Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

[legaleyes13]

How many cubic feet of soil are you working with? Compost/vermicpmpost should account for apx 1/4 to 1/3 of your mix. It will take a good 3 months or so for the worms to produce a size able amount if castings

10 cu ft. The mix is already 1/3 compost, but I sourced it from a local farm. I was under the impression that it's best to use homemade worm castings to top dress with after every run. I'm thinking that the worm bin may be more trouble than it's worth, particularly if I decide to go with a perpetual setup... If it takes 3 months to produce the amount of castings it takes to top dress a 4x4 bed, I'd need at least 4 worm bins if I decided to go perpetual...

Thanks for your repsonse.

 

[st0wandgrow]

If you have a local place that carries fresh castings, then rock on! As long as it isn't packaged and sitting on a shelf you should be good. I'd check with the farmer and see what they feed them. Most farms utilize worms to process their manures in to castings.... which is OK, but probably not as good as what you could make yourself with a few bins. I would use the castings you got for top dressing and compost teas.

Good luck

 

[legaleyes13]

If you have a local place that carries fresh castings, then rock on! As long as it isn't packaged and sitting on a shelf you should be good. I'd check with the farmer and see what they feed them. Most farms utilize worms to process their manures in to castings.... which is OK, but probably not as good as what you could make yourself with a few bins. I would use the castings you got for top dressing and compost teas.

Good luck

Thanks man, but I just want to clarify that the compost that I currently have in my mix is not worm castings, it's mostly aged horse and chicken manure. I'll try my best to find some place local with fresh worm castings... or maybe I'll start a few bins. But with the amount of bins I'll need, and all of the horror stories I've heard about sifting/harvesting castings, I'm thinking I should do everything I can to try and source them locally.

Thanks again.

 

[KLITE]

If you have a local place that carries fresh castings, then rock on! As long as it isn't packaged and sitting on a shelf you should be good. I'd check with the farmer and see what they feed them. Most farms utilize worms to process their manures in to castings.... which is OK, but probably not as good as what you could make yourself with a few bins. I would use the castings you got for top dressing and compost teas.
Good luck

The place i get mine bag everyweek and use horse shit plus municipal organic waste. It looks smells and feels pretty much like my own vermicompost. Its also cheap as peas and the guy delivers I love good vermicompost, does wonders!

Also id like to thank you guys for guiding on the seed tea. Small veg plants loved it, and flowering ones just became shinnier and i could tell it sat better in their stomachs than my enzymatic pond cleaner.

 

[DonPetro]

Caution:Worm Porn
Organic Eyes Only

Caught these naughty bitches gettin busy. I think im gettin a boner!

 

[CannaBare]

Any tips on adding rabbit poo to the worm bin? I added some the other night with a good spray of water and its staying dry. The worms wont go near it yet.

 

[Chronikool]

Any tips on adding rabbit poo to the worm bin? I added some the other night with a good spray of water and its staying dry. The worms wont go near it yet.

I guess like most (all) manures it has to break down 'naturally'...so it takes a bit of time....

digging it in as opposed to leaving on top will help...

 

[foreverflyhi]

Yuppers thats what i do, dig a little into the the castings and the worms will eat it. Rabbit poo wont burn ur plants so u can also top dress with it and add castings over it

 

[st0wandgrow]

Any tips on adding rabbit poo to the worm bin? I added some the other night with a good spray of water and its staying dry. The worms wont go near it yet.

What are you feeding the bunnies? Straight Timothy hay is of less benefit to your worm bin, and ultimately your garden as is alfalfa hay. The Timothy hay is better for the rabbits, so a good compromise is a 50/50 mix IMO. The worms will most likely start burrowing in to the poop once the microbes have done some work on it. I found that the worms like to lay cocoons in the droppings. The bunny hair is useful in that regard too.

I stopped adding the poop to my worm bin, and now opt for the compost bin outside. It's easier to just dump the bedding and all in to a large compost bin instead of sifting through the muck for turds. Plus I like the idea of the thermofilic composting process to kill pathogens. Probably being overly cautious, but that's where I'm at with bunny poop

 

[hyroot]

I think all my worms died. First it was too wet and anerobic and now its too dry.. I dug in there last night and didn't see one worm.. Now to buy some more. 3 times other times I thought they all died. Within a week there were a bunch each time...

 

[Mohican]

Smart pots are a great container for worms. I put it on a bed of base soil to collect the liquid goodness and I just throw kitchen scraps in once a week. They also love wet cardboard. I keep their bin out of the sun in a shady spot. I have let them go for months and all that happened is that they ate everything!

 

[keysareme]

I just found a listing on craigslist for a huge free pile of organic lava rock!

