is it normal for new growth to be purple ?

[blimey]

I can't say I really disagree with what you say, I just think you can grow plants faster with better yields with more control of your nutrients. I think of it as if you lived entirely off of the land you would be healthy and surely in shape, but an athlete with a coach pushing them would be more physically fit. If that makes sense.... this wake and bake session is running long...

 

[Rrog]

Makes sense what you're saying. IMHO, few people do soil correctly, so the internet is full of people with bad experiences.

A mature soil with a few grows in it will perform better than fresh soil. Some people look at soil as disposable. Supersoil, for example. Using a mature, well-tended soil might be the yield / speed differences may be negligible at that point.

I will also say this again- properly built and maintained soil is good for a dozen generations of plants or more. This makes it the cheapest grow method out there. People will say how expensive soil is, and it sure can be if you buy materials all over the internet, shipped from far away Asia. Between using local materials and recycling as a no-till, the cost is very low. Dirt cheap

 

[hydroMD]

The longer I looked at this whole soil equation, the more I realized that it's just simply best if you tried to mimic the way the plant has been growing for the past several million years. The microbes already have this specialization. Worms produce the world's best plant food. The microbes and the worms provide the plants best defense against pathogens and insect predation.

In fact, my latest goal is to use all local soil amendments. I live in Michigan, and I'm building a large raised bed vegetable area on a couple acres. This will all be built from local amendments. Local mineral powder, local compost, local plants for teas. No guano from Indonesia, Not even Crabshell, No greensand.

I successfully inoculate my DWC woth bacteria and mychorhyzae.

But im using a lot of organics and teas.

 

[Rrog]

I successfully inoculate my DWC woth bacteria and mychorhyzae.

"Successfully inoculate" is subjective. The Soil - Microbe - Plant relationship exists in undisturbed soil. Ion / exudate exchange wouldn't happen in a water culture, fungus is very fragile, etc. So the natural relationship isn't there. Any water culture is of course going to have microbes, but simply adding microbes doesn't mean there's an interdependent relationship.

It's this interdependent relationship that brings about the full spectrum of benefits. Pests in the Rhizosphere as well as the Phyllosphere are kept in check by worm compost. Worms are in the soil, but they are proven to help keep the leaf surfaces healthy. This is a complicated, multi-level relationship that gets better with time.

I think it's groovy that you grow DWC, and the microbes you do have probably keep the culture free of malodorous nasties.

 

[stiltokin]

I follow Subcool's soil recipe, but it is so wasteful. Since I already have this year's batch mixed up from what I've been reading it sounds like it would be a good idea for me to throw some worms in my pots and try and roll this dirt over into 2016's season and so on. Now my question is would this a good soil mix to try to recycle? And I know I would have to use compost teas to get all the proper biological microbial life in the soil. And I would much appreciate anybody's advice.

 

[a senile fungus]

I follow Subcool's soil recipe, but it is so wasteful. Since I already have this year's batch mixed up from what I've been reading it sounds like it would be a good idea for me to throw some worms in my pots and try and roll this dirt over into 2016's season and so on. Now my question is would this a good soil mix to try to recycle? And I know I would have to use compost teas to get all the proper biological microbial life in the soil. And I would much appreciate anybody's advice.

Why don't you search the organic section, and maybe post this there? Might help you...

 

[stiltokin]

Why don't you search the organic section, and maybe post this there? Might help you...

Thanks for the direction I appreciate it.