Sunday, October 5, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Please forgive me for this political agenda on my gardening blog
I hope you will take the time to read this essay I've written. It describes the systematic failure of our political system.
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1972 required candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions and campaign expenditures. It also limited spending on media advertisements. But that portion of the law was ruled unconstitutional — and that actually opened the door for the Citizen's United decision. This was a step forward for equality and transparency of our elected officials. But the very powerful very rich were still in pursuit of more control and contrived a treacherous plan to deceive us by suing in two important cases.
In 2010 the US Supreme Court ruled on the Citizen's United vs Federal Election Commission and gave corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited sums on ads and other political tools. It's important to note that the Citizen's United decision was about spending, not about contributions. This did not affect contributions. For that they created what is know as "independent-expenditure only committees" such as Speechnow.org which represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees, corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidates.
In 2010 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals also issued its ruling in the Speechnow.org v. FEC which removed contribution limits as applied to SpeechNow. Previously the courts had ruled that limits set by the Federal Election Campaign Act applied to this group called SpeechNow. It is still illegal for companies and labor unions to give money directly to candidates for federal office, but together with the Supreme Court’s earlier Citizen's United decision allowing unlimited corporate expenditures, the SpeechNow ruling was just what the ultra wealth needed to create a government controlled by "Political Action Committees" (Super PAC) where most of the funding comes from just a few rich individuals.
The Supreme Court kept limits on disclosure in place, and super PACs are required to report regularly on who their donors are. The same can’t be said for “social welfare” groups and some other nonprofits, like business leagues leaving another loop hole for the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers to create a nonprofit called the “Association for American Innovation” that will act as a hub for funneling undisclosed spending towards the Kochs’ political projects.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is another "Business League" which allows corporations and wealthy individuals to use congressmen as lobbyist and collaborate on bills, often presenting industry-backed legislation as a grass-roots organization. It brings Republican state legislators and big corporations together to frame right wing legislative agendas in the form of 'model bills'.
In November we will have an opportunity to vote on reversing the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling for Citizen's United. Please vote.
As you know I am an advocate of the https://mayday.us/ superPac. It's time we used their trickery and corrupt laws against them and put an end to "Political Action Committees" (superPAC) . Jim Rubens is the only Republican running for Senate that supports Campaign Reform, but there must be others who would like to get back to running the country rather than spending 70% of their resources on being re-elected. If we persist we can make this happen. Please contribute to Mayday.us
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1972 required candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions and campaign expenditures. It also limited spending on media advertisements. But that portion of the law was ruled unconstitutional — and that actually opened the door for the Citizen's United decision. This was a step forward for equality and transparency of our elected officials. But the very powerful very rich were still in pursuit of more control and contrived a treacherous plan to deceive us by suing in two important cases.
In 2010 the US Supreme Court ruled on the Citizen's United vs Federal Election Commission and gave corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited sums on ads and other political tools. It's important to note that the Citizen's United decision was about spending, not about contributions. This did not affect contributions. For that they created what is know as "independent-expenditure only committees" such as Speechnow.org which represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees, corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidates.
In 2010 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals also issued its ruling in the Speechnow.org v. FEC which removed contribution limits as applied to SpeechNow. Previously the courts had ruled that limits set by the Federal Election Campaign Act applied to this group called SpeechNow. It is still illegal for companies and labor unions to give money directly to candidates for federal office, but together with the Supreme Court’s earlier Citizen's United decision allowing unlimited corporate expenditures, the SpeechNow ruling was just what the ultra wealth needed to create a government controlled by "Political Action Committees" (Super PAC) where most of the funding comes from just a few rich individuals.
The Supreme Court kept limits on disclosure in place, and super PACs are required to report regularly on who their donors are. The same can’t be said for “social welfare” groups and some other nonprofits, like business leagues leaving another loop hole for the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers to create a nonprofit called the “Association for American Innovation” that will act as a hub for funneling undisclosed spending towards the Kochs’ political projects.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is another "Business League" which allows corporations and wealthy individuals to use congressmen as lobbyist and collaborate on bills, often presenting industry-backed legislation as a grass-roots organization. It brings Republican state legislators and big corporations together to frame right wing legislative agendas in the form of 'model bills'.
In November we will have an opportunity to vote on reversing the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling for Citizen's United. Please vote.
