SoilFixer SF60 Spring Onion Update

The last time we looked at the SoilFixer SF60 Spring Onion experiment on the blog was 8th Jan with a View from the Greenhouse Door when the experiment was at a stage where the onions appeared to be holding there own, and appeared very evenly matched.

I still have not managed to clear the green house or erect the new one on the allotment, but I'm going to need room sooner than later in the Space Saver Greenhouse, and this experiment will need to go to the allotment greenhouse or shed cold frame, if I have managed to get the shed moved over. 

The weather has improved a little, and the temperatures have gone up enough for me to walk outside in just a tee shirt, so I decided to give the onions a little time out in the sun and wind and harden them off a little.  

Looking at the Eiffel Spring Onions the Bucket with the SoilFixer SF60 added is the one on the left and as can be seen the foliage looks to be larger and in a much better condition than the bucket on the right.

It's All About Onions!

The day time & night time temperatures are on the decline, overnight temperatures in the greenhouse are 7degrees C with about 1 - 1.5 degrees lower outside the greenhouse, dew is on the cars, grass and about anything left out over night.

The only thing I have left in the greenhouse is the SF60 Over Wintering Spring Onion Experiment and the Catawissa Walking Onions 

 Catawissa Walking Onions looking right

They are growing really fast these were only sown eight days ago, and all leaning towards the front of the Space Saver Greenhouse, I will turn the trays 180 degrees once a week to try and straighten the onions up. 

 Catawissa Walking Onions looking right

The two trays on the left were sown seven days ago, and the largest of the bulbs can be seen on the wooden shelf, looking at the germination rates off the micro bulbs from the secondary clusters, I think I will be eating the larger bulbs rather than planting them, especially as I have some 120 in total. I could possibly do an SF60 trial with some of these bulbs I suppose, Ummm something to think about.

It look as if I may have some to share with other plot holders if they survive the overwintering process. I lost very few last year from the 18 bulbs I originally purchased.   

SoilFixer Experiment - Eiffel Spring Onions (SF60 used on the right)

It's very difficult to see any real difference at the moment, I try and rotate the pots so as to straighten the onions as they all want to lean in the direction of the sun. It's an attempt to try and straighten them if at all possible

SoilFixer SF60 Potatoes in Buckets Results

The SoilFixer SF60 Potatoes in Buckets Experiment was planned way back at the end of 2016 when Tony Callaghan the Managing Director of SoilFixer asked me if I would be interested and like to trial some. 

Now if someone wants to provide me with free products to trial, it would be rude to refuse wouldn't it? As long as they understand that you will be impartial and give an honest review and opinion of the product when you blog about it then I'm happy to give anything gardening and allotment related a try. I especially like this kind of trial because the facts and results will speak for themselves. 

The SoilFixer SF60 Super Soil Improver arrived in a plastic bucket with a lid.

22/05/2016

I really wanted to start this test off early in the year but due to events outside my control I didn't manage to get the spuds in the Potato Pots until May

From left to right

1) My Own Compost & Coir 50:50
2) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume
3) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 10% by volume
4) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 20% by volume
5) My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser
6) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer

04/06/2017

11/06/2017

25/06/2017

09/07/2017

23/07/2017

06/08/2017

In order to weigh the produce produced from two seed potatoes from each variation of the mix, I purchased a 40KG Digital Travel Portable Handheld Weighing Luggage Scales Suitcase Bag LCD for the princely sum of £3.58 inclusive of Postage off ebay so that I can weigh the spuds from the different buckets.   

40KG/10G Model - Max weight:40Kg/88Lb/1410oz

Automatically lock in readings when the data is stable.

Main body use ABS engineering plastic as main materials.

Stainless steel hanging hook. High strength compact firm hand strap KG / LB / OZ / Unit

I managed to pick up six of the Tesco “single use” 5p carrier bags as they are light and will all be the same weight, lucky the small local store still had some as Tesco stop selling them at the end of the month.