Man some people just don't realize, all you need to do is grind that stuff up, and you have some of the most potent soil building essentials man. Its free, a huge pile of lava rock! I wish I had a truck and a grinder man!

 

[DonAlejandroVega]

I just found a listing on craigslist for a huge free pile of organic lava rock!

Man some people just don't realize, all you need to do is grind that stuff up, and you have some of the most potent soil building essentials man. Its free, a huge pile of lava rock! I wish I had a truck and a grinder man!

different lavas, different minerals..........caution

 

[keysareme]

different lavas, different minerals..........caution

Thanks, I'd always make sure to know where stuff put into my garden was sourced from.
Stuff to be looking out for would be? - Organic Mulch's, shredded woodchips, shredded bark, free composted manures? Stuff like this? I see lots of it on craigslist.

 

[Pattahabi]

different lavas, different minerals..........caution

Caution? Why?

 

[DonAlejandroVega]

Caution? Why?

one might have ph of 8, or 9. I think the red stuff they use in aquaponics is alkaline, and that's the most common free lava on C/L. besides.......it will leave a huge carbon footprint. the gasoline transporting and crushing, hardly makes the enterprise worthwhile

 

[Pattahabi]

one might have ph of 8, or 9. I think the red stuff they use in aquaponics is alkaline, and that's the most common free lava on C/L. besides.......it will leave a huge carbon footprint. the gasoline transporting and crushing, hardly makes the enterprise worthwhile

pH?... Oh god, here we go again. Microbes take care of the ph, not lava rock. I use glacial rock dust, basalt, scoria, big red home depot lava rock, small black lava rock, a little perlite (hate it, but it was left over), etc. I do not have pH problems.

As far as gas to ship, do you use peat? neem? perlite? Do you make your own earthworm castings? Harvest your own rice hulls? I buy lava rock once, it stays in my soil and is continually reused. So who is on their pulpit pointing fingers? Use as local as possible, be as sustainable as possible, it's all good. No one has all the answers - which is why I asked why someone would not use different types of lava rock. There is always more to learn, so if anyone has any reasons why I shouldn't be using 20 different kinds of lava rock please chime in.

Many thanks!
P-

 

[DonAlejandroVega]

pH?... Oh god, here we go again. Microbes take care of the ph, not lava rock. I use glacial rock dust, basalt, scoria, big red home depot lava rock, small black lava rock, a little perlite (hate it, but it was left over), etc. I do not have pH problems.

As far as gas to ship, do you use peat? neem? perlite? Do you make your own earthworm castings? Harvest your own rice hulls? I buy lava rock once, it stays in my soil and is continually reused. So who is on their pulpit pointing fingers? Use as local as possible, be as sustainable as possible, it's all good. No one has all the answers - which is why I asked why someone would not use different types of lava rock. There is always more to learn, so if anyone has any reasons why I shouldn't be using 20 different kinds of lava rock please chime in.

Many thanks!
P-

but......with highly alkalotic medium.......he won't have any microbes. the red stuff for aquaponics is not the same as the black lava of renowned pot-growing areas. shipping peat from Canada in BULK, is cheaper than him, driving a truck to this place, an' shoveling lava, to reverse the process, to run it thru a gas-powered crusher.

 

[Pattahabi]

but......with highly alkalotic medium.......he won't have any microbes. the red stuff for aquaponics is not the same as the black lava of renowned pot-growing areas. shipping peat from Canada in BULK, is cheaper than him, driving a truck to this place, an' shoveling lava, to reverse the process, to run it thru a gas-powered crusher.

Highly alkalotic medium? Are you telling me the red lava rocks from home depot are going to kill my microbes? I have the red lava rock in my soil. Is that what is wrong with my plants?




We're all trying to grow organic and sustainable. Sure, we want to be as sustainable as possible, but unless you are a completely closed looped gardener, you're just like the rest of us doing the best we can.

On a lighter note, this is my new horizontal flow through worm bin. I built this for less then $60 in materials. I'm a total noob vermiculturist, so this is going to be a really fun learning experience. A friend and I are looking into putting together some larger bins. This one will hold about 20 gallons in each side.



Loving the gorgeous weather! Time to fire up some herb and enjoy the weekend!

Peace!
P-

 

[Mohican]

I tried crushing some red lava rock and the resulting soil turned to cement. Could not get water to flow through. I have some big black lava rocks in with my gardenias and I think it is making them very happy.

I transplanted the plant out of the lava cement and it responded very well.







Mixed it with super soil and biochar/ash:








When I watered it the soil smelled like cement! It never drained well after that.


I have the whole red lava rock around my avocado, and blueberries.


Cheers,
Mo