As you know I am an advocate of the https://mayday.us/ superPac. It's time we used their trickery and corrupt laws against them and put an end to "Political Action Committees" (superPAC) . Jim Rubens is the only Republican running for Senate that supports Campaign Reform, but there must be others who would like to get back to running the country rather than spending 70% of their resources on being re-elected. If we persist we can make this happen. Please contribute to Mayday.us
Thursday, August 28, 2014
What I Learned From My 2014 Summer Garden
The bioponic systems did well. Summer heat put a damper on everything including the tomatoes. Even the squash seemed to regain vigor once the 100+ days passed. Bell peppers in the hydroponic system did well, but failed due to blossom end rot in the bioponic systems. I found [this article about Blossom End Rot] that may be helpful.
One Earthan bed became clogged by a root and I lost all the flowers on my Tomatillo, but even though a second set of flowers came back, I doubts I will get a crop.
My wicking barrels did not wick quite as well as I would have liked. So I'll adjust the soil mix. These barrels did not get enough sun in this location, so I will have to find a different location. That is one of the best attributes of this simple low cost design. Relocation is not a problem.
The vertical section will get a modification to the water supply. I plan to install a check valve after the pump and a high pressure connection after that. When the 1/4" tubes clog I will simply give it a blast of fresh water. In fact this is how I will maintain the level in the sump tank. Each time I fill the sump I will be clearing the 1/4" lines.
The 8W Earthan Bed system performed well over the summer. Water usage was extremely low in both the wicking barrels and the 8W Earthan Beds. Without a doubt I feel these two systems hold the most promise. But one thing I've learned is that any garden that relies on a mechanical system is prone to some type of failure which places the wicking barrels squarely in the best position.
I began the season using weed teas, fish emulsion, and kelp in the 8W Earthan Bed and the Vertical Garden, but the Vertical Garden was abandoned due to high maintenance (clogging).
After the other bioponic Earthan Bed clogged I began to fear that the system might become clogged, but I now feel it would have been okay since it was a root not muck that caused the problem.
But this caused me to switch the 8W Earthan Bed over to plain well water with an occasional slurp of fish emulsion and liquid kelp plus a little Fe DTPA, MgSO4, and HCl after only a few weeks. My goal for this system was to use no urine.
Clogging is a concern I will eventually have to face with all of the Earthan Beds as I doubt even the worms will be able to keep the rock bed clear forever. The advantage is that the water stays well aerated which should increase plant vitality and vigor.
Water use was extremely low in this systems even though I top watered every few days.
I'm still enjoying handfuls of cherry tomatoes from every section of the garden everyday The soil less section of the bioponic system produced more cherry tomatoes than we could eat. This and the hydroponic section were the best performers. I credit this to aeration and high nutrient levels. The main bioponic garden (not the 8W garden) received about 50% of my fresh urine plus fish emulsion, kelp, Fe DTPA, MgSO4, and HCl.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Mycorrhizae
I attended a class put on by Santia Morganics about Mycorrhizae. I learned about how mycorrhizae is colonized. These are my notes.
There are 3 major types of mycorrhizae.
(1) Endo or Arbuscular mycorrhizae (which exist on 85% of the plant families),
(2) Ecto mycorrhizae (which exist on 10% of the plant families (mostly woody plants), and
(3) Ericoid mycorrhizae (which exist on less than 5% of the plant families).
There are several other more obscure forms of mycorrhizae, but they are highly specific and not used from a commercial perspective.
Some producers grow all of their types together whereas Santia Morganics grows each isolated from the other and combines them in exact proportions when packaging the final product. This assures that their product contains a controlled proportion of each type. Growing several types together will allow a few to dominate the mix. Each type has different preferences such as pH, and therefore it's impossible to level the playing field for each when grown together and some types may fail to grow.
The reason so many types are sold together is to provide one that will find your soil adaptable. So it's important to have a a good assortment of different types.
Santia Morganics also grows their mycorrhizae in vivo where as some other manufactures grow in vitro. In vivo means that it's grown in live plants and soil. In Vitro is grown in a sterile media. By growing in vivo the mycorrhizae become more adapted to interacting with actual live plants and other microorganisms. The in vitro grown mycorrhizae fail to replicate the precise cellular conditions of an organism, particularly a microbe.
Santia Morganics sells mycorrhizae for soil and another for hydroponics.
