All those seeped nutrients are just waiting to be used under the fabric. A seasonal rotation of bags and soil crops might be the efficient way to go.
@FireflyOnTheMoon
11 ай бұрын
It's a trial. That's why he's using bags
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I wonder how far down they will wash. It makes me realise that in the outside gardens where I use thick layers of compost on the surface, a lot of the fertility will also be washed out, perhaps below the reach of the plant roots.
@charlespalmer3595
11 ай бұрын
Vertical soil test!!! every 10cm? down 7/10 a meter? maybe more?
@trillium7582
11 ай бұрын
Bruce, this video cleared up for me why the compost I brought in to fill some raised beds has been so terrible. I won't go into my boring experiments to try to figure it out, but finding out just how much soluble nitrogen you needed to add to see even okay results finally made me understand that my problem was that I had basically bought very expensive bark mulch. I've tried so many things for such anemic results, including lots of balanced organic fertilizer. Now I'm realizing that it just wasn't nearly enough immediately available nitrogen. It also clarifies why the one bed I used to dump kitchen scraps on is the ONLY bed where the cover crop mix I planted actually took off. I guess that's my answer, it needed nearly unreal amounts of readily available nitrogen to offset the carbon. Thank you so much! You are my very favorite garden youtuber. I think of you as my teacher. My thanks.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for that comment. It makes all this exploration worth while. I know a lot of people who have really struggled with using this type of compost, including myself, and it is good to get a better understanding of how it can be improved.
@robtdougherty
9 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens - Exactly. many new or relatively new gardeners (myself included) just hear "add compost" and what we are really adding is a carbon source to lock all nitrogen for a few growing seasons that give us sub par results and more confusion.
@Geografija5do12
11 ай бұрын
Thank you for another year of this trial. It would be interesting to test these potatoes for nutritional value.🖖
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I wish I was able to do that, but not nearly enough funding for that kind of exploration.
@David-xh9cw
11 ай бұрын
Love your content man and fully appreciate the hard work involved. There's not a lot of local Irish based content out there so it's really appreciated.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
🙂
@oscarherrera9049
11 ай бұрын
I really apreciate second potato try from these year. Thank you Bruce
@gregbluefinstudios4658
11 ай бұрын
Interesting. I guess the better approach is, to make sure that, in addition to seasoned compost, a "steady diet" thru the season, of some readily available (soluable) fertilizer is best. My first year using grow bags, is when I learned that the permeable nature of the grow bags, means, a constant feeding is needed. Particularly during a wet, rainy season. I've managed to finally build enough compost, to be able to add 1/3 of my year old compost (compost bins that've been sitting for at least a year), 1/3 new mix (part new soil, part new compost, part peat), 1/3 old soil (from last year's bags: I mix them all together at the end of season, and refresh with granular fertilizer, as I fill the bags, in March, before planting in May. This allows me to build up my base soil for the next year, as all the dead wood, plants, grass clippings, leaves, shredded paper and cardboard, and kitchen scraps makes for the current compost bin to season a full year.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I have come to realise that "steady diet" is so important, and in so many other growing spaces, I kind of assume, or hope that the soil an amendments and compost is able to supply enough for the whole season.
@Zalakajin
11 ай бұрын
I love your long-time experients. Looking forward the results at 2024 :)
@4WorldPeace2
10 ай бұрын
I used the coconut noir from Costco to amend our potted container soils and also for amending the in-ground soil while rototilling. This spring, we plan to plant a rather large asparagus in-ground garden with potatoes and yams inside containers. Many retailers sell those triple probe detectors that show, soil moisture, soil Ph, and the amount of sunlight. These detectors are intended for portable use only, and are not intended or designed to be left unattended while imbedded in soils indefinitely; only while pre-planting, while watering, and intermittently during the growing season.
@Redac2608
11 ай бұрын
Thank you for testing and sharing the results. I brought in compost for raised beds and will add high amounts of nitrogen to see if that helps my crops.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
🙂
@BalticHomesteaders
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for this’s year’s experiments. I had sort of missed the fact you were testing how to grow with the compost rather than potatoes. I’d love to know more about how you used the urine, how fresh it was and what dilution when diluted etc, I’d heard it has a short shelf life. Lots of varying information out there. Maybe this could form part of a future experiment, maybe I’ll experiment more with urine next year but I need to know more about how long it can keep and still be of use. Thanks again.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yeah, there is a lot of varying information out there about using urine. I tend to use it within a week of 'collecting' it, more to prevent having tor store it. But I have heard from people who say they store it for much longer without issues, and that it can actually improve, or be more available to the plants, but I don't know about enough about that. I usually dilute it 10:1, or about 1L urine in a 10L watering can.
