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BUFFALOKIE

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36 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Yes, I do a garden every year but plan on expanding a bit this year. I plan on doing corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, peas, green beans, potatoes, watermelon and probably some type of cucumbers and peppers. Maybe radishes. 

 

I also have raspberry, blackberry, blueberry and “pink lemonade” blueberry plants.

 

I am pretty big into organic gardening. I do a fully organic garden with an emphasis on developing the soil micro-life (it’s made a huge, noticeable difference for me).

But I also have some hydroponic setups that I use for fun. I’ve experimented with a bunch of different types of hydroponic (passive and active) and aeroponic setups.

 

 

by the way @buffalokie, I know exactly what thread you’re talking about. I remember posting in it but I went back though all my posts and couldn’t find it.

Were you the one promoting compost tea? I still haven't planted. That is definitely at the top of my list for this weekend.

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51 minutes ago, BUFFALOKIE said:

Were you the one promoting compost tea? I still haven't planted. That is definitely at the top of my list for this weekend.

Yes I was. 

 

Edit - give me a few. I’ll put together a compost tea post for this thread.

Edited by BillsFan4
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23 hours ago, BUFFALOKIE said:

niiiiice, thanks for putting a little water on the seed brother! I totally forget what I wanted to say, but gardening is my thing. And Beer. 

 

Working from home now, pulling weeds on my lunch hour. Come on BLT sammy!

 

My first meal in over a month NOT prepared by me was an amazing take out BLT from a place with great food yesterday. I may do it again tomorrow.....you know.....just to be a good citizen and support local places! I’m doing it out of the goodness of my heart! (Certainly not FOR the goodness of my heart.)

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A few quick links on compost tea:

 

Basics:

https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/news/the-ultimate-compost-tea-guide

 

Compost tea recipes:

 

http://www.getcleanhands.com/pages/compost-tea-recipe.html

 

 

The most basic compost tea recipes use either compost, earthworm castings or Alaska humas soil (this: https://hydropros.com/products/general-organics-ancient-forest-5-cu-ft) and air + water.

 

 

 

-fill a 5 gallon bucket with water (let sit 24hrs to let chlorine evaporate if using tap water. You can bubble it w/the air stones to speed up this process)

- put 2 air stones at the bottom

- take your compost, put a few cups into an old sock, pantyhose, paint strainer bag (my favorite) etc (they even sell compost tea bags) and hang it from the side or middle of the bucket (I like to hang mine from the middle by tying it around a stick that sits across the top of the bucket). You can larvae the compost loose too but it’s messier that way.

-let it bubble for 24-48 hours.

 

You can add in a few tablespoons of molasses if you want as food for the micro life, but it’s not necessary.

 

If you’re really feeling ambitious there are tons of different DIY compost tea brewer builds on YouTube. Some more complex than others. Some make their own pvc manifolds instead of using air stones. But I’d try the simple 5 gallon bucket setup and see if you like it first. 

 

Here’s a simple design:

 

 

Ive done it with a 2 outlet air pump and only 2 air stones too. I used 2 of the heavy 4” cylindrical air stones (the lighter ones tend to want to float). The goal is to have the whole surface of the bucket bubbling. Ideally, you don’t want any dead spots that aren’t getting aerated.  

 

Some notes on using molasses:

https://www.gardenteacompany.com/compost-tea-recipes/

 

I generally agree with what they're saying on not using molasses, but I do still use it. Molasses does make the team more bacterial dominant and you don’t always want that. It can also cause the tea to go anaerobic if you use poor starting materials (compost not properly composted, etc). It’s easy to tell if that happens though because it smells terrible. But molasses is a good food source for the microbes in the tea and in the soil and for the plants as well. IMO It also adds some flavor to the plants/veggies. I’ll sometimes just water my plants with plain water + a tablespoon or two of molasses instead of using it on the tea. 

 

For most broad use, you want a diverse mix of micro life (bacteria and fungi). So maybe skip it in the beginning or don’t add it in until later in the brewing process (12 hours or less before it’s done brewing). You can get more specific on fungi or bacteria dominant teas for different plants if you really get into it (it’s easy to do).

 

 

One of my favorite bloom recipes uses molasses. It’s simple.

