Mephisto Genetics Simoigets SIP grow ..all time favorites of the mephisto variety

[simoiget]

Another thing that will help with the availability of calcium is having a sufficient number of composting worms like red wigglers in your container. While microbes and plant exudates contribute to helping make calcium available. Nothing works quite as well as having lime, oyster shell flower, crab meal, or bone meal pass through the gut of a worm. When these are passed through the gut of a worm after being consumed as grit for the gizzard, they liberate the calcium into a form that is available to the plants almost immediately. It does require an acidic reaction to deconstruct the amendments into available calcium, and this may be the only way to ‘unlock’ the potential that’s in your soil in a fast enough time frame. A soil pH around 6-6.5 takes a long time for this process to happen on its own. As few as a dozen composting worms would make a difference in your sized container.
Just another thought I wanted to throw out there.
cheers
os

worms are most certainly in my soil and always have been.I gave them an avocado bomb last week with insect frass and oyster shell and they are devouring it as we speak

@Organic Sinse I also run those amendments through my worm bin but I am curious how often you feed them the amendments? and is that your primary feedstock or do you do food scraps etc. as well? that is interesting to know about your weekly top dresses! I have been always top dressing once at 30 days and again around day 50.

the more I think about it the more it starts to make the most sense that I have been just undersupplying calcium.Also my practice of not top watering in the past may have also contributed to not having the calcium available fast enough for the plants needs. I will continue with the EWC bone meal top dresses weekly as well as good top waterings to make sure the amendments become available as soon as possible.

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

You gonna do the Horizon soil method? Thought about trying it in the sip. Ya know- the 15 gal grassroots was the only plant that didn't come down with yellow fever. Been thinking about a 2x4 bed for my bedroom.

U referring to the video from FCP for layering the soil with the rocks at the bottom, then the sand etc??

 

[Sour D]

U referring to the video from FCP for layering the soil with the rocks at the bottom, then the sand etc??

yes sir

 

[Organic Sinse]

worms are most certainly in my soil and always have been.I gave them an avocado bomb last week with insect frass and oyster shell and they are devouring it as we speak

@Organic Sinse I also run those amendments through my worm bin but I am curious how often you feed them the amendments? and is that your primary feedstock or do you do food scraps etc. as well? that is interesting to know about your weekly top dresses! I have been always top dressing once at 30 days and again around day 50.

the more I think about it the more it starts to make the most sense that I have been just undersupplying calcium.Also my practice of not top watering in the past may have also contributed to not having the calcium available fast enough for the plants needs. I will continue with the EWC bone meal top dresses weekly as well as good top waterings to make sure the amendments become available as soon as possible.

Here’s the basic recipe for my bedding. I run tray units.
Sinse’s bedding mix
2 gal leaf mold or compost
1 1/2 gallon small pine bark nuggets or pine bark fines (soaked in water overnight.
1/2 gallon rice hulls
1/4 (to 1/2) cup each fishbone, kelp, neem seed, and crab shell meals
1/4 cup freshly ground malted barley
1/4 cup oyster shell flower
2 Tablespoons of gypsum
1-2 cups rock dust (glacier rock dust in my case)
To that mix, I feed about 15 banana peels for one month. After a month another tray is placed on top and no other food is added to the original tray. After 4-5 months a tray is harvested and another 1/4 cup application of each of the the meals and 1/4 cup more of freshly ground malted barley are added. I let this sit in a tote, kept moist and just apply as needed.
When the plants first show big clumps of pistils (I’m not talking showing sex, I mean clumps of pistils) I apply a top dress of the above vermicompost and more freshly malted barley powder. For each plant I add 2-3 Tablesppons of freshly malted barley powder to about a quart of castings and top dress. It is then watered in. I cont this once a week until I see the first pistils darken and turn orange. Once they start to darken, I apply the last top dress and just water only until harvest. If I continue that routine later, the growth spurts go on forever and can result in fox tailing or crowning.
HTH without too much info
cheers
os

 

[WildBill]

Organic Sinse
How big are the pine bark nuggets? I thought of using it last year as a cover. Ummmmmmm..............I have a pretty good source. LOL!

edit...........I'm going out later in the backyard and look for some indigenous good mold for the media from the last grow in totes.

 

[simoiget]

Here’s the basic recipe for my bedding. I run tray units.
Sinse’s bedding mix
2 gal leaf mold or compost
1 1/2 gallon small pine bark nuggets or pine bark fines (soaked in water overnight.
1/2 gallon rice hulls
1/4 (to 1/2) cup each fishbone, kelp, neem seed, and crab shell meals
1/4 cup freshly ground malted barley
1/4 cup oyster shell flower
2 Tablespoons of gypsum
1-2 cups rock dust (glacier rock dust in my case)
To that mix, I feed about 15 banana peels for one month. After a month another tray is placed on top and no other food is added to the original tray. After 4-5 months a tray is harvested and another 1/4 cup application of each of the the meals and 1/4 cup more of freshly ground malted barley are added. I let this sit in a tote, kept moist and just apply as needed.
When the plants first show big clumps of pistils (I’m not talking showing sex, I mean clumps of pistils) I apply a top dress of the above vermicompost and more freshly malted barley powder. For each plant I add 2-3 Tablesppons of freshly malted barley powder to about a quart of castings and top dress. It is then watered in. I cont this once a week until I see the first pistils darken and turn orange. Once they start to darken, I apply the last top dress and just water only until harvest. If I continue that routine later, the growth spurts go on forever and can result in fox tailing or crowning.
HTH without too much info
cheers
os

Very cool! I love talking worms.. 2 questions though..#1 what is your leaf mould process..and #2 can you explain the tray placed on top of the original tray? Is this for the worms to migrate into? And if so I guess the top tray is fully loaded with "food" i.e the amendments you listed?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

As the good ol homey MrOldBoy always said,
“Worms are nature’s best gardeners!!!” I toss em in my pots always and next run instead of earthbox I’m gonna be using homemade knf inputs and I ordered some grassroots 10gal living soil pots and will be tossing handful of worms into each! They def help on many levels so always have a place in my garden!

What differentiates the grassroots living soil pots from standard cloth pots? I can see they look a bit different..?

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

They have a secondary liner inside them to help keep soil a consistent moisture level!

 

[simoiget]

They have a secondary liner inside them to help keep soil a consistent moisture level!

View attachment 1320225

Why the switch to pots @Fermented_Fruitz/Mark?

 

[Organic Sinse]

Very cool! I love talking worms.. 2 questions though..#1 what is your leaf mould process..and #2 can you explain the tray placed on top of the original tray? Is this for the worms to migrate into? And if so I guess the top tray is fully loaded with "food" i.e the amendments you listed?

My leaf mold process is I shred leaves, mix with some rock dust and a little chicken manure and let sit for a year.
I use a tray system with 5 trays. The top tray is the working tray. I take a tray off the bottom to use, dump it out, refill it with bedding mix and banana peels and place it on top of the stack.it Next time Ineed a tray, I pull one off the bottom and dump it and refill and place on top.
You never have to sort out worms, and most of the worms are working the top tray.
check out ‘worm factory 360’ They are pretty slick. I think tray systems make the most consistent quality castings.
cheers
os