Guru's Glog 2012

Is it that time again already? Feels like yesterday I was picking final harvests, disonnecting drip lines out in the garden and digging up pepper plants for the winter. Where does the time go?

Anyhow, I see people are already in full swing here on THP. What a lovely site. I'll be the first to admit, I'm running a little late this year, but I have an excuse I'm prepared to live with....

I needed a vacation! Well that, and a good friend of mine asked if I wanted to open up a restaurant in Thailand. Who says no to that? Not I.

We had a great time. Its paradise, and very cheap. Above all, as a chili head, Thai food is a gift from God himself. I ate better and fresher food than you could ever get in the US, for pennies a meal. The trip was awesome. I think Im even suffering from seperation anxiety...lol I couldn't even begin to go into all the things that happened on this trip, without this starting to sound like more of a blog than a GLOG, so I'll spare you guys for now.

Anyway, down to business. Before I left, I started a 72 cell super hot tray and pulled the mothers from last year outside.

The lady bugs went to work on the mothers, and I felt confident that Mrs. Guru could take care of the germination while I was away.

Now, I'd be lying if I said I never worried for a second while I was away. I had already started my seeds a week or two later than usual and now I was going to be gone while they were supposed to be "born"....lol but I knew the better option for my sanity was to let go, remember I was on vacation and not think about the seeds. Im glad I did, because the ole lady did ok!

I got back, germ rates were near 100% and it was on to potting up!

Quick make shift shade house for the tender seedlings after a transplant and a break in the clouds.

.......

 

[bigbodybussey]

Filled with worm castings, molasses, 2.5 lbs tilapia, and used happy frog soil additive (only thing I could find with myco. without having to go drive an hour)

Think this will work Guru? Oh, Would you be willing to mail me a fatali pod? I have always desired to try one since my plant was destroyed two years ago without ever making a pod...I'll even film the oral destruction that ensues, haha.

bubbly anyone..?

Just the setup....I placed a old potting soil bag over both of these...hope this will be dark enough....

 

[Pinoy83]

You don't gotta wait. You can get some stinky going right now and in a month, drench the plants in ground. My garden just got a drench too. This can really be done anytime. It doesn't work like synthetics, its hard to over fertilize with organics due to the way the nutrients build and effect plant cell walls and structure. Thats one of the main reasons I stay all natural. The nutrient compounds are different, are at much lower concentrations and buffered far better than sythetics, with trace minerals already uncluded. Plants grown in active soil webs with orgnanic means of "fertilizers" are less suceptable to disease and pests as well. You see there are many forms of minerals. All minerals are not created equal. I would give it a go if you feel like paying less and learning more


Yep, the remains I let stay for the ferment. Dude...its gonna stink. Period. Your mom, wife and family have to be quite down to earth...lol Put it on the far side of your house and only open the lid to stir when you're sure no one is coming out for about 10 minutes. If its stinking like the worst smell you've ever encountered, then you're doing it right! Besides, it only stinks when you stir it or get right close to it. I have company over all the time and they would never know anything was rotting out in the back.

Sure you can have some seeds

Does the fish will vanish when the fermenting.process is complete?
Can u dillute the finsh product so u can use more or just use as it is

Thanks cant wait to grow some of ur seeds

 

[habaneroheat81]

PG, your glog is an excellant read! I have been considering going organic myself after watching a youtube viideo of a guy that has 72lb cucumbers and reading your glog and all the help you've given us newbies has been very enlightening. Thanks so much for your contribution to organics.

Question, do use anything else for your plants beside your tea, mycorrhizae, and the hydrolysate? Or is that the all in one for feeding?

Also, is the bubblers absolutely necessary for the teas when your doing small scale? Hoping to go out this weekend and pick up a few needed items for starting my tea.

Thanks again
Aaron

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Does the fish will vanish when the fermenting.process is complete?
Can u dillute the finsh product so u can use more or just use as it is

Thanks cant wait to grow some of ur seeds

Yes the fish will liquify. Scales bones and all. All the litte things eating away in there make sure of it. Really all you may recognise is small bone fragments when stirring.

Filled with worm castings, molasses, 2.5 lbs tilapia, and used happy frog soil additive (only thing I could find with myco. without having to go drive an hour)

Think this will work Guru? Oh, Would you be willing to mail me a fatali pod? I have always desired to try one since my plant was destroyed two years ago without ever making a pod...I'll even film the oral destruction that ensues, haha.

bubbly anyone..?

Just the setup....I placed a old potting soil bag over both of these...hope this will be dark enough....