@glassbackdiy3949
11 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens There's a Umich study from 2020 that tested aged urine for bacterial antibiotic resistance transfer, they used 12 month plus old urine, reporting that the bacterial DNA is broken down during aging so there's no worry about transfering resistance, they also reported aging increases the amonia level, decreasing pH. I've been using urine a lot for 3years, diluted 12:1, I prefer to add LAB mixed 50/50 with molasis but only a cap full from a 4 pint milk bottle in a 2 gal watering can, the theory being LABs convert nitrates into long chain amino acids more easily taken up by the plant/plant uses less energy to produce protiens; the molasis also provides a Carbon source as the nitrate to amino acid conversion uses a lot of carbon, I've used it with/without the LAB mix with no issues, tho charging biochar in urine has had negative pest pressure results (beans in a new biochar/urine bed attacked with severe blackfly within 2 weeks, while the same beans in an established bed were unaffected - John Kempf has an excellent presentation on why plants with nitrates attract pests) 2 of us produce way more urine than I can use as fertiliser, I'm now about a year in front storage wise, so much so I've been adding it to a Johnson-Su Bioreactor instead of storing it!
@garthwunsch
10 ай бұрын
Garden Like a Viking says fermented urine has an indefinite shelf life. I've made quite a bit, but am certain I haven't applied enough of it. Also have homemade fish hydrolysate and fermented plant juice. Will add a lot more of it next year. Also topping grow bags with wood ash this fall, and perhaps early next year. Apparently it needs time to break down. I don't have winter rains, just lots of snow, on frozen pots, so not much leaching goin on. Also planning on starting several pots quite early in my heated greenhouse. Thanks for your perseverance in conducting these tests.
@stephencha7418
11 ай бұрын
One of the reasons peat moss and coco coir are used in potting soils is due to their relatively high cation exchange capacity, CEC, which is their ability to hold and slowly release plant nutrients. The municipal compost you are using may have a low CEC due to the coarse woody structure. Perhaps mixing the municipal compost with a high CEC medium could greatly improve your results with the same amount of fertilizer. You can find lists of common soils and mediums and their approximate CEC with a simple web search. Thanks for the great videos, always a treat when you post!
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
That would be a really good thing to look into, especially if I wanted to use this type of compost as a dedicated growing medium.
@FireflyOnTheMoon
11 ай бұрын
But he is looking for cheap, susatinable and local sources of fertility. Peat and coir are neither of these things. Peat use is being banned as the substrate is too valuable to be used for gardening and coir is flown from the other side of the world and drenched in salt until washed heavily.
@heyy13
11 ай бұрын
@@FireflyOnTheMoonThey didn't suggest that, just looking up mediums online.
@flatsville9343
11 ай бұрын
Regardless of whether compost begins with a high or low CEC, it will always need amending as it decomposes to humus. Organic matter is not dirt (with clay) which holds a negative CEC due to the fact that the parent material is rock. The isomorphic negative CEC charge in dirt (with some % of clay) is permanent. The CEC in organic based compost is not permanent & pH dependent & also depletable as it decomposes.
@jessehunter362
10 ай бұрын
You can grow sphagnum moss pretty easily, and it’s often used for carnivorous plants as a replacement for proper peat moss (which is sphagnum that’s decayed anaerobically for many many years, and thus isn’t renewable on human lifespan). Probably grows too slowly for major use in farming still, but it’d be interesting to see the properties.
@insidethegardenwall22
11 ай бұрын
Patreon here! I’m just a casual gardener but what I see is: 1. Never mind trying to grow potatoes in a bag. Maybe it would work better with a different crop. 2. Switch to a different compost source all together. These municipal compost are probably low fertility due to wood based, low fungal/bacterial biology, lack of diversity of decomposed organic matter or had been lyched of nutrients. 3. I may have missed the point but maybe it’s not about amendments or compost, it’s about farming practices. This year I grow corn without adding any fertilizer except just a bit of fish bone meal at the planting hole in my no-dig in ground bed that had parsnips as overwinter cover crop (yes, parsnips). Corn did well. I had a couple of volunteer tomato plants (one orange slicing tomato and one Sungold cherry tomato) that gave me an abundant late season yield. They were self-sowed, as I said, and grew well without amendments or usual care (pruning, structural support). I had other volunteers like kale, Swiss chard, celery, leeks, fennels, beetroot, carrot, parsnips, daikon radishes, mustard greens, calendulas, borage, asparagus, practically a food forest without trying! Sometimes, the best method is simply not putting the work. 😊
@FireflyOnTheMoon
11 ай бұрын
He is using bags to trial the composts not the potatoes
@insidethegardenwall22
11 ай бұрын
@@FireflyOnTheMoon I was wondering if the fertility of compost is not as important as cover cropping. And I was thinking if a different crop such as carrots or sweet potatoes (high nitrogen not recommended in those cases) may give new insights on the various sources of compost. I have yet gotten a good yield on growing bags of potatoes. Anyone?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
The purpose of the trial was to test how this compost can be improved, and potatoes seemed a good plant to grow for this purpose, and it was also useful to see how well the potatoes could grow. I think that this is an important issue as this type of low fertility municipal compost is often the only compost that a lot of growers can get. And if we are going to use it, then finding ways to make it a lot better is a useful thing to explore, I think. We do not all have access to great quality compost, or even decent topsoil, and often when growing and gardening we need to make use of resources that are available, and figure out ways to make them more useful if we can.
