Storing Your Cooked Soil?

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by StringBurner, May 10, 2014.

  1. Hi all,

    After your 3-4 week "cooking" period, how are you storing your organic soil mix for later use?
     
  2. Until I need it. It did in the bins in my basement and gets a little water whenever I think about it. Actually they sit next to my water bubbler and get dripped on often too as I take water to the plants.

    Keep it moist and the microbes will keep on munching.

    Sent from somewhere over there.
    No, not there...over THERE.
     
  3. I'll fill whatever containers I'm planning on using, and let it cook and chill in there until use. Any extra is stored in the tote I use for mixing. Keep it slightly damp, but not wet. Cover with some kind of mulch if you have it laying around, holds the moisture in. Straw, dried da's, whatever you can find cheap and easy. I leave the lid perpendicular to the tote, it needs air. 
     
    :bongin:
     
  4. I like to throw my excess teas in there too, to keep moisture levels up. But basically I leave it in the totes I use for mixing until ready to use.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  5. Any excess sprout teas, teas, and coconut water always gets used on extra standby soil!
     
  6. I cook it.

    I store it dry and dead.

    When I need it alive, i mix up a batch/brew of microbes combining alfalfa meal, molasses, fresh vermicompost from my worm bins, distilled water, an air stone and a 5 gal bucket. I let it brew for a day or two, til the foam is thick, then pour it into my soil. If theres a lot of soil, i make a lot of brew. I cover the soil with a plastic bag til white fuzzy mold (mycelium) enters its vegetative state and becomes visible, then I know that the organic breakdown of matter is occurring and the soil is teeming with life.

    Ive done this over the years with lotsa dead shit soils and created some beautiful stuff.

    Of course thats merely the beginning of creating a thriving, nourishing soil, but to store and rejuvenate this is my process.
     
  7. I also use my storage tote as a composting bin of sorts. Any soaked material from teas, fpe's etc.. that doesnt become a top dress, gets tossed into the bin. Also dandelions. Lots of dead dandelions rotting on the surface.
     
  8. Interesting idea. How long have you been doing that? I presume you take all flowers off?

    Sent from somewhere over there.
    No, not there...over THERE.
     
  9.  
    Why cook it?  Why not just store it and let it dry out over time?  As long as it isn't soaking wet and doesn't go anaerobic, I can't think of any possible negative to just storing it without cooking.... and I can think of several negative aspects of cooking it.  Cooking it will kill the microbial life (instead of just letting it go dormant the way drying out will do).  I'd prefer dormant to dead.  Also.... cooking it must create quite an aroma...... guess you don't have a wife?
     
    Foam is not an indicator than an AACT has microbial life or is finished brewing.  It is only an indicator of saponins (alfalfa, yucca, aloe, etc) and/or protein (worms, worm castings, seed meals, etc).  Check out www.microbeorganics.com, run by Tim Wilson, one of the leading compost tea experts in the world.  Foam is one of the 7 myths about AACTs that he dispels.
     
  10. Haven't been doing it long, but I've yet to see negative side effects come from it. Anything growing in the soil from that bin is doing great. I even had to transplant two root bound moby dick seedlings into it before it was done cooking, and theyre doing just peachy. 
     
    I'll be honest, I don't follow most of the "rules" when it comes to soil. I don't measure out my ingredients accurately, I rarely let it cook long enough, I only bubble water for like 20-30min before using etc... So far I haven't had any problems that weren't my fault, like over applying an fpe, or letting things get root bound. It doesn't have to be a science.
     
  11. #11 rain dancer, May 10, 2014
    Last edited: May 10, 2014
    My plants disagree brother. I have a wife. I cook soil outside. I cook it to remove chance of disease or eggs.

    Please dont assume so much about strangers. I was reading your post thinking, is this guy being bitter or informative? I really couldnt decide to be honest. I dont have any of the problems you mentioned and my 7 outdoor gardens on my half acre as well as my indoor gardens thrive every year with this process, so well in fact, that I actually get paid to setup gardens every year and help them to thrive. My medicine is some of the best around.

