Beginner Gardener

[SCD4275]

SCD,



I have never gone through the trouble of getting a pump and creating an aerated compost tea, so I cannot speak to it with any firsthand knowledge. I make use of traditionally made compost tea and mycorrhizae. It works very well for me.

For me it is all about the quality of what is being used and about diversity in regards to what is going in the soil. So I will use buffalo to create a compost tea, or really rich worm castings, cow compost from a really good organic farm, and so on. When it comes to buffalo I use “BuffaLoam Organic Plant Food”, it's just organic buffalo compost and Norwegian seaweed. In my opinion mycorrhizae is essential.

Getting a pump and making aerated compost tea, that sounds like it could be beneficial, more oxygen in the mix. It seems like it could be helpful in situations where you are creating and building up soil that is newly made and hasn’t been well established.

Thanks Invasive, So far I feel like I've been learning to walk on a high wire, one slip & everything is ruined but it is going to be worth it. Why in particular did you settle on BuffaLoam? I've settled on some Better Organix products to begin with. Am also using Mycorrhizal fungi anytime I go near a root ball/seed. One other reason for the air pump is to rid my plants of chlorinated water in 1 hour, as presently I don't have a water butt & I have to use mains water.

 

[SCD4275]

The most important thing to remember is to make sure plants are in the right habitat. No matter what kind of plant it is. Not only the right zone but the right light and water conditions. I can't tell you how many customers plants I see in the wrong environment and they wonder why they aren't doing well.

Thanks livingHorticulturally, I now see the importance of your advice

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Hi SCD,

You’re welcome.

I find BuffaLoam to be a good product because it is just a straightforward organic compost, it is OMRI listed, and it helps in adding variety to the garden, since I already use cow, chicken, worm, and vegetative compost. Diversity is always good and mimics what would naturally occur. I've never heard of "Better Organix", so I can't really comment on that product. As for chlorine, as well as fluoride, you can create your own basic filter. There are clay and sandstone filters, which have been used for over a 1000 years. Bone char or charcoal can also be used.

A point on compost tea, I brew teas for the water soluble nutrients. Most store bought compost is heat-treated, and it is the nutrients not bacteria that I am employing when I use compost tea. Aerated compost tea, the only advantage with that would be in wanting to create a larger population of helpful bacteria if you’re using compost that hasn’t been heat-treated. As I said in my earlier post, if one is creating and building up new soil it might be helpful, but there may be some risks in creating a compost tea with compost that hasn’t been sterilized, as the compost contains a variety of microbes, not all of them good, and spraying that on vegetables, herbs and fruits that you are not going to cook might expose you to harmful pathogens.

 

[SCD4275]

Hi SCD,

You’re welcome.

I find BuffaLoam to be a good product because it is just a straightforward organic compost, it is OMRI listed, and it helps in adding variety to the garden, since I already use cow, chicken, worm, and vegetative compost. Diversity is always good and mimics what would naturally occur. I've never heard of "Better Organix", so I can't really comment on that product. As for chlorine, as well as fluoride, you can create your own basic filter. There are clay and sandstone filters, which have been used for over a 1000 years. Bone char or charcoal can also be used.

A point on compost tea, I brew teas for the water soluble nutrients. Most store bought compost is heat-treated, and it is the nutrients not bacteria that I am employing when I use compost tea. Aerated compost tea, the only advantage with that would be in wanting to create a larger population of helpful bacteria if you’re using compost that hasn’t been heat-treated. As I said in my earlier post, if one is creating and building up new soil it might be helpful, but there may be some risks in creating a compost tea with compost that hasn’t been sterilized, as the compost contains a variety of microbes, not all of them good, and spraying that on vegetables, herbs and fruits that you are not going to cook might expose you to harmful pathogens.

Yes, the whole process needs to be very precise. I am taking photographs so shall readily see what does & does not work. Have started using the system of nutrient cycling, utilized by Better Organix. My brain has a Soil Food Web fog after all the reading I am doing

 

[headfullofbees]

Do research on all plants you want to grow, and only grow what you will eat.

1. Research the growing conditions, how to cook, how to harvest, and how many plants per person.
2. Lay out a garden design - doesnt have to be complicated. You can even use a container garden.
3. Separate plants by shade, full sun and partial shade. Also use companion planting.
4. Invest in good compost and soil, as well as a simple fertilizer such as Alaska Fish Emulsion, which is very concentrated and super cheap. You can mix Black Kow ($6.00 at Lowes) with Miracle Gro together. I would even add in Perlite. Be creative and use whatever is most plausible or free!
5. Talk to fellow gardeners.

This are just a few ideas.

This is the organic forum, no swearing, please.

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Miracle Gro products are nasty

http://www.organicagardensupply.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/untitled.jpg

 

[SCD4275]

Hi Invasive, thought I'd share this,

I have applied 2 " of home made compost onto my veg patch just over a month ago, also 1/4 " over the lawn (to be repeated 4 times a year). Today. I have added a soil drench treatment, in a pressure sprayer, made up of Humates, Humic, Fulvic & organic acids (all in one). The compaction repair I'm undertaking involves altering the charge of the soil particles from a -+, to a -- charge, thus repelling. I mixed this with a plant additive (all ingredients are organic) which is designed to give nutrients welcomed by the soil microbes, improving "soil health & vitality" I put on around 15 litres on to an area of 1.5m x 3M, over 3 hours.
Didn't get a tan though

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Hi SCD4275,



I am a big proponent of leaf mould and sheet compost. Nature soon takes over.

 

[maxen57]

I would like to start my own garden but our location is not very good for flowering plants. We live beside the highway where it's always dusty but I guess that could be taken care of with just watering. Still, I would like to learn how to make a flowering plant survive for months even in the kind of weather we have here in a tropical country. We just have normal plants outside but none are flowering because it takes more time and effort to make maintain the blooms.