Medina soil activator discussion

This may be oversimplifying things but, an important point to keep in mind regarding reported results and claims based on personal experience - What is the condition of the soil or medium before treatment with anything.

A good quality soil will benefit little from any additive. Conversely a poor soil may be beyond the capabilities of most treatments. I have a hard time sometimes with the notion that the same treatments can be used on all soils regardless of current condition or especially what you intend to grow. Maybe I have something to contribute Malcolm Beck, the guy who developed the process of bottling Garrett Juice, and Stuart Franke, the owner of Medina Ag products, have both spoken at the organic gardening meetings we used to have for a couple years.

I have also visited with Beck at his bottling plant and seen how the compost tea is collected. Since there is no restriction on the words 'compost tea' I could put clear water in a bottle and call it compost tea. This is almost what is done at Garden-Ville. Malcolm has a trough made from gallon drums sawed in half lengthwise and welded back together. The trough is on about a 15 degree slope with a spigot welded to the bottom of the lower end of the trough.

The trough was filled with compost way back when this project first started and has not been touched since - with one exception. They found that the spigot used to clog with organic materials so they made a filter with greensand and volcanite at the spigot end.

What they do is this: when he wants to bottle up some "compost tea," he fills the trough with water and lets it sit for a day. The next day he turns on the spigot and taps off the first few gallons to be recycled into the trough. Then the clear fluid is pulled off as the compost tea. Malcolm has tested the tea and found it has zero living microbes in it.

His claim is that it contains enzymes. Malcolm says that this tea is the product that goes into the commercial Garrett Juice. Franke has presented a fascinating slide show. Apparently the State of Texas wanted to find a way to remediate the land around oil wells where they were contaminated with salts.

I don't know where the salts came from but they traditionally kill the soil "forever. I wish he could have given us the location but he said that still, many years later, the grass is still growing on his test plot and nowhere else in the area. The 'active ingredient' in Medina Soil Activator is magnesium based. It happens to be the same material used up north to deice the roads in the winter.

It is also used up north to firm up dirt driveways. So I don't get that. It either softens the soil or it firms it up??? My experience with Medina Soil Activator is that it did nothing.

My experience with Earthworm was similar; however, the area I specifically wanted to use it on is regrowing now for the first time in 10 years. Nevertheless, I base my negative conclusion on the fact that I used it heavily on several problem areas and they are all unchanged and cannot be distinguished from the adjacent areas where I did not spray.

So I'm attributing my success on the one area to something else I might have done - or to time alone. I don't deny anyone their personal experience.

Lord knows my personal experience differs a lot from other people's. Posted: Sun Apr 09, pm. Powered by eWeblife. Login Email Address Password. Page 1 of 2. Go to page 1 , 2 Next. Previous topic Next topic. Post subject: Posted: Mon Aug 18, pm. Soil Secrets. Kathe Kitchens. Post subject: Earthworm, compost teas and microbes Posted: Sun Sep 12, am.

Medina was already a sponsor. But I knew nothing about their products until I got a package of samples from the owners and tried them out at my first home in Cypress. I had told the folks at Medina about a spot in the backyard of my new house that had fertility and drainage issues. Then, shazam - it was the greenest, healthiest looking section of the lawn by July. Needless to say, I was hooked. By this time, the microorganisms will have established a dominant position in the soil and would have enough time to clean and remediate the soil of any harmful pests, pathogens, and chemicals that may harm plants.

Sugar Cane Fruit — Bearing Vegetables. Cucumber, eggplant, tomato, pumpkin, squash, gourd, okra, etc. Sugar Crops. For healthy plant all are soil-based applications Melon. Note: Many GardenLine listeners live in coastal areas, and some are dealing with salt water damage in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beta. My introduction to Medina products came just after I took over GardenLine hosting duties from Bill Zak, around 22 years ago.

Medina was already a sponsor, but I knew nothing about their products. Then, I got a package of samples from the owners and tried them out at my first home in Cypress. It seemed far-fetched to me, but I followed their recommendation and soaked the area every week for two months.