The later is finer and water soluable, but the process of reducing the size destroys some of the mycorrhizae so it will contain a little less. These two mycorrhizae products already contain sufficient amounts of nutrients to help the mycorrhizae become established quickly, but they also make a couple additives that will and promote the growth of mycorrhizae. One is made for soil and the other is made to dissolve into water so that it can soak down into the root zone or be used for hydroponics. These additives contain no mycorrhizae.
The Myco-Fusion line consists of all three types of mycorrhizae, as well as Rhizo-Charge and Bio-Jolt companion products, both which are designed to maximize yield.
The relationship between plant and fungi evolved to help the plants access low levels of phosphorus in the soil but after adding mycorrhizae phosphorous should be avoided for as long as possible because mycorrhizae do not grow and colonize roots when the phosphorus level is high. Therefore it is best to let the relationship become established before adding phosphorous.
Mycorrhizea can survive for many years as long as it is not subjected to heat over about 120 F. It will lay dormant until the conditions are right and a host root becomes available. It is okay to store your mycorrhizae in a warm greenhouse so long as it is kept dry and below 120 F.
Endomycilium is the type we vegetable gardeners want unless we are growing hardwood plants such as blueberry in which case we would want Ectomycilium. Endomycilium grows inside of the vegetable roots and sends Hyphae out to feed the plant with water and nutrients. One cubic centimeter of rich organic soil may contain 1 km of fungal hyphae.
The mycorrhizal fungi become the interface between the soil and plant roots: the fungi colonize the roots internally, and the soil externally. Internally, the fungus becomes the interface where nutrient exchanges occur between the fungus and plant by direct contact of the fungus with the root cells: carbon energy moves from the plant to the fungus, and soil nutrients moves from the fungus to the host plant.
There are 3 major types of mycorrhizae.
(1) Endo or Arbuscular mycorrhizae (which exist on 85% of the plant families),
(2) Ecto mycorrhizae (which exist on 10% of the plant families (mostly woody plants), and
(3) Ericoid mycorrhizae (which exist on less than 5% of the plant families).
There are several other more obscure forms of mycorrhizae, but they are highly specific and not used from a commercial perspective.
Some producers grow all of their types together whereas Santia Morganics grows each isolated from the other and combines them in exact proportions when packaging the final product. This assures that their product contains a controlled proportion of each type. Growing several types together will allow a few to dominate the mix. Each type has different preferences such as pH, and therefore it's impossible to level the playing field for each when grown together and some types may fail to grow.
The reason so many types are sold together is to provide one that will find your soil adaptable. So it's important to have a a good assortment of different types.
Santia Morganics also grows their mycorrhizae in vivo where as some other manufactures grow in vitro. In vivo means that it's grown in live plants and soil. In Vitro is grown in a sterile media. By growing in vivo the mycorrhizae become more adapted to interacting with actual live plants and other microorganisms. The in vitro grown mycorrhizae fail to replicate the precise cellular conditions of an organism, particularly a microbe.
Santia Morganics sells mycorrhizae for soil and another for hydroponics.
The later is finer and water soluable, but the process of reducing the size destroys some of the mycorrhizae so it will contain a little less. These two mycorrhizae products already contain sufficient amounts of nutrients to help the mycorrhizae become established quickly, but they also make a couple additives that will and promote the growth of mycorrhizae. One is made for soil and the other is made to dissolve into water so that it can soak down into the root zone or be used for hydroponics. These additives contain no mycorrhizae.
The Myco-Fusion line consists of all three types of mycorrhizae, as well as Rhizo-Charge and Bio-Jolt companion products, both which are designed to maximize yield.
The relationship between plant and fungi evolved to help the plants access low levels of phosphorus in the soil but after adding mycorrhizae phosphorous should be avoided for as long as possible because mycorrhizae do not grow and colonize roots when the phosphorus level is high. Therefore it is best to let the relationship become established before adding phosphorous.
Mycorrhizea can survive for many years as long as it is not subjected to heat over about 120 F. It will lay dormant until the conditions are right and a host root becomes available. It is okay to store your mycorrhizae in a warm greenhouse so long as it is kept dry and below 120 F.