AWESOME! That will make one hell of a feeding. A few tips for you. Any fish parts are great like those filets, but the more bone, scale, innards, the better! Thats where your trace elements will be. Oils too. The mix when Im done has a gasoline shean to the surface of the water. The more organs, brains, bones, scales, blood, the higher the concentration of nutrients!
Also, what you will have here will mainly be a feeding brew. So you don't have to have the bubbler. In aact brews I find its better to muslin bag your compost/castings with a pillow case and submerge that into the water with the fish. The bubblers wont be able to aggitate the castings that well if they are free inside the bucket to fall to the bottom. You want the air to strike the ingredients as the bubble try to escape to the surface. This is the action that coaxes the organisms off the castings and multiply in the water via the oxygen echange. I do this use the first days liquid for higher fungal content. Then refill and repeat for the second days higher bacterial content. Then refill and empty the pillow case/muslin bag into the mix for a simple outside fermintation. This is the "feed" so to speak. I hate that word "fertilizer" ...just gives me the heeby jeebies. Anyway ROCK ON! You're doing it dude!

You have me planning on taking up fishing now to Rich. I have done a few teas over the past couple weeks on certain plants just to do a simple comparo and so far I am quite impressed. Your plants are looking amazingly awesome dude and thanks for helping all us organic newbies.

Glad you are enjoying your results! There are SOOOOO many ways to skin a cat man. Once you understand the fundementals of the process, there's no limit to what you can do for better soil.

 

[Pinoy83]

Can u puree the fish so it will ferment faster and dissolve quicker?

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Sure. Just make sure you let it do its thing for at least a few weeks.

 

[bigbodybussey]

yeah, my parents have a pond and my fiance's uncle uses a dragnet weekly to maintain a plantations pond, so blood and guts and bones will be making it's way into the next batch. Ok, so youre saying I need to put everything in a muslin bag or pillow cade and dangle it in the bucket from the side? Or am I misunderstood - if you can put a picture of your's up then that will take all the question out of it for me.

so how long do you thing this brew needs to bubble? 3 days or so? or since you said it was more of a feed to just let it go for a month?

 

[Pepper-Guru]

You can still drain off this water and use it tomorrow and the next day as an aact. Im just saying your concentration of bennies will be higher when done with a bag (indicated by the foaming) About 3 days is as long as I let the aacts go for. In all reality you could simply blend up everything after the aact and water it in. It just turns out better after organisms have composted it for a period of time.

 

[PaulG]

, so youre saying I need to put everything in a muslin bag or pillow cade and dangle it in the bucket from the side? Or am I misunderstood - if you can put a picture of your's up then that will take all the question out of it for me.

+1 You are very patient, PG, thanks

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Yep bigbody. You hang it inside and let it stay just above your air hose or airstone. I find that using just the air tubes anchored to the bottom serve to create a more violent air disturbance with larger bubbles. This helps knock off the fungi and bac of your Ingredients better.

 

[Melissa77754]

Such GREAT info every time I pop in! I was going to ask you how long to ferment, but you answered that already in one of your responses. Love that you are teaching the masses how to be an organic gardener, and a hard core kind! lol. Never would have thought to ferment fish, all makes sense. Always something to learn with organics, thanks for being a constant source for info guru! You are awesome!

 

[spongey600]

good stuff GuRU! you knowledge and experience in Organic growing is so amazing! you are one grower i would like to sit down with pen in hand and get all the great info i could right after oogling over your amaizng plants!

 

[bigbodybussey]

+1 You are very patient, PG, thanks

I want a fatali tree -

PG, thanks. I have a hard time going from one step to another if I don't think it's exactly as it should be. Ill give em' a drink today and give em another drink tomorrow. I'll repost picture differences in a month to compare (different thread of course).

thanks again.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

I want a fatali tree -

PG, thanks. I have a hard time going from one step to another if I don't think it's exactly as it should be. Ill give em' a drink today and give em another drink tomorrow. I'll repost picture differences in a month to compare (different thread of course).

thanks again.

You got head on it yet?

 

[scratchzilla]

I have a bucket of seaweed I was going to dry and pulverize into kelp meal, but the rains got to it before I could. Now it's been sitting for a couple weeks in 5 gallons of water. Would this be safe to use on my plants?

 

[bigbodybussey]

Oh my god, what have I created - a head, uh yeah enough to rival a shaken guiness...haha

The aroma actually isn't terrible...just molasses and fish

 

[Pepper-Guru]

yeah the fungal and bacterial teas smell like beer and yeast to me... mmmm

 

[bigbodybussey]

Ok it's been a full 12 hours....go ahead and dose em with the fungal batch? Then dose with the bacterial batch in 18 hours or so?

Do I dilute this?

 

[gnslngr]

hahaha- this is the only place I could really say"Man that looks really good" and get away with it!

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Ok it's been a full 12 hours....go ahead and dose em with the fungal batch? Then dose with the bacterial batch in 18 hours or so?

Do I dilute this?

Yeah use that for fungal, then honestly, when you refill it with water to bubble again, throw some green grass clipps or compost in there as well. This is ensure a heavy protozoal (bacterial) wave/colonization. I like to use it un diluted, its all about the concentration of organisms for the soil to be brought to life.

hahaha- this is the only place I could really say"Man that looks really good" and get away with it!

? Inside joke? lol