Somewhere out in the inet cloud you'll find a geological survey of the land area you live in. There a number of gov't agenices and some NGO's that survey mineral deposits and publish them on the web. It's one of the ways I assisted G45 in his pursuit of his "blue clay kelp" identification. The short answer is "probably as beneficial" as azomite/mont clays. The caveat again being, if it's in a stream what is the head water source and how pure or unadulterated is that head water. Azomite is a specific label or trade name. Kind of like K-mag/Sul-Po-Mag. The interesting point, perhaps, about Azomite is that it and other clays of it's type (silica-collodial clay) are from volcanic eruptions eons ago. When we think about volcanoes we should think about heavy metals and/or metals in general. Not too much of a problem as a general statement and really only presents itself as a problem with broad pH fluctuations in the less than 5 or greater than 8 readings. Or, when a chelating agent such as fulvic acid is applied to the soil (fulvic for foliar, humic for soil remember) as this can free up metals such as Al, Ni, Mo, B, Co, etc which are deadly toxic to plants at levels measured in the ppm range. An analysis of the trade name Azomite or the bulk product montmorillonite (and their kind) will find a high percetantge of Si and Al. Si is good. Al is bad. Just need to be careful and not overuse these or other mineral meals in the soil. For the larger debates on remineralization one should dialog with the owners of either Azomite or Sea90 (for example). Talk about passion - whew boy! Depends on which chart the doctor is pointing at I reckon. Every good, organic soil is going to have a percentage of non-organic materials in it. The chemical transformations and co-compatibility of these ingredients is fascinating. These varied organic and non-organic "conditioners" are what builds soil tilth, builds soil CEC, and presents a soil that is largely porous and crumbly. Another interesting use with montmorillonite is it's use in deep well drilling to prevent backflow, lining man made retention ponds, as well as use in horticulture and agriculture. Used alone or in too large of a quantity montmorillonite clay will make your potting soil dense as a brick and roots will not grow well in it. It packs extremely tight which makes it a good product for uses other than gardening. Use the free stuff as long as it's "clean" (no cides or heavy metals and salts). HTH's(?)
Right - but do you figure the clay makeup here is similar enough to be effective? Would it be as effective as store bought? Not that you could really know without testing, I guess...kind of a silly question. Jerry.
Hope that helped??? Naw, I was really looking for an in-depth, informative post explaining About how and why my clay might work...LMAO! Thanks Possum! That was Fan-Fu@king-Tastic! Really, thank you. The source is actually spring fed from a pretty little sandy spring out back where it bubbles up out of the ground. There's no farms within several miles through the woods so I'm pretty sure that I'm safe as far as pesticides/herbicides, etc. Again - great reply! I'm going to try a little in one of my next mixes. I think I'm gonna try and let some chunks dry out and scrape it over a screen - it should turn to powder. Jerry.
The *Big City* closest to us has a pop of ~58,000. LOL A far cry from our old suburb of 250,000 that didn't even rate its own zip code. We do have plenty of creeks/rivers though, so I might do like Jerry and check around for higher grade clay. Wet
Thank you Sir Possum!! The most maintainence free(irrigation wise) outdoor sets I've had were in native soil with only 10 to 12 inches of river loam resting on top of a clay bed. I would shovel out the topsoil, and loosen and amend the clay underneath, then backfill with the topsoil. During drought summers with temps over 100F daily,and everyone I know pissing and moaning that planted on high ground, I'd be smiling and grinning. Spraying neem oil is gravy, but water toting with a bad back is, well, back breaking.i'll take every bit of help mother nature can give me at this point. Like everything else in life, there's pros and cons to planting in a natural ebb and flow such as a flood basin.Some years are bumpage, and others are epic failures. But a certain amount of clay in outdoor settings and in my climate has more than once proven to me it's usefulness, especially with the limited visits that a safe guerilla garden demands.
They make propane driven kiln's. Portable fill tank and stationary one. Stationary can be cheaper because you take a larger amount in one go, and get a better price, small one can be cheaper because you go to the source. If you live in a place plumbed with it, you can buy a compressor to refill your own tank. Most folks don't heat the kiln but one a month and it's full of pieces.
