[soil]

im sure it would work, im just skeptical on the blender part. as there meant to chop and dice and most of them have blades. not saying its not worth a try!

[greenkira]

Originally Posted by soil

im sure it would work, im just skeptical on the blender part. as there meant to chop and dice and most of them have blades. not saying its not worth a try!

You know, I probably wasn't really thinking with that bit. I mean, the people using that technique to get moss on planters and statues need to actually break up a chunk of moss, which can be surprisingly solid. But with topsoil and mycillia, it's already pretty loose. So maybe just giving it a good stir with a fork or egg whisk would work fine - you don't need to be precise or anything, it's just a mix to dribble on charcoal, right?

So in that case, it's just a matter of figuring out what sort of liquid will best transfer and give a head start to beneficial soil fungus.

Probably just mixing the charcoal into your compost would be easiest and best, though, in terms of inoculating it.

[soil]

no no dont stop, composting it is a good thing to do but not everyone has or can get quality compost. why not add some local native hummus to the mix? like 5% or so. this should add countless millions of native micro organisms, and everyone can get to some sort of wilderness for samples.

moss really isnt as fragile as bacteria and fungi though.

[palmtreepathos]

Things I add to the dark soil pile that I have going are crushed charcoal , used coffee grounds, fresh and rotting green stuff, fruits as well as pulverized porcelain and rockdust. I feed it left over cake, chips, bread and dried fruit. I also add a fish emulsion/fertilizer made from the renegade big head carp. If you can't get Shafer's Fish fertilizer and have a sportsman in the family maybe you can just get out the "Super bass-o-matic" and add fish remains to that!

Bassomatic - AOL Video

Here is a picture that shows how fast the fish emulsion acts. I splashed a few ounces of watered down emulsion
(1:20 parts water) onto the soil of a house plant that was languishing for a year. In 2 days a fungal bloom spread over the plant and over the next few days it put out a couple new leaves. This after not doing anything for a year. I hope it is working as fast in the terra preta pile.

Picture by patsapeachygal - AOL Pictures

Picture by patsapeachygal - AOL Pictures

[Michaelangelica]

Fish was abig part of TP soils.
I am told some tribes still plant afish then acorn plant on top!

fish is a bit expensive here and Fish fertilisers (commercial )always a worry about how well they are made. Besides they cost the same as a bottle of wine.


The moss and humus idea is interesting. Australian soils have very little humus (about 6% on average)


Some suggestions:-
Molasses instead of honey?
Comfrey leaves in the compost as well as yarrow etc
Seaweed?
Can you buy cheap Agar Agar anywhere? There must be some "second' grade stuff around?
Carbohydrate?? Some mention this as wee beastie food. I have seen gardeners suggest using cornflower on Gardenias.

This is an interesting site on Fungal Biology
It look likes it is written for biology students and yes it does seem to want to look mainly at the "bad" guys that cause disease. But there is a lot of good info here.
Mycology - Growth and Development - Axenic Culture

Thus, if you take a soil sample, it will contain up to 10 (to the power of 6) spores per gram dry weight. The sample will commonly include 20 different species of fungi.

Many biotrophic fungi have never been cultured

biotrophic=Describes an organism which cannot survive or reproduce unless it is on another organism.
Culture of fungi

Saprotrophic fungi can be subcultured on media containing nutrients appropriate to their growth and development. Several different types of media have been used successfully. The most commonly used in undergraduate classes consists of a fruit or vegetable, or their extracts, mixed with sugars and agar, and set in Petri dishes. The organic and mineral fractions are designed to supply nutrients similar to or commonly found in the environment of the fungus. A few commonly used materials include:

* Soil [SOIL AGAR]
* Potato [PDA]
* Tomato plus other vegetables [V8 JUICE Agar]
* Malt extract [MA]
* Dung [DUNG AGAR]

These can be more highly defined by replacing the organic component with known organic materials including:

* Nutrient Dextrose [NDY]
* Sabouraud dextrose [SABOURAUD AGAR]

See recipes
Mycology - Growth and Development - Axenic Culture - Recipes
for further information.

Compost
I don't think I have ever made good "heating up" compost-despite countless tries. Usually because I can't put the heap together quickly. Getting enough organic matter, to layer the pile properly, in a short time, is difficult. It also dries out very fast in our warm, dry climate..

[maikeru]

I might be able to start dosing my terra preta with "worm tea" if my vermiculture project works out in the long run. The tea should be loaded with helpful "wee beasties." Has anyone here tried this with their terra preta and noted the results?

[soil]

Compost
I don't think I have ever made good "heating up" compost-despite countless tries. Usually because I can't put the heap together quickly. Getting enough organic matter, to layer the pile properly, in a short time, is difficult. It also dries out very fast in our warm, dry climate..

if you live in a very hot region as i do. you might want to look into sinking your pile in the ground some, maybe 2 ft or so. this keeps moisture in and helps keep temps stable. and also you might want to check out the quick return compost activator. you make it yourself with natural plants for very cheap, you dont need to build the pile fast really, build it slowly over time and get the carbon to nitrogen ratio good, once its done apply the activator then the plants in the activator along with a drop of honey work together with specific nutrients and beneficial micro organisms to generate tons of heat after applied to the pile. composting in dry/hot places is easy, as long as you follow a few simple rules.

maikeru- i always give my TP plants castings and castings tea. imo i cant see not using ever it. its EXCELLENT stuff specially if you make your own.