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Alfalfa FPJ, Lawn Nitrogen Balance, Herbal Smoker for Whitefly

March 10, 2024 · by Drake Weinert

Drake opens with the I Ching hexagram Lu, the Wanderer, then covers the Pure KNF Foundation's first monthly member meeting, March 13 at 3pm Hawaiian Standard Time on Zoom, with guest Tomer Zexer.

Big Wes asks how to hydrate Gaia Green alfalfa meal with beer for a fermented plant juice. Drake says use a gallon jar rather than a quart, fill it half with the ground alfalfa, cover with beer, rehydrate 12 to 48 hours, then mix in brown sugar at one third the weight of the wet material, following the medicine hydration recipe into the food recipe.

On Wes's lawn mix of fish hydrolysate, Jadam chicken poo, leaf mold, and aged urea, Drake warns about pushing too much nitrogen: quick green-up but weak roots and leaf suckers. He recommends soaking those same inputs into finely shredded biochar and sprinkling it out for longer-lasting results, and keeping the full food, medicine, cleanser, structure routine going. He also answers on comfrey as a reliable FPJ weed, Cecily's pig face (ice plant) as a great salt-tolerant FPJ choice, and why continuous tomato cropping doesn't need rotation if IMO and the maintenance solution are applied regularly, pointing to a Korean strawberry greenhouse cropped the same way since 2008.

The back half covers Master Cho's herbal smoker, recipe 14, for greenhouse mites, whitefly, and leafminer flies: wet herbs, one or two smokers per 330 square meters, smoke after 7pm on a cloudy day, doors shut, beehives out. Drake also shows how to build one from a punched tin can, wire handle, and charcoal briquette, then closes with the Hawaiian moon calendar, noting today is Hilo, a good planting day for everything except bananas.

Questions answered

  • 21:02 How do I hydrate Gaia Green alfalfa meal with beer to make a fermented plant juice for my lawn? — Use a gallon jar, not a quart: fill it half with ground alfalfa, cover with beer, rehydrate 12 to 48 hours, then mix in brown sugar at one third the weight.
  • 30:53 Is fish hydrolysate, Jadam chicken poo, leaf mold, and aged urea too much for a lawn? — Watch the nitrogen, it greens the lawn fast but can cause leaf suckers and weak roots, so balance it with biochar-soaked applications and the full maintenance solution.
  • 35:48 What are some abundant, nutritious weeds to use for fermented plant juice? — Any robust weed around you works, but comfrey is the reliable go-to when you want something guaranteed to be abundant.
  • 40:30 Should I rotate my tomatoes out of the same trellis spot after several years? — No, you don't have to move them as long as you keep applying diverse IMO and the full maintenance solution, which prevents monocrop sickness.
  • 47:29 Is liquid cal-acetate and OHN good to add to lawn care? — Calcium is fine, but OHN isn't as useful on a bacterially-dominant lawn unless disease shows up, in which case it helps restore normalcy.
  • 49:46 What is pig face (ice plant) and is it good for fermented plant juice? — Yes, a great choice, a salt-tolerant succulent that grows wild on beaches and yields plenty of juice when fermented.
  • 54:14 How do I control mites, whitefly, and leafminer flies in a greenhouse without adding humidity? — Use an herbal smoker, recipe 14, burning moistened tobacco or other pungent herbs after 7pm on a cloudy day so the smoke settles over the plants overnight.
  • 1:01:04 How do you build a homemade herbal smoker? — Punch holes in a tin can, add a wire handle, put a lit charcoal briquette in the bottom, then pack in moistened herbs so it smolders and smokes for two hours or more.
  • 1:04:30 What does the Hawaiian moon calendar say about planting this week? — Today is Hilo, the start of the lunar sequence, an excellent day to plant nearly everything except bananas.

Topics: fpj, alfalfa meal, lawn care, nitrogen, biochar, imo, monocrop sickness, herbal smoker, whitefly, comfrey, ohn, moon calendar

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 Welcome and the I Ching reading
  2. 5:29 Pure KNF Foundation monthly meeting, March 13
  3. 9:59 Seawater diluted 1:30 for drinking
  4. 10:37 GoPro river trip and knot tying
  5. 21:02 Alfalfa meal FPJ hydrated with beer
  6. 30:53 Lawn nitrogen: fish hydrolysate, chicken poo, urea
  7. 35:48 Best weeds for fermented plant juice
  8. 37:23 In Search of Balance documentary story
  9. 40:30 Crop rotation and monocrop sickness in tomatoes
  10. 47:29 Cal-acetate and OHN for lawn care
  11. 49:46 Pig face (ice plant) for FPJ
  12. 54:14 Herbal smoker for greenhouse pests
  13. 1:01:04 Building a homemade herbal smoker
  14. 1:04:30 Hawaiian moon calendar planting advice
  15. 1:06:12 Closing and thanks

Transcript

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

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