 

- compost

-bat guano (you buy it powdered. It’s cheap)

-molasses

 

I water my flowering plants this after they start showing fruits. It helps them bulk up and gives an amazing taste IMO. Bat guano is my favorite flowering additive. It’s high in phosphorus and calcium, 2 things flowering plants need lots of, and nothing beats guano for adding taste to organic crops (IMO). It’s also loaded with diverse micro life that multiplies when aerated in the tea.

 

For vegetation:

 

-compost or earthworm castings (EWC are a good source of nitrogen)

-fish hydrolysate (some type of natural fish fertilizer like Neptune’s brand they sell at Home Depot).

- I love using kelp (either liquid or kelp meal (powdered. It’s cheaper). I add kelp meal to my veg teas and periodically during bloom too. Kelp is loaded with good stuff and it has natural plant growth hormones (like cytokinins, that promote cell division). They also help plants recover quicker from transplant shock, and if you spray your plants with kelp + fulvic acid (2/5 ratio) it’ll help them develop more flowering sites.

 

 

There are a lot more detailed recipes on the Internet. The link I provided is a great start for the most well known + trusted recipes out there. But as I said you can start with just compost, water and air. 

Edited by BillsFan4
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23 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

I hired a guy to grow 2 cannabis plants in my backyard.  I’m researching different strains right now.  $250 and he splits the yield, but he does everything.  He’s a Ph.D. botanist.  Going to be fun ?

Dang, I wish I could. Still held down by the fed. Best o luck bro!!!!

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  • 1 month later...

My 2020 garden update.

 

Several weeks ago, I turned a short piece of plastic sewer pipe, about 2' diameter by 1' high into a raised bed in which I planted lettuce, radishes and spinach.   Because of the cold weather, the seeds were slow to germinate and then grow, but they've taken off now.  It's time to sow some more lettuce in it. 

 

I dug out the lemon balm and catnip from my herb garden, planted the lemon balm along the outside of the herb garden so that it will form a boundary, and divided up the catnip into 1 large and 2 small clumps that I potted up.  The big one I will replant in my garden and give the other two away.   I left the chives, garlic and some onions that apparently resowed.  I filled the rest of the bed with extra soil to raise it up, and planted 5 Ozark Beauty strawberry plants.  I put in 4 Romaine lettuce seedlings among the strawberries because they will be done before the berries send out runners.

 

I rototilled existing garden space plus the areas where I planned to expand.  Then I built the raised beds from the 3 yards of garden soil I purchased (at least half of which still remains).  I have one bed that's two feet wide and 25 feet long and about 4 inches higher than the existing garden.  The second bed is about 21 feet long.  In one irregular corner, I put in a bed against the fence.  Along the south side of the garden is a 4 foot by about 15 feet raised bed that I'm building up with more soil as I plant seeds and seedlings.  I have a drainage area right along the garage which is still a work in progress plus an entrance area from last year that's covered with landscape fabric and wood chips.  The paths between the two long beds and the shorter wider bed  are wide enough to fit my garden cart. 

 

So far, I've planted 21 tomatoes, 4 eggplants, 2 zucchinis, and a small area of yellow and red onions.  I still have a few red onion sets to plant plus 4 celery and 4 parsley plants.  I still have room for green beans,carrots, basil, and dill.

 

I made the main garden, the currant patch, and the herb garden/strawberry patch dog proof with a two foot high wire fencing because my dog Gibbs gets inspired to digging out plants by watching me digging and weeding.  While Gibbs could easily jump the fence, he isn't even interested in the area unless I'm in it.  It should keep out any stray bunnies or woodchucks that come into the yard, too.  I currently have 2 makeshift wire gates.

 

Earlier in the spring, I built a raised bench along the fence in a sheltered area behind my garage.   It's about 12 feet by about 3 feet.  I planted 10 asparagus roots there and some peas, but those don't seem to be likely to sprout.  I think I should have just spent the money to get actually started plants but I was cheap.  The area in front of this would-be asparagus patch is going to grow okra after I build the raised bed for it.   Okra needs really warm soil to germinate, so I will plant that some time after June 1.

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  • 1 month later...

 

I need to get my butt out in the garden and prune/tie up tomatoes

 

We’ve been eating broccoli from my 6 plants.  Fighting a caterpillar infestation with BT.  About 4-5 meals so far plus gave some to the neighbors and my mom

We had radishes and lettuce earlier.  Done now, bolted.  Atkins sliced radish and hard boiled egg salad, yum!  Real spring green salad with just-picked lettuce also yum.

