Late to the party, but I heard you mention using straw as a mulch. Where did you source your straw? I can get plenty of hay, with seeds, at a reasonable cost; but, straw is jet-smoke high in cost, and most of what I find from box stores is treated with a caking agent.
Nah, right on time. 😄 Yeah had a hard time with that myself, I ordered the Barley Straw Mulch from BuildASoil. The cubic foot goes a long way indoor but goes pretty quick outdoor.
Hi, how do you know what's those microscopic things are in soil, literally the name of them and when you identify something like Mycelium strain as you mentioned then how do you know which type of Mycelium kind it is how would it help soil?
Can only identify by morphological groups with a basic microscope. A epifluorescence microscope can give you the ability to see inoculation on roots and the glow of the hyphae, then you know the hyphae is most likely AMF. But other than that you can only distinguish what is a bacteria strand and what's a fungi. Even distinguishing a saprophyte from all other fungal hyphae can have some grey area's I'm just now learning. Not a simple as one is clear and one is brown. 😪 But fungal hyphea have septa and bacteria strands don't for instance and you can see that with a regular scope. Some day I'll afford an Epifluorescence scope!
@@ShootingtheSoil Maybe consider a DIY Printed scope. Have a look at PUMA DIY microscope. It's an open source 100% free, from basic to research grade scope. It does include fluorescence microscopy as well. What is your current setup?
@@alexandrevaliquette3883 Very cool! Don't have access to a 3D printer otherwise this would be awesome. Still pretty pricey and not sure how they figure 80 pounds for a florescence scope in the video. One nice objective costs more, and the cheapest epifluorescence light module I can find that looks decent in over a thousand. =( To buy a premade puma scope with everything I would want is looking about the same as the LW i4 Lumen I want (after the discount I have). Would be slightly less if I use my objectives from my current scope. I have a Swift 380T, with a full frame camera adapter condenser tube, and a Sony A7c camera.
@@ShootingtheSoil 3D printer kit are better and cheaper then ever at around 200$ (Ender 3). I agree with the top heavy. But the files are open sources, you can custom fit some bracket and fill them with concrete if you want. The hard parts are already designed. For the lamp itself, it use a very cheap blue LED and a filter. You might have a friend or subscriber from a 3D community/forum that would be interested into making such improvement as a hobby. The nice thing about that project is that you can use your own objective and if you don't like it and prefer your regular scope, you don't waste too much. (well, I am bias since I already own a 3D printer, that will add up in cost and learning time). At least, you now have other options!
J at BaS once told me in a response to my question about him using a microscope to show us what he believes in in his soil; he responded (loosely) that he doesn't believe in weekend-warrior scope users. Check out Redbud; they live by a microscope, soil testing, and SAP testing. Larry is a Dr. Ingham student nearing certification. His input to the channel is priceless.
Cool I will check them out! Yeah, really need the trifecta to diagnose problems: sap, soil and microscopy. But if you got your soil build down and its working like J's run after run what are ya looking for under the scope? Maybe an early sign or some untapped potential... but if your plants are rocking I would only scope it for fun when I had time.
@@ShootingtheSoil Yes to early signs for sure. Data gathering is key to min/max input for result, whether that key is time or cash or anything else that comes along. Untapped is way above my knowledge; I'm an accountant, who was a NASCAR guy, who was a licensed electrician, and who is currently trying to build my soil/gardens with local inputs.
@@cuznclive2236 yup, I like the goal of getting it to the point where the biology and the plants will take care of your soil for you! and they are better at it! 😁
This is so awesome thank for posting!!
Late to the party, but I heard you mention using straw as a mulch. Where did you source your straw? I can get plenty of hay, with seeds, at a reasonable cost; but, straw is jet-smoke high in cost, and most of what I find from box stores is treated with a caking agent.
Nah, right on time. 😄 Yeah had a hard time with that myself, I ordered the Barley Straw Mulch from BuildASoil. The cubic foot goes a long way indoor but goes pretty quick outdoor.
Hi, how do you know what's those microscopic things are in soil, literally the name of them and when you identify something like Mycelium strain as you mentioned then how do you know which type of Mycelium kind it is how would it help soil?
Can only identify by morphological groups with a basic microscope. A epifluorescence microscope can give you the ability to see inoculation on roots and the glow of the hyphae, then you know the hyphae is most likely AMF. But other than that you can only distinguish what is a bacteria strand and what's a fungi. Even distinguishing a saprophyte from all other fungal hyphae can have some grey area's I'm just now learning. Not a simple as one is clear and one is brown. 😪 But fungal hyphea have septa and bacteria strands don't for instance and you can see that with a regular scope. Some day I'll afford an Epifluorescence scope!
@@ShootingtheSoil Maybe consider a DIY Printed scope.
Have a look at PUMA DIY microscope. It's an open source 100% free, from basic to research grade scope. It does include fluorescence microscopy as well.
What is your current setup?
@@alexandrevaliquette3883 Very cool! Don't have access to a 3D printer otherwise this would be awesome. Still pretty pricey and not sure how they figure 80 pounds for a florescence scope in the video. One nice objective costs more, and the cheapest epifluorescence light module I can find that looks decent in over a thousand. =( To buy a premade puma scope with everything I would want is looking about the same as the LW i4 Lumen I want (after the discount I have). Would be slightly less if I use my objectives from my current scope. I have a Swift 380T, with a full frame camera adapter condenser tube, and a Sony A7c camera.
plus the DSLR is going to make that rig very top heavy.
@@ShootingtheSoil 3D printer kit are better and cheaper then ever at around 200$ (Ender 3).
I agree with the top heavy. But the files are open sources, you can custom fit some bracket and fill them with concrete if you want. The hard parts are already designed.
For the lamp itself, it use a very cheap blue LED and a filter. You might have a friend or subscriber from a 3D community/forum that would be interested into making such improvement as a hobby.
The nice thing about that project is that you can use your own objective and if you don't like it and prefer your regular scope, you don't waste too much. (well, I am bias since I already own a 3D printer, that will add up in cost and learning time).
At least, you now have other options!
J at BaS once told me in a response to my question about him using a microscope to show us what he believes in in his soil; he responded (loosely) that he doesn't believe in weekend-warrior scope users. Check out Redbud; they live by a microscope, soil testing, and SAP testing. Larry is a Dr. Ingham student nearing certification. His input to the channel is priceless.
Cool I will check them out! Yeah, really need the trifecta to diagnose problems: sap, soil and microscopy. But if you got your soil build down and its working like J's run after run what are ya looking for under the scope? Maybe an early sign or some untapped potential... but if your plants are rocking I would only scope it for fun when I had time.
@@ShootingtheSoil Yes to early signs for sure. Data gathering is key to min/max input for result, whether that key is time or cash or anything else that comes along.
Untapped is way above my knowledge; I'm an accountant, who was a NASCAR guy, who was a licensed electrician, and who is currently trying to build my soil/gardens with local inputs.
@@cuznclive2236 yup, I like the goal of getting it to the point where the biology and the plants will take care of your soil for you! and they are better at it! 😁