Urban Worm Composting -The Real Dirt: Soil Health and Soil Science for Gardeners Class, January 13th from 1-5pm
This is a 4 hour class on the soil food web, soil creation and microspy in Berkeley, CA USA. Bring your own handful of dirt to examine under a microscope. This class teaches how and why soil works; how to inoculate your soil with the right microbiology to match plant types; how to determine what is missing [...]
Soil Food Web – Predator-Prey Protists Bacteria Fungi Microarthropods in an Aerobic Environment
Soil Food web – Predator-Prey Protists Bacteria Fungi Microarthropods are some of the main components in soil microbiology. Below is a predator/Prey food/eating chart. Arrows indicate who is eating what. Some of the food materials are organic (meaning they contain some carbon), while other organisms are eating inorganic materials (like NO3, NO and etc…) The tangled [...]
Adding Soil to CELSS – Adding a Water table – Starting another Anaerobic Cycle
Adding- Soil to the enclosed life support system. This stage of development is adding two more anaerobic cycles to the system by adding soil. This is part two of an on going eco-system establishment with-in a closed life support system. In a traditional CELSS system for space travel, hydroponics is the choice for growing food. Food is [...]
Compost and compost tea is not fertilizer, but an infrastructure for soil
Compost and compost tea is not fertilizer, but infrastructure for your soil. This is really good place to start with learning how the Ecology and Phenology in soil works. We start with what we know and branch out. Definition of fertilizer: Fertilizer is made of a salt consisting of Ammonium (NH4) & Nitrate (NO3). [...]
How to Grow Grapes
Growing grapes can be rewarding and fun. A lot of times grapes can be used to shelter your house from the sun, thus lowering the summer inside temperature. I have use my grapes for just that. During the summer, the house temperature is 10 degrees lower. In the winter, the leaves come off the grapes [...]
Colorado Potato Beetle
The Colorado potato beetle, a yellow insect with ten black stripes down its back is probably one of the best known insects in the United States today. The insect overwinters in the adult stage a few inches beneath the soil surface. In the spring the one-half inch beetle emerges from the soil and searches for [...]
Preparing Soil Samples
Preparing soil samples for microscope analysis is easy. The actual analysis has a steep learning curve. It takes a bit of practice. Preparing soil samples is different than preparing compost tea and compost extract samples. In preparing soil samples we are going to be measuring the amounts of micro-0rganisms contained in the soil. That means [...]
Soil Test Equipment
Testing your won soil with a microscope is fun, but there is a large learning curve. It is simple to make the samples, but identifying the animals on the slides takes a lot of practice. Here is a list of items you need for basic microscope soil analysis. These items can be used for analyzing compost, [...]
Using Compost Tea for Pest and Disease Suppression Control
Compost Tea is the easiest and safest way to control blight, leave curl and most fungi problems in trees. The process is very simple. Spray compost tea on the leaves and tree branches. Yes, this does not go into the ground, but on the upper canopy of the tree. About 4 weeks before buds open [...]
Florakill Miticide (bifenazate)
Usefull for controlling Spider Mites – Two Spotted, Pacific, Strawberry, European Red, Citrus Red, Clover, Southern Red, Spruce and Bamboo – Use as directed: Spider Mites on all types of ornamental plants 4 oz – 8 oz per 100 gallons of water. Bifenazate has a solubility in water of 3.8 mg/L at 20°C, and [...]
Trichoderma
mycoparasitic fungi Trichoderma viride For Identifying pests by pictures or by names (this also includes solutions), Click here For more Information on other Natural Pest Controls, Click here Where to buy this, Click here Trichoderma when introduced along with seeds or at root zone protect the seedlings from attack by soil borne pathogens that cause [...]
Colorado Potato Beetle
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and/or Bacillus thuringiensis and/or San diego/tenebrionis For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
Chinch
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
Borers
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA For Identifying pests by pictures or by names (this also includes solutions), Click here For more Information on other Natural Pest Controls, Click here Where to buy this, Click here For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
Aphids
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
Snails
Snails are a wet weather pest for most vegetable gardens. They can destroy your whole garden in a few nights. If you do not look to eat Escargot, then here are a couple of methods to control this pest. What to use to Control: Diatomaceous Earth, Copper Strips, Chickens For more information on use, [...]
Slugs
Slugs are a wet weather pest for most vegetable gardens. They can destroy your whole garden in a few nights. If you do not look to eat Escargot, then here are a couple of methods to control this pest. What to use to Control: Diatomaceous Earth, Copper Strips, Chickens For more information on use, availability [...]
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth also known as diatomite or kieselgur, is a naturally occurring, soft, silice ous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from less than 1 micron to more than 1 millimeter, but typically 10 to 200 microns. This powder has an abrasive [...]
Making Compost Teas – Video
Here are some simple How To Vidoes to Make Compost Teas. For more information on Compost Tea Application schedules for preventing diseases see, For more Information on applications schedules for Tea Applications, Click Here For more Information on Disease and Pest Suppression using Compost Teas, Click Here Compost Teas/Extracts Foods, Click Here Making Compost Teas [...]
Xylella fastidiosa Bacterium
Also called Pierce’s disease, California vine disease, Anaheim disease (grapevine), leaf scorch (almond), dwarf (lucerne), phony disease (peach), leaf scald (plum), leaf scorch (elm, oak, plane, mulberry, maple), variegated chlorosis (citrus) Xylella fastidiosa Bacterium is carried by the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter. For More Information on the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter, click here. Xylella fastidiosa Bacterium proliferates only in [...]
Azotobacteraceae Nitrogen Cycle (Nitrogen Fixing Plants)
Azotobacteraceae’s purpose is to take food from the plant through the roots, eat it, change it to a protein. Once the protean is released, nitrifying bacteria covert it to a Nitrate. Nitrate is fixed nitrogen. It is the same thing as chemical fertilizer but made by the soil ecosystem. You can buy Azotobacter from any [...]
Borers
Borers Use: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA. This can be purchased at any hydroponic store. Videos on Natural Ways to Control Insects. Click here if you want to learn more. More Insect Control. Click here if you want to see more.
Using a Perforated Pipe For Water Harvesting
Paul, Good job. I think your ability to document these two jobs helps folks see that they can do it too. We don’t dig quite as much when we divert the downspout water. We attach a perforated pipe to the downspout and snake it around the landscape. the pipe should be at least 12′ long. [...]