@dcrosco1458
10 ай бұрын
3 yrs ago I took all of my soil in my raised beds and compost I made of the summer/fall. Then put it on a tarp and added worms and I through garden vegetables in on top of the soil for the worms to have. Then I covered it with another tarp all winter. Then spring put it all back in my begs. I had a great crop that next falls. Was surprised at how the worms made a very good soil for me to use. I added nothing to it except more worms when I filled my grow bags. I dont know if this will help you with what you are trying to do, but I had to share it with you. Thank you for the video it has been a yr without a garden because I moved and now I am going to start over. Good luck on your grow season
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
Thanks. That is interesting, mixing the soil in with the composing process before adding to the bags sounds like a useful method to explore. Hope you are able to get back to the garden next season!
@troutslayer-yv3dx
11 ай бұрын
this is fascinating, I run all kinds of "experiments" on my farm but im not a market garden, just for a family of 5. with potatoes I always grow twice what i think I'll need so I never fall short. composted leaves fed with a tank of rain water i ferment all my weeds in seems to do the best for me. On bad years I break even...on good years ive been known to boil my leftover tators in the spring in 55 gallon drums for the hogs. Great video! and please keep them coming. Thanks
@troutslayer-yv3dx
11 ай бұрын
funny side note, one year i got 800 lbs of them...next year I got less than 250...while lamenting over the harvest my 8 year old son looked at the pile and said "Thats alot of tators Dad!" point taken
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Thanks! Experiments are great, especially when you have the space to grow extra!
@Jan-Boer
11 ай бұрын
Great that you show the results in all honesty. Thank you very much for that. When I look at it this way, I don't know whether you will exceed the 5 kg per square meter that you can easily achieve by growing in the open ground, especially if you added all that organic matter. All this with much less work and costs. Greetings from a potato breeder from the Netherlands.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yes, I agree that growing in the ground is generally a lot easier, though not everyone has open ground. I found potatoes to be a useful plant to grow when testing different amendment options, as it enables more control.
@johnndavis7647
10 ай бұрын
Compost is just a medium for holding water and nutrients so they are available to the plant roots. You have to add lots of nutrients.
@MegaBuckminster
10 ай бұрын
That is a lot of dedication, well done! I also really want to eat a potato now, a craving I didn’t know I could get.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
Thanks! I get those potato cravings too!
@heyy13
11 ай бұрын
I'm not growing potatoes but other plants in a similar mix with poor results. This is very valuable insight. Thankyou.
@brianwhite9555
10 ай бұрын
Glad I watched this. This info should aid me to produce a better potato harvest next year.
@notaregistereduser3446
11 ай бұрын
I wonder if grow bags versus actually growing in the ground with more biological activity makes a difference? Still great information in your trials
@martincrabtree6704
11 ай бұрын
That was my first thought, but others are reporting big crops from buckets.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
There would definitely be a lot of differences, but a lot of it would depend on the method used, and how fertile the soil is, the quality of the compost used or other sources of fertility. The big benefit of plants in the soil is access to a much larger volume of soil to forage in.
@jaberblack5608
10 ай бұрын
good effort
@davidvandeheisteeg3458
11 ай бұрын
Wow. Thank you for sharing your experience, Bruce!
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
🙂
@pauldietz1325
11 ай бұрын
How about having some bags with just, say, sand? If you're constantly adding liquid fertilizer, this would be a control to see if the compost is helping at all.
@flatsville9343
11 ай бұрын
I salute you on your trial(s). I have to ask: Was one of the goals to get cleaner potatoes with less digging? You might try large raised bed fencing rings lined with cardboard, 1/2 municipal compost on the bottom & 1/2 dirt on top. You could still amend as you see fit. Potatoes like dirt with some clay (good CEC.) Growing in 100% compost is difficult as the CEC may start out high, but rapidly depletes in the organic matter on the way to decomposition. My potato rings do fine. The potatoes come out fairly clean with little damage even with about 12 in of dirt. Harvesting is easy. I leave a place to unhook the fencing on opposite sides. I can also winter kill covercrop the rings (since they contain dirt) with a mix heavy on beans/peas for in ground available N in the spring.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
The goal was to test the compost amendments an a fairly controlled way, and I figured growing potato plants was a good test. But I did also want to get potatoes out of it, and if they were cleaner, and without scab (which is quite common in our high pH soil) that would be great. Not sure it is less work though.
@C3Voyage
11 ай бұрын
Some rainwater flushing should be considered to flush salt accumulation in the medium. I let the pots go all winter uncovered to rinse the liquid salts out then start with essentially a neutral media and refurbish with liquid and granular feed. In working with hydro for many years now, I've learned that creating soil for consistent, healthy veggies, was my biggest issue in years past whereas a complete fertilizer regular feed is much easier. Now, I simply top up the media year after year. It's much more consistent which is important to me to free up time for my breeding work. I am experimenting with worm bins within raised beds for 2024. Mostly, the beds are to ensure even watering capability due to the larger mass of media. For the past few years, keeping up with watering containers has been an issue I want to resolve--raised beds and larger containers--for example. Always enjoy your work. Thanks so much!
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
That is an interesting idea, to flush the material in preparation of a fresh, balanced supply. I hadn't considered it in that way, but something to think about. Thanks.
@kennethshively6979
11 ай бұрын
Very interesting experiment, a lot of work. Thanks
@craigkeller
10 ай бұрын
Thank you 🙏!
