No-till thread

[nudger36]

Great read @@bobnudd, I love the flexibility of it, so many uses, I've also used it in my pond. Great stuff all around I reckon.

Edited April 28, 2016 by nudger36

[Berylthedog]

Blimey, this seems to have jumped to another level! Looked at bokashi a few years ago and really liked the look of it but it seemed ever so expensive for the continuing input of em bran. Going to try this as soon as I've tried all the other things I'm currently trying to try

Cheers, Berylthedog

[Guest OutOfAfrica81]

This thread just keeps getting better every time I come back to it , thanks for all the great info from all

[Goohfy]

I recon this would be perfect for your garden grows outofafrica is that what your thinking mate .

[nudger36]

I only tried the EM1 serum as it seemed so easy, just leave rice and water in a dark place for a week then take out the rice hulls, add milk, leave for another week. I also found my curd was at the bottom. having read a few things, the impression I got its better if it sinks and does not float, floating could mean a sign of E coli so I have read, dont want to have to take my plants to the quack I also mixed the curds into my outdoor garden, nothing wasted at all. I then just store the serum in the fridge and mix 1 part EM1 to 20 parts water and a teaspoon of molasses or just add to a tea. The microorganisms are alive but dormant in the fridge, soon as they have some molasses they go into party mode!

Edited April 29, 2016 by nudger36

[muffintop]

I have no room in my fridge at the moment, but I will get round to trying it at some point.

[Guest]

@@muffintop, if you mix it with 1:1 molasses or some other raw unprocessed sugar then you can store out of the fridge. The sugar is food for the microbes to keep them alive and stable, hence why not needed or very little if keeping in fridge.

[rusty trichomes]

i'm not very good spelling and stuff but still like to try help people to get good info .

i know anyone can surf the web and find this stuff but due to ive got quite bit spare time atm

i've thought i would have a look about a see if i can try fill this thread with some good info

on liveing soil and botanical tea recipes so i they can all be here in one place

witch is what these thread r for any way . so ive found a shit load of info

so here is what ive been finding over the last few days

"Do It Yourself Homemade Plant Fertilizers."

Making your own nutrients should be exciting. I know I get all crazy when it comes to feeding my soil and you should too. When you uncap a bottle of your own nutrients, or feed with one of your fresh botanical teas, you experience a really cool feeling. That feeling is one of self-sustainability and pride. Sometimes I catch myself talking to the plants like pets… and feeding them better than I do myself. I won’t get too weird on you just yet, but if your plants are spoiled like mine are, then you and your plants will both love using homemade nutrients. It’s like switching from Fast food to Super food! Now it’s time to decide which is best for you: Fresh vs. Fermented Fresh Botanical Teas: When you want the secondary metabolites, vitamins etc. When you know that your soil is already full of all the Major nutrients. These teas will supplement your grow and act as a booster to plant health and vigor without being overpowering. These typically use dried plant meals as the main source and will have small particles of the meal present in the water when used. Once the Botanical tea is drenched into the soil, the microbes will go to work on the particles and left over material from your fresh botanical tea, unlocking even more material. This method is often used because top dressing with straight dried plant material will often cause burning of the plant and unwanted problems, but a quick soak in water and you can now drench the soil with the strained water. Making a botanical tea typically involves using dried plant meal, but can also utilize fresh growing tips of plants. The desired plant material is then soaked for 24-72 hours and then used right away. Use of an airstone to bubble the water is preferred but not necessary. It’s mainly to keep the plant material in motion, so you could always just stir it every once in awhile. I will go into detail on the entire process soon. Fermented Plant Extracts: Most of the so called “organic” liquid fertilizers on the market are simply a fermented plant extract done on a commercial level. There are several reasons why making your own is better than buying the stuff on the Hydro-Shop Shelves. 1. You will have a better product for pennies on the dollar. 2. You can hand select the plants being used. In that way you can make a special FPE for almost any situation, from Veg to Flower, and inbetween. 3. You can do this all cold without adding any high heat like most of the fertilizer companies do. Think of it like getting premium first cold pressed Olive Oil compared to cheap chemically extracted stuff. 4. You won’t have to add any preservatives whether natural or not, these preservatives harm the overall final product and you won’t have to add any! Your home made FPE can sit on the shelf for up to 1 year and sometimes longer all on its own. “FPE” or Fermented Plant Extracts are one of the purest forms of organic fertilizer available to any gardener. The final product should be used a dilution rates of 1:500 or 1:1000 and will be very strong. Which Plants To Use? (This information applies to both methods) Now that you understand the difference between Botanical Teas and Fermented Plant extracts better I want to share some information about the types of plant material you will want to use for your nutrients. Most of the plants that I prefer to use fall under the category of Dynamic Accumulators.Dynamic Accumulators are the heavy hitting plants that contain all of the major nutrients in them as extracted from the soil they grew in and the air that surrounds them. Many of these plants grow fast and when they die, they release nutrients and nitrogen back into the soil to help continue the cycle. Here is a list of plants and the basic nutrients they contain within them. This list will help you in choosing what to do with a particular plant, or in finding a plant with a particular nutrient that you require

