Mikedin’s Living Soil Adventure and Living Soil discussion topic

[Mikedin]

I like to top dress with worm castings and craft blend. This is my first run with the big 6 and it’s been a huge benefit. I’m gonna get the buildaveg on my next order. What straw do you use? Are you concerned with pests coming in on it or do you do something to it before bringing it in?

I do plan to pick up the craft blend, build a bloom and hopefully the kashi during this run so I’ll have it on hand for the recharge

Might try to get the kashi and kashi bloom asap it goes out of stock a lot

I’ll also be using worm castings but lighter than usual as I know there’s at least 40 worms in each bag

 

[Natep]

I buy normal straw bales, you want to pasteurize it NOT sterilize it!

Hot water Pasteurization will kill bugs as well as weed seeds in the straw and any bad bacteria’s or funguses.

You want to get the water to 160f to 180f but no hotter, find the sweet spot and hold it steady, pasteurization will kill off the bugs I belive around 140f in 30ish minutes
The 160-180f is your goal, hold it there for 60-90 minutes will kill off any wild weed seeds in the straw, going over 180f and you start killing the beneficial microbes, and that’s the last thing we wanna do! I have a full bale sitting outside been out there all winter in a closed garbage bag brought in enough for the 3 pots (ended up a shade short but that’s ok the cover crop took over) once I need more I’ll grab another slab and boil it up (warning your house will smell like a barn for a few hours lol) I plan to wait till it’s a shade warmer and I gotta get a fire going to burn up some old shit. When I do that ill set up a metal rack of some kind and pasteurize some more

So far between the soil, and the straw in 4 weeks since I set these up I have not gotten one single gnat or any other bugs I can find

I also use BTI

I like to add beneficial nematodes and the special blend of predator mites from natures good guys. We have a ton of spider mites in our area and they are a huge problem.

 

[Mikedin]

I like to add beneficial nematodes and the special blend of predator mites from natures good guys. We have a ton of spider mites in our area and they are a huge problem.

I’m still considering predators mites and nematodes etc

Bugs aren’t common here just stink bugs and gnats lol

 

[RGWD0202]

I buy normal straw bales, you want to pasteurize it NOT sterilize it!

Hot water Pasteurization will kill bugs as well as weed seeds in the straw and any bad bacteria’s or funguses.

You want to get the water to 160f to 180f but no hotter, find the sweet spot and hold it steady, pasteurization will kill off the bugs I belive around 140f in 30ish minutes
The 160-180f is your goal, hold it there for 60-90 minutes will kill off any wild weed seeds in the straw, going over 180f and you start killing the beneficial microbes, and that’s the last thing we wanna do! I have a full bale sitting outside been out there all winter in a closed garbage bag brought in enough for the 3 pots (ended up a shade short but that’s ok the cover crop took over) once I need more I’ll grab another slab and boil it up (warning your house will smell like a barn for a few hours lol) I plan to wait till it’s a shade warmer and I gotta get a fire going to burn up some old shit. When I do that ill set up a metal rack of some kind and pasteurize some more

So far between the soil, and the straw in 4 weeks since I set these up I have not gotten one single gnat or any other bugs I can find

I also use BTI

Great info! Not sure how to find a big enough pot for the amount of straw I need. I’d probably fire up the grill and do it on there, I’ll see what I can find, I think it’s really important for living soil just been afraid to bring it into my grow.

 

[RGWD0202]

I do plan to pick up the craft blend, build a bloom and hopefully the kashi during this run so I’ll have it on hand for the recharge

Might try to get the kashi and kashi bloom asap it goes out of stock a lot

I’ll also be using worm castings but lighter than usual as I know there’s at least 40 worms in each bag

You won’t believe how fast those worms multiply. I started with maybe 20 and in 6 months I can’t dig a hole without pulling some out. But likewise, I’ll be cutting back going forward.

I like to add beneficial nematodes and the special blend of predator mites from natures good guys. We have a ton of spider mites in our area and they are a huge problem.

I’d like to get some predators as well, nematodes are some wild little fuckers.