@OffGridAnthony
11 ай бұрын
Hi Bruce, I'd love to see you test with a mixture of goat manure(higher in nitrogen than other manure) & compost. Have had good results from it.
@nickthegardener.1120
11 ай бұрын
I add lots of urine to my homemade compost whilst I'm making it, it's awesome stuff.👍🤠
@hotmalm
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for doing all this. Very interesting 👌
@normancoutts
11 ай бұрын
Don't despair - this experiment was far from piss-poor. (Sorry, I could not resist. :-) Guess what I will be collecting more of this year. All thanks to you and this excellent channel.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
haha!
@getzvalerevich6565
10 ай бұрын
Awesome... Thank you for your knowledge. :)
@AJWGBFX
11 ай бұрын
Wow! What a lot of work you’ve done! Seems to me that a lot of us on smaller incomes would use urine as our main feed for potatoes. How often would you feed potatoes in pots and and what dilution? Best wishes.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I thin it is a useful fertiliser in some cases. I tend to dilute it 10:1, or about 1L in a 10L watering can. Not sure of the frequency, but I tended to try once a week.
@novampires223
11 ай бұрын
My problem with using urine is, if you are ingesting any chemicals they are then in the urine. This bothers me greatly, I don’t like using bonemeal or bloodmeal because I know what chems are given to the animals that bonemeal is made from. Sigh..😊
@format102
11 ай бұрын
Thank you :)
@bonniepoole1095
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for the education! I am definitely failing to fertilize on a regular basis. Next year, I'll do better!
@jensissons5709
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for the hard work and useful information.
@fouroakfarm
11 ай бұрын
Very valuable information. Thanks so much for performing and sharing your trials. Id personally like to see an organic liquid fertilizer trialed. Something like fish hydrolysate
@deew412
11 ай бұрын
Really interesting thanks
@raincoast9010
11 ай бұрын
I think the wood in the compost robs a lot of nitrogen that the plants would ordinarily use.
@andreajones7023
10 ай бұрын
This is my suspicion that the municipal compost is still using the nitrogen itself as it isn't done composting yet.
@skinnyWHITEgoyim
11 ай бұрын
Try covering some of the bags with shredded leaves this fall. They'll break down over the winter and feed the soil. Not only that it really helps to retain moisture
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Covering a garden with leaves like that would definitely help to 'feed' the soil a lot of carbon and a few other nutrients, but apparently most autumn leaves have a carbon to nitrogen ratio of over 30:1, so adding more carbon than nitrogen. The compost I am trying to improve is likely made with a lot of autumn leaves already. It seems nitrogen is the key missing ingredient. if I want to grow vegetables in it.
@reidpinchback8850
10 ай бұрын
A suggestion for a future experiment. Add another variable - bag where earthworms were added vs not added. Earthworms don't really create nitrogen but they could make it more bioavailable. What I suspect you would find is that the bags with the granular fertilizer added wouldnt differ much between the two cases, but the other bags with other styles of fertilizing plus earthworms would improve to match the outcomes from the granular fertilizer.
@glassbackdiy3949
11 ай бұрын
I did a similar compost trial in 20x35L plastic pots with spuds, a very similar size to ur bags. 2yr composted manure+woodchip screened to 10mm, 2yo dog poo compost, and home made 8 month rested thermophillic, some with BF&B added, although there was a visible difference in the shade of green, and visible lipids on the leaves early in the season, it soon evened out, tho I'd say generally the BF&B plants looked healthier throughout, I got a greater yeild than ur trial (6-8lbs with an anomolous 9lbs due to one particular potato weighing 2lbs on it's own) the results per compost type were really inconclusive, some of the amended BF&B yielded less than it's unamended counterpart, while others had opposite results. Each chitted seed potato was innoculated with liquid mycorhyzal product and I wonder if the greater yield was due to this factor, tho it could have been a variety thing, I used Sarpo Mira. Facinating trial, thanks for sharing Bruce.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
That is really interesting. Thanks for sharing your trial. Inoculating the seed potatoes is an interesting option that I hadn't thought of. I am not surprised that you got such a big yield with the Sarpo Mira potato, I have had huge potatoes in the past from that variety.
@perschondelmeier3046
11 ай бұрын
Hi Bruce. I had similar results with growing in a little to carbon rich compost this year (potato grow bags), I think my solution next season will be Urea! I just do not have enough urine for 40+ growbags.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Getting enough urine is a real issue ... which is a strange thing to admit to 🙂
@miltkarr5109
10 ай бұрын
You can just get a 50lb bag of urea for $25. Lasts a long time. Totally safe. You can eat a half teaspoon of it and it improves your gut biome. Farmers feed it to cows when they give them low quality hay so there gut bacteria has something to eat. It's great stuff.
@hvacsoldier1554
10 ай бұрын
I’m into survival gardening and I grow a lot of potatoes. I have to use 10-10-10 Chemical Fertilizer to get acceptable yields. A 50lbs Bag of 10-10-10 is about $18-$22 in my area. I’m prepping bags of fertilizer now. But I remember when it was way more affordable.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
A bag of fertiliser like that will grow a lot in a tight situation!