Edited April 29, 2016 by rusty trichomes

[rusty trichomes]

ok thats first bit of a massive paper ive found on this subject . there is a data spead sheet

showing diffrent plants and the diffrent nutes they produce . i couldnt download it for some reason

but it is bye Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

if you put this in google https://phytochem.nal.usda.gov/phytochem/search

it is a bit full on for me but in is in depth and loads of diffrent stuff .

then they go in to teas to use in to flowering . and here r the recipes and the

diffrent ways you can brew them

The above table was created using Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases Using the Above table you will start to notice right away that plants contain very different levels of nutrients depending on what type of plant they are. If you are hoping to make a Fermented Plant Extract for the flowering phase of growth what would you do? I would probably choose Stinging Nettle, Mugwort, Dandelion, Chives etc. because the numbers they display in the Potassium and Phosphorus areas are off the charts. While it is important to have the basic Macronutrients that will create larger flowers, we cannot afford to forget about the secondary metabolites and other reasons to use a particular plant. Here is another website to visit that will allow you to read more into each plant as you make a nutrient from it. Dr. Christopher’s List of Single Plants If you have some time today, read about Comfrey, I think you’ll be surprised how much that single plant has to offer for human health and plant food. Just make sure that if you grow your own, you look into the Bocking 14 comfrey cultivar that won’t take over your entire yard. Which Part of the Plant to use? Now that you know how to identify which plant to use, how do you choose the right part of the plant, and where do you find the plants? Method #1: Go on a nature walk around your house or somewhere nearby where there is an abundant amount of fresh and wild growing native plants. Choose an area where the plants are growing in healthy soil that way you can have confidence that there are many nutrients in the plant tips you end up cutting. If you happen to notice a wild patch of Stinging Nettle, comfrey or really any fast growing healthy plants, then you should harvest them. But you won’t need the whole plant. You only require the fresh green tips of the plant, the youngest and most tender part. There are several reasons to choose the growing tips. Some say that you should use the flowers if you want a flowering nutrient and use the green growth if you want a vegetative nutrient. You can decide for yourself by using the spreadsheet I linked above. In the spreadsheet you will notice a number of pages on the bottom that you can select. In the sub-pages you will find the plant species broken down into parts of the plant. Sometimes the roots are best to use, sometimes the green growth is the best. Ultimately you will have to decide for yourself and experiment with what works in your garden. But from experience, most Korean natural farmers use the green growing tips of the plant. Method # 2: Go to the grocery store and purchase some organic veggies and fruit to use for your Fermented Plant Extracts…. This works if you live somewhere where there aren’t many plants available immediately around you, or in winter when it’s snowing and not many healthy young plants are growing. Method #3: Grow your own Dynamic Accumulators and harvest them whenever you want to make your nutrients. Grow them in fertile soil with plenty of nutrients and minerals for them to use. Method #4: Use a dried plant meal like Kelp meal, Comfrey Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Neem Meal etc. Method #5: Slowly becoming my new favorite. Grow your own sprouts! And then use the sprouts to make your FPE or Botanical Tea. Try Alfalfa sprouts. They are awesome.

