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LAB, Bloom Formula Timing, and Bamboo-Egg Chick Feed

Drake opens by honoring Master Cho, Dr. Park, and Chun, then gives an orchard update: mulch spread, cattle grazed through to knock down grass, tangelos fruiting heavy for the first time, and a tangerine tree that still needs microbial sprays to come back to life.

He made Cal-Phos from burnt bone the day before, cutting the bones small with a chop saw first to make the grinding easier. He also walks through bloom formula timing: spray it two weeks before and two weeks after a plant's change-over into flowering, then go back to oscillating leaf and fruit formula. Spraying flowers directly is fine, he says, as long as the vinegar and lactobacillus ratio is right.

Member interviews follow. Royal Flush Farms describes fixing three years of pest and disease trouble in an indoor cannabis grow by switching to natural farming inputs. Tomer tells how he made lactic acid bacteria from rice wash and milk and sprayed it diluted around 1:2000 into his worm bin, killing the smell for good. Yarl compares sprayers, favoring a battery-powered backpack sprayer over hand-pump models, with a gas-powered Japanese mist sprayer as the best option for bigger jobs.

Drake shows how he makes fermented plant juice from dandelions cut at the base. He then reviews archival footage of Master Cho feeding baby chicks a paste of hard-boiled egg ground through a sieve mixed with finely chopped bamboo, a treat used to train chicks onto eating leaves and to lengthen their intestines for better digestion.

Questions answered

  • 23:54 How do you make Cal-Phos (water-soluble calcium) from bone? — Burn the bones, then cut them small with a chop saw first, which makes the rest of the process much easier.
  • 25:26 When should you spray bloom formula versus leaf or fruit formula? — Spray bloom formula two weeks before and two weeks after a plant's change-over into flowering, then go back to oscillating leaf and fruit formula.
  • 28:04 Is it a problem to spray flowers and buds directly and get them wet? — With the right amount of vinegar and lactobacillus it's fine, plants take up the spray even outdoors in the rain.
  • 28:43 What do Pure KNF Foundation members get access to? — Monthly member meetings where growers like Royal Flush Farms share results, including a three-year indoor cannabis recovery using natural farming inputs.
  • 31:29 How do you make lactic acid bacteria (LAB) at home? — Mix rice wash with milk, let it separate, then spray the resulting serum diluted around 1:2000, which killed a worm bin's smell for years.
  • 32:56 What's the best sprayer for applying KNF inputs? — A battery-powered backpack sprayer beats hand-pump models, and a gas-powered Japanese mist sprayer works best for covering more ground.
  • 38:10 Can you make fermented plant juice (FPJ) from dandelions? — Yes, cut them at the base, fill a five-gallon bucket in minutes, then mix with sugar for strong FPJ.
  • 42:20 Why feed chickens a mix of chopped bamboo and egg? — The fiber and sweetness train chickens to eat leaves and grass, fed as a treat after they fill up on soaked brown rice.
  • 45:08 How fine should the egg be prepared for baby chicks? — Hard-boil the eggs, then grind them through a sieve or fine grater so baby chicks can eat it easily.

Topics: lab, fpj, calcium phosphate, bloom formula, dandelion, chickens, integrated animal farming, cannabis, backpack sprayer, worm bin

KNF Office Hours is a free live Q&A every Sunday at 9 AM HST. Bring your question to pureknf.org/learn/questions or join live.

In this episode

  1. 0:00 Intro and I Ching reading
  2. 6:09 Honoring Master Cho, Dr. Park, and Chun
  3. 14:18 Orchard update and community check-in
  4. 17:12 Why farming is such a hard road
  5. 22:25 Fire-buffer lawns with KNF sprays
  6. 23:54 Making Cal-Phos from burnt bone
  7. 24:41 Grow food before the famine hits
  8. 25:26 Bloom formula timing for flowering plants
  9. 28:43 Royal Flush Farms' cannabis recovery story
  10. 31:29 Tomer's LAB from rice wash and milk
  11. 32:56 Yarl on backpack and gas sprayers
  12. 38:10 Making FPJ from dandelions
  13. 40:57 Master Cho's archival animal-farming video
  14. 42:20 Bamboo fiber and egg paste for baby chicks
  15. 48:19 Stream winds down into chat

Transcript

Auto-transcribed with Whisper. Click any timestamp to play from there.

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