How to grow your own soil rhizobia and other bacteria
novascapes
12 years ago
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pnbrown
12 years agonovascapes
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Grow your own fertilizer? Crazy?
Comments (8)......and clover will not add 2 lbs. It just won't. The reason that clover (and other legumes) made the news is that they are a net positive, rather than a net negative, on the nitrogen. That's huge news. It's a very small amount (to the positive) but huge news, because (as the news told you), most growing experiences yield a net negative of nitrogen. So it goes. It is, however, a far cry from saying that clover has ENOUGH nitrogen to make a difference, as some/most of the grains have. I do not belive that growing an acre of grains will yield enough grains to properly fertilize an acre of lawn. Not the way you and I grow grains. The farmers, however, have the benefit of 'economy of scale', and they grow huge amounts of grain, with huge machines, on huge fields, and because of the savings by being huge, (on a per acre basis) they can offer those grains literally for LESS than it would cost for you and me to do it. Grow the same grains. Or raise the same bacon. Or the same milk. Would you rather have a hand-made automobile, or a mass-produced automobile? The price difference is astounding, but there is absolutely no question that the hand made automobile is a finer car. There are 'hobbyists', mostly in our experience called 'gardeners' or 'heaters of houses with wood stoves'.....they grow some fine tomatoes. But they don't do it for the price. They grow it for the taste of the tomato. Personally, I go to the local farmer's market, where these guys are trying to get SOME of that money back, and I get some darn fine tomatoes. Or the wood stove guys? There's a very humorous list, of things that (numbered one through about twenty) list the 'savings' of cutting your own house heating fuel (with a chainsaw: cost $300, up front; cost of bandages, after you drop the tree on YOU: $200, you get the idea). But you're not gonna grow some corn (with all of its trouble and expense) and then spread that corn on your lawn, and even REMOTELY believe that you 'saved money'. Or time. Or covered the inevitable 'bad years' by putting some away, from the extra, during 'good years'. Nope. For grains to spread on the lawn, buy (cheaply) from the 'experts'. They are experts for a reason, aren't they? To heat your home, buy, cheaply, from that 'expert' utility company or propane distributor. And for some really, really, mouth watering sweet tomatoes, grow your own. Tend them. But don't tell me, at the end of the year, that you 'saved money', just tell me that you enjoyed tomatoes so sweet, with such good texture, that I couldn't imagine just how fine that BLT sandwich actually was. I'll believe you. And envy you, for that brief moment....See Moresoil bacteria Rhodococcus fascians
Comments (13)Here's a Calendula plant gone wack-o. Calendula has been self sowing in our garden for years. And now this. And these affected plants are throughout our 1/4 acre garden. I would guess that "it" affected 40% of the susceptible varieties. The main thoughts after talking to many, many experienced research people and gardeners is that it's best to garden somewhere else for a few years. Ha, it's not that easy. My thought has been that since our soil is so compost based, I need at add some other sources of nutrient, like this wood chip compost. And also incorporate more crop rotation with bigger patches of legumes and grains. Like maybe 1/3 in legumes (beans, peas, try lentils) and 1/3 in grain. It doesn't need more fertility, it's very lush already. Somehow that needs to be brought down a bit, crazy, eh? Any other ideas?...See MoreSuppression of pathogens and pests by soil bacteria
Comments (9)Clarification of the Rutgers Education info. about horse manure, regarding the high iron of 3614, that's ppm dry weight, and different from % dry wt. ratio of NPK, calcium, and magnesium. The equal measurement is to the far right of the table. Here's in % lb/ton: N of 2.8, P of 1.4, K of 2.4, calcium of 1.2, magnesium of 0.4, sulfur of 0.2, and iron of 0.5. Now it looks much better, and the iron is not out of whack. Adding lime to deodorize the stall varies with stables, so aged horse manure varies from 7 to 10 in pH (someone reported a 10 pH in a soil forum). The most accurate test done on the effect of different growing medium is found in this website: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/HLA/anderson/orgfert3.pdf The above experiment is to learn about the efficiency of organic fertilizers and composts: fish emulsion, Omega 6-6-6, horse manure, cow manure, and worm castings. Highlights of this study: "Pepper plants treated with Peter's are normal. Plants treated with cow manure are somewhat better. Plants with horse manure are smaller. In tomato: plants grown in the worm casting, the horse manure, and no fertilizer control are stunt. This demonstrates that the worm and horse manure were probably NOT fully composted and they stole nutrients from the mix. The composted worm castings had a high pH, and very high nutrient levels. The composted cow manure had a very low pH and low phosphorus, and high levels of nitrogen, calcium, and magnesium. The composted horse manure had a very high pH and high phosphorus and potassium, with typical levels of nitrogen, calcium, and magnesium. But the plants performed poorly in horse manure, probably because this was INCOMPLETELY composted. Their conclusion: Omega and fish emulsion fertilizer can be used to grow vegetable transplants. A 20% to 30% of composted cow manure may be effective for transplants ... but worm castings and horse manure were NOT effective. My conclusion: it's always good to measure the pH of any manure before using. Someone reported a pH of 4.5 in their cow manure, while others reported a pH of 8 in a composted horse manure (it depends how much lime the stable uses to deodorize the stall). In the UK garden forum, someone reported a low pH in the horse manure - so it all depends if lime is used in a particular stall....See MoreGrowing your own mulch
Comments (35)I was looking at my garlic which will be ready soon. I like to plant it after cowpeas. I read a post on Facebook where a guy grew buckwheat and oats as a cover crop before garlic and planted the garlic directly in the growing cover crop. Both will winter kill and provide a built in mulch for his garlic. Someone responded with this article. Both of them are further north. I'm so pleased with my tomatoes in rye stubble I'm ready to try this. The info about radishes was very interesting in that article as well. I've heard of daikon radishes as cover crops before....See MoreKimmsr
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