    If you store it wet it could easily go anerobic and eggs can last for years. I sealed a bucket with fungus gnat and root aphid eggs and 5 years later when I grew my plants out in a sterilized room, the soil was teeming with unwanted life, in an airtight, waterproof container :-/ Some of this soil had been recycled for as long as 8 years.

    I think most people would agree more with experience than anything else, including whatever that website you mention claims. My gardens are thriving :smoke:

    Also, Im pretty keenly aware of the vermicompost community and ive never heard of this Tim guy....

    [​IMG]

    Pictures worth a thousand words I suppose :smoke:

    Show me a pic of your plants! I showed you mine :lol:
     
  12.  
    It's really more of an art form than a science. Eyeballing stuff has always worked better for me also.
     
    Wet
     
  13.  
    What I look for most in posts is the phrase 'It's been my experience/observation'. Sadly, this is not too often the case.
     
    All I can say about the internet is, ................ Bon jour  :ey:  :confused_2:
     
    Wet
     
  14. @[member="pokesmot247"] That is a very interesting photo...I'm unfamiliar w/that kind of staking/growing/trim method..looks like it would be very efficient..any info? We have only 4 grows under our belt, so far so good. Sorry, Stringburner, I just realized I highjacked this thread with that question! We rest/cook our soil (built from scratch) w/AACT, top-mulched w/coco coir, placed in big totes for 60 days, then back into the sunroom. We've learned from each of the previous grows, made slight ajustments w/all phases, soil included, and this is the grow where all the stars are aligning. Can't tell you what an amazing journey it's been for me, a 62 year old, all due to my son and his obsession w/organics, and to many ol' growers on this site sharing their experiences. Thanks, y'all.
     
  15. Hello! :D

    That method you see above is called lst, or low stress training.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Bending the plant, as oppossed to cutting it, provides the benefit of trained growth without stress. The bent portion thinks it is injured or dead, so hormones reroute to lower branches, as the bent portion continues to grow. Each lower branch becomes a new top, and as you bend the branches down, the hormones are pushed down. Eventually you reach the point where you either keep bending and keep vegging or start flowering.

    I usually flower when the plant has reached the size of a large bush. The main food source is my own vermicompost teas made from my two outdoor worm bins.
    [​IMG]
    This is the general process.^

    :smoke:
     
  16. I've read about this lst(and the info about the "injury" the plant thinks it has, similar results w/pinching of the stem I assume)..just never have seen a full large plant..and really appreciate the drawings. And one of our strains I grow (Berry White) seems to naturally want to do this. I will attempt this at some point, if nothing else it will be an interesting experiment. Props to you, I thank you. Bryn
     
  17. No problem my friend :D

    Glad to help. Most people who try this method dont go back.

    Most of my plants in soil produce up to or more than a pound dry. The plants seem to make better use of the light as bushes, rather than trees.
     
  18. A couple of more questions, if you don't mind (sorry again, Stringburner)..we move our plants into the sunroom when they reach about 16-18 inches (after vegging about a month w/the moms). They continue to grow for another 2-3 weeks before flipping. Would this be of benefit to that size plant? and how old is the plant in the picture. I had a bit of a dream about this last night, so I'm taking that as a sign to do this to one in the new crop. Hope this made sense. (just when I thought "I know Soooo much" I find that I don't know shit!)
     
  19. Any size plant can benefit from training. Not all cases will be as extreme as pokesmot's. As long as you're pulling it open, allowing light to penetrate as far down as possible, you're good to go. Heavy training like he's done takes a grow or two to really figure out. But I agree, once you start training you probably will always train.
     
  20. I personally find that the longer you veg, and the larger the plant, the larger the colas and the more bud produced.

    I usually veg for 1-2 months. I beleive that plant was 1.5-2 months old. I grew it years ago and have grown many since then, but my formula, as described above has stayed virtually the same. I grow under a single 600w hps.
     

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