Endomycilium is the type we vegetable gardeners want unless we are growing hardwood plants such as blueberry in which case we would want Ectomycilium. Endomycilium grows inside of the vegetable roots and sends Hyphae out to feed the plant with water and nutrients. One cubic centimeter of rich organic soil may contain 1 km of fungal hyphae.
The mycorrhizal fungi become the interface between the soil and plant roots: the fungi colonize the roots internally, and the soil externally. Internally, the fungus becomes the interface where nutrient exchanges occur between the fungus and plant by direct contact of the fungus with the root cells: carbon energy moves from the plant to the fungus, and soil nutrients moves from the fungus to the host plant.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Thorium!
Our media is not built around effectively and accurately disseminating the facts to the public. Our media is built around putting your eyeballs on their print or their website and keeping them there. And the best way to keep you there is to scare you to death. - Kirk Sorensen
I know this has little to do with gardening, but the benefits we may see from thorium will drastically change the world, and possibly the way we garden. Imagine abundant energy, abundant clean water, and sustainable hydroponics!
Watch this video to learn more!
http://youtu.be/qLk46BZfEMs
Thorium has long been rejected as a nuclear fuel - Why? Because uranium produced weapons grade platonium and we knew how to use Uranium. Why experiment - Right?
Why then am I getting excited about thorium? It's because both India and China are committing to building thorium reactors! It's been done before with total success but the Atomic Energy Commission lost interest because it's useless for building bombs. India has finalized their plans and will soon begin construction and plan to have a 300MW prototype in operation by 2016!
With that being said here are some statistics
World Energy Demand 2009
5,000,000,000 tonnes coal
31,000,000,000 barrels oil
5,000,000,000,000 m3 natural gas
65,000 tonnes uranium
1 Kg Thorium = 13,000 barrels oil
2.2% of fossil fuel is used by freight trains . 1 Ton of cargo can be moved 430 miles on a gallon of diesel. Hydrogen is twice as efficient as diesel I'm guessing that means by weight. Guess what - Hydrogen can be a product of a thorium reactor!
A coal plant releases 100 times the amount of radiation as a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy - Scientific America
Amazing isn't it? Nuclear has gotten such a bad rap for so many years.
It's actually a lot safer too. This chart shows natural and man-made sources of radiation
Check this out - Thorium is a very concentrated source of energy.
1 gram = all the energy you use this year!
We seem to be falling short when it comes the using this technology
It's much less expensive to build molten salt reactors that use thorium than it is to build light water reactors that use uranium. Once a good design is finalized they could be mass produced unlike conventional Uranium U235 technologies which can only be cast in Japan.
And there are other benefits!
Almost no economic penalty to desalinate sea water. There is an abundance of thorium, and it is a waste product of rare earth mines therefore the cost of fuel is very cheap. The cost of Molten Salt Reactors (MSR) is many times less expensive that light water reactors. There is no possibility of a melt down and MSR require very little education to run - in fact they do not even require supervision for months at a time. The process creates insignificant amounts of transuranics (the dangerous stuff). The temperatures are higher which is why there is no need for high pressure water. The turbines are smaller and more efficient creating more power. Thorium does not produce materials that can be used for weapons so it's a low security site.
Other products can be made besides electricity. Hydrogen can be made which in turn can be used to make ammonia for agriculture. Finally sustainable hydroponics!
With a little chemistry synthetic fuels such as methanol for gasoline or dimethyl ether for diesel can also be made
Transuranics (the dangerous stuff)
The thorium cycle generates only 1% of waste in comparison to conventional Uranium U235 technologies which run into other problems.
Thorium provides safety and less problems
It's really sad and deceptive that oil companies claim to be promoting green technology such as Algae bio-fuels, wind, and solar when Thorium reactors are far more efficient, less expensive to build and maintain. Why? Maybe it's because they know these can't compete with oil. These methods are prone to failure.
Thorium can compete and will provide the world with cheap, clean, safe and abundant energy on a smaller foot print while providing clean water and hydrogen as well as other hydrogen products for fuels. We can breakup carbon dioxide, disassociate water to create hydrogen, ammonia, and make fertilizer and desalinate sea water for crops and residential use. All of this at extremely low cost, and very little damage to our environment. Thorium is so abundant that we will not run out of it for thousands of years!
If there was a lot of energy and it was cheap and not harmful to the environment, what would you do that you are not doing now?
Exxon Mobile attempting to improve their image.
