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Thread: The Biodynamic & moon planting Thread

  1. #11
    Mr Legend Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wasat View Post
    Been reading all the way lads... tantalizing...
    I finally have a question... regarding micro-sizing for the personal small home gardener...

    how small can ya go?

    can you do a 1 or 2 pot system to fit a 16 x 16 x 48 inch tall cab? or 45 x 45 x 120cm tall ... yeah, that small
    and keep components cost effective?
    suposing the lights & other kit are sorted otherwise...?

    My approach so far is essentially an old school natural compost based medium and better nute-nuking thru chemistry
    It's a rudimentary cobble of what's at hand and next to no budget...
    But I've grown veggies and house plants of all sorts over the years and had most the basic stuffs at hand...
    But it's taking a good bit of honing my skills 'n kit to get appreciable results w/in the confines of my cabs...

    Your discussion expands the horizons of home gardening in small spaces

    Kind Regards.
    Wasat
    Hey mate, welcome and thanks for the interest

    So far we have successfully scaled it to micro home garden size that can be used on 5-10 plants throughout their life cycle and it can be very cost effective mate because you reuse your substrate and it only gets better...

    I will document a test grow here very soon and i hope it goes like planed

    Everything that you will need to successfully grow and make your own compost will be in this thread and it's not that difficult once you get started...

    Atb... Dex

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  3. #12
    Mr Legend Guest

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    Hello everyone...


    Today i had an interesting discussion with my biodynamic guru about pest problems and plant diseases so i wanted to share the thoughts with you all, but more about that later...


    After some thinking, a lot of reading and a bit of math i decided to skip this run of baby leaf salads and go straight to early tomatoes. There is a huge difference in harvested product weight and early tomatoes fetch great price so income should be four times better than what previously planed with salads.
    Since the soil will be prepared for almost two months and will be treated with all BD preps and amended with 30m3 of BD compost it will be bursting with life and nutrients so it is logical to start with one of the most nutrient demanding cultures like tomatoes.


    So the reason why we started talking about pests and diseases is that my best bud and my partner in business lost half of his tomato crop last year because of downy mildew. He was stil growing with chemical fertilizers back then and tried to fight it with pesticides as advised by his "agricultural technologist", needles to say results were devastating to the crop and he was terrified it might happen again.


    He needed a bit of reassurance that it would not happen again so i had to explain why we should not worry and why do problems occur in the first place so...




    Lets talk bout pests, insects and plante diseases...


    This subject is crucial to understanding the potential of successful human interaction with the natural world through a biologically based agriculture. The organic grower who does not understand the importance of cause correction rather than symptom treatment in preventing insect and disease problems is missing out on the pest philosophy all together.


    Bug picking is not the answer. It is just a temporary solution and the same goes for garlic spray, red pepper, herbal concoctions or obviously any of the thousands of unpronounceable horrors in the lexicon of the agricultural chemist. Basically, none of these techniques, whether chemical or “organic” is any different from the others. They are all just a cloak that lessens the pain or masks the symptoms of a problem without curing it. It's just hiding the problem.


    Insects and disease are not the problem. They are, rather, the symptoms. Their presence is a visible exterior indication that all is not well with the plants. No one would be so simple as to think that scraping off the spots could cure a child’s chicken pox. Similarly, removing pests from a plant does not cure the problem or eliminate the cause. All that it accomplishes is to throw a cloak over the problem.


    From a commonsense point of view the organic farmer is to be praised for the decision to avoid toxic chemicals. However, from the point of view of creating a long-term dependable agriculture, the organic farmer who uses natural insecticides is no wiser than his chemical counterpart; different materials but the same mistake.


    Once you become determined to eliminate the cause of insects and disease rather than just mask the symptoms, a whole new world opens up. A plant bothered by pest or disease need no longer be seen in the negative. The plant can now be looked upon as your coworker. It is communicating with you. It is saying that conditions are not conducive to its optimum growth and that if the plants are to be healthier next year, the soil must be improved.




    So how do we learn to grow healthy plants?
    By asking ourselves a lot of questions


    • Is the soil ready for that crop, or should the rotation or choice of cultural practices be changed? (Some, like the cabbage, benefit from higher nitrogen availability; others, like tomatoes, will produce all leaves and no fruit when given extra nitrogen.)
    • How long ago were the green manure or the crop residues turned under? (Three weeks is the minimum. The soil bacteria need time to digest the green matter and return the soil to its balanced state.)
    • Was the compost mature? (Immature compost can cause a wide range of problems.)
    • What was the preceding crop? (If it was a heavy feeder, are more nutrients necessary?)
    • Have you corrected the mineral deficiencies indicated by your soil test? (Trace elements can often be the key. You need a complete soil analysis to get that information.)
    • Were the transplants stressed? (If transplanting on a dry, windy day, you need to irrigate immediately. Crops like melons, squash, and cucumbers, for example, which must be transplanted with care, will be far more resistant to cucumber beetles if you give them a few weeks protection by a lightweight spun-bonded cover until they recover from transplant stress.)
    • Have you chisel-plowed or subsoiled to break up the hardpan? (Impenetrable or airless conditions under the surface are invisible until you plant a crop and then wonder why it is having problems. Take a shovel and do some digging to find out.)