@MichaelMantion
11 ай бұрын
Pretty much any synthetic fertilizer is key, what ever is cheapest for your needs. Bio char definitly helps keep the bacteria healthy.
@gardentogrill970
11 ай бұрын
Yet another great video 🎉
@archangel20031
10 ай бұрын
A compost that is mostly from wood or wood chips is way too carbon heavy requiring a lot of nitrogen. He'd have done better with a 50/50 mixture of that compost mixed with grass clipping which is nitrogen heavy. That worked wonders in my garden, and all I did was add the weekly grass clippings as a ground cover.
@alexd6399
11 ай бұрын
Have you tried Lactic Acid Bacteria, it's a byproduct of making farmhouse cheese, it does wonders for breaking down compost to make the nutrients more available to the plants.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I haven't, but sounds interesting.
@LukasCohrs
11 ай бұрын
I really like your experiments. They are very helpful. Maybe you should also compare compost to your home soil and to soil amended with this compost and soil with this compost from your garden beds. Should give some interesting results.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I did something similar to that as part of the other large grow bag trial.
@mrMacGoover
10 ай бұрын
Chicken manure has lots of nitrogen, just use decomposed stuff on the top of the pile.
@ScouseJack
11 ай бұрын
You seem to be overlooking the most important thing, which of them has the best flavour 😋
@FireflyOnTheMoon
11 ай бұрын
the trial is to test like for like harvest data
@howardroe7515
10 ай бұрын
So potassium nitrate added at the flowering stage maybe a good amendment.
@fxm5715
11 ай бұрын
Great information, Bruce. Based on this, I think during the growing season I'll switch from adding urine to the compost to adding it directly to the garden water. I'm not in a hurry for my compost, so speeding up decomposition with urine that doesn't actually contribute to the plants isn't a good use of available resources.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
That is an interesting choice, to add urine to the compost or direct to the gardens.
@johnndavis7647
10 ай бұрын
Adding urine to the compost will help it break down faster. I tried adding urine to the bottle of a hose end sprayer to wet down my compost pile but minerals in the urine clogged up the sprayer. Maybe i should filter the urine before i put it in the sprayer tank.
@fxm5715
10 ай бұрын
@@johnndavis7647 Yes, it definitely helps speed up the compost decomposition. I imagine without it, the nitrogen just has to come out of the air, which takes significant energy diverted from the actual decomposition process. I just pour the urine right on the compost with a watering can diffuser. If it needs more moisture, I water after the urine. After a turning or two, I figure it all gets reasonably distributed throughout the pile. I won't stop adding urine to the compost, but during the growing season, I think I might add a small intermediate tank for adding urine to the irrigation system.
@nicohelpdesk435
11 ай бұрын
I would argue that if you didn't use JADAM for liquid fertiliser, that you give it a try. Plenty of different, easy to create, liquid fertilizers solutions, with multiple focused on nitrogen. Edit, it goes without saying, but thanks a lot for your hard work, clear and easy to digest results of your trials. Your channel is def one of the best out there.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yeah, I really should explore JADAM.
@bobaloo2012
11 ай бұрын
I've been using a similar compost the last few years, with the same results. The first year was a mess, but I've been using chicken manure since and having very good results. I suspect I'm using 2-3x more chicken manure than you, I know it's a lot more expensive there than here. As you said, another good option is pelleted urea if you can get it reasonably. I've used it from time to time as an emergency supplement and it's done well for me. After all, it's the white stuff in chicken manure, just a refined form of it.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yeah, chicken manure seems to be extra expensive here in Ireland, so not an inexpensive form of nitrogen. But I have to remind myself that I am also getting other nutrients in with it.
@ross-smithfamily6317
10 ай бұрын
Bruce, based on your trials, do you think adding used coffee grounds a little before the beginning of the season and then a little Milorganite throughout the season help boost the nitrogen enough and balance the fertility of the compost? Starting late in the season, I began adding coffee grounds, kitchen scraps, and brown paper shreds to help improve our aged manure compost, which didn't hold moisture AT ALL ... the poor plants struggled to grow in it.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
I have used coffee grounds in the past, but not enough to really know how well the plants responded, and haven't used Milorganite. So can't really say for sure, but they both should have a fair amount of nitrogen, and will help, but it really depends on the context and the nature of the compost.
@acctsys
11 ай бұрын
Fermented plant juice and fermented fruit juice might work well in providing soluble nitrogen.
@ewancarmichael3412
10 ай бұрын
Have you considered doing chop and drop with with the bags of compost and seeing if that charges it over winter? Why not put a couple of inches of manure on the tops of the bags and let nature take the nutrients into the mix.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
Sure, a layer of manure on top of the bags would definitely help, but if I had access to good quality manure, I would not be buying in the municipal compost like this. This trial was about trying to figure out how to improve the mediocre compost I can get, and the main thing that it seems many people need to rely on.
@klee88029
11 ай бұрын
🎉RED GARDENS : What kind of black growing bags are those and where do you get them please?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
They are a fairly standard grow bag that I bought from a company called Decker Horticulture here in Ireland.
