LumperDawgz, Does pearl barley have the same qualities? Forgive the possible ignorance of this question. It just may seem easier for many of us to get our hands on. I'm off to check out a feed retailer I found near me to see if I can complete your soil recipe. I am really interested in the neem seed. Sourcing is not so easy on the east coast. Thanks again for the continuing education.
PatriotFarmer Not a stupid question at all. Unfortunately pearl barley won't cut it because the hull has been removed like brown rice vs. white rice. Home brewing shops will always have both barley extracts (good stuff!!!!!) as well as what's called '2 row barley' vs '6 row barley' and that's because the 2 row has lower protein levels and more carbohydrates than 6 row barley. 6 row barley is used primarily as a livestock food source - one of the best actually. At Oregon State University in Corvallis is the state's agriculture schools and they have set up BarleyWorld.org because barley is a large crop in Oregon. Lots of micro-breweries. RE: Neem Seed Meal This one is a bitch to source and unfortunately you'll probably have to do the mail order deal. Amazon.com will probably be you best source. That's the bad news. The good news is that you won't be needing much. The 5# box that I purchase (Down-To-Earth) lasts me 6 months or so. It's worth the effort to find. HTH LD
Possum38North Do you have any nettle plants in your part of the world? Grab some extremely heavy leather gloves and pull the plant out of the ground with the goal here to get as much of the root as possible. Fill a couple of 5-gallon buckets with the plant crushed or chopped to get about 50% of the tub filled with nettle plants and roots. Fill with water and let it sit for 3 or 4 weeks. It will probably ferment which is okay because we're looking for an anaerobic brewing process vs. aerobic brewing like an AACT. Once it's done fermenting strain the water out and keep it in a bucket with a lid. Toss the spent nettle onto your compost pile or worm bin. Take the nettle tea and add 1 cup to a gallon jug and fill with clean water and apply as a soil soak or as a foliar application. I won't bother you with all of the benefits of using nettle tea but suffice it to say that's 'almost' as good as straight alfalfa teas and the best benefit is that it's free. Other than the leather gloves. This tea will store for months and months. Besides feeding the plants and roots it does a number on spider mites and related leaf-eating insects. Good stuff! LD
Ok I put 1 part em-1 1 part molasses 20 parts water good pinch azomite and a little neptunes harvest I have the ph paper coming so I can hit 3.2.Also I have a fish tank heater set for 85 deg a cfl light on it with 1 inch of mineral oil over it so it stays anaerobic I have a drain on the bottom so I can keep the oil out and cheak the ph.If it is fermenting shouldnt I be geting gas bubbles as of the first 3 days no bubbles? sooo LD did I mess it up
Excellent advice LD. We have plenty of thistle and I might be incorrect comparing it to nettle but I'm confident there is plenty of nettle as well. Around here the Bull Thistle grows abundantly and in most cases to around 4' tall. I'm pretty sure I'm spotting some large nettles growing in the drainage areas off the roads. Pretty much everywhere. Dandelion season has come and gone but there may be some large ones lurking around. Some of the old folks around here talk about dandelion salads and dandelion wine...LOL! That's what they did back in the day..... Also, I thought I read somewhere in the city about rhizome plants and their use as a rooting agent? if so, I'm flush there also. The Spotted Joe-pye Weed is as abundant around the streams as the corn in the fields. It is also everywhere. Two or three forage grasses are grown for crop; Timothy, Alfalfa, Bluegrass. And also a couple of clover crops for forage. The Alfalfa just absolutely rocked the outdoor garden! I am way impressed with it and definitely going to mix it up for next grow and let it cook for about 30 - 45 days. The cook-off (if you will) seemed to really work well outside. I can imagine the same for my indoor soil. Thanks for that tip LD. I'll be putting some to soak this week and it'll be done just about my second week of 12/12. Cheers!
I continue to search for knowledge. As such, check this out from an oregon .org site. "Dynamic Accumulator" is what we want in a plant for our organic nutrient use. Check out the much maligned dandelion. It's seemingly on par with comfrey thought not listed as a good source of N. However, it might be a lot easier to source than comfrey. You might have some growing in your yard OR you could help your neighbors by going around and digging all theirs up before they put roundup on it or something. Anyway, maybe this will help some folks. G'day. Dynamic Accummulator Weeds And it turns out that my plan for thistle won't fly....sigh.
Possuum38North Thanks for the chart. I've used dandelion fermented plant extracts for a couple of years as a foliar application and added to the soil. I've never seen the comparison to comfrey. Pretty interesting. The web site that presented that information is Oregon Bio-Dynamic and if you dig around their web site you'll find a large amount of information on composting and bio-dynamic farming/gardening in general. Very cool people and they've been around for 35 years. Thanks again for the link! LD
YW LD. Oregon just plain rocks when it comes to organics info! Ya know. As a kid growing up in Central FL many moons ago, Apopka was known around as "the nursery capital of the world". Ha! Maybe 40+ years ago...maybe! But no doubt Oregon is clearly the leader in all things agricultural today and especially anything organic related. At least that's how I see it. You're living in a great place man!
