cross posting this for those that will find this info useful: Anyway, here it goes...these are my notes of a lecture course from The Teaching Company which I found on Amazon prime video for free (not a plug or anything, but I feel that its essential to put my sources for this info and give proper credit where its due). I have no affiliation with TTC or Amazon but if you find this info useful, I suggest purchasing a video or the whole course. The course is 24 lectures in video format which I will be covering a good portion of. Lectures that have little or no value to cannabis, and mostly indoor growing, are completely skipped over, here are a few I wont cover: Plant selection [cannabis, next question...] Truth about mulch [dont use it indoors lol] Water-wise landscaping [no indoor waterfalls, please] What to do about herbivores [heh-heh, get it??] Planting for survival [were only dealing with cannabis here] Pruning [mostly deals with trees/shrubs anyway] I personally found this info valuable because I have apparently been doing a few things wrong that I thought were great to do (mostly the DIY stuff you find online and grow techniques) but are apparently not backed by science or evidence...and in some cases are harmful. OK, so here it goes, the following posts are the notes I took from the lecture series, if you have questions feel free to ask. These are very condensed notes, seeing as each video is 30+ minutes. These lectures benefited me so hopefully I can pass on some useful info that can benefit some members here without having to go through all that content. [My comments are in brackets]
Lecture 1 Garden science and weeding out the myths About the lecturer: Linda Chalker-Scott PhD. (Assoc prof. of Horticulture @ WSU) Books she wrote: The informed gardener How plants work she also blogs at @ gardenprofessors [dot] com Why care? Save moeny, time , resources reduce pesticides and fertilizers which means less polution understand applied plant soil science become healthier phsyically, mentally, spiritually by building a healthier connection to our gardens She talks about how she approached gardening before her PhD (like the rest of us, using handed-down folk knoledge, DIY tips online, etc): Used Household chemicals, etc can be used for the garden: Dish soap, Epsom salts, vinegar, baking soda, etc for solving various problems and nourishing/boosting the plants. She did "common sense" things like never disturbing the root ball of shrubs and trees she planted in her yard. She warns "The folk wisdom from grandma seems good and can have great names like "lasagna mulching" or "compost tea" that provoke warm-and-fuzzy feelings and little else." She goes on discussing the difference between what science vs laymen know about gardening and horticulture. A lot of common knowledge is scientifically wrong or has no evidence backing it up. Be careful of pseudoscience "scientific sounding terminology that has no scientific backing or evidence" "Unverified methods and advice often end in disappointing results" "Unverified methods can be a waste of time, money and resources" "Unverified methods may result in danger to people, pets or wild animals" She advises that household chemicals often have tons of other unlisted additives and chemicals and will have to end up somewhere...and they are not natrually from that environment so where ever it ends up will have to deal with this foreign additive. She also discusses Garening (production agriculture) vs managed agricutlure sites (apartment building landscaping, public parks, ecological restoration sites, etc) and why you shouldnt confuse the two. Gardens will be consumed but corporate office landscaping will not. They can be managed very differently (pesticides and nutrients) and that should be taken into consideration. What to consider: 1) Plant life cycle 2) Whats happening to the soil 3) The use of fertilizers and pesticides (not for long term) Permaculture Practices: 1) are a marriage of some science and philosophy (not testable like science) 2) often outdated info from the 60's (its golden era) and science has changed a lot since then Other permaculture practices like 'lasagna mulching' or 'hugelkultur' are NOT based on scientific principles. Such as lasagna mulching - putting compost down with cardboard on top and layering it up with alertnating rows of mulch and cardboard. She reminds what cardboard is for - to repel water while shipping products. She also adds that the bottom layers will have very low oxygen which damages the roots. At the same time, water will have trouble findings its way down and dry spots will form which will limit growth and damage roots. The cardboard also is made to not disintigrate rapidly, so it will last in the garden for much longer than expected. She also advises how to assess gardening info you may come across: Evaluating Sources: use scientific journals that are peer reviewed by scientists (and offeres a list) use progessional journals that are uses by professionals in the field (yet not peer-reviewed) books and magazines university web sites (.edu), government web sites (.gov) such as EPA fact sheets (for pesticides, etc) These are the best web sites to get info from as they are likely peer-reviewed (at least at one point) and are from professionals in the field. open access scientific journals ask these questions: is it peer-reviewed or is it pay-to-play (publish anything as long as you pay)? When evaluating resources, she advises to use her C.R.A.P. test: Credability - how credible is your resource? Relevance - Is this relevant to you and your situation? Accuracy - It it accurate or outdated? Purpose - What is its purpose? to give out info? to push advertisements? to sell a product? Assessment categories: 1. Science doesnt support the info (she mentions the Vitamin B1 transplant starters that you can find on store shelves and how plants make their own B1, making the product useless and a waste of money) This is the biggest category. 