Hahaha, im old school. I just hang out with farmers and trick them into thinkin im growin "maters" (tomatoes for those non red neck speakers) Except theyre catchin on! I took soil science in college and truly believe im the only one who did it to grow ganja. That pic of my "best plant ever" lst was during that session. I fed her only terracycle worm pee/poo and all the organic stuff (shit, bone/blood meal, etc), back when i saw white mold (mycellium) and freaked out haha! Those were the good ol days when i was a youngin! Now if i see mycellium growing anywhere i steal it for my gardens! :lol:
So, do we have a consensus on storing it covered or not covered/partially covered? Also I've read some discrepancies between letting it dry out and leaving it moist forever (or until next use) - I assume leaving it partially covered and keeping it moist is the best bet? How long can this soil live for? I mean it's a closed system, so eventually wouldn't it die out? Is that why some people dump teas in there every now and then? How often should this be done? What tea is best for keeping your soil going (if needed)? Thanks guys! I'm not interested in any of this drama, just some info
Covered but breathable is the best.... it must get oxygen to stay aerobic, which is what you want. But covering it keeps light out, which helps the microbes at the surface do their work, and it keeps the soil from drying out so quickly. Keeping it moist is best.... but it's not the end of the world if it dries out... the microbes go dormant, and you just need to moisten the soil again and probably hit it with an ACT in order to re-invigorate the microbial populations. The soil will never "die".... just go dormant (unless you cook your soil... then all the microbes do die... but there is absolutely no good reason to do such a foolish thing) Once you mix your soil, hit it with an ACT, following the recipes at www.microbeorganics.com.... All you need is EWC and molasses.... a pinch of kelp or a tiny bit or fish hydrolysate is OK, but not necessary. Don't use anything else. If you keep your soil moist and smelling good, you don't ever need to hit it with a tea again. If it dries out, then you can hit it with an ACT about 1-2 weeks before you are ready to use it.
Thanks for the info. I am talking about "cooked" soil storage, though. Not literally cooked with heat, just cycled, and allowed to sit for 4 weeks. That is what people mean by cooking soil, unless I am misunderstanding you
No worries.... but you are misunderstanding me. "Cycled" soil is soil that has been allowed to sit for 4+ weeks. "Cooking" soil refers to applying immense amounts of heat (solar or otherwise) in order to kill anything living within the soil (including all of the beneficial bacteria, fungi, and protozoa). In my previous post, I was talking about "cycled" soil and how to store it. As I said, "cooking" soil is a fool's errand.
Ok yes, then mine isn't cooked at all, just cycling now, and was curious about storing that. We need to rename our lingo because a lot of people here use "cooking" to refer to cycling, I think only because during the cycling the soil gives off a little heat. Definitely confusing jargon! And perfect, thanks for the info! So it's not the end of the world if it dries out, that is something I was also curious about. Just trying to get all my ducks in a row. Thanks for the help, @[member="Gandalf_the_Green"]
You're definitely right that several of the less experienced people may refer to "cycling" a soil as "cooking" the soil.... that is one of Jerry11165's pet peeves.... Much of the jargon here is confusing and unclear..... like Botanical Tea vs FPE (fermented plant extract) vs Nutrient Tea.... and the multiple definitions of "organic" (chemistry vs gardening).... just keep reading and asking questions! If you do even half of the reading being talked about in the other thread you started, you'll be well ahead of the rest of the class lol
You can always return any soil to its former glory, cooked or not, using amendments and teas. The soil mentioned in this thread is thriving after eradicating root aphids with an oven after other treatments failed. I harvested fresh worm castings from my worm farm (which is fed chicken manure and rabbit manure mostly), fresh steer manure, blood and bone meal, neem meal, epsom salt, sphangum peat moss, perlite, Well water containing minerals, Alfalfa meal, Jamaican bat guano, Espoma garden lime, Kellogg tomato vegetable and herb fertilizer containing beneficial soil microbes and mycorrhizae, Black strap molasses and diatomaceous earth and mixed them with the sterilized soil. 3 weeks later the soil is alive and well. In a few weeks it will be used for a new batch of plants. This soil will never need to be "cooked" again in terms of being in an oven since the pests have been eradicated and will now continue to be cycled, along with other older soil thats been cycled in my grows and reused for a decade.
