Recent content by Timmo

The county extension service website expressly says that soil testing is no longer offered. Oregon State University does have a soil lab, but unless you're a student in a soil science class, the cost is over $50.

It appears that soil testing availability and pricing aren't uniform nationwide. Oregon extension offices don't offer soil testing anymore, and getting a complete-ish soil test without waiting forever is going to set you back more than 50 bucks. I've been using Northwest Agricultural...

Bob, would you be willing to post a copy of one of your soil test reports? I'd love to see what a close-to-perfect one looks like.

I don't know what LABS does in soil, but it looks to me like something is making a ton of nitrogen available. I wrecked a bunch of flowering plants this spring, some by planting them beds that had way too much still-hot donkey manure at the bottom, some, I suspect, by watering with compost tea...

Show-off time! Yesterday I took the tops off some White Widows I have growing in my hugelkulture-inspired beds (discussed a little on pg. 56 of this thread). It was tough choosing one for a "lunker" photo, because there were so many contenders. I settled on this one:

I had trouble controlling the heat in my greenhouse this summer. A bunch of plants grew leaves like those at one point. At first I thought it was bugs, but eventually concluded that it was either heat stress or overdoing foliar feeding, or both. They resumed normal growth after that heat...

Fert, did those gnawed off looking tips start out normal, or did they grow looking like that?

I've been lurking around here for a couple of years now and still haven't made it all the way through... But I've learned more here than anywhere else. Glad you found it.

Sue, the appreciation coming your way for starting this thread, and the love coming your way for the spirit you infuse it with are immeasureable! :Love:

I've come close to signing up for the Master Gardener class too. Don't see how it could be a bad thing. Back injury. Bummer. I've had a bad back longer than I didn't have one. It's nice that you have some time for enjoyable pursuits, but it's a hell of a price to pay. Sorry, my friend.

No sweat. I started googling after seeing your post and came across the Master Gardener stuff. A few of the classes look like they could be pretty useful--the soil & compost one for sure, but also basic botany, pathology, entomology, and pesticide safety all look like they could be very...

My only experience with mushroom compost is from my non-cannabis landscaping days, 25 or so years ago. Don't take this as gospel, but my boss told me that it was sheep shit that had been used to grow mushrooms on. (Google says it can also be other things.) Apparently, after it's too spent to...

Do you have a link to those online classes?

Obsessed is the right word, alright. Fert, I'm curious about how you use the LABS, too. I've used it to make plant food, but never heard of putting it directly into the soil. I suppose it would work pretty much like a monoculture compost tea. What's your experience with it? Guy, here's a...