My Own Compost & Coir 50:50 CONTROL Mix

My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume

My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 10% by volume

My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 20% by volume

My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser

My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer

Schedule of results by weight 

0.410kg - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 10% by volume
0.465kg - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer
0.480kg - My Own Compost & Coir 50:50 CONTROL Mix
0.490kg - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume (2.08% increase over Control)
0.520kg - My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser (8.33% Increase over Control)
0.665kg - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 20% by volume (38.5% Increase Over Control)

I had expected that the running order at the top of the page would have been the order of results based on weight, I was so wrong. I'm surprised that the 10% by volume and the 5% by volume with fertilizer results are less than the control mix. It looks as if 5% by volume with Fertiliser is better than 10% by volume, however It does not make sense when the Control Mix with Fertiliser produced the second heaviest yield.

What can be said this that there is a 38.5% increase in Yield between the Control Mix and adding SoilFixer SF60@20% by volume   

Schedule of results by Number of edible potatoes 

15 - My Own Compost & Coir 50:50 

18 - My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser (including the green one! )
23 - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 10% by volume
24 - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume

27 - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer

30 - My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 @ 20% by volume

In terms of quantity of spuds there has been a 100% Increase between the Control Mix and adding Soilfixer SF60@20% by volume

Last year when SoilFixer did their own potato trials they found the extra leaf weight above ground was equal to extra potato weight below,. Where they had 20% more leaf also had 20% more potato crop weight. I didn't weigh the above ground leaf, but I did notice that bucket 4 with SF60 added at 20% by Volume did not dry out as fast as the first three buckets, and that if you inspect the photos above the foliage was higher and more lush and actually lasted longer than the first three buckets.

I could have let Buckets 4 - 6 go a little longer, but I wanted to give all the buckets the same amount of growing time so that the comparison as fair. 

These results are using my own compost without the assistance of the SoilFixer compost humification activator, next year I'm hoping to undertake the same experiment with compost made using the SoilFixer CHA and see what difference that makes when used in conjunction with SF60

I would like to thank Marshalls for providing the Potato Pots and spuds for the experiment / trial.

In the mean time I have some overwintering spring onion in flower buckets trials underway again this time comparing bought compost Vs the same compost with SF60@ 20% with three different varieties on onions.    

SoilFixer SF60 Potatoes in Buckets

Looks Like the SoilFixer SF60 Potatoes in Buckets experiment is coming to an end, harvest and results next Sunday weather permitting. It's interesting that that Bucket 4 which is SF60 @ 20% by volume still has some green foliage. 

Three Runner Beans !

Yes that was my harvest this Sunday !


I can not believe that someone has been harvesting my runner beans for me and that its snail slugs or squirrels that are eating my beans.

There has been more than enough flowers and the bees are in there all the time

It appears that everyone is having a naff year with Sweetcorn all started off at the same time but the corns where they have formed are skinny, the plants are short and one half look to be a couple of weeks in front of the other half which is not going to help pollination.

Wood lice were munching their way into two of my beetroots but I managed to get enough to do a pickling run.

I know they went in later than usual but even the Marketmore cucumbers are not romping away this year. and the butternut squash in the background looks sad and yellow.

The only thing that is growing at a rate of knots is the green manure

The soil fixer experiment looks to be coming to an end and I will harvest next Sunday and share the results

All in all it's been a rough year growing wise, well as all gardeners say "There is always next year! "

SoilFixer SF60 Experiment Update

From left to right

1) My Own Compost & Coir 50:50 

2) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 5% by volume

3) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 10% by volume
4) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 20% by volume
5) My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser

6) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer

Nine weeks in of the 13 week growing period and since the last visit to the plot the growth of pot 4 which has the SoilFixer SF60 Super Soil Improver biochar/colloidal humus matrix added at a 20% by volume is looking more lush, taller and healthier than buckets 1 - 3. 

The first three buckets have always looked thirstier than the rest as noted on the visit on the 21st June. Buckets 5 & 6 also have greater growth of the leafy foliage that grows above ground known as haulm but are not quite as tall.