 

[Mikedin]

Great info! Not sure how to find a big enough pot for the amount of straw I need. I’d probably fire up the grill and do it on there, I’ll see what I can find, I think it’s really important for living soil just been afraid to bring it into my grow.

I was too so that’s why I researched that I originally searched sterilization but quickly found out that isint what we are looking for, I have large stock pots but I’m the same need something bigger, I’d like to pasteurize a huge amount, preferably over the fire pit, dry it out, then store it for winter use

I was gunna go with rice hulls but straw seemed to be a better and cheaper option… doing it my way, buying pre pasteurized straw is super expensive like I can probably get 6-7 bales for the same price of a regular plastic shopping bag full for the same price

Rice bulls while cheaper than straw is still a much pricier option, I may stil get some down the road to mix in with the straw but we’ll see,

 

[Mikedin]

You won’t believe how fast those worms multiply. I started with maybe 20 and in 6 months I can’t dig a hole without pulling some out. But likewise, I’ll be cutting back going forward.

I’d like to get some predators as well, nematodes are some wild little fuckers.

You ever look up microscopic images of them? When I saw them I was like damn… that looks like something I’d be trying to kill

 

[Natep]

You ever look up microscopic images of them? When I saw them I was like damn… that looks like something I’d be trying to kill

I’ve never looked at them under a microscope. Now I’m curious what all my soil looks like

 

[Mikedin]

TIME LAPSE and some photos enjoy!

 

[Greenadian]

Love watching that timelapse!! Very cool

 

[Mikedin]

Love watching that timelapse!! Very cool

I like watching to see if they are shying one way or another during lights on, I’ve found it’s useful to be able to tune the light intensity, if I see a lot of reaching I bump it up, if she’s shying away in the LST 2-3 hours of the day I dial it back a shade

 

[Natep]

I like watching to see if they are shying one way or another during lights on, I’ve found it’s useful to be able to tune the light intensity, if I see a lot of reaching I bump it up, if she’s shying away in the LST 2-3 hours of the day I dial it back a shade

The time lapse pics are awesome. Do you know if there is some way to encorperate chickens into this mix?

 

[Mikedin]

The time lapse pics are awesome. Do you know if there is some way to encorperate chickens into this mix?

Like a rooster? don’t give the wife any ideas

 

[BearWater]

TIME LAPSE and some photos enjoy!

SAW YOUR ARM!

dude the the cover crop in the dark looks super trippy!

 

[Mikedin]

SAW YOUR ARM!

dude the the cover crop in the dark looks super trippy!

Haha yeah it does all the stretching and moving, it s like a nightclub dance floor under the plant

 

[Mikedin]

Plants have been trained for the first Time now I’ll let them stretch for a week or do them probably top again, we’ll see how they fill in from the training then I’ll decide, but they look happy as can be!

 

[Mikedin]

mothers are left to right then top first to last, as well as the order of the bud pics of each
kahuna #2

Frostette #6

Kahuna #3

 

[Natep]

Like a rooster? don’t give the wife any ideas

I picked up five laying hens yesterday. I plan on using them to help keep my garden weeded. I plan on laying this cool down the lanes and letting them scratch and shit all between the plants.

 

[Mikedin]

I picked up five laying hens yesterday. I plan on using them to help keep my garden weeded. I plan on laying this cool down the lanes and letting them scratch and shit all between the plants.

That’s an awesome idea! Plus free manure haha, we want chickens but we also have 3 dogs and I know we’d lose chickens by the day I gotta build a enclosed coop then I’ll get some lol we use a ton of eggs with all the stuff my wife bakes I go though a 7.5 dozen case every 2 weeks

 

[Natep]

That’s an awesome idea! Plus free manure haha, we want chickens but we also have 3 dogs and I know we’d lose chickens by the day I gotta build a enclosed coop then I’ll get some lol we use a ton of eggs with all the stuff my wife bakes I go though a 7.5 dozen case every 2 weeks

If she is into baking get ducks. The duck eggs are amazing for baking.