[/quote]

Hi All,

Although I have been experimenting with the produce that these ancient Amazon delta indians would have used in their rubbish pits. It is now getting to the stage where it is no longer tenable to use them. Prices are now such that I will discontinue this form of composting.

I feel that this did make a difference to the crop yields which I was achieving, however prices have now risen to a level which I can no longer afford. I will now purchase the odd bag of cassava, sweet potato and yam flour from time to time but will use them sparingly. It will be interesting to see what difference this makes to my results. It was the tubers which I previously used as there was a great amount of nutrition for the EM's to feed upon.

This was obvious from the relatively quick breakdown of the compost, however it may be that Comfrey will be a good substitute to these tubers. I have used Comfrey in my charcoal inoculation liquid, but the tubers were all high in vegetable starch which brought in the yeast element of TP to the process. Will the flour have the same effect, I'll just have to wait and see.

Most of my maincrop potatoes Are almost ready for their first earthing up. Before doing so I will spread used coffee grounds along the rows and then proceed to earth up.

This as you will remember is part of my experiment to deter and or kill slugs who come anywhere near my potato crop. It will also be interesting to see if this application actually has any effect on wireworm. Whereas I am reasonably sure about the effect on slugs I'm relatively unsure regarding wireworm, only time will tell.

It has been lovely weather up in the north for the last week or so and I decided to open out the old carpet which I had decided to use for bumble bee nests. This as it turned out was not a good idea as they had already set up residence!!!!

As I peeled back the top layer I was met by a furore of angry bumble bees, I quickly replaced the top layer of carpet, however not quickly enough to avoid being stung a couple of times. Bumble bees are like wasps insofar as they can sting you any number of times so I was forced to beat a hasty retreat!!!

Fortunately I always carry a homoeopathic and herbal emergency kit with me and was able to treat the stings both internally and externally. Sometimes Mother nature does not need our help, as was the case in this instance!!!

It was good to discover that the bumble bees had taken up residence, but I should have been more aware of their presence in the first place. I had not seen much evidence of bumble bees as I had stated before, however they have obviously getting their nutrition from other plots.

I have purchased and sown some Hollyhock seed which I hope will sustain their lives on my plot. This in conjunction with early spring bulbs will provide them the food which they require as in pollen.

My Topper shallots have been very slow to make headway, however given the low temperatures we have experienced until a week ago its not surprising.

My Congo blue maincrop potatoes have finally shown through, an unusual leaf form, but may change as they grow and prosper.

Uriel

The mind is like a parachute, its totally useless unless its open

As far as I know ashes from wood charcoal can increase the pH of the compost in general. That's ok for the aerobic microorganisms but remember that ashes + water = primitive bleach!

My advice would be to find out if something like ash is harmful before you start yelling at people. Lol they are just worms. On the ash I haven't got a clue. Wood char from outdoor fires seems to be OK, my worms like it.

Hi SurfGirl,

Had a similar comment a while ago, the thing is, that wood ash offers a very limited supply of nutrient to the soil.

What I am using is charcoal inoculated with nutrient, dried and then added in layers to my compost bins. These bins are inoculated with neat EM cultures. The EM cultures increase the speed of compost breakdown, said breakdown is then absorbed by the charcoal.

Now whereas the ash will be gone within a season the charcoal will be there for hundreds of years.

Regarding ashes + water making bleach, the EM's within the soil will breakdown this bleach and use it as a food source.

It might be better to read through my previous postings, as at no time have I ever advocated the use of wood ash!!

You are quite right as far as the increase in pH is concerned however this is limited and offset by the increase in soil fertility with regard to charcoal.


The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unlass it is open



uriel13

You are absolutely right, and even more, I didn't mention any of your comments. I just made a warning or reminder if you like.

Right, as same as you I had a doubt about the pine bark and everybody have been very kind to explain me about the exactly conditions or limitations in its qualities as a fertilizer.

That doesn't mean you can't add it to your compost. It's useful, but in certain limits.

Happy to read you, Uriel!

Hi SurfGirl,

Delighted to hear from you, message received and understood. However as I said I don't use wood ash because it has a very limited effect which will last a season at most.

The secret of recreating a Terra preta (TP) soil is a slow burn of air excluded forest wood, this preserves the bio oil condensates within said charcoal in a crystallised form. These condensates are the equivalent of sugar to micro-organisms. These micro-organisms such as VAM's EM's and yeasts are the essence of a TP soil is all about, TP is all about the symbiosis of the three life forms within the soil.

Now living in a zone 6 to 8 climate in Scotland I was aware that to recreate a TP soil would necessitate the inoculation of my charcoal with nutrients to ensure the best possible results. this is my fifth year of researching TP and my second season of cultivation using the information which I have gleaned from the internet. I have had good results but feel that I can do much better in the seasons to come.

You will find a recipe on page 1 or 2 for the creation of a inoculation liquid as an example of how to proceed.


uriel13


The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless it is open

Hi All,

I have said this before but I believe it worth repeating.

