A post of mine from another venue............ Thanks to Chunk for sending me most of the information contained in this discussion. HTH LD
MIW, I cured a bleeding ulcer with Aloe Vera Juice and liquid chlorophyll capsules. Interestingly enough, the chlorophyll molecule and the hemoglobin molecule are almost identical. I too believe that you can treat/cure a lot of intestinal malaise with Aloe Vera, chlorophyll/wheatgrass juice and home brewed EM-1 probiotics. (talk to Stankie on the probiotics) cheers, chunk
And I always thought that your avatar was just something you snagged off the net, turns out you are a medicine man. Way cool.......MIW
I found and checked uot the "Coast of Maine" products yesterday after work.it did in fact look very, very rich. My only issue was that it seemed very "heavy?" - it seemed to hold a lot of water, so it might need ammending with. Either peat or perlite? I also looked online ane and the manufacture - lo and behold - high quality earthworm castings. I'm definetly going to look into this company a lot more.I could definetly see it being a hellofa "base" soil to start with. I have no doubt after reading the ingredients on the bag that it is full of microbial life! Again - work. Can't hang right now but boy what a lot of info that I feel I would have a very hard time getting elsewhere. I can't say thanks enough. Jerry.
Chunk - boy is that some cool info too. Thank you very much! LD - anyhow, I stopped on my way home yesterday at our local "Farmers Union" , and they carry the "Coast of Maine" line of soils. It did look so very rich - I can see where you are saying that they are a good company. I think I'm going to need to mix it with something, tho - as one of the bags was ripped open and it was very wet and heavy, not as "airy" as i like. Any suggestions - anyone - as far as what would be a good light something or other to mix it with? Or lemme ask you LD, when you used it, was it not too bad on its own? It HAD just rained, so maybe it hadnt had a chance to dry out a bit yet? I am definetly going to try some of this soil, and ammend it a little bit, if needed - I havent gotten that far yet, and then make up some AACT, (fed w/ Aloe Vera!) transplant w/ some BioAg mycorrhizae and humic/fulvics... boy does it sound good right now! *lol* I have the local Farmers Union ordering me some of the Coast of Maine EWC, too... I told them to grab me a half dozen bags. Its gotta be way better than the damn "Wiggle Worm" brand, which is fed basically shredded newspaper, right? Not that I'm trying to be cheap or anything as far as the "Worm Power" place you mentioned out of NY state, but if thier soil is as good as you say, then I gotta give the EWC a whirl, and also be supporting local commerce. I did a little outdoor thing this summer - strictly organic. I only did 5 plants, but did these 5 plants in large (comparably - 125 to 200 gallon size) homemade "smartpot" type containers, and used only my own homemade compost, homemade teas, and some kelp meal, etc. I can imagine that if I had used better EWC and sugars in my teas as you have suggested in this thread, that I might have even done better than I am doing...not that Im unhappy with the results so far, mind you. if you are interested you can see the 5 ladies here - http://forum.grasscity.com/outdoor-...a-large-homemade-smartpot-outdoor-grow-3.html Not that I'm trying to get off track here - *lol* - but I am kinda proud of my results so far - and am hoping to do even better next summer with the new knowledge that you all have given. (Not just next summer - this knowledge is going indoors immediately, too!) I guess I should do some work. If you keep teachin', I swear Im gonna keep paying attention. Thanks again - all of you for your input! One question here - very thread related. Why the heck have we all been taught to use molasses all this time to feed our AACT's if these other organic Agave and Aloe, etc., are just so much better and really not any more expensive? Just food for thought. Enjoy your day, all. jerry.
http://www.harc-hspa.com/Publications/VEG3.pdf Here's an interesting article from the Hawaii Ag. Research Center regarding molasses.