[rusty trichomes]

now some how to from a different source i hope you lot dont mind me doing this

im a bit bored and high . and been reading up loads last few days i feels right to share my finding

i did know alot of this but . this thread is great so i love to be part of it

How to make a Botanical Tea Items Needed: 5 Gallon Bucket with Lid Fresh Pure Water Plant Material to Soak Optional Items: 1 or 2 Aquarium Air stones Cheap Aquarium Pump How to make: Fill the bucket with 4 -5 gallons of water and toss in some plant material. Bubble the water or stir occasionally for 3 days. You can use a botanical tea after 24 hours if you require it. But it will only get stronger up until around 3 days. I typically don’t want to go longer than 3 days because without fermentation it won’t get any stronger and if fermentation is happening, I would rather use the Fermented Plant Extract Methods. Here is an example of a recipe that I use all the time Alfalfa Kelp Tea 1 Cup Alfalfa Meal ½ Cup Kelp Meal Soak for 3 days in your bucket of water and use right away at full strength on full size plants and at ½ or ¼ strength on smaller plants. I notice an impressive boost of growth after applying this tea even 1 time. Strain before using and toss the left over alfalfa and kelp into your worm bin or compost pile!

i couldt work out how to make it in to a list . so i hope thats was ok

be lucky

[spondy]

Great thread good read keep the info coming

[rusty trichomes]

more how to im trying to ad pic to these but the one on site r copy rights so cant use

hope i can sort this out

How To Make Fermented Plant Extracts 1) We harvest the fast-growing leaves of plants such as comfrey, stinging nettle, mugwort, or vegetables just before dawn, when the growing tips are believed to have the highest concentrations of growth hormones. That is why I also recommend using Home Grown Sprouts. 2) Dirt, insects, and other contaminants are removed by shaking or brushing. NO WASHING. Washing will remove many of the beneficial bacteria that we will require to get fermentation. (Use Lactobacillus Serum if you are using sprouts or meals etc.) 3) The harvested vegetation is weighed and set aside. 4) An equal amount, or up to 2/3 more, of high quality brown sugar is weighed out. Some will use Molasses. 5) The vegetation is finely chopped and layered with the sugar in a clean crock or bucket. 6) The material is then weighted down with a weight or “press.” Some use a brick, some use a black bag of water for a weight. (I don’t do this in small fermentation batches) 7) We remove the press after 24 hours and cover the container with a breathable, natural fabric, securing it with a large elastic band. If you don’t have a breathable fabric then poke holes in your lid or don’t screw the lid on all the way. 8) It is placed in a dark location. Ideal ambient temperature should be 65°–70° F. 9) After about one week, the brown, syrupy liquid that accumulates is drained off and stored in a glass container in the refrigerator. (We understand it can be stored this way indefinitely but choose to keep it for 1 year at the longest) 10) Fermented Plant Juice can be used as a foliar spray, diluted at about 1:500 (about one ounce to four gallons) with water and other spray nutrients. (We use materials like fish emulsion, seaweed extract, micronized minerals, etc.) 11) Apply foliar sprays only in the coolest parts of the day to be effective. In the past, we’ve felt that early hours of the morning were best. Here is an example of a Miniature Fermentation project that Patrick over at gilcarandang.com was kind enough to blog about. GilCarandang.com Blog info: I have two balconies in my little urban apartment. One holds my urban garden while the other is an eclectic mix of plants, animals, experiments and other weird stuff I’ll talk more about later. In this space, I have limited plants to choose from. I won’t end up with a kilogram of plant material to work with, more like a couple grams. But even in my small farmyard, I’ve noticed some fast-growing weeds, and even cultivated them a little to make my “micro-extract”. These fastgrowing vines will be perfect for my growth promoter extract:

