permaculture

[Claude Genest <genest@together.net>]

Perhaps someone knows what all the Cubans are doing on their roofs ?
I don't think they have access to much in the way of hi-tech materials and I don't think their roofs are caving in.... 

Claude



On Monday, May 5, 2003, at 11:56 PM, Douglas Cherry wrote:

> Making potting compost is really a balancing act. You must  have
> adequate drainage, so you add gravel and/or sand, or to save weight,
> perlite or expanded polystyrene granules and yes those little spherical
> pieces are "pointless". 
> You also want to retain water (hence the balancing act), so in the
> soil based mixtures they add clay and loam and composted vegetable
> matter. These were replaced by peat (which is of course not a renewable
> resource) because it was cheap, and now by "silica gel", because it's
> cheaper. I have as an experiment, grown very healthy and productive
> tomato plants using water, a high potash fertilizer, and silica gel
> only. As the plants draw water from the gel it shrinks (eventually back
> to a crystalline form and the plants wilt) so the level of the medium
> subsides. When watered again, the crystals return to their full depth by
> absorbing over a hundred times their own volume in water  (OK, that may
> be an exaggeration, but I'm sure I read it somewhere) and the resulting
> fruits were better than shop bought. But that's not saying much. They
> were however MUCH more prolific than the ones in the garden, which is!
> Although it may be possible to reuse these polymers several
> times, it isn't recommended. As the plant dies at the end of the year,
> diseases (from rotting roots) enter the gel. There is also a build up of
> salts, not used by the plant, that are also absorbed into the gel. I
> understand that tobacco mosaic virus can exist in a crystalline state
> for many years, so there is also the probability of eventual build up of
> other pathogens.
> Seaweed extracts (not agar, this will just encourage molds and
> bacteria to grow in the soil) will not even last the growing season  and
> should be reapplied every 4 to 6 weeks, but they do make a difference to
> the taste of the produce, as well as the plants resistance to both
> drought and insect attack. This is probably as a result of micro
> nutrients.
> If you want to try growing in silica contact me off list.
> Sorry for the length of this posting, I'll try to be less wordy next
> time.
>
> Doug-Cherryspam@spamwebtv.net
>
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Best Regards,
Claude William Genest

www.greenmountainpermaculture.com
Green Mountain Permaculture: Solutions, Sustenance, Sustainability

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