LD - I picked up a mess of different "Coast of Maine" items on Friday - Lobster Compost, Thier base organic potting soil, Blueberry, fish and shellfish compost, and some others, and on Saturday I screened/mixed up what I believe to be my richest organic mix that I have ever made! Is so darn rich I bet you could almost eat it. Very excited - thanks again for the info! I can see the next round being superb with the high quality of the base soil medium. Also later this week I'm ordering a 15 gallon "V" shaped poly container and stand and am going to be building a new tea brewer. I'm just very excited. Thanks again for your help and steering me in the right direction. jerry.
jerry How did the price of Coast of Maine compare with the stoner brands of potting soil in your area? Just curious as usual. LD
No comparison. The Foxfarm "Ocean Forest" and "Happy frog" brands go for approximately 23 dollars a bag here in Maine. I think that I spent around a hundred and fifty dollars total, and this included some other Epsoma brand "ammendments", such as several meals - cottonseed, kelp, some local fish and seaweed food and a few other goodies. With these items, I very slowly added and screened/fluffed/mixed up alot of soil. I transplanted six plants into 6-7 gallon size containers, I have six large contractor grade trash bags of the mix sitting out in the shed for future transplants and I still have enough materials to mix up at least another 3-4 trash bags of soil with. So, If I had to guess, I think I was able to make up at least a dozen bags of tremendous quality soil, including a mess of ammendments for the $150.00 total money spent. If I had gone out and bought a dozen bags of soil at $23.00/bag, then I would have spent $276.00, not including tax, plus the ammendments, and I have no doubt WHATSOEVER that the soil mix that I just made on Saturday blows away the Foxfarm soil - I guarantee that they are not even in the same league. I feel so very good about what got mixed together Saturday! Between the new soil mix and as soon as i get and start crankin' out some serious Teas theres gonna be no stopping me. I feel better about my grow than I have in quite some time. I dont want to get into it now, but once my new brewer container gets in! I'm hoping that we can discuss maybe some finer points of tea preparation? (Or at least get steered in the right direction) I obviously do it now (5 gallon bucket and an airstone), but know that I am very rough and would like to fine-tune the method. So - Yes - Coast of Maine. Much, much cheaper and Much, Much better! jerry.
Lots of feedback! Ya know whats funny is I was just searching around the internet for various tea recipes, and as soon as I put "Blue agave nectar" into the Google, it brought me right back to this thread *lol* I have in fact picked up both Blue Agave Nectar and "Lily of the Desert" Aloe Vera. The new 15 gallon tank and stand just came in (cant wait to get home and rip the box open haha), and the new AL-60 air pump will be shipped by Friday. I'm learning so darn much. I'm looking forward to what I will be able to concoct with the new brewer. Lots of reading. Bacterial teas. Fungal teas. Oatmeal on your compost covered with a washcloth for 8-10 days before it hits the tank. Fungicides. Insecticides. Nutrient teas. It really does go on and on. Between what is and has been going into the soil mix and then with the teas, it makes the bottled nutes that I have been using for all these years seem pretty silly. I have 3 gals in the veg room that have only gotten teas and lived in what I am thinking is a pretty nice organic mix for the last 3 weeks, and i'm not sure if I've ever seen plants this healthy and strong. Just built/put together 2 new worm bins. Makes me think I've been wasting the last 20 years of growing with bottled nutes *lol* Better late than never. jerry.
Unsulfered Blackstrap molasses usually has NPK of 1-1-5 (Brier Rabbits got 1-1-5) Molasses will increase nutrient uptake by providing essential micro nutrients and feeding endo and ecto Mycorrhizea. I have heard from many sources that it makes buds sweeter, but im not too sure lol. Anyways it def provides a good amount of micro nutrients.
so while not the most useful for feeding the microbes, molasses reduces soil nematode populations... that or marigolds i suppose. I'm lucky enough to have purchased a 50# bag of the feed type molasses from concentrates. I've barely used any of it, but I presume I should sell it on CL? this is a good time for me because it doesn't interfere with any 'program' and I don't need to go buy anything. I just had a harvest and decided to give the flower room a rest for a month.....
It really works.......2tea spoons per gallon with fert or straight water ther entire 12/12cycle really packs weight and taste is way better....last year really proved it to be a winner.....blackstrap or grandmas or bear rabbit molasses.....$6 at walmart.....stop when u flush......and no pan cakes needed....lol....! Easy way to pack on super weight.....
yeah molasses works to feed the microbes but it's clear that blue agave nectar or aloe work better, and they are around the same price- if not cheaper.