@klee88029
11 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens Ahh, thank you. I have been looking for similar, and affordable, larger bags like yours. I will keep looking. Who knows... maybe Decker is iwned by some USA or China conglomerate 😉Thank you for the response. klee in New Mexico, Northern Chihuahua Desert.
@irishfruitandberries9059
5 ай бұрын
I wonder would adding biochar go some way to aiding nitrogen loss from rainfall
@REDGardens
5 ай бұрын
That would probably help a bit.
@SeattlePioneer
11 ай бұрын
I wonder if doing a scientific soil test on the compost you get and/or the soil you are using for a growth medium would provide you with helpful data. As I understand it, such soil testing is pretty readily available at modest cost. The results might make for an interesting video.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I do soil tests regularly in the gardens, but forgot to include the compost last year. It would be interesting to compare.
@Superstephen1977
11 ай бұрын
Very interesting... Something you told me before is Soil must have 30 ish worms per square meter ? Did I remember that correctly? Now I don't like that soil .. Municipal) for me it's void of life . I've mentioned this before! There is no (bi diversity) or food for Microbes to grow ..it's not going to support life ..your worms )were essentially feeding off your old potatoes root systems.. Now I'm not sold on potatoes in grow bags. Something you should check is the ambiance (temperature) of the bags vrs the ground or in other beds (ground) near or underneath I'm skeptical of the black bag (overheating) I realize this seems odd ..but ?? My potatoes grow best in deep mulch semi broken down materials Basically in a compost system.. I discovered this by finding massive potatoe harvest in my compost..with little to no light and very light moisture. Potatoes definitely love the cool weather .they don't like hot ! And they don't like sunshine for 2 long ..what's the amount of recommendations of daylight for that variation of potatoes? Is it possible to put shade cloth on 12 bags ? Now we still never finished the (indeterminate)determinant) Variety...you said you don't have that there ?. Basically I'm saying ! Make shure it's a determinant! Your planting !. Otherwise you should be doing them like a potatoe tower Starting low and deep and then adding? Again I am just making conversation, freaking love your work .. FYI for compost tea ) add septic back tablets..they add a million Microbes to the system 😉 Give it a try ! Cheers from van Island.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I don't think I have mentioned number of worms per square meter. I have yet to see someone produce a really good crop in a potato tower, but something I want to try for myself.
@lksf9820
11 ай бұрын
I think your compost lacks poo 🙂 Manure from grass eating animals mixed with woodchip (which is what you've just bought) is the ideal recipe IMO.
@insertphrasehere15
10 ай бұрын
Time for value, the granular fertilizer or urine seems to be the best bet. Granular has the advantage of making sure that you have enough potassium and such as well, which may be missing in some people's grow medium. I dunno. Sometimes the lazy option is the best unfortunately (granular).
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
Yeah, the urine and granular seem to be good options in this situation, and both are cheaper and more effective than a lot of other possibilities. Though there are issue with both, as there are with any form of fertility we can source.
@sjhall2009
11 ай бұрын
Can you screen out most of the wood?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I guess that would be an option for the larger chunks.
@korganrivera4659
11 ай бұрын
As far as I can figure out, in 1 litre of urine there should be about 11.67 g of N which is only about 1%. This is pretty low. Diluting it makes it much lower too, but without dilution, the garden will smell awful. For comparison: feathermeal (13.5% N), guano(13% N), bloodmeal (12% N), and fishmeal (9% N). Urine is free, but it's a very weak source of N, unfortunately. Also, I'm guessing the CEC of that municipal compost is low, and therefore it's not holding onto the N very well.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
It is weak, but end up adding a lot of it over the season.
@t0mt0mt0m
11 ай бұрын
Can you get more specific on your “compost tea”. I don’t think you’re making it correctly without adding aeration, which is common. Tea labs large bag + and an areomixer will make your large batch teas easy. FYI.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
It was more a slurry, a quick and easy way to add a bit of diverse range of composts into the bags. Not a proper compost tea as you describe, which I have made for other trials.
@michaelcripwell1724
11 ай бұрын
In regards to the liquid feeds, can the extra water it self be a factor ? or did the others have a similar watering without any amendments in it?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
It was mostly the same watering, but a bit more with the plants that were liquid fed, and that might have been a factor.
@hstwodrainage.1410
10 ай бұрын
Where do you get the large plastic bags you grow the potatoes in from?
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
I picked them up from a mainstream supplier here in Ireland dekerhort.ie
@hstwodrainage.1410
10 ай бұрын
Thank you. @@REDGardens
@everss02
10 ай бұрын
add DEF fluid for some cheap N
@russellmoore1533
10 ай бұрын
Did you measure Ph levels? I have read that potatoes need a ph level around 6.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
I didn't measure pH. I think potatoes can grow in many soils, but in more acidic soils potato scab is much less of an issue. Our soils are quite alkaline, so we can get a lot of scab on the potatoes, but we still get a great crop.