    The idea of learning from your plants that something is missing and needs correcting is nothing new. Any textbook on mineral deficiency in plants will contain pictures of the symptoms exhibited by plants in response to various mineral deficiencies. A common example that many growers have probably noted is the yellowing of leaves when sufficient nitrogen is not available. The appearance of insects or disease is just as certain an indication of inadequate growing conditions as are yellowed leaves. The remedy is the same: improve the growing conditions by figuring out what is missing. To accomplish that one must learn what soil conditions favor optimum growth and then attempt to achieve them.


    Atb...


    Dex

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  5. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dexter McPherson View Post
    Hey mate, welcome and thanks for the interest

    So far we have successfully scaled it to micro home garden size that can be used on 5-10 plants throughout their life cycle and it can be very cost effective mate because you reuse your substrate and it only gets better...

    I will document a test grow here very soon and i hope it goes like planed

    Everything that you will need to successfully grow and make your own compost will be in this thread and it's not that difficult once you get started...Atb... Dex
    Heya Dexter, I been interested since yer first grow 'eh
    I suppose a person could run the system with just one or two plants, just dial down the feed pump.

    Are you going to post a monthly moon calendar? ... I'm thinking already about March might be my next planting
    Kind Regards & Prosperous Gardening
    Wasat


    New: Delicious & Fast Buds Autos

    completed->
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    completed->"Proving Grounds" grow Autos


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  7. #14

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    So if planting is best around the Full moon... is harvesting best around the New moon?

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  9. #15
    Mr Legend Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wasat View Post
    So if planting is best around the Full moon... is harvesting best around the New moon?
    Hey Was buddy, for harvest it's more important to choose favorable constellation and time of day than moon phase. For harvesting flowering plants bast dates this month are 22nd, 23rd and 31st so have a pick

    I can post a monthly biodynamic calendar but everyone will have to adjust for the time difference cause we're all over the world in different time zones...

    Cheers... Dex

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  11. #16
    Mr Legend Guest

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    Hello fellow gardeners

    I started preparing the greenhouse for the upcoming season so I will update the progress here from now on...

    The Greenhouse

    - 27 x 150 x 5,5 meter or one acre
    - double UV foil with hot air pumped between foils for better insulation
    - dripper and sprinkler irrigation systems that are also used to apply BD preps
    - 5000l rain water accumulation pool that is also connected to a well drilled 60m deep
    - soil was brought in from an old mediterranean vineyard and has dominant clay structure and was never treated with pesticides






    Soil was chisel ploughed 50cm deep and a selection of nine nutritious and medicinal herbs were sowed as green manuring crop and will be turned under when compost will be applied...



    I bought 30 tons of composted cow dung which was additionally treated with all BD compost preps and it will ferment for two more months. It is already full of life and will be even better before applying...






    I'll plant six different types of tomatoes, two early finishing, two mid summer types and two late finishers that will go full speed until mid October. There will be around 7000 tomato transplants planted and each should average around 10-12kg through the season.

    Also I'll plant six different complimentary crops between tomato rows to break the monoculture and they will enrich the soil through the grow with their roots...

    That's it for now folks and all comments and questions are welcome

    Cheers... Dex

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  13. #17

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    That's fucking awesome dex lovin this already n U just started
    That is one serious set up man really impressive stuff
    I have a small polly 3 m x 2 m this year my second time
    So should I add fert to soil just now ? Like manure ?

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  15. #18

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    Seems like biodiversity is the way to go for outdoor or poly setups. I'm mainly swayed by the fact it's fully ethical and organic but also the fact it allows the crops to feed from nearby sources, sounds ideal and will be testing some principles in my raised bed this season

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  17. #19
    Mr Legend Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by FACE View Post
    That's fucking awesome dex lovin this already n U just started
    That is one serious set up man really impressive stuff
    I have a small polly 3 m x 2 m this year my second time
    So should I add fert to soil just now ? Like manure ?
    Thanks Face, yeah it's a wonderful setup mate but if I knew what I know now when I was putting it together I could have made three times the size for the money

    Fresh manure can often cause problems by attracting pests because live ingredients haven't been properly composted so I would suggest to prepare your own or buy some already composted from a trusted source.

    Beat way to provide healthy nutrients to your plant is good compost and green manuring.


    Quote Originally Posted by Ezroller View Post
    Seems like biodiversity is the way to go for outdoor or poly setups. I'm mainly swayed by the fact it's fully ethical and organic but also the fact it allows the crops to feed from nearby sources, sounds ideal and will be testing some principles in my raised bed this season
    Hey Ez, you're right mate, monoculture is death to the soil and should be avoided at all costs.
    In biodynamic agriculture mycorrhizal and microbial life is so active that the plants can reach for food couple of meters away.

    You should definitely try it mate because it is the ultimate organic growing

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  19. #20
    Mr Legend Guest

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    Evening folks, had a quick visit to the greenhouse as the weather is fucked and nothing much going on atm...

    30m3 of compost treated with BD preps in final stages...


    Green manuring crop coming along nicely...



    Cheers... Dex

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