Regarding VAM and non-VAM type crops, the TP system should have similar effects. The fact that charcoal absorbs great amounts of nutrient the growth of non-VAM crops should increase.

By this I mean that, although non-VAM crops don't receive the extra nutrient that VAM type crops receive from VAM's, they still receive more nutrient due to the presence of viable regenerative EM's.

Viable EM's breakdown compost and manure whereby greater nutrient in a molecular state is available to the roots of all VAM and non-VAM crops. The non-VAM plants should achieve greater growth potential due to the nutrient being more readily assimilated by the roots of said plants.

This is what I am attempting to achieve, approximately 90% of all crops are VAM type. However those non-VAM crops will still prosper via EM breakdown of compost and manure.

Mother nature always provides when her system of growth is adhered to, however human tampering and interference with her eco-system has caused so much damage!!!!

The one good thing has been the arrival of "Palaterra" it will apparently reduce the use of chemicals in farming by 80%!!!. If this be true, it should also reduce the need for disease control chemicals as this TP type soil should be replete with viable EM's. This to a great extent should provide its own immunity to diseases. The disease immunity will in part necessitate good crop rotation as a standard practice.

I have always had the notion that a small amount of sea water added to EM cultures would supply the soil with all of the trace elements required by the crops which we grow. It is, I believe the lack of these trace elements to plant roots that are part of the reason for poor crop results and disease. I have not as yet tested this out but hope to do so soon.

Palaterra should also help in reducing the runoff of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and weed killers from fields into rivers and streams. these chemical fertilisers and other chemicals decimate our waterways of the life forms who actively benefit all life within these waters!!!

I feel that the next project for this company may well be a natural pest control system as an adjunct to Palaterra. This would be the next logical step in this endeavour of returning to natural crop cultivation.

However to do this, they would now require to use their own ingenuity as opposed to stealing the knowledge of native tribes people!!!

It is also my belief that the 80% reduction in chemical farming could conceivably have been 100%. However such a declaration would have caused a massive drop in share prices of multi national companies who are deeply involved in this poisoning of life within our soils. Such is life in the world of profit at any cost to the environment!!!

However we can make great use of Palaterra for our own purposes given our knowledge of TP and how it works within the ecosystem !!!

I have sent a few e-mails to the company who make Palaterra asking them when it would be available in the UK.

To this date I have received no reply!!!!!



uriel13


The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless it is open[/quote]

Hi All,

I've been thinking about what other skills that EM's have in their locker. I suspect that there are very many more than we are presently aware of.

This is chiefly because of their ability to exchange DNA and consequently alter the way in which they function within the Ecosystem. To this end I Have selected some functions which I think may have been overlooked. They are relatively simple, but may add greatly to our knowledge of what they are capable of accomplishing.

At this time I will say nothing of what I intend to experiment with, however it will I believe, be a challenge to our thinking on EM's.

EM's are Mother nature's foot soldiers when all is said and done, they heal the soil which humans have corrupted with chemicals, crops, fresh and sea water. All of which are necessary to our life on this planet, and yet we seem to ignore what they have to offer us!!!!

It is almost as if they are permanently labelled as "germs" within the human psyche, something to be avoided lest we be tainted by being in their presence. If we as a race wish to survive on this planet we need to become aware of the fact that, human intelligence, is not the be all and end all that we think it is!!

These life forms have been in existence for at least 400 million years and will still be here when we, the human race are gone!!! Most only live for about 15 minutes, but I believe that their knowledge is passed on from generation to generation. It may be encoded into their DNA which would seem likely, but know this, we only exist because they exist!!!!

If truth be told, we the modern human race, are like a cancer upon this planet, We continually create poisons and deposit them into our soil, seas and oceans. In many cases these poisons are untreated, all of which are detrimental to other life forms which endeavour to maintain balance within the eco-system.

I read a report not long ago which said that the seabed off New York was dead for 12 to 15 miles out from the shore. This I think would be true for all major coastline cities across the world, however these poisons don't stay where they are dumped they circulate all around the globe poisoning and killing life forms as they travel !!!


These are just my thoughts others will disagree

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless open

uriel13

[/quote]

Hi All,

At this time my inoculated charcoal Garlic are standing almost 3 feet 6 inched tall and of good girth. The non-inoculated Garlic in contrast are just about the 2 foot 6 inch level and slimmer in girth. I should add that there is no sign of rust on any of the plants. All of my Garlic were sprayed with diluted EM's from an early stage in their cultivation, hence no rust problems.

The first scapes have begun to show, I will allow them to get to 3 or 4 inches long then cut them for use in stir frys and stews. To leave them any longer would reduce the size of the crop.

My potatoes will soon be ready for their second earthing up with the exception of my Congo blue which have been very slow to show through. So far I have spread dried used coffee grounds along the rows of both Cara and Ratte before earthing up and will do the same again.

At this time, finally all 10 of the Congo potato mini-tubers have finally shown through, these were lab created mini-tubers about the size of a large grape or slightly larger. However as I'm growing them as seed stock for next season I will keep the biggest for that purpose.