So the literal "cooking" of your soil was out of necessity, not stupidity/ignorance... Reduce, reuse, recycle, reinoculate... Me likes....
Exactly. Its not like im standing in an apron with a wheelbarrow in my kitchen like, welp, time to cook some soil.....der....derky der...lol
Call it "cooked" as it is you, standing by your cauldron, adding your witches brew to make your soil..... effectively you are the cook of that concoction. Hope that helps to take the bunches out of the old guys panties that get "upset" for a culinary term being used in a gardening world @!@
Actually, pokesmot recommended the literal "cooking" of soil as a way to store the soil, not as a method of pest control.... That is what created the confusion on some of our parts.... it clearly was not out of necessity.
I guess i owe it to you all to clarify. For 6-7 years I would buy fox farm soil (ocean forrest) and use it. After each harvest, i would shake the soil through a screen and capture unwanted roots. Then id add microbes, fungus, my amendments and junk and reuse it, perpetually, consistently. After 6-7 years and with an ever changing life, I bought a large storage container, some property and put my growing tools away. I stored the "dormant" soil in plastic containers in an old truck. The temps were over 120 degrees in that truck for a few years. I kept a few bags of fox farm ocean forrest soil on hand, none of it was ever "cooked/sterilized" The soil in the truck was 7 years old and had been through dozens of grows. Knowing it was healthy, good stuff I pulled it out of my truck and began to mix it, in my kitchen. I added "one" cup of the new soil to the old dry stuff. I dont know why i did this. Maybe i was planning on mixing it all together like i used to, who knows? I planted some realy good and very old seeds and within a few weeks knew something was wrong. Root aphids were killing my seedling before they got started. Id started all the new seeds in new soil, none of it had been cooked. So i went about spending hours reading about root aphids. I read this one thread that was a hundred some odd pages and when i got to the last post, a MOd had closed the thread and in all capitals wrote, you cant beat them! Throw your stuff away and start over! I came here looking for help but all i got was trolls. I spent hundreds of dollars tryng organic pesticides all the way to systemic only to watch root aphids beat me. So i asked a friend who took soil science with me how the school sterilized their soils. He said they cooked them. I gave up and went hydro. Then i missed soil, so i started soil again. This time i cooked all that old soil and killed all the bugs and now im mixing it up for a new go around. I already am doing a grow now using this same sterilized soil without adding any amendments, only bottled nutes and the results are what i expected. A depleted soil doesnt offer much. I tried explaining to you why but was offended by your inability to even hear me out, make weird accusations and assumptions about my personal life, wife, etc. before i even responded to you i got a few pms from more than one person saying, "be careful, that guy is a mister know it all who doesnt even grow, aka arm chair grower." Seems all the ingredients were there for an argument to occur. To clarify: i only recommend cooking soil if a sterilized setting is desired or to eradicate bugs that cancer causing chemicals fail to eradicate, otherwise, store it wet for as long as possible and alive, to make it easier later. And gandalf, im sorry for snapping at you for trying to help. Im sure the guy you recommended has a lot to offer.
I'm truly sorry to hear that GC, or whatever forum that Mod was on, failed you. Growers, especially organic ones, should never feel like there is no option but to give up due to an infestation. I don't know what kind of Mod would close a thread that was trying to help people, and proclaim that it is useless to resist, just give up! Sounds like a shitty Mod..... If this is an attempt at a reconciliatory post, it sure comes across as insulting and blame-shifting. I don't think you'd want any of this written about you, and neither do I. See now this is a statement I can whole-heartedly agree with. Can you understand how it was confusing when the OP asked a question about storing soil after cycling, and didn't mention anything about pests, pathogens, or sterilization..... and you respond with a post that recommends cooking it and storing it "dead and dry"... and your post also fails to mention anything about pests, pathogens, or sterilization (http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1302563-storing-your-cooked-soil.html#entry19991972)... how that is confusing and could lead some people to believe you were recommending cooking all soil before it is stored, not just as a means of pest/pathogen control? That is why I questioned your methods