@Roguelab shared a couple of these links with me in another thread. Instead of continuing to derail a valuable extraction thread I figured I would start one dedicated to this sort of topic.
I have been making and using home made em-1 fpe’s and em-5 with great results. Next summer I will be taking roguelabs suggestion of burning plants with a high silica content and then using the ashes as a source of silica for my outdoor crop. I recycle soil each round and I have switched to water soluble additives instead of bottles (paying for water)
What are you guys doing to minimize the store bought consumables in your garden?
Oh man where to begin! I’m all about home brew nutrients and ipm stuff. Burn a fire at the base of your hole before tossing the dirt back in, Eggshells for calcium. Never heard of the silica bearing wood though.
I’ve had great success with KNF techniques such as LAB brewing and a personal favorite of mine is banana FFJ. Epsom salts for some magnesium boost. I’m even going to try very hard to toss a fish in the bottom of each of my holes this season .
Long story short, if you’re buying bottles of liquid nutes, there’s more than likely a cheaper more effective natural way to go about things. Nature has been perfecting this craft for a long time.
The best base nutient is the plants themselves. When you harvest, take all the extras (leaves, stems and small larfy buds) and throw them in a barrel of water. Close it up and let it sit for 4 months.
Use this fermented plant water and add it in to your compost brew and brew it for a day (or until smell goes away 12-24 hrs) before adding in your usual compost tea recipe. Use a ratio of 1 gallon of stinky water to 50-75 gallons of water for compost teas.
I found knf fermerts are usually most affective as a foliar spray, and the soil just needs compost, hay and worm castings.
OHN is the bees knees as far as cloning and mothers, helps alot with keeping stressed plants happy.
Using KNF and ferments made our outdoor look like indoor, i HIGHLY recommend it.
We started feeding our chickens with ohn water and plants grown with KNF and the yolks have become more orange and definitly have a richer taste
There are a few nutes I’ve not been able to recreate diy style, id love to figure out how to make them. One in particular is the HG Roots excelurator… that bottle in particular is worth paying for to me.
Edit: the organics for beginners page on icmag is chock full of recipes, the burn1 method has served me well over the years, simple yet elegant lol.
Seems like a lot of work.
Advanced nutrients and rock wool save a lot of time and money in the long run as it will cut out a lot of ipm. No bugs no pm. That makes for a great harvest in the long run. And yes I do hate to pay for water to be shipped around. I know it drives a lot of people crazy!
Vegtable and fruit wholesalers often have to trow some away for they are rotten or not pretty for consumption
They have to pay to discard these
Make a deal with any of them to pick up there trash and you have really good basis for nutrients
My opinion. Coco and dirt can carry bad bugs. And I have seen mushrooms growing on smart pots indoor. So I think mold and what not is blowing in the wind. I am not making any great claims about AN. Although it does work well for us. Just trying to keep the Tegrity!
I had chinese relatives visiting and they were really into but didnt understand the process. I certainly did not either and tended to think think anaerobic condtions and soil just dont go together if you want healthy plants…but I obviously missed something…will poke a bit and post link if worthy.
Here’s a VERY simple link that has various recipes for knf and ohn. I’ll have to try a small batch soon and see how it goes.
(which I’ve never heard of until now btw, this all looks interesting!)
@Hansel, I use root and grow from bonide, I know it’s not organic, but it works great, and is crazy cheap compared to mj nutes. Here’s the key ingredients from the msds:
If you have Facebook, “Korean Natural Farming” is a great community to follow.
Chris Trump is a great resource for KNF inputs. Fairly short videos with simple explanations.
Eric Weinert is also a great resource. His videos are much more in depth.
Both on youtube.
look in the files section.
lots of information on making your own organic inputs for next to nothing…and stuff like adding specific hormones at certain stages of growth.
Seems like its a lot but if you can learn how to run an ethanol extraction system or any other system, I promise you can learn this stuff too… Its like extraction but we’re extracting nutrients to give to the plants instead of oils.
Its extraction with helpers…kinda like ants, aphids and sugars…but microbes and nutes…now if it weren’t winter…pretty cold for all those bugs to do they’re work.
From build a soils website:
“You can read a lot about the alfalfa compound (auxin) Triacontanol which is found in alfalfa meal. What gets lost in the discussion is that the sprouting alfalfa’s production of this auxin is at its maximum meaning that go gently into that good night if you choose to sprout alfalfa seeds. Start with 1/2 the amount you would with most other seeds." -Clackamas Coots
28 Grams Alfalfa Seed (1 Ounces)
Soak for 8 hours with Clean Water
Should now weigh minimum 42 Grams (If not soak longer)
Sprout seeds until tail is as long as the seed or about 1-2 days.
Blend in a food blender or whatever you have with a little but of water to help it blend.
Add this to 5 gallons water and you have one of the worlds most nutritious Plant Enzyme Teas available for PENNIES.
