larry kidd

Leah Holder wrote:Hi fellow Permies!
    I have been growing a wide spectrum of trees on 2 acres in rural South Dakota USA. The property used to have a trailer house on it in the 70s and has a well, but now holds only my little shack and apples, pears, raspberries, plums, blackberries, and most importantly-hazelnuts. I had the well shocked and sealed 3 years ago because of a bacterial issue, afterwards it was no longer present. The other test results didn’t really stay with me-I was new and if the water was safe for my dog to drink that should be good enough. Funny thing is, the trees survived but failed to thrive. I tested again this year and the hardness and alkalinity are both 9.5. and high Calcium. I should have opened my eyes when the hydrangea I bought started to tank the first week.
    Here’s the dilemma. I don’t live here full time, I just visit several times a week. The pump runs off a Honda generator I fire up when it’s time to water. Hauling water in from town isn’t an option. What methods can I use to change my water without a constant flow of electricity? Thanks for your time and advice!

The water delivery method doesn't much matter. If I were you I would first see what PH each type plant / tree needs. Then I would test the soil at the roots and see what the ph you are actually working with is. Then work something like this in the soil until you achieve the target ph range.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VD9WT1P?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

You can also adjust the PH of the water but that will require a mixer or mixing tank of some type. Something like a miracle gro lawn feeder might be made to work.

Robert Ray wrote:Has anyone combined a solar sand/mass battery with a RMH?  During construction the addition of a heating element in the mass of the RMH would be an easy addition.

 I'm missing something here which strikes me strange since I've been off grid 18 years and interested in other power for near 40 years.

 What purpose does a heating element in a RMH serve? Using the RMH to to heat the sand and using it as a heat battery works and TEG's in the RMH to produce power from the heat might make sense.

Dealing with heavy red clay and pipe clay Daikon radishes, clovers and buckwheat, really any "fixing" cover crop were my best bang for the bucks and least labor intensive improvement of all!

Adding organic mater of all kinds as much as possible was the second best and second least costly with more labor.

Animals require a large amount of input of all types but they can also help HUGELY in many ways. Pigs can root and till also wallow out small ponds. Goats, pigs and homestead cattle can clear brush and brambles. All of them leave behind manures.

 

Start with the book ten acres enough written in the mid 1800's

Learn as much as you can and maybe start some container plants.

Les Frijo wrote:I think your mix sounds good. You didn't mention what you're growing in containers but in my experience the larger the container the better. I use 10 gal minimum these days for things like peppers. With your wicking system I can see that being much easier on the watering labor. That's probably the most challenging part of growing in containers and why I use the largest containers I can handle.

The most helpful things that I think I've done are using mulch and planting a diverse chop and drop cover crop in the containers along with some worms etc. The soil keeps getting better and can be used for a number of years with very minimum inputs.

Sapling trees came in these containers 30 odd years ago, and I've been using them ever since. They measure 14" across and 12" high if memory serves, none of them have the size on them. I must have had around a hundred of them originally and there must be 30 or so still in use.

Companion planting is something I'm playing around with.

Have you seen where people grow stuff out of the bottom of hanging buckets? Might be worth considering.

Les Frijo wrote:Hi Larry,

I would add a paramagnetic basalt or granite rock dust. Maybe not needed depending on what the good bottom ground soil is.

Given the option I would replace the perlite/vermiculite with pumic/lava rock/rice hulls.

It's nice to know the source of the cow manure and chicken stuff for possible gick. Maybe well composted is better if unsure.

This link has a recipe that has become quite popular. There are many versions of this recipe if you do a search. This basic one doesn't even have biochar which I think can be a pretty important addition. Just FYI for anyone starting from scratch as this is where I would start if I were starting today.

https://clackamascoots.com/blogs/news/coots-soil-recipe-coots-nutes

Our "soil" is mostly red clay. It's full of minerals, iron and such but has less than 1% organic matter in most places. My garden is now close to 4% after nearly 2 decades of improvements.  

As to replacing pearlite etc. it's what I have in hand so I'll be using it. Next time maybe I'll try some of the others.  All the manures are off my own property.

Check with your local AG extension office, here in VA it was $26 last time I had one done. A lot of times they are free.

Over the last 40ish years I've grown in containers as well as fields both indoors and out. Roughly 20-30 years ago I got away from using commercial fertilizers for the most part. Anyway these days it's about using things I have and buying as little as possible to make what I need.  I haven't done this in awhile so if I'm screwing up shout out, if you see something I've missed please shout louder!

This will be used in a wick type system using rope hanging in water and nutrients (tea) as needed.

 My goal here is to make some very high quality reusable growing medium or potting soil. I did have to buy part of what I needed that being pearlite, vermiculite, peatmoss and worm castings.

I'm basing this on 7-10 gallon pots and I'll be making enough for 10 containers to make things easy to measure.  I will put a #) for the amount or parts per.

1) good bottom ground soil
1) worm castings
1) vermiculite
1) pearlite
1) peatmoss
1) inoculated biochar
1.5) composted cow manure
0.5) chicken litter
1) bark, ground up / broken down
1) old homemade potting soil, mostly composted wood chips

I will also be amending with wood ash and bone meal.


 Let me know what you think and please speak up if I've made mistakes!

When it's over!