Next wax beans.  Found this wax bean and new potato salad with yogurt and miso dressing that is absolutely amazing.  Hard part was getting some miso without extra stores, neighbor helped.

Now the green pole beans are starting up.  Kentucky wonder.  My gardening superpower - I can’t grow an f’in zucchini without spraying it regularly, but the neighbors keep their car windows rolled up to keep me from tossing bags of green beans into their cars.

Basil, walking onions, and oregano of course.  I’ll post a picture - I think walking onions are actually 5G antennae.  Or extraterrestrial.

Tomatoes and sweet peppers starting to come on.  Eggplant are suffering - two tomatoes I planted with them are crowding them out.

Just bought a few tomatoes yesterday because only saw green ones, went out in garden afterwards to water and came in with 6 almost ripe to finish in the house.  I beat the birds and squirrels that way and they’re still better than store-bought.

 

Need to weed, too.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

@Johnny Hammersticks how’s the garden growing?

 

Pretty, pretty good!  I decided on Grandaddy Purple.  They’re now now above my knee and stinky as hell.  Should be ready to harvest and cure in early August.  My “gardener” comes by once a week to check the soil, look the plants over for bugs, and then gives me a little feedback about watering and whatever else he thinks needs adjusting.  I should end up with around 5 ounces.

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1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I need to get my butt out in the garden and prune/tie up tomatoes

 

We’ve been eating broccoli from my 6 plants.  Fighting a caterpillar infestation with BT.  About 4-5 meals so far plus gave some to the neighbors and my mom

We had radishes and lettuce earlier.  Done now, bolted.  Atkins sliced radish and hard boiled egg salad, yum!  Real spring green salad with just-picked lettuce also yum.

Next wax beans.  Found this wax bean and new potato salad with yogurt and miso dressing that is absolutely amazing.  Hard part was getting some miso without extra stores, neighbor helped.

Now the green pole beans are starting up.  Kentucky wonder.  My gardening superpower - I can’t grow an f’in zucchini without spraying it regularly, but the neighbors keep their car windows rolled up to keep me from tossing bags of green beans into their cars.

Basil, walking onions, and oregano of course.  I’ll post a picture - I think walking onions are actually 5G antennae.  Or extraterrestrial.

Tomatoes and sweet peppers starting to come on.  Eggplant are suffering - two tomatoes I planted with them are crowding them out.

Just bought a few tomatoes yesterday because only saw green ones, went out in garden afterwards to water and came in with 6 almost ripe to finish in the house.  I beat the birds and squirrels that way and they’re still better than store-bought.

 

Need to weed, too.

 

 

 

This has been a bizarre year for my garden.  For years, the one plant I've never had an issue with has been tomatoes.  All kinds of them.  Always end up with too many and give some away.  Peppers have always been late bloomers and I never get many.

 

As of today, my tomato plants look good/healthy, but nothing even close to beginning to ripen.  But I've got 3-4 nice-sized jalapenos (one is over 3 inches) already.  Other pepper plants (habs, chilis) are slow-going, as normal.  But the tomatoes make me scratch my head.

 

It's been a dry summer, but the sprinklers hit them twice/day and I also go out and manually water them every day or two.

 

Definitely odd.

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1 minute ago, Gugny said:

 

This has been a bizarre year for my garden.  For years, the one plant I've never had an issue with has been tomatoes.  All kinds of them.  Always end up with too many and give some away.  Peppers have always been late bloomers and I never get many.

 

As of today, my tomato plants look good/healthy, but nothing even close to beginning to ripen.  But I've got 3-4 nice-sized jalapenos (one is over 3 inches) already.  Other pepper plants (habs, chilis) are slow-going, as normal.  But the tomatoes make me scratch my head.

 

It's been a dry summer, but the sprinklers hit them twice/day and I also go out and manually water them every day or two.

 

Definitely odd.

Need warm nights.  Was a slow start.

 

You can always  just put the  tomatoes  in a paper  bag  with a banana  and the ethylene  (I believe  it's  ethylene) given off by the banana will ripen  them. 

 

"Placing the tomatoes near another fruit that releases ethylene, such as a banana, can speed the process. Cut nearly ripe green tomatoes off of the vine, using the pruning shears. Place the tomatoes in a large paper bag or an empty shoebox."

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