The watering of the soil pre-season and post-season with neat EM's will I believe begin this process. On going back over my EM database the consensus would seem to be 2 seasons to see the true worth of EM's working their magic within the soil. However soils which are less contaminated will be turned around much quicker.

I have only seen 4 Cabbage white butterflies this season and no Red admiral or Peacock, This is a symptom of the pollution caused by this never ending assault of chemical crop production on the soil.

These are just my thoughts others will disagree!!!

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless onless open

uriel13

[/quote]

Hi All,

My Congo potatoes are now finally ready for their first earthing up however I did discover something unusual about this potato, it produces runner roots which then surface to become plant stalks. At first I thought that it was potatoes left in the soil after harvest as does happen, but there were quite a few.

Now as I had deep dug the soil prior to planting the mini-tubers I decided to pull up one or two. This was when I found out that they were coming from my Congo plants. In all of my seasons of cultivation I have never seen such a thing. There were at least 4 of these root shoots per plant surfacing from the soil. I therefore decided to bury them again with some VAM granules.

Now I know that this particular potato is said to have a massive root system, hence the slow growth of initial foliage. However nothing which I read mentioned such an occurrence. On beginning to earth up I found that about 9 inches away from the plants That I was unearthing a mass of potato roots. I immediately stopped and used a wheel barrow to bring soil from the back end of my plot for the purpose.

Before earthing up again I sprinkled VAM granules over the exposed roots, My thoughts being the more VAM's attached to said roots the greater the possible harvest. Will this action result in a greater crop, only time will tell.

To think that such small tubers are capable of producing such an massive amount of roots Is astonishing!!! Obviously the watering of the manure and trench with EM's and sprinkling the tubers with VAM granules was a plus to growth. However I believe that this was maybe how they grew in their native soil. I should also add that the distance from the mother plant to surfacing of foliage is approximately 7 inches to a foot!!!

I asked my old mentor if he had encountered anything like this, he just shook his head when he saw what was happening and asked for some tubers for next season. This I granted as long as he would use EM's supplied by myself to water his crops with. I only said this as a joke, however he agreed, at this point I had to tell him that they needed to be cooked in a pressure cooker. To which he replied that he had be using one for years.

He's a secretive old fox, I would never have thought of him buying something like that, he just winked and departed my plot!!!

However it was obvious that he saw something which took his fancy, he came back to my plot next dry day( there haven't been all that many) to have a further look. They will be late to lift he said, to which I replied that they should have been planted much earlier, but the ground had not been prepared due to deep weeding the soil. Aye he said, the lass that last had this plot just let it go, and the one before her was just as bad, but I think you'll be OK here. He patted me on the shoulder and once more departed my plot.

To me this was an accolade of worth, I was really chuffed, I think that he likes what I cultivate and how I nurture the soil. Now I am sure that once he starts using EM's that he will be back asking more questions. Is the teacher just about ready to be taught by the pupil, we will see???.

According to some of the older members he hasn't bought seeds, tubers, onion sets or garlic bulbs for 30 odd years, I really need to know what he knows!!

I must admit that I was expecting greater growth given the care taken to pre-treat the soil with neat EM's before planting out. Alas with the almost constant rain, and cold temperatures, its hardly been above 16 deg C up here, I fear the worst.!!! Having said that my VAM inoculated Garlic is looking really good and will hopefully provide a great harvest!!

PS:- I have now tested the use of dried spent coffee grounds on unearthed wireworms in a plastic container with some moist earth. Sad to say it seems to have had no perceptible effect on these armour plated villains!!

Although most of you in England will be ready to, or have already, harvested your Garlic, up here in the northern territories we are usually a month behind.

However this season I will be saving the best of my VAM Garlic crop for planting out in the early Autumn. The same will be done with my VAM potato crop, drying beans and peas in the spring. This is how I intend to continue whereby I can grow better crops at no cost other than buying Molasses, chicken manure and growing a better soil with inoculated charcoal.

My real test will come when I render down 40 kilo's of charcoal and subject it to my latest liquid recipe. This I will over winter In 2 sealed black plastic containers and allow to soak up this nutrient.

I have already started to add comfrey leaves in a net bag suspended in one of my water butts to create a strong comfrey tea. I have also planted 7 of the comfrey root plants grown from said root cuttings. These were planted with inoculated charcoal and a good handful of EM saturated manure and a sprinkling of VAM's.

This should see them grow deep roots very quickly and be harvestable next season for stems.

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless open

uriel13

[/quote]

Hi All,

Disaster, my potato crop as succumbed to the dreaded Blight. It has been going round the allotments for weeks now. I had been spraying the foliage with neat EM's once a fortnight and had thought that the EM's were working for me. However when the plots on either side of me became infected during the long rainy spell I must have forgotten to spray my crop. On checking how much liquid EM was left this proved to be the case!!!

I appear to be the last plot infected and put this down to error on my part in not spraying with EM's when I should have!!

