← Back to Office Hours
Office Hours

No-Smell Chicken Floor, Garlic Tincture for Bean Beetles, Manganese

August 20, 2023 · by Drake Weinert

Drake opens with an I Ching reading, then tells the story of chasing a neighbor's bull off his pasture and trying to move his own cow to a new field. He says forcing a cow only backfires; the trick is slow, steady pressure from behind.

Fiesta Cranberry's chicken poop was drying into hard gray pellets instead of breaking down. Drake diagnosed bedding material that was too coarse for the chickens to scratch and turn - grass clippings or hemp bast need to be cut to about 3 inches, kept 3 to 6 inches deep, and sprayed with a 1:1000 lactobacillus dilution if odor shows up. A follow-up photo showed the hemp bast still had too much airspace; Drake recommended mixing in soil so the fungal network can spread and hold moisture.

Tyler Ljunghammer shares photos of his Oklahoma homestead: bananas, ginger, taro, and pineapple growing alongside a black soldier fly bin that feeds his chickens. Da Goof Man's New York garden is running cold and behind schedule this August. Chris reports a 1:1000 garlic tincture spray stopped bean beetles cold on his blue lake and wax beans, no sulfur needed.

Drake closes by reading a detailed listener comment connecting manganese deficiency and redox (EH) imbalance to so-called incurable plant diseases like citrus greening, and how KNF minerals and foliar sprays restore the balance. He wraps with a reminder that only one cabin is left for the November 2023 KNF training in Hawaiʻi.

Questions answered

  • 3:22 How do you move a cow to a new pasture without a fight? — Drake said forcing and chasing backfires; move slow and steady behind the cow, making yourself small then big instead of pushing.
  • 8:25 Chicken pen poop dries into little gray rocks and won't disappear - why? — Drake said the floor material is too coarse for chickens to scratch and turn; cut bedding to 3 inches or less and keep it 3 to 6 inches deep.
  • 10:30 Chopped hemp bast bedding with IMO, LAB, and biochar has a slight odor near the ground - what fixes it? — Drake said spray a 1:1000 dilution of lactobacillus over the surface to kill the smell.
  • 19:50 How does a black soldier fly bin turn into chicken feed? — Mature flies only lay eggs in newspaper above the bin; larvae hatch, crawl down a pipe into a bucket, and go straight to the chickens.
  • 27:04 Why is my garden struggling this year despite reports of record heat? — Drake shared Da Goof Man's New York garden, where a cool, rainy August left tomatoes just 6 to 8 inches tall, far behind last year.
  • 32:24 How do you stop bean beetles on blue lake and wax beans without heavy sulfur? — Chris found a 1:1000 garlic tincture spray halted the beetles completely, since garlic's natural sulfur was enough on its own.
  • 36:48 A photo of hemp bast chicken bedding still smells a little - what's really wrong? — Drake said the hemp bast leaves too much airspace for microbes to network; mix in a few shovelfuls of soil so mycelia can spread and hold moisture.
  • 42:35 What actually causes so-called incurable plant diseases like citrus greening? — Drake read that manganese loss from excess oxidation (redox/EH imbalance) opens plants to pathogens; KNF minerals and foliar sprays restore the balance.
  • 52:45 Is there still room at the November 2023 KNF training in Hawaiʻi? — Drake said only one cabin spot was left for November, with more space open for the January training.

Topics: lab, imo, biochar, hemp bast, garlic tincture, bean beetles, manganese, black soldier fly, chicken floor, cattle handling, i ching

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 Getting Settled
  2. 1:09 I Ching Reading
  3. 3:22 Managing Cows, Separating Bulls, Weaning Calves
  4. 8:00 Fixing a Smelly Chicken Pen Floor
  5. 15:16 Touring Tyler's KNF Homestead and Chicken Coop
  6. 19:50 Tyler's Black Soldier Fly Setup
  7. 20:55 Tyler's KNF Garden in Oklahoma
  8. 27:04 Da Goof Man's KNF Garden in New York
  9. 31:27 A Message From Chris on KNF Transformations
  10. 32:24 Garlic Tincture Stops Bean Beetles
  11. 34:33 Hope for Farmers Doing the Right Thing
  12. 36:48 Fixing the Hemp Bast Chicken Floor
  13. 41:10 Moving to the Next Topic
  14. 42:35 Manganese, Redox, and Incurable Crop Disease
  15. 52:45 November 2023 KNF Training in Hawaiʻi

Transcript

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

Share