Lake bottom soil

Ideas run rampant. Just figure the soil would be full of fish and plant matter after dried. Add my tea to that and should really be a nice medium I assume. Any thoughts?

Sounds interesting......
get two plants going side by side and try it on one of them.

I see good with the bad.
River / lake could have a lot of crap in it. I.E. spent fuel. We have a lot of farm waste run off in our river. Some times high a bad smell from all the dead salmon from the runs.
Just throwing some other ideas out for you. I do like the idea however!

Would use 500 gallon tubs, and put together a fish farm, then use the fish to balance the system. There's quite a few major hydroponic grow setups you can use to accomplish this.. but they're by no means small. (see: you will need well more than a 50x250ft space as a start)

Figong said:

Would use 500 gallon tubs, and put together a fish farm, then use the fish to balance the system. There's quite a few major hydroponic grow setups you can use to accomplish this.. but they're by no means small. (see: you will need well more than a 50x250ft space as a start)

Click to expand...

Guppyponics is a cool google search, crazy what you can do with just fish emulsion.

rooky1985 said:

Guppyponics is a cool google search, crazy what you can do with just fish emulsion.

Click to expand...

I would use duckweed with Tilapia.. but a solid research on Finfish Aquaculture, amongst other things related to the subject would be required.. I have about 95+ books on aquaculture, and it's a system I'd love to try in my later years after I retire, if the $ exists to set it up.

I think the soil on the bottom of a lake with be very silty and basically turn to crumbly stone like sand when dried out.

It will also have a different PH and may have pollutants.

If you want something from the ocean that is similar but millions of years old, check out greensand. It's basically the ocean floor fossilized and ground up for fertilizers.

HTP said:

I see good with the bad.
River / lake could have a lot of crap in it. I.E. spent fuel. We have a lot of farm waste run off in our river. Some times high a bad smell from all the dead salmon from the runs.
Just throwing some other ideas out for you. I do like the idea however!

Click to expand...

Yes I did think of the farm run off. The lake is in a small state park but surrounded by farms. I figured the best time to gather the soil from the lake would be after winter but before the farmers get to planting and using their ferts. My thinking is by then it will have partially flushed itself with the fall and winter seasons bringing rain and heavy moisture giving me access to a slightly cleaner fresh top level of soil.

Figong said:

Would use 500 gallon tubs, and put together a fish farm, then use the fish to balance the system. There's quite a few major hydroponic grow setups you can use to accomplish this.. but they're by no means small. (see: you will need well more than a 50x250ft space as a start)

Click to expand...

As awsome as this idea sounds I'm only a small scale grower, haha...

Rising Moon said:

I think the soil on the bottom of a lake with be very silty and basically turn to crumbly stone like sand when dried out.

It will also have a different PH and may have pollutants.

If you want something from the ocean that is similar but millions of years old, check out greensand. It's basically the ocean floor fossilized and ground up for fertilizers.

Click to expand...

I have heard green sand metioned before. Does it have actual sand properties or can it be used as a medium? Or is it a supplement or an amendment to soil for its nutrients?

The 500 gallon tubs are for small time grows (1 of them) so you could put 20ish fish in it, and not over-crowd.. with duckweed as another balance, and both would provide a pH / chem buffer pre-filtration of solids (see: fish shit) amongst other things before being pumped into the mix ratio-wise. That said, the fish (if properly maintained) would be actual fresh fish you could eat, completely safe to digest.

Your idea is sound but odds are your lake is full of nasty shit you don't want to be smoking out of your plant later on, I wouldn't use it. However, here is how I get what you are looking for cleanly.

I have a 120gal south american FW aquarium that I know is clean, has a ph of 6.7-6.8 and I just pitcher aquarium water into my watering can...plant's love the low but measurable and consistent levels of NO3/PO4 dissolved into the bacteria laden water, then I just top off the tank with RO/DI and call it a day. It's really easy and imo beneficial for an organic gardener to incorporate a bad ass aquarium into your life and or repertoire of hobbies/activities. They share most of the same equipment you are already familiar with, lots of the same theories and practices (bacteria/aeration/nitrogen cycle/water management etc) they just complement each other very well. Plus it's great to sit back and watch the fish as you essentially smoke their poop and giggle at the thought of it.

It does have it's share of responsibility/upkeep/homework needed to set up and get running properly but an appropriately stocked/sized (always go as big as you can) aquarium will serve the exact purpose you suggest using lake soil for and yes it will grow you some stunning trees man. It's basically a combo of organic soil and aquaponics. I keep some liquid guano/tea base nuts around (because they are easy to dose) just in case someone starts looking hungry, but I haven't used more than a couple oz's of the stuff in the past 18 mo. So for the most part my nutrient bill comes in the form of quality fish food which comes out to about 10 bucks a month.

Anyhow, just tossing this idea out there, hope it helps.