It is my organic Cara potatoes which are the worst affected, they are supposedly more resistant to blight!!! This is my first ever infection of blight, I have therefore cut down the haulms to 3 inches above the ground with no attached leaves. I will also water the soil with neat EM's, hopefully the crop should continue to grow for a further fortnight and then be lifted.

Obviously the prevailing weather conditions had a lot to do with this, but I still believe that it was my failure to spray which allowed the airborne fungal spores to infect my crop!!!!

This is my first real setback, and most likely, not my last, I will now be gathering and drying Horsetail fronds for use as a possible remedy to the onset of this disease. The herb Equistum arvense( Horsetail) has a long history in the treatment of fungal diseases especially in humans. I will now set my mind, to as. and how best, to employ the herb for the purpose of protecting my potatoes in future.

My thinking is to possibly subject the fronds to an EM liquid culture whereby the fronds will have their medicinal value broken down. This may I think make the spray more effective as a deterrent, but this will obviously be for next season.

This has negated any seed saving from this years potato crop as late blight is known to be carried by tubers of infected plants.

It is late blight that my crop has been infected with, and as I understand it there is no effective organic cure for this once a plant is infected. I will lift whatever there is to harvest and hope that the blight has not got down to the tubers. However, again as I understand it, late blight can only survive on living tissue.

This would mean that it is imperative that I remove every last little marble sized tuber from the soil to ensure no reoccurrence of this disaster!!!

I feel that the changes now taking place in the gulf stream air system will become more of a problem in the coming years. I don't for a minute think that this is a one off situation, I believe that this may become a regular occurrence within our weather system.

We are living in interesting times!!!

QUOTE]

Hi All,
It never rains, but it pours!!!!! all of my alliums,garlic, onions and shallots have been decimated by White rot!!! I am absolutely gutted, this good and friable soil held a dark secret, it is ridden with White rot There were none of the usual signs of the disease above ground. However when lifted the roots and bulbs were a mass of white filaments, I lifted a couple of shallot plants and onions all with good green stems and discovered that they too were infected.

All of the above were planted in the raised beds of my plot. It looks like I will be seeking another move whereby I can continue to experiment. The real problem is people buying garlic and shallots sets from supermarkets to save money and planting these cloves and sets in their plots!!!!!! It is also due in no small
measure to people not using a recognised crop rotation plan!!!!!!

I think that this proves that EM's have no effect on this disease in their natural form, however if they are subjected to the waste produce of alliums and breakdown this waste it may well be beneficial to water this fluid onto infected soil to awaken White rot spores, and there being no allium plants to feed off will hopefully cause the White rot to die.

Most of our supermarket garlic and shallots come from much warmer climates where although white rot is rife within the soil, however it remains dormant during their growing season. This is due to the temperature being constantly above 64 deg F. This the approximate temperature below which white rot will awaken from dormancy. Now when an allium plant sets down roots into the soil infected by white rot at temperatures below 64 deg F it will infect the roots of said plant!!!!

My fear is that we will end up being unable to cultivate alliums in allotments in the UK due to this.

"These supermarket bought Alliums although not affected by White rot are carriers of white rot disease!!!"

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless open

[/quote]

Hi All,

There are two possible remedies to my white rot problem, one is garlic granules which I am now going to fork into my infected raised beds. This I will do when burning my infected crops, whereby I can cleanse the fork in the flames of said fire. The other is spring onion chopped up and subjected to EM fermentation, both will awaken the white rot within the soil.

Now as there will be no roots for the fungus to feed from the fungus awakened should die. This as understand it requires to be done for at least two seasons to be sure of a viable outcome. The first season the granules will be shallow dug into the soil, the second season the granules will be deep dug into the soil then watered with the EM fermented spring onions on the newly exposed infected soil.

Will it work, I am hopeful that using both remedies will permit me to once again to cultivate alliums in this soil.

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless its open

[/quote]

Hi All,

I have now lifted two of my blight ridden main crop rows. I did not expect much as main crop potatoes are only beginning to increase in size at this time of year.

However I went through the motions of assessing the inoculated and non-inoculated % in growth.

The Cara inoculated were 46% greater than the non-inoculated, which was in keeping with last years results. However I think that this would have been much higher if they had gone full term.

The Ratte inoculated were 43% greater than the non-inoculated, I like the look of this potato, it has none of the knobbly protrusions of Pink Fir Apple. I will definitely cultivate this potato next season as there were many marble sized small tubers which would have gone on to produce a really good crop.

My Congo blue were sprouting new foliage, but I lifted them anyway. As expected I got no crop worth the mention. The largest tubers were the size of gooseberries and the smallest the size of blueberries.

What was interesting was the root system, it is reminiscent of couch grass being a mass of long strong pure white tendrils. I can see this potato being worthy of cultivating again, however it requires early planting, and I believe, a long season of growth to produce a good crop.

I could have kept the gooseberry sized tubers for next season but was mindful that late blight does infect tubers so will dispatch them to the fire.