@FireflyOnTheMoon
11 ай бұрын
Good to know that urine is so effective
@firefly5421
11 ай бұрын
Interesting results Bruce, thanks for sharing. I look forward to next seasons results as well! Would you be willing to make a video about this "biologically active" inoculent? I'm curious what it's made of and what the research behind it is. I'd also like to know - have you ever used Epsom salts in the garden and why are you thinking urea ammendments over ammonia?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I made the 'tea' with a mix of compost from several piles that seemed in really good shape, and mixed in some well decomposed woodchip. The basic idea is that this would add a diverse blend of organisms that might not be in the compost. And ones that work well in that material/context would multiply. it was something that was suggested by a few people after last years' trial, that this type of municipal compost is generally quite sterile, or not biologically diverse, so I wanted to reduce the chance of that being an issue.
@DK6060
11 ай бұрын
Bruce - would there be any benefit to combing all the compost into a heap, possibly with some amendments, to mature over the winter? The mixing would also even out the material for new year’s trials. Also, are you adding sulphur? I find that the compost is often short S.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yes, I think mixing in amendments and letting it sit/mature covered over winter would be a good option.
@TimeSurfer206
10 ай бұрын
Red, I has a silly question: What's your opinion of the entire Miracle Grow line? I ask, because "My results SEEM TO BE less than optimal." Continually.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
I have never tried it, or similar kind of fertiliser, so can't really comment.
@qn5947
11 ай бұрын
The bought compost has too much carbon (brown). Just layer the compost with grass clippings (greens), either dry or broken down, inside the bags and the nitrogen will be up on par.
@solarcrystal5494
11 ай бұрын
If only municipalities has access to urine to add to their dirt
@amy3458
11 ай бұрын
Wow! You are DEHYDRATED! LoL
@OneDougUnderPar
11 ай бұрын
After seeing your video on this last year, I tried growing a small patch of sweetcorn in a bed of second year woodchips, and I applied as much of my urine to it as I could harvest without my wife getting that special combination of grossed out and annoyed. It grew like normal corn, but unfortunately I didn't beat the squirrels to it so I can't comment on the harvest. Still, I don't think it was a piss-poor crop at all!
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Hope you can figure out how to keep the squirrels off it next year!
@dovinhgarden05
7 ай бұрын
❤❤❤❤❤
@Tomhohenadel
11 ай бұрын
Bruce, what was the ph of the various grow bags. I have read that potatoes prefer lower ph, 5-6. Is this consistent with your experience
@bobaloo2012
11 ай бұрын
The main issue with a lower pH isn't that they grow better, but it helps prevent scab.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I didn't check the pH, but probably should.
@josesaldanha2683
11 ай бұрын
👏👏👏👏👏
@startingfromseed3
11 ай бұрын
My two cents. I grow potatoes in pots too. 1. That compost looks like it’s dead. It needs biological activity for probably a whole summer. 2. Pots are not great for potatoes. They dry out easy. Their biological life isn’t as good as soil either. 3. Ruth Stout is the best IMO. The straw feeds the plants all summer, retains moisture, and provides habitat for soil biology all summer. Ruth Stout + added bone and blood meal + straw or leaves + aged compost
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yep, not the best way to grow potatoes, but a good way to test a bunch of options for improving a common type of compost.
@joeyoliver579
10 ай бұрын
ANYTHING you can buy has been pasteurized, which means the dirt has no value. Its just dark dirt.
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
It has been pasteurised, which is good as it reduces the risk of importing disease and weed seeds. But it has a lot of carbon, which can be a fantastic thing to bring into many gardens, and there is a lot of nutrients within the compost that will be eventually released into the garden. Also the biology will recolonise fairly quickly, and this process can be enhanced and sped up. So a lot of potential value is used in appropriate contexts.
@dirtyoarcatfishing7927
7 ай бұрын
The compost is the problem...its not finished..all that woody stuff that isn't broke down is robbing nitrogen..Thats also the problem with "back to eden gardening" using wood chips...The first year the garden does great as it keeps the soil under moist and weed free...But as they start to break down a little and get mixed in with the soil it robs the soil of nitrogen..So if your going to keep using this compost you are going to have do OVER dose with nitrogen
@Ashas.Garden
11 ай бұрын
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
@pinballwizard6906
11 ай бұрын
✌️😎
@aenorist2431
11 ай бұрын
I think what stands out to me the most is nothing specific to the individual bags compositions, but rather the concept as a whole. Essentially a grow-bag (filled with a bunch of effectively sterile stuff) is soil purely in its function as a medium, as opposed to the web of life the actual soil ought to contain. The experiment and the need to constantly give soluable nitrogen goes a long way to show how enormously important soil life is, and why anything like aquaponics and the likes are completely silly as a concept. By way of analogy you are starving a patient of actual food (soil contents as prepared by functioning microbiology), and then have to meticulously monitor an IV drip of synthetic nutrients (soluable nitrogen / liquid fertilizer) to keep the poor sod alive. Extremely inefficient, short term dangerous to the life of the patient / plant and even when correctly done, probably long-term detrimental to the optimal health of said patient. Thats why you feed the soil, not the plant ... but in a grow bag, there is no "soil" to feed as its not the size, age and other conditions to establish a working soil food web. Its dead dirt, and plants don't want to grow in dead dirt.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
This experiment was to test ways to improve the compost, as it was causing problems when added to the soil. So I figured that a pot trial with different options for amending, was a good way to explore how it might be improved, and potatoes seemed like an ideal test plant. If I have access to good quality soil, I'd much rather grow in that, but not everyone has soil, and now that I have the bags, and have more or less finished with this specific experiment, I am interested in seeing how to best grow in containers.