Possuum38North Florida is either #2 or #3 in horticulture/nursery stock production. California is the clear leader and Oregon and Florida jostle for the next 2 positions from year to year. Though that's somewhat silly because Florida and Oregon grow very different plants. Florida probably wouldn't be my first choice for growing conifers and Japanese maples and then Oregon probably wouldn't be my first choice for growing palms, decorative citrus saplings, etc. Back to using dandelion plants. This spring I had my helper pull enough dandelion plants to fill 2 5-gallon buckets. I split that into 4 buckets that were 1/2 full of crushed plant and root material. These were filled with clear water. To each bucket I added 1/2 cup of kelp meal, 2 tablespoons of sea salt, 1/2 cup of soft rock phosphate, 1/2 cup langbeinite - [sulphate of potash magnesia (K2Mg2(SO4)3) a natural, mined mineral deposit containing 27% Sulphur 22% Potash (K20), and 11% Magnesium] and 3/4 cup of EM-1 mother culture. It took 5 weeks to ferment to 3.2 PH because of the cooler weather we've had this year. In a normal weather cycle it would have taken about 3.5 - 4 weeks. After the teas were strained into a 35 gallon plastic barrel the plant material was added to the worm bins. It was devoured quickly. 1 cup of the tea and enough water to fill a 1 gallon jug is the amount I use on the soil and 1/2 that strength as a foliar spray. Good stuff! LD
I hope I'm not hijacking mania's thread by continuing the dynamic accumulator discussion but it sure seems like a good value add. Question: is it a safe assumption that any of the specifically non-poisonous weeds that have a large main tap root be classified as a dynamic accumulator? I'm trying to find out but haven't yet. In other news, I went for a little walk today and quickly picked enough; thistle, white clover, red clover, some "daisy"-variety-looking-thing, and something with a small purple flower. Everything got chopped up (very nice tap roots on all!), 1” 2” or so (no milky sap), the soil around the roots got thrown in, some compost starter (ugh! overlook that please. it's part of a larger plan), some EWC, into a 5 gal bucket and covered in tepid water. It's sitting outside with a black seed tray loosely laying on it. Can't wait to see what this cooks up! I think I’m excited about this! Damn I love hanging in the city! Thanks LD and Mania. You guys rock hard dudes!
I'm chuckling LD. Damn brother, it's hard to keep up with ya man! LOL! But keep on keeping on with keeping on eh. Loving every bit of it. It's like trying to quench your thirst drinking from a fire hose some of the stuff you share with us! I mean shiiiiit! LOL. Peace!
You're being too humble mania...I get what you're saying. But dude, you are putting the theories and methodologies into practice and sharing the result with us all! That fooking rocks dude! Seriously, many reps to ya for what your doing man. keep on it. and keep us posted!
Awright check this out. This pic is on Day 3 of the project to liquid compost dynamic accumulator plants. WTH is that floatsom on the top? Any ideas where I'm gonna end up with this foul, evil smelling concoction?
Possuum38North I've never given it much thought but if I were to guess I'd say it's probably sugars and carbon dioxide which is a natural byproduct of the fermentation process. If you think it smells bad now, wait for a couple of weeks. Definitely an 'out door' project. Or at least in the garage. On the link to the OBD site the other day, I scanned down the list and noticed that watercress was up there with comfrey and dandelion. I called a couple of contacts in the organic produce business and was able to get a full case of watercress for $15.00 because the product had begun to 'break down' as the expression goes. Partially rotted produce is what you want when making these concoctions so I gladly paid the $15.00 and it's now brewing in a 5-gallon bucket. It should be a fun experiment. I know that Gil Carandang suggest using a plant that he identifies as 'water spinich' which is grown in his native country. I'm thinking that watercress and water spinach have some common/shared properties that may make the watercress a viable option for his formula. Thanks again for the OBD link - lots of good options to consider. LD
True that. Open mouth, insert fire hose, quench thirst! LOL. Man, it just goes on and on doesn't it...this search "we're" on? Bio-Dynamics....hmmm. Had not run across this term before so once again, something new learned today. And that whole discussion on C:N ratio is something i'm going to have to dig deeper into. In all the articles I've ever read on composting i don't seem to recall any in depth discussion about the C:N ratio. Maybe I just glossed over it previously. IDK. Man, I think you're right on the money with the watercress. I think I'm going to do something similar here with the local grocery. No sense throwing all of that good produce to the swine. There's enough to share. Thanks to you LD for keeping us honest and giving us motivation to seek and learn. You're an awesome sensei.
Possuum38North In the article that I've linked to before which is written by the 'Godfather' of Fermented Plant Extracts (FPE), i.e. Gil Carandang, there are 2 formulas that I think you will find beneficial for your gardens. The first one is to extract Calcium Phosphate from egg shells. Here's Carandang's formula and the reasons on why you would want to do this: The other one is a FPE made from papaya, bananas and carrots: I can attest to the veracity of using his formulas - they work and work very well. HTH LD
Fellas, now I've smelled fermenting lawn clippings and rotten leaves. That's stinks. Hell, I know what a dead rotting skunk smells like. But I'm going to tell you straight up that I would rather swim a mile in a river of fetid cat piss than I would smell the odor coming off this concoction one more time. Lump. Even if I dilute this stuff is it going to stink the place up? I won't be able to handle it. Damn this stuff stinks and it's only day 4!