I will be burning all of the halums and roots of my potatoes along with the immature sized tubers as a means of ensuring that all diseased growth and root is dispatched to a fiery grave!!!


Uriel13

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless open

[/quote]

Hi All,

I am about to buy some Garlic granules on the Internet. I have done some research on their usage in killing off dormant White rot spores within the soil. It appears that this is a viable means of reducing or even eliminating White Rot especially within the reasonably small areas of raised beds such as mine. It is good to know that there is a remedy for this scourge without resorting to bonfires to burn it out of the soil!!!

For those of you living in the UK the best offer I have found for this product, is 3 kg for 12.79 postage and packing free. MedicAnimal.com

I eventually managed to get 14 clumps of shallots from the 40 bulbs planted, but again the increase in yield was only 32% of inoculated as opposed to the un-inoculated. I am pinning my hopes on my new formula to provide more growth potential for alliums in next seasons harvest.


uriel13


The mind is like a parachute, its totally useless unless its open

[/quote]



Hi All,

Just about ready to create my inoculation formula for next season. I will begin the breakdown of the charcoal in the next couple of days Wetting of the charcoal before shredding is a must to prevent a dust storm which would make you very unpopular with your neighbours.

This shredded charcoal will be deposited in one of my two 80 litre sealed lid bins. When the bin is full I will then begin the layering process in the second bin. This involves adding alternate amounts of blood, fish and bone and chicken manure pellets and other ingredients as I fill this container. This should ensure that these ingredients are well mixed with the charcoal and absorbed when the inoculation liquid is added. Once this liquid has been added the lid will then be sealed and allowed to over winter.

However, it is the apparent lack of significant increase in most alliums growth which worries me. This may be due to the VAM's available to us in the UK. All VAM products are not the same. In researching the Internet I found that America, Australia and New Zealand all have VAM products with a much more diverse range of VAM's within the mix. We in the UK have Rootgrow which although seems to work reasonably well with leek, potato, peas and to a slightly lesser extent with beans it would seem not to be the answer!!!.

There are other VAM products available in the UK but the prices are mostly out of my reach to purchase. But as I say it maybe that these products may have VAM's with a stronger affinity to allium and other crop growth potential. It is also worthy of note that these foreign producers of VAM's state that their product can be kept indefinitely!!!! I leave you to draw your own conclusions, but it does seem similar to the EM scenario.

I believe that I know the type of product which we need, but doubt that it will ever be produced in the UK. This because this country is so tied into Multi-national big money that it would never see the light of day!!!! Germany on the other hand seems to be the only country to do as it see's fit with regards to how they cultivate the soil. They have food laws far superior to any other country in the world, and are at the apex of all alternative power systems. They are the front runners in all things green and are decade ahead of the UK in their thinking.

And remember that they have bought vast tracts of fertile soil in Africa untouched by chemicals to use their Palaterra soil product on.

It is also strange that so little information is available as to the change over in Germany to a Palaterra soil in the media!! You would think that an organic soil capable of increasing food production by a considerable margin would be big news across the world. There is also the fact that it will apparently reduce the use of inorganic fertilisers by 80%, and as yet nothing much reported!!

PS:- Has anyone noticed the ridiculous prices for Garlic bulbs, If ever there was a need to seed save our own garlic for planting out in autumn this is it!!!!!! Thompson & Morgan are the worst, £4.99 per bulb and postage at £4.95!!!!!!!! Its entirely up to you, but I will be seed saving the best of my garlic bulbs for planting out in the autumn next year!!!!!! It is the same with seed potato and many other essential crops, we are being ripped off big time!!!

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless it is open


uriel13

uriel13[/quote]

Do not use charcoal ash in your compost pile. It may contain elements that are harmful to certain plants. And also do not use ash from black walnut wood. It contains chemical elements that are harmful to plants.

Do not use charcoal ash in your compost pile. It may contain elements that are harmful to certain plants. And also do not use ash from black walnut wood. It contains chemical elements that are harmful to plants.[/quote]

Hi Allen,

Don't quite understand the point that you are making, I don't use charcoal ash I only use charcoal.


The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless it is open


uriel13

[/QUOTE

Hi All,

Planted out my Garlic about a month ago,as usual I planted Vayo. I had also intended to plant out Bella Italiano, I only got 4 bulbs worth saving from last seasons disaster with white rot, but they tasted so good that I had hoped to grow them again. Unfortunately in my order I was sent a substitute, apparently the Bella Italino had a very poor crop!!.

I eat my Garlic raw and always have done with my food as it is the only way of receiving the best of the medicinal virtues of Garlic. The true medicinal virtues of garlic dissipate within 15 to 20 minutes of having been crushed. What is left is the digestive. and to a much lesser extent the cardio vascular virtues of this wonderful herb.

I am cultivating them on a patch of soil which I hope has not been infected by White rot, but only time will tell!! As usual I use a bulb planter to plant my cloves, this permits me to add inoculated charcoal and compost under the clove where it is most needed. I also sprayed each individual clove and hole with neat EM's to ensure that the VAM's are in an environment best suited to their well being, as in a regenerative soil.