ok this is were the pic r ment to be a cant find pics to ad to make sence

so you lot will have to do without pics sorry so heres the rest without pics

10) Fermented Plant Juice can be used as a foliar spray, diluted at about 1:500 (about one ounce to four gallons) with water and other spray nutrients. (We use materials like fish emulsion, seaweed extract, micronized minerals, etc.) 11) Apply foliar sprays only in the coolest parts of the day to be effective. In the past, we’ve felt that early hours of the morning were best. Here is an example of a Miniature Fermentation project that Patrick over at gilcarandang.com was kind enough to blog about. GilCarandang.com Blog info: I have two balconies in my little urban apartment. One holds my urban garden while the other is an eclectic mix of plants, animals, experiments and other weird stuff I’ll talk more about later. In this space, I have limited plants to choose from. I won’t end up with a kilogram of plant material to work with, more like a couple grams. But even in my small farmyard, I’ve noticed some fast-growing weeds, and even cultivated them a little to make my “micro-extract”. These fastgrowing vines will be perfect for my growth promoter extract: You want to select the fastest growing part of the above-ground plant – the tips. So now I select the growing tips: Once I’ve cut a bunch of tips, I’ll have a lot from each plant. Still nothing compared to what you would find on a “real” farm. Now to put them in a little container. TIP: You can find little plastic containers pre-labelled at just about any pharmacy anywhere – specimen jars! They make perfect mini-fermenters Now that I have all the plant material in the container, I pulverize it a bit to break down some of the tougher material . This step isn’t necessary but I think it helps with extraction. Add 1/3 part sugar, in this case molasses, the favorite sugar source of natural farmers here in the Philippines. I didn’t measure this out, just eyeballed it. I’m a farmer! If it’ll get the job done, it’ll work. Now add the secret sauce. You don’t have to do this but it greatly speeds up/enhances fermentation if you do. Add a couple drops of lactobacilli serum. Don’t need much at all especially in a container this size Finally, fill with water. Fill to near the top, screw the cap on but don’t seal it as some gas will form during fermentation. Then date and name it accordingly on the handy little label that came on the container. This will be good for a few feedings later on when I need to fertilize and want to add some growth promoting hormones, enzymes, etc. You can tighten the lid when you see bubbling stop after several weeks. You will also notice the smell as it finishes fermenting. It should smell a bit like vinegar. That is the acid that is a byproduct of fermentation. Here’s what it looks like after 3 weeks: This was stored in a dark place and just left alone with the lid cracked for 3 weeks. I checked it periodically, you will see the bubbles on the sides each time you check, signs that it is indeed fermenting. I would usually tighten the cap and give it a shake but this isn’t necessary really. After 3 weeks (actually a lot sooner this time, but leaving it longer doesn’t matter), you’ll stop seeing bubbles on the sides, and the smell will be like alcohol/vinegar/sour – the fermented smell. There you have it, your own little mini-extract! The whole process takes 5 minutes and I end up with a great product. I’ll mix this with my homemade fish fertilizer, and use that on the garden when I want to feed in the future. The fish fertilizer provides the Nitrogen while this extract provides the growth promotants. Great combination. Here is a link to making the Fish Fertilizer Those familiar with the Grow recipe will notice that I added water, where the recipe doesn’t call for adding water. That’s how I adapted the recipe for this small scale use. It will be a little more diluted than if I hadn’t added water, but there wasn’t enough plant material to do it that way. As long as you stick to the principles of the recipes, you can adapt them depending on your situation, like substituting pumpkin for papaya in the bloom recipe, or snails for fish in the fish fertilizer recipe

so thats my lot for today ill ad more . ill

try find great info soon im learning loads from this

search its really helping me this thread is great

be lucky

[rusty trichomes]

ok this is deffo last for today not sure this the right place for it

but ive added loads here .

so i found this weird compost making style

i wont be useing it but very intresting al the same

Cockroach Composting

For most people like you and me, composting serves two main purposes – eliminate food wastes biologically rather than wastefully(landfill), and create nice rich nutrients for plants. You can use all kinds of methods to accomplish those goals, and this article is a great example of that. Cockroaches! Yes, cockroaches are incredible composters. Truly amazing, they will eat anything and everything you put in there, reproduce like crazy, and have virtually NO SMELL. I know it’s shocking to think of cockroaches as being a clean detritivore, but it’s true.

Why are cockroaches great composters:

• Extremely durable (hard to kill)
• Eat almost anything – coffee grounds, meat, dairy, veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, etc etc
• Reproduce very quickly
• Super low maintenance
• Eliminate waste efficiently (produce few nutrient dense droppings per large food intake)
• Very clean – little smell

I have a Bearded Dragon, Opi, who originally got me into the cockroach thing. Bearded dragons are voracious eaters, and besides the cost I just didn’t want the hassle of going back to the store every week. After doing some research I found roaches an excellent solution to this issue.

The species of roach I got is a standard feeder species, Blatta lateralis, you can buy them in many pet stores or order online. I ordered off a craigslist type site local to the Philippines, went down to the station and met a guy with a bag of roaches.

Disgusting. I agree. I grew up in the country, I love reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, all manner of creepies, but roaches are just disgusting. However! After raising them I can say they really aren’t so bad – I think it’s the no smell thing that makes me feel better.

Anyway, after the meet-up for the bag of roaches, brought them home and a little while later, thriving colony, everyone happy, Opi diving into mounds of the things quite happily, etc etc.

Why I like it, and how to do it

First why I like it. It requires cleaning the whole setup once every 6 months or so. That is after putting all kinds of food in every single day – dog food, people food, nasty moldy food, not-even-food food, whatever. There is NO smell from 2 feet away and I only have to clean the tank every 6 months? I can throw all my scraps in it no matter what they are? It produces insane compost for the garden? Sign me up!

