro Compost Tower for Gardens

Greenlife Worm Farm Tower Micro Composter is an effective way to take any garden bed from average yield to gloriously abundant - Simple to assemble perfect addition to any garden bed - In-garden worm farm allows the worms and nutrients to interact directly with garden bed - top up with food...

www.greenlife.com.au

 

[itchybro]

i've used them outdoor in a bed @Hudo , they worked fine & you could def make your own , not sure i'd make one out of a plastic bottle though

 

[Sedge]

Anyone use these in there living soil and run worms in there grow. You could make them out of 500ml bottles or somthing and run 4 in big pot

Greenlife Worm Farm In-Ground Micro Compost Tower for Gardens

Greenlife Worm Farm Tower Micro Composter is an effective way to take any garden bed from average yield to gloriously abundant - Simple to assemble perfect addition to any garden bed - In-garden worm farm allows the worms and nutrients to interact directly with garden bed - top up with food...

www.greenlife.com.au

This would work with 50ml pipe and collar.

 

[itchybro]

yeah that'll work fine the only change i would make is with the lid , block out light as well , i'm not a plumber but i'm sure there is some sort of PVC cap you can add , the right sized cap might be a little tight so get the next size up so it's easy to get off & put back on

 

[Indy]

yeah that'll work fine the only change i would make is with the lid , block out light as well , i'm not a plumber but i'm sure there is some sort of PVC cap you can add , the right sized cap might be a little tight so get the next size up so it's easy to get off & put back on

Yep, just instead of cutting that 1" ring, cut it at 3"- 4" instead, and have 2"- 3" sticking out the top so you could loosely seat a end cap on that. Or even get rid of the lot and just use a end cap on the pipe. Can't see any other reason of using the flyscreen, other than to keep his soldier flies at bay.

One thing that comes to mind by capping it. How well do worms hold up high temps and excessive humidity?