One of my 80 litre sealed bins has been filled with charcoal inoculated and sealed to over winter. Now as I only have two bins the next lot of rendered down charcoal was bagged in plastic liners ready for inoculation. As always I wear a face mask when rendering down and adding charcoal to the bins this is an essential piece of kit for your well being!!! I also wear safety goggles for similar reasons, although charcoal is the most important ingredient of TP we must take care to protect ourselves !!!

Now the inoculated charcoal I have used for my garlic is last seasons batch. I am therefore not expecting the results for the inoculated harvest to be much more than 30 to 35% above normal planting. This was about the range for alliums in last season experiment. However I have decided next season to change the source of VAM's in order to see if the more abundant range of VAM's will have a greater affinity with alliums If such is the case then I may post it on this site.

I am still scouring the internet for sources of other microorganisms which may be useful to this quest. This primarily is because there is, as I have come to understand, a unity of purpose within the world of good microorganisms. Their role is to preserve the balance within Mother nature, God bless EM's!!!!!

This was brought home to me when I treated a pond in a park with EM's and saw life return to its waters which were toxic. It is what these microorganisms do if we work with them, we need to realise that we are not the sharpest tool in the box!!!! As I have said before these life forms were here billions of years before us, and will still be here when we are gone, to clean up the mess which we modern humans have left!!!

PS:- I also noticed that The Organic Gardening Catalogue are selling "Carbon Gold Growchar at £9.95 for 2.5kg. Obviously they don't say what is in it, but at that price I would expect to find some gold!!! The only thing that I pay for at the moment is the charcoal and VAM's, all of the nutrients come from my plot and my kitchen.

PPS:- This is a very interesting site which goes into great detail on the numerous types of garlic and how they are categorised, well worth a read. Gourmet Garlic Gardens - A Garlic Information Center and Boutique

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless its open

Uriel

[/quote]

Hi All,

In my continuing further research on VAM's I have discovered some interesting facts about them. I just thought that I would pass some of it on.

They apparently came into being in the Devonian period approximately 350 to 460 million years ago.It would seem that it was due to their presence that the land was colonised by plants.

VAM's can survive in the soil for long periods of time both as spores and as hyphae( filaments). This would therefore rule out digging of the soil as a disadvantage to their well being.

The life span of a VAM is apparently between 20 and 27 days dependant on class.This means that crops like sweet corn, potato, leek, onion and all other alliums should produce large quantities of spores. However this is, I believe, based on the VAM culture employed. We need to find a culture which will achieve best results, especially with alliums!!! This is my present quest, however I am mindful that specific mycorrhiza must be present within the product!!!

Both host VAM plants and VAM's have preferences as to what is an acceptable symbiotic relationship. This may, I believe, be the problem with Rootgrow. It has been suggested in some articles that our native VAM's may no longer be fit for purpose and that foreign VAM's be employed to regenerate the symbiotic link
between the hosts and VAM's.

This sounds like good logic to me, if a major part of our crop potential is faulty we need to fix it. This is not something which will have an ill effect within our soil, VAM's are VAM's no matter where they come from!!!!!
Its a no brainer to expect our government confront this problem, its only the city, stock brokers and banks that they have an interest in!!!!! Call me cynical if you will, but that's how I see it, If we want to solve this problem we need to do it ourselves!!!!

VAM's produce spores with relatively thick walls which makes them all but impervious to attack by natural predators within the soil. They are also relatively immune to soil diseases. However they are killed off, and or, denatured by the poisons we now use to cultivate crops!!!

VAM's , as I have found out,have a symbiotic relationship with EM bacteria which have been found to be resident in a sac within their spores, and said spores appear have great longevity within the soil. The period of dormancy will last until conditions are suitable for their revival. These EM's within the spores facilitate the growth of VAM's once contact with a VAM type plant is made. I have often thought that EM's make symbiotic relationships with all life on this planet. They seem to be one of Mother nature's greatest tools for the preservation of life in all of its forms on this planet!!!!

VAM's also have another ability, they appear to be capable of changing into another class of mycorrhiza if the vegetation changes within the soil in which they inhabit. This happens when their dormancy is prolonged over a great period of time. In this situation the VAM spore will alter its class to that of the most abundant VAM vegetation growing within the soil. This I believe is one of the reasons why they have survived for hundreds of millions of years. However they now require to deal with manmade chemicals, poisons which alter how they function within the soil. As I have often said before, Mother nature's rule is, "do what you must do in order to survive". This edict is not harmful to microorganisms as they will mutate to survive whatever assails them to ride out the condition This is how they work, We modern humans have a lot to answer for in
how we presently cultivate our soil for commercial cropping to feed the population.

This is why the never ending battle of science with bacteria and viruses will ultimately fail, their ability to mutate will only cause them to become more resilient to whatever we use to kill them off!!!