Oil companies spread rumors and untrue ideas about nuclear energy. Campaigns like the one below are intended to scare the public. But even Light Water Reactors are safer and less damaging to the environment than coal, gas, or oil. Which have been well know to explode, and spill and coal mining is not only dangerous and unhealthy, it's destroying vast areas of pristine forests.
This report was given to JFK in 1962. The government had the information, and designs to built Thorium Reactors, but the information was suppressed. Who might want this information suppressed? There had already been a reactor working for 4 years in the 1960's. Instead of making progress we abandoned this technology, and now it's being developed and patented by India and China. We still have a chance to set this right but our politicians bow to the demands of big oil.
We live much better lives today because we learned how to use carbon. What about thorium? Thorium has a million times the energy density of a carbon hydrogen bond.
Watch this video to learn more!
http://youtu.be/qLk46BZfEMs
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Glyphosate Alternatives
Let me acknowledge that glyphosate is only the "Active Ingredient" listed on many herbicides, and that it's actually the unlisted adjuvants that we need to be concerned about. Unfortunately the regulations only require safety testing of the active ingredients even though the adjuvants have been found to be 1000 times more toxic. The only other dangerous ingredient in RoundUp that I know of is polyethoxylated tallowamine POE-15.
In an effort to avoid using glyphosate I did some research on how the kill weeds around ornamental landscape plants, pathways and driveways. I still and always will object to Glyphosate and 2-4-D being used on or near vegetable gardens.
Here are the methods I was able to discover:
Pulling weeds by hand, and sheet mulching. This is great for a small area
Zinc Sulfate mixed 1-1/8 oz per gallon will treat 4 sq ft. At $12 per 10 lbs this works out to about $0.35/sq ft. Yikes!
BurnOut Weed & Grass Killer made of a special blend of citric acid and clove oil and other patented synergistic components. If I try this product I'll post the results, but from what I've read this too only stunts the plant and leaves the roots to grow again. If you have used this I'd like to hear about your results.
Weed Dragon is a large propane torch. Reviews state that they are effective at temporarily removing the weeds, but repeated treatment will be required to eventually kill more persistent weeds. Attacking the weeds again several days later seems to be advised.
The Weed Dragon delivers a 400,000 BTU while the mini delivers 25,000 BTU. The later uses a small disposable tank, and is easily held by one hand where as the former uses a 20 gallon tank and is often accessorized with a cart. There is also a 2.5 gallon model that is worn like a back pack.
Apparently 1 gallon of propane will last about 1 hour depending on how high the flame is turned up. Not all models have a flame adjustment.
Vinegar, salt, & soap mixed at 1/2 gal vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2tsp liquid dish soap will also kill weeds. This mixture costs about $6.00/gal. I don't know what the application rate is supposed to be, but I used it as I would use Roundup. After several applications there was only a few blotches otherwise the plants were healthy.
I hate the idea of supporting Monsanto or any biotech bent on destroying the earth with GMO and toxic chemicals. But they do seem to have the only spray on products that will kill weeds. How poisonous these herbicides are is a matter of debate. During the past 30 years I've never been particularly careful about handling Roundup or 2-4-D, and I don't seem to have been affected, but I've had friends who were in Vietnam that were severely harmed by defoliants.
Of course I'm not advocating that we ingest it. Only a crazy person would do that right? Oh yeah our GM foods have been modified to resist Roundup and therefore hugh amounts of the stuff is sprayed on our food. This I object to, but spraying my driveway seems okay to me.
It seems too cruel but I may have to do my own experiments with Roundup. The group of good and natural folks I would like to be able to include myself in say that Roundup destroys the life in the soil. Somehow I doubt this. Over time, the glyphosate can be tied up by cations in the water or it can be biodegraded by bacteria. [1] By spraying the leaves of a plant, those chemicals are taken down into the roots and might poison some of the microbiology, but with all the bull that I've been feed about vinegar I simply don't trust the disinformation any longer.
Here's the thing. Don't make up the facts just to make you case. Some organic herbicides such as herbicidal soaps and oils have been found to be more harmful to aquatic life than Roundup. The EIQ (Environmental Impact Quotient ) of Roundup is only 15.3 (on a scale of 1 to 100). [2].
But don't tell me vinegar kills weeds and that it's just as good as Roundup because it's not.
1. http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/roundup-breakdown-in-tap-water/
2. http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/archives/403
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