@aenorist2431
10 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens Not knocking your methodology at all, I guess my comment was mostly reflecting on the problems in comparing container growing vs. in-ground growing, and how difficult it is to get anything to survive in a medium made fresh from whole cloth, as opposed to grown and living soil. Thinking about it, you are essentially trying to kickstart a new ecosystem inside these containers, which would not only be useful to others growing in containers, but also as a study in remediation / repairing severely damaged soils. Knowing it takes very steady drip-feeding is useful there, as eventually the plant (if kept alive and even thriving) will then serve as a foundation for the soil life, hopefully reducing the need for fertilizers in the subsequent crops, until the containers soil is as "self-reliant" as such a small ecosystem can realistically become. Curious to see where the experiments lead you next.
@pj_ytmt-123
10 ай бұрын
What hypotheses? Farming has been around for 6000 years man, just google what you want to know. 😄
@REDGardens
10 ай бұрын
I think you might not understand the purpose of this project.
@pj_ytmt-123
10 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens Seasons come, seasons go, it's Christmas once again! 🎉🎉🎉
@DrDoktor60
10 ай бұрын
Pee potatoes 😂
@BrutusPrime
11 ай бұрын
Have you tried mixing alfalfa pellets into your compost?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Unfortunately alfalfa pellets dont seem to be available here in Ireland.
@f.hamourapi8889
11 ай бұрын
There is a new study that shows clear, that the growth of the potatoes is mainly related to the potassium, not the nitrogen. Of course more nitrogen produces bigger and healthier plants and by this more potatoes. I added big amount of potassium to my pots(similar size as your bags) this year(and still nitrogen). I got about 50% more harvest than last year, and much higher percentage in big potatoes.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
The compost I am using apparently already has high levels of potassium. Plants seem to get the biggest boost from the nutrient that is least available. In your case it was likely potassium, in this trial nitrogen seems to be the thing that was holding back the plants, but I do wonder what would have happened if I had added more potassium as well.
@Wildwwill
10 ай бұрын
I wonder if wood ash would be a good amendment. That would add potash and micro nutrients. You'd have to be careful not to raise ph too high with potatoes.
@shesinthegarden4490
11 ай бұрын
I live following your trials. Your bold work is much appreciated. Since your compost is high in carbon what about adding grass or other green clippings over winter to offset the carbon? Much like lasagna layering.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
I was thinking that would be an interesting option. Unfortunately the grass grows faster and with more nitrogen in the spring and early summer, just when I would want to be growing the plants. But perhaps even a good layer of autumn grass would help.
@Pixieworksstudio
11 ай бұрын
What a great experiment, there are so many nutrients in potatoes. I can't remember where I saw it, but I read that urine has a lot of useful minerals in it too. Thank you for the videos, they are always so interesting.
@owendavies8227
11 ай бұрын
When adding nitrogen to grow bags the way you have it, you need to add around 4x the normal rate because the nitrogen requirement is proportional to sunlight, not soil amount. That would work out to around 4 doses of 1oz applications of urea equivalent for 20lbs of soil over the growing season.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Interesting idea, thanks.
@tnjon66
11 ай бұрын
I enjoy watching the work and hearing the insight you put into your videos. Another grow medium you could try is the Mittlieder course sand and sawdust mix as found on the LDS Prepper site with the nutrient formula. I plan on using it for some of my own trials myself this upcoming season. John S.
@andrewc7369
11 ай бұрын
Great video! Very intersting to see your results from the compost. It also reinforces how important the haber bosch process is to feeding the world.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
It is quite essential at the moment, but we need to find ways to rely on it a lot less, and at scale!
@andrewmaclennan1818
11 ай бұрын
As always a fantastic video with an easy to follow and understand result presentation. Ive used grass clippings just thrown ontop fresh in recent years and its relatively successful
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Thanks! I am beginning to realise how much I have undervalued grass clippings!
@popiciulo
11 ай бұрын
Have you considered to inoculate the compost with mycelium, for example Stropharia Rugosoannulata (loves woody compost, kills nematods, is edible and tasty) or other mycelium in order to decompose the woody material faster?
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
The 'compost tea/slurry' I used at the beginning of the year contained a fair amount of well decomposed woodchip, from an old pile which had a lot of fungal decomposition, in order to inoculate in that way.
@sc0tt500
11 ай бұрын
I wonder if the excess of woody material in the compost is consuming the majority of the nitrogen (as it decomposes) before the plants can take it up. I've heard of gardeners having similar issues when they have mixed wood chips into their soil thinking they are adding beneficial biomass. I'd love to see the results of various ratios of compost mixed with plain soil (in grow bags). I've been doing a similar experiment with growing tomatoes in 45 litre grow bags and so far 60% plain soil to 40% compost (with added nitrogen and topped with sugar cane mulch) seems to be performing the best. Keep up the great videos.
@REDGardens
11 ай бұрын
Yes, I suspect that most of the nitrogen was absorbed within the carbon or decomposition process, before the plants could get it, but I was hoping that after 2 years the compost material would have matured enough.
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