It is very interesting to note that the most often used subjects of VAM experiments are carrots and tomatoes!!! A very few sites have done experiments with leeks and white onions, so why is it said that alliums have a great affinity with VAM's?????

I copied this statement from one site which I thought was need to know as to the advantage of viable VAM's within our soils :-

The AM symbiosis therefore determines the flow of huge quantities of carbon worldwide—an estimate of 5 billion tons of carbon annually may be reasonable. The cost-benefit analysis (for review, see Douds et al., 2000) and underlying mechanisms are thus of no small ecological and agricultural importance.

In the ago these microorganisms were abundant within the soil. However 50 odd years of contamination have I believe denatured, and or, killed the majority of these indigenous life forms. It is viable VAM's and EM's which now require to be purchased to revitalise our earth!!!

I have for some time now been cataloguing the specificity of individual VAM types to particular symbiotic VAM crop types. This has been a slow and laborious task, however I am now seeing the worth of this venture. The deeper I dig the more useful insight I gain as to why certain VAM types are both drawn to and reject a symbiotic relationship with specific VAM type crops.

I read a very interesting article about the VAM pathway which permits the transportation of phosphorus from VAM to plant. There is a specific gene which permits this action to take place, if not present within the VAM no phosphorus will be transported through the Hyphae to the plant roots!!! To me this sounds like the denaturing of VAM's that takes place when we circumvent Mother natures laws on how to feed the soil organically.

Most of the experiments which I have perused employed chemicals, which to me are not found in the natural habitat of VAM life forms. This leads me to believe that results from such experiments are flawed. If you wish to find out how a naturally occurring microorganism really performs you need to place it in a natural environment!!!!

These are only my thoughts, others will disagree!!

[/quote]



Hi All,
Meant to put this up about 3 weeks ago but forgot, too many things on my mind at the moment.

Well the season has now officially begun for me,Just sown approximately 100 leek seeds in a tray, the base layer is my EM saturated manure. Onto this I have spread a layer of seeding compost and to this added a sprinkling of seaweed and VAM granules and another light layer of compost. Sowed the seeds added the final layer of compost, tamped down the compost lightly and watered with neat EM's.

I have decided to cultivate Blue solaice this season as my Leon crop look like being similar to last seasons crop in terms of increased growth / weight. I am using a different VAM product this season as I was not all that happy with the crop increases with most of my VAM type crops last season.

If the new VAM product proves to be a better mix of VAM's and other microorganisms then I will at some stage return to Leon. I am sure that in the right environment of VAM's and organic nutrient that this leek will show its true worth.

I will not divulge the name of the VAM product at this time as I want to be sure that It is worthy of passing on!!! I made that mistake with Rootgrow, and that will not happen again!!! As I have said before this is a learning experience with regards to how Mother nature actually works her magic within the soil.

Our soils are so much poorer than they were 100 years ago, this was highlighted by Rebecca Hosking in the documentary on Natural world on BBC. She said, and I will always remember this comment, " that she remembered a time when fields being ploughed by a tractor were followed by hundreds of birds. Now no birds follow the tractor because the soil is dead"

I read a script recently which said that chemical fertilisers act like a drug for crops, this is exactly how I feel about these fertilisers. Not only do they make the normal root foraging for organic nutrients a thing of the past, they make our crops dependant on such chemicals for growth!!!

Now we are all aware of drug abuse in humans, and how it interferes with the stability of the body and its ability to assimilate nutrients is drastically reduced . Such drugs leave the body open to disease through impaired immune systems. Apparently these chemical fertilisers have a similar effect on our crops. The shortening, and altering, of root structure is also implicated, as is the ability of the roots to make symbiotic relationships with VAM's and other microorganisms.

Just think for a minute of all the new disease variants which now affect our crops and the new products which require to be purchased to deal with the problem. Fusarium is a typical example, this disease and many others are, I believe caused by feeding our crops with chemical fertilisers!!!!!

Dead soil offers no protection to our crops, and chemical fertilisers, and chemical disease remedies only cause such diseases to alter their DNA structure to cope with the chemicals used to kill them. This leads to a never ending stream of new and ever more expensive products which must be purchased

This is only my assessment on how crops are cultivated, others will as always disagree!!!

Just like drug peddlers the companies who sell these products want to make us dependant on their products for no other reason that to trap us within the chemical cultivation system and of course greater profit margins!!!!

At the end of the day we are attempting to grow better soil of the type that we had in the past only better, a soil that works with Mother nature.


uriel13

The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless its open

[/quote]

Hi All,
I am attempting to turn over my soil and weeding my plot in preparation for planting. This digging work is sporadic due to the nature of the weather conditions.

I have also started a 5 gallon batch of EM's which should be ready for watering onto the soil when preparation is finished. These EM's will be watered on undiluted to the soil whereby the best effects of their introduction will be achieved. During the growing season I will regularly spray my crops with diluted EM's to prevent disease.