I cleaned out the cockroach composter(aquarium for now) today so I took the opportunity to grab some pictures.

Here is the overall setup before cleaning. This is after about 6 months of doing nothing except adding food and changing the water every few weeks.

The tank before I cleaned it. You can see the feeding area has some bones around.

Cockroaches are prolific breeders. This species lays egg cases(ootheca) at an astonishing rate. Check out the substrate surface before cleaning it – each of those egg cases contains 20-30 eggs, gives you an idea how fast the colony can grow. You can also see some chicken bones, fish bones, a little stick of bamboo – leftovers from feeding. No need to remove these things as they will be great in the compost pile or garden.

Close-up of the substrate…except you can’t see the substrate for all the egg cases.

The bin attracts various creatures. This type of beetle(some type of darkling beetle I think) invaded and went crazy in there, there are almost as many of them as there are roaches. The beetle larvae burrow around in the substrate and eat up everything the roaches don’t and they seem to get along fine so whatever. Don’t fight nature if you don’t have to! As unconventional farmers, we are working with nature as much as *humanly* possible, haha.

The invader – I think a darkling beetle species. They reproduce like crazy but get along great with the roaches so whatever.

The bin also attracts larger creatures though, such as sparrows and geckos. I finally had to put a lid on the bin to keep the sparrows (I have roaches to spare, as opposed to my beautiful sprouts they trashed on the other balcony) out because they were trashing it trying to get at the roaches. I love attracting nature to the balcony, I was sad I had to lock the birds out but at least the geckos can still get in and get their fill. The birds came a few days and then figured it out:

The predators. I finally covered the top of the cage because the birds were tearing it up a bit.

After 6 months the bedding is insanely rich over under the food area. It is moist and thick, full of nutrients from 6 months of cockroach frass and decomposed organic matter. You can see the darkling beetle larvae, pupae, and a few adults:

Look how rich that soil is! It used to be coco coir but now it’s unrecognizable. There are some egg cases and beetle larvae visible too.

The darkling beetles even core out the chicken bones so they end up being hollow – perfect home for microbes and roots. With the roaches temporarily in a black plastic garbage bag (new egg-carton home goes in first, then old home gets shaken out so all the roaches end up in the bag with their new home), the bin gets a cleaning and then new bedding – a thick layer of coco peat. This is utilizing the deep bedding principle core to animal raising natural style – but that’s a separate topic altogether.

After cleaning, a thick layer of coir goes down first. this is how the last stuff started.

Now the new roach home (egg cartons) comes out of the black plastic garbage bag and into the bin. The roaches naturally seek the dark safety of the cartons so they are easily moved inside the cartons(which are all glued together for stability).

The roaches in their new home (egg cartons glued together) in their newly cleaned home (aquarium)

Last bit since it’s evening now and they get fed each night – food time! The staple when there are no veggie/meat trimmings is fermented dog food. I put the dog food in a sealed plastic container with some lacto, it ferments for a few days then I feed that to them. They just love the stuff. Doesn’t take much to feed the colony as you can see here.

Feeding time – the lighter beige pieces there are bits of fermented dog food – the roaches love it and it keeps them healthy and growing fast

What a beautiful system… the cleaned out bedding is an incredible nutrient source. It goes into a black plastic bag and gets sealed to kill off the egg cases and beetle larva. Lacto solution is added to facilitate decomposition in the anaerobic conditions. After a few weeks its ready for use! It’s amazing, I pulled out corn cobs that just disintegrated in my hand when I picked them up. The level of decomposition is crazy – only bones left, and not even that many of them considering how many went into it. I’m keeping this compost handy for use in the garden later – it will get mixed with traditional compost – it’s too strong and valuable to waste just by itself.

You’ve heard of vermicastings – worm compost. And Bokashi compost – fermented kitchen waste. You might even have heard of BSF compost – fly larva compost. Well, now you’ve learned about cockroach compost! Spread the unconventional word about this weird freaky compost method that works so effectively.

see why i dont want to used it but seems like it would be great to use

just i dont like the idea of them ascapeing and infecting my house

but there it is the weirdest compost bin ive ever seen

and ive seen rats beeing kept for there shit . they do a great job and eat every thing

be lucky

[Ogami-itto]

nope i wont be using that either...my skin is crawling.

[twigs]

apparantly mrs twigs does have a limit..

..well with organic notill anyway..