2. Misapplied science (she mentions foliar fertilizers/fertilization, which are great for testing nutrient deficiency but is not a way to feed plants. spray foliar fert onto leaf, if color changes then youve found a deficiency) 3. Over-extrapolated info (ie study in a greenhouse of something that works but then you take it to the field and it doesnt work. (she mentions the harpin protein which turns on plant defenses but only works when you can get it into the plant cell. works well in lab, not in practice) 4. Scientific errors. unqualified researchers, research bias and peer review failure. It happens. Watch out....if you can even identify it as a laymen (which is where peer-reviewing helps). Science must clear a high bar. Lecture 2 Site analysis [This one is a little less helpful, shes talking about location for a garden and is mostly talking about outside weather conditions. This is of little help as most of the growing here is indoors but I did take some notes that are useful for us here...] Site analysis should include the location of the plant and its [the locations'] effect on temperature and water (the 2 most limiting growth factors). Microclimate: hydrology, wind, topology USDA Zones - where certain plants can survive [outdoors] based on geolocation based on things like yearly average of rainfall temp and water in an environment dictate the type of soil in region She discusses a few tests for soil, again as indoor growers this can be provided info so google it if you want to learn more: Percolation Test (measureing the movement of water through a medium/soil) Compaction Test (measures bulk density of medium) She talks about water sources (outdoors) and mentions water collection from roof into rain barrel but consider bird poop, age of roof, type of construction, debris and so on. Collecting rain water is OK to collect for garden use and can also be filtered. Abundance of heat radiating near plants can damage them. Light changes seasonally, the solar angle changes over time and changes the amount of light plants get due to location, blocking plants/buildings, etc [This is useful as it can change the amount of light available when using windows or when outdoors obviously] Moonlight has no effect on plants its too dark. It can affect insects, etc but not plants with its light. Light pollution can have effect on plants. [street lights are like 2K watt light bulbs each] Plants use photoperiod to find which season it is and when to change and get ready for winter (internal chemistry of the plant often changes) [like when you flip your lights to a different on/off schedule] Wind can strip water out of leaves quickly. [keep in mind when having constant wind blowing on plants that are under hot lights that you will need to water more] Cold + Wind = plant desiccation and death Consider the salt in the wind when outdoors. It has a huge effect on the plant growth and can kill plants. "Know your local insects and plant diseases" [great advise for indoors and outdoors] Lecture 3 Soil analysis, what makes soil great [a lot of this again has to do with outdoors, our soil is typically from a bag or is made with various components that are often listed] suburban and urban soil is rarely, if ever, "native soil"...construction has flattened, fill is often added ("designed soil") and various people and pollution can affect soils. Construction and human activity often drives out insects and animals which can also hurt the quality of soil...she gives an example of moles aerating soil so show how what we consider pests are often useful for plants. Soil is organic and inorganic components that together impart nutritional, chemical physical characteristics. Organic material enhances soil moisture, improves drainage/aeration, provides nutrients. Mostly made of sand, silt and clay - the ratio of which determines the type of soil. Clay particals are flat not round, more plate shaped. Clay is essential for holding nutrients. The more sandy the soil the better drainage you have. Particle sizes: Sand *largest particles, for comparison the size of a wiffle ball Silt *size of a golf ball Clay *size of a penny and flat like one instead of round Nutrient availability is typically the reverse of the above chart, sand and silt particles are negatively charged so they are poor for attracting nutrients and holding them in place for the plant to use. 2-way, 3-way or 5-way top soils: (best tends to be 2 and 3-way) 2-way: (1/2 loam, 1/2 compost (which disappears over time due to decomposition) 3-way: (1/3 each of loam, peat, compost) 5-way: (20% each of compost, garden mulch, peat, sawdust, loam) Native soil can be bought and is VERY EXPENSIVE! You will rarely encounter native soil. She also highlights a soil test (put soil in jar, add water to top, shake and let sit 24 hrs so it can seporate with sand on bottom and organics on top) in order to find out which type or mix of soil you have. In addtition, she shows you how to do a pH test on soil. [google it] You can also send soil samples into various labs for testing Lab soil tests: will tell you if nutrients and micro-nutes presence are low or high in soil pH of soil CEC - how easily plants can take up nurtients in soil other various things like acidity of soil, etc Know what nutrients are in your soil so you dont over-nutriate (which can lock out other nutrients) [this is useful when buying pre-mixed or when you make your own with various components] if nutrient is low = add some media that includes the needed nutrient if nutrient is high = dilute the soil [vermiculite, perlite, sand, peat moss, etc, etc, etc]