My Comfrey water butt will have an addition this season, I will be gathering Horsetail leaves and stuffing them into a nylon mesh bag and suspending them with the aid of a bamboo cane in the butt. I'm hopping that the mixture of Comfrey and Horsetail will provide some protection against blight which cost me my potato crop last season. I will also boil up Horsetail leaves and stems for use as a foliar spray on a 1:10 dilution using an unscented soap as an adherent to prevent runoff.

It should also be noted that I add a half litre of neat EM's to my Comfrey butt 3 or 4 times during the season to assist in the breakdown of the stems and foliage. This will I believe ensure that the liquid drawn off is in a form that is more easily assimilated by the roots of my crops.

With a TP type soil I have found out that EM's breakdown organic waste into a form which is much more readily available for VAM's to upload to the roots of VAM type plants. Now this being a symbiotic relationship the VAM receives nutrients and soluble carbon from the plant in kind. The more nutrition given to the plant the more nutrition received by the VAM, and therefore the more VAM spores within the soil through spore production. It is known that VAM spores have great longevity, therefore the more VAM type crops we cultivate, the more VAM spores within the soil.

uriel13

The mind is like aq parachute its totally useless unlessw its open

[/quote]

Hi All,
Well all of the Topper shallots which I seed saved from last years poor harvest have survived in remarkably good shape. They are still in a dormant state with no sign of rotting, these I hope to plant out in the next two or three weeks weather permitting.

I have been checking the progress of my inoculated charcoal, it is still bubbling away but instead of the aroma of the comfrey, it is the aroma of coffee that I detect. As the weather hopefully warms up the EM's will become more lively and continue the breakdown of all the ingredients in my liquid recipe. This is what I am attempting to do, when the ingredients are broken down they will be in a state whereby they are easily absorbed by the VAM's via the inoculated charcoal.

During the winter I have been spraying my compost bins once a week with neat EM's to speed the breakdown of the vegetation added to them. Even in this cold winter the results have been quite good, but it is still cold composting!!!

Most compost bins in the UK are cold composting as there is insufficient mass to build up a lasting heat source, this is why I never allow any seeding weed material near my compost bins!!!

The forecast(UK) is its to be cold for the next fortnight at least up here and possibly more snow!!!!

No sign yet of true growth of my now emerging leek seedlings, it does not bode well for the coming season!!!

The links added below will give a better understanding of how symbiosis works within the soil.


http://www.aseanbiotechnology.info/A...t/21030984.pdf
http://www.effectivemicro-organisms.co.uk/pdf's/IPPSLecture%202007.pdf

An interesting file on the usage of human urine and stools, this was a major part of the original TP soil. However in today's world I think that it would only be possible for those who use herbal, and or, homoeopathic medication. My reasoning being that we live in a world where antibiotics and drugs are seemingly the norm in modern society!!!

http://wesnetindia.org/fileadmin/att...Harvesting.pdf


I have put these links up whereby you can assess how to proceed with your own TP experiments. At the end of the day we are attempting to grow a better soil which produces greater amounts good and wholesome crops free from chemical fertilisers and other chemical products.

[/quote]



Hi All,
Potatoes, onions and shallots now planted using my new VAM product. The potatoes were dipped in neat EM liquid then sprinkled with the VAM granules so that they would adhere to said potatoes in trenches previously lined with EM treated cow manure.

The Onions and shallots had their root ends dipped in neat EM solution then lightly dipped in the VAM granule container and planted.

Other less hardy crops will be held back until after the first week in May as we always get a frost that week up here.

I am hopeful that the new VAM product will increase yield previously experienced, which although was good was not what I expected.

My only concern Is, that the change to the vegetation in my compost bins may adversely affect results. I had been using fresh South American produce to mimic what the Amazon natives would have used. However it became too expensive to continue using this produce. I instead began using packets of the dried granules of these products.

It is the more inexpensive choice but am not sure of the outcome, did some research on the dried root granules and they seem to have the same overall nutrient value.

I am still experimenting with the concept of producing my own VAM's using a scaled down aquaponics system. I have had very limited success using this method but will keep trying. As I have said before its not rocket science I just need to focus on what is necessary to make the system work for me.

When I started this TP quest a few years ago no one was talking about composting charcoal or compost teas It was only when Tonythehoe and myself began exploring this concept of how to create a TP type soil that this was siezed upon by all and sundry. Now everybody has something to say about it, however it is as I have found, not about what you use as much as the way in which you use it.

The other need is to know what crops really thrive on in the natural world. they don't need inorganic chemical fertilisers or chemical weed kiillers and chemical disease protection they need wholesome organic remedies to fulfil their needs!!!!! It is only by exploring the past and finding out what our forefathers used to protect crops that we can provide for the future!!!

uriel13

The mind is like a parachute its totaqlly useless unless open

[/quote]



Hi All,
Sorry about lack of posting, I have sustained 2 fractured ribs and am out of the picture of at least another 2 weeks.

Fortunately I had planted potatoes, onions and shallots before accident occurred but nothing else done!!!


uriel 13


The mind is like a parachute its totally useless unless open.