Soil microbes for air quality?
dsws
11 years ago
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11 years agolast modified: 9 years agodsws
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Best Office Plants & easy care for air quality
Comments (10)With an east window, your options are pretty wide-open. The least problematic plants (can be neglected for short periods without harm, not likely to have bugs, look appropriately "planty," not dangerous to you or co-workers, not high-maintenance, relatively easy to find in stores) I can think of would be: Aglaonema cvv. (Chinese evergreen) Dracaena reflexa 'Riki' Dracaena deremensis cvv. ('Janet Craig,' 'Limelight,' 'Janet Craig Compacta,' 'Warneckei,' 'Lemon-Lime'/'Goldstar') Ficus binnendijkii (long-leaf fig) Spathiphyllum cvv. (peace lily) Though they do remind some people of funerals. People also have some deep-seated need to overwater them. Yucca elephantipes (spineless yucca) Philodendron hederaceum (heart-leaf philodendron) Even my mom can even grow this. Saxifraga stolonifera (strawberry begonia) Self-propagating. Chlorophytum x 'Fire Flash' (fire flash, green orange, mandarin plant)...See Moresoil microbe analysis
Comments (11)Ok, I am getting smarter. So what we are seeing is decomposition plus mineralization due to our existing and apparently abundant native microbe population. Our fertilizer is probably 99+% protien so I would expect very little nitrogen to be immediately available (NH3 or NO3). Bill, we didn't even know if this product would act as a fertilizer and we also wanted to take a look on a scientific basis and not on a friends experience, so that is why we compared against cottonseed meal and the two synthetics. We live in west Texas and are not remotely "organic" in our thinking. We are kind of chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes kind of people. My wife and I live on a small farm. She raises butterflies for educational tours and retail sale. She purchased a bunch of chickens for the school children to "watch" while on the farm participating in the butterfly tour. One day I collected the eggs that had been layed around the yard that were in various states of ferment, put them in a bucket and poured them over the fence. That spot stayed wonderfully green two summers ago in our largely arid, almost desert climate. Make a long story shorter...the egg industy here in the US makes millions of eggs that are not fit for human consumption that are deemed by the USDA as "inedible" for various reasons....broken shells, double yolks, no yolks, blood spots, stained shells, etc. The bottom line is they take millions of pounds of this stuff,(egg yolk and white, no shells), spray dry it and sell it to the pet food industry as crude protien. It is a 7-1-0 and very close to a 7-1-1. As I have had this organic observation happen to me on our farm, I have been learning every since. So I am starting to understand...ate at my first organic restaurant actually located in west Texas last Wednesday. I would really enjoy some reseach ideas for this next growing season. We have the support of our local county agent so far. He is with the Texas A&M system. That is also why we have leaned towards analytical proof. The phD at our local state university has been very helpful as well. He is the one who did the reseach with the csm and synthetics. So far the only drawback happened when we put it directly onto the soil surface and did not immediately "rake it in", our cats came and licked some of our application off the ground. Still have the cats. Thanks again for the comments and references. I would love for some of ya'll to try some. Thanks again, Ed...See MoreTop soil vs Potting soil in quality control
Comments (20)Hmmm. No one ever talks about the microbes. Microbes make top soil unique - definitely not the same as sub soil. Microbes act as the interface between the organic material in soil and the plants. Plants will suffer in sterile soils, not matter how rich the soil is, without microbes - unless of course, the soil is treated with synthetic fertilizers and/or hormones. Plants in soil without microbes (and no fertilizers) will essentially starve. Dirt is not an appropriate synonym for top soil. The two are quite different things. Top soil is almost impossible to store, as the microbes require oxygen. The oxygen only penetrates a few inches in the best of soils, to about 8 inches max. Heavy soils can have top soils that are only fractions of an inch deep, or even none at all. Deprive the microbes of oxygen, and the microbes die in hours. Plastic-bagged, manufactured top soil, will not have appropriate conditions for microbes to survive if they were ever present. Even true top soil, if harvested through grading and stored in piles, will only be true, healthy top soil on the top few inches of the mound. Within hours all of the microbes below the top layer of the mound will have died. True top soil is a living thing. Top soil needs to be harvested and properly placed in a very short period of time. Take a yard of dirt (or at least a good pile) from below the top soil, mix it with fertilizer-free compost, mound it up in a remote area of your yard and watch what happens - nothing. Nothing will grow on that pile, even though it is dirt amended with compost, because it essentially sterile. After one to two years, the microbes will begin to permeate the top layer of the pile and plants will start to show up. With true top soil, the mound would explode with plants after the first rain. Manufactured mixes "cheat" by stuffing the created mix with fertilizers. This works, but is lousy for the environment in many ways, and "hooks" your plants on synthetic fertilizers like drugs. When you hear such names as Monsanto, Miracle Gro, etc. think "pusher". Microbes do not like synthetic fertilizers, so once using fertilizers, you are stuck using them unless you do a lot of work to fix the situation, or wait until the soil regains a proper ecological balance. Plants will grow well in many types of media, even water, if given proper aeration and proper nutrition, i.e. fertilizer. But this is needlessly expensive and again, potentially problematic for our environment. True top soil is magic. It's ecology is wonderfully complex and is only barely beginning to be understood. No manufactured mix will do what true top soil can do for your garden. Growing plants really needs to be thought of first as growing your soil. True top soil, air, and water are vital to most life forms on Earth. We would all starve without true top soil, unless we were able to subsist on fungi. Labeling requirements for growing mixes are virtually non-existent. Those ingredients that might be listed will be very vague. Notice that no synthetic fertilizers are listed, even if they are there in quantity. Anyone can sell any dirt as topsoil, and people often do as a means to avoid disposal fees for dirt. Get top soil from people removing their raised beds, those who have graded the top few inches of an area, people taking out lawns, etc. or from your own backyard. If there are unused areas of your yard that support a dense mat of weeds, at least during wetter, warmer months, then that is true top soil. Yes there will be weeds, but a good mulch will take care of most of that problem. My advice to any gardener is to start with good top soil, nurture that soil by continually adding organic material, worm castings and compost tea, and use a good mulch. These items are 80-90% of the battle for the vast majority of plants....See MoreCitris trees for air quality?
Comments (12)Hello K. , There is lot to be said about growing aloe vera, but let me be as short as possible. Aloe vera has to most crucial periods, summer time , when it should get fair amount of water (when first inch of soil drys up you should water it deeply until water drains through the bottom)from 2-4 times per month, depending on how fast your soil gets parched. Aloe vera (at least my plants) cannot take direct sun light, they burn beyond recognition, but they do really well if sunlight penetrates through light foliage of some thinned down bush. Depends on where you live, dry period should come from the begining of October all the way until the end of March, and during this time it should be kept real darn dry (to immitate nature), and you can give it only 250ml glass of water once per month. Aloe vera cannot take outdoor freezing temperatures and will surely die in such conditions. My neighbour tried to overwinter his beautiful aloe vera just to see it wilting until nothing left above ground. Sometimes it may recuperate but i wouldn't experiment with it on account of this incredible plant that takes care of a household in which it is kept. Check some info on the google search and search under: aloe vera care and you will get more links than you can read in a whole year haha. On potting soil, the best soil to go for is a cactus mix. Once planted, try not to rub against it or accidently disturb it by walking by because it will severely slow down the growth rate. If plant is isolated properly it will "feel safe" and grow happily. Cheers, Anton...See MoreUser
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