For complete sticker shock check out the prices on the Big Green Egg cookers. These cookers can hold temps at constants you wouldn't believe and with very little chunk charcoal. Very little. When you're smoking hawg shoulder, for example, you're wanting to maintain temps in the 215 - 250F range depending on the BBQ pit master. You need a chamber than can hold temps. The photo I posted of the cooker by David Klose the other day - those are fabricated using 1/4" steel plate! That will hold temps with no problems. Check out the web sites for the international BBQ contests - the Memphis in May and the Kansas City Royal - over 600 teams working in 5 divisions: chicken, ribs, shoulder, beef brisket (gag) and whole hog. The manliest of all pit masters are the rib guys of course. LD
I hope subcool does not mind the hijack, lol. I'm no stranger to singed dead animal flesh myself. We have a gas BBQ, a charcoal BBQ, and a brinkman electric/charcoal smoker, but I am always trying to perfect cooking over an open fire. Both on a grill suspended over the fire and by dutch oven covered in coals. When you live in the woods, you must have a camp fire pit, it's the law. You can do wonderful things with flame and flesh and cold ones on ice, have momma whip up some tator salad and it's heavenly.....MIW
MI W Man, do you have the whole reason upside down on slow-cooking hawg at a competition. The cooking and eating isn't on the screen - it's that you get to get out of the house and away from the ol' lady for 3 days, park your ass in a chaise lounge, drink beer and bad-mouth the competition. Christ - get your priorities in order! LD
What can i say? I don't like large (or small) gatherings of nascar types. I'm a uni-bomber at heart.....MIW
My favorite part! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0APBemFGUdU]Chili Cook-Off vs. Homer...or, Vice Versa. - YouTube[/ame]
Nobody does pig like the Cubans, except maybe PR. If you want some real deal recipes, check out '3 guys from miami'. Well worth the search. They even have a way to do *Pig in the ground* above ground. Which is nice since you would need explosives or heavy equipment to dig in the clay where I am. Wet
Wet I saw an episode of Bobby Flay doing a cook-off against a gentleman from Miami who has a business building the Cuban-style cooker. The food looked outrageous at the end of the cooking cycle. Kinda like Kentucky-style BBQ - it's buried in-ground. LD
There are VERY few things I miss about Miami. The food and all the small grocerys are one of them. The main thing I think. Nothing like having a Chinese (very little engrish), West Indian (English that you couldn't understand), and a Bodega (Spanglish), all within a mile of the house. Isn't that called a 'chinese box'? Or, something similar? There was also a store that did nothing but Paella pans. Too expensive to make where I am now. Hell, even down there it was cheaper to pay ($45 for 2, 1 hour or more, in advance!), than it was to make it at home. So many ingredients and such small amounts of each. But the 3 guys from Miami's stuff is like what the neighbors cooked, much better than most restaurants. Wet
[quote name='"LumperDawgz2"']Wet I saw an episode of Bobby Flay doing a cook-off against a gentleman from Miami who has a business building the Cuban-style cooker. The food looked outrageous at the end of the cooking cycle. Kinda like Kentucky-style BBQ - it's buried in-ground. LD[/quote] I saw that one. Pork looked so good. You guys should see a Christmas or Thanksgiving imu. Lau lau's, kailua pig, turkey, goat,... Choke food to break da mouth. I'm a sucker for anything steamed in a earthen oven and banana leaves. Mmmmmmmm
Hello everyone, I figure while your all here I can ask another question, although not relevant to soil. I am using T5HO lights, I cannot for the life of me fine 2700k spectrum that you cant buy a smaller quantity all I could find was quantities of 1000. I found some 3000k but I don't want to jump the gun so I figured Id ask people with experience. Will 3000k make much of a difference compared to 2700?
Metalhead, 3000k lamps will be fine. These numbers represent a color spectrum with the lower numbers emulating the "red" spectrum which is similar to natural sunlight found as autumn approaches, The higher numbers such as 6500k are representative of a "blue" spectrum which is more like the daylight during the spring. If you can only find 3000k, you're good to go. I use 4 2700k and 4 6500k in my 8 lamp fixture. chunk
My new setup consists of 13 lights (1 counting all in the ballast). 12 Cfls contained in 8.5" utility reflectors surrounding the plant entirely. Each Cfl is 23watts 100 equiv 1750 lumen 6500k (I know, ignore the equivalent output) and a 2ft 8 bulb hydrofarm T5HO all 6500k. When switching to flower I have 12 32 watt 2150 lumen 2700k. And 3000k bulbs for the ballast(going to buy them soon). Overkill? I think so haha Trying to get as dense nugs as possible. I would use a HPS but my landlord would see the $30 a month spike and wonder what the f*** was up. Using all these lights is still a hell of a lot cheaper.
That's cool.....you gotta do what you gotta do. Somewhere here is a journal of an organic cfl grow by a first time grower and he hit it outta the park. Here it is: http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-...organics-nutes-cfl-lights-never-too-late.html Sounds like you plenty of light bro, chunk