Potato plants turn yellow at the end of their growing season, and this is normal. But if the potato plant yellows before the tubers are ready for harvest, the plants may be infected by wilt fungi or infested with psyllids, and allotment holders are always worried about early blight and in all fairness because I had my wife in hospital with pneumonia and then she went back after turning into Hell Boy because of an allergic reaction to the antibiotics they sent her home with the experiment started much later then ideally I had wished..

So do buckets 1 - 3 think they are getting near to the end of their growing season? I don't know but for the sake of the experiment I will keep an eye on all the buckets and if I see signs of blight I will remove the halum on all buckets and give the spuds a couple of weeks before the reveal weighing and recording and blogging of the results.

It's going to be interesting to see what the difference is between the six buckets in terms of quantity, size and overall weight.

I know I said SF90 in the video but the product name is SF60

Gardening Sunday

I spent the morning clearing up around the garden, I had a bucket from my neighbour who was keeping chickens and saved the sawdust and poo for me. I've collected all the fallen apples and had nearly a bucket worth of them. A bucket of spent compost, and a bucket of shredded paper plus the last few tiles left over from the wet room conversion.

In the afternoon I picked up a sack load of warm cooking grass from my sister and took the lot to Mill Green to feed Dalek 6 which was once again down to half way full and ended up two thirds full by the time I had finished applying in layers and wetting down.

The SoilFixer Potatoes in Buckets looked a little thirsty so I tried as best as possible to ensure they all received the same amount of water. With the Redrow building site next door the biggest problem is access and parking so the usual mid week visits just have not been happening since they started work. These are 7 weeks into a 13 week growing period so harvesting should take place around the 21st or end of August blight permitting.

I watered everything and replaced a sweetcorn that something had pulled out of the ground, the French Beans planted last week are just showing.

I have two craters that I can fill using spent compost where the Cherry Trees were, as I donated them to my bother-in-law Keith as they are cookers and his wife Pauline likes to make jams and preserves where as my wife isn't into that kind of thing. Keith & Pauline were also in the plot and I went to look at the trees in there new home, on Keith's second plot which is dedicated to fruit. Somehow they looked a lot larger on his plot that they did on mine.  

I then made my way to Spencer Road Allotment to water and drop off the wall tiles and watered the beds there.

The beetroots in Bed 6 which was the over wintered Japanese onions are starting to bulk up a bit which is good, so between Mill Green and Spencer Road I should be ok for Beetroots this year. We pickle and distribute so many jars around the family each year. 

I harvested some red spring onions, but I only have one air onion with bulbs which is disappointing, I'm glad the Catawissa Walking Onions at the back of the plot aare doing so well and hopefully I will have enough bulbs to create two beds worth next year. 

A butternut squash or marrow has decided to self seed in the potatoes in Bed 4, for the moment I'm not going to remove it I will try and work around it.

  

Bed 1 needs clearing, it was supposed to be for Parsnips, but I have not got around to clearing or sowing. I must see if I can squeeze in some parsnips they may not be large but it would be nice to have some. 

Bed 2 the potato foliage has wilted, so I've pruned the plants down to ground level, about an 1 inch above the soil surface. Don’t cut them any lower than this, as you may expose the tips of shallow potatoes. I will now wait at least two weeks two weeks before digging out the tubers out to allow the potato skin to thicken.

So much infrastructure works is required on this plot, I really need to get onto it once the harvests are in and the existing beds are put to sleep for the winter.

Weeds Weeds Everywhere....

Another Mill Green Sunday morning visit to continue with the battle against the weeds, the paths are in desperate need of new woodchips as they are turning into really nice soil and the weeds know it !

To say I'm behind on growing and maintaining the plots this year would be an understatement, due to works undertaken at home & health problems in the family that resulted in a couple of stays in hospital for my good lady wife, I'm not where I would like to be with either plot, but the basics are in or about to be in, just in time I hope.

  
The sweetcorn is looking good and for the moment the fox barrier appears to be working, I have another bed load of sweetcorn underway in the Space Saver Greenhouse at home.

Lots of the soft brick milk bottles are becoming brittle and on each visit I'm finding one or two that need replacing, so they go into the greenhouse to dry out, then I fill new bottles with the sand and hopefully they should last another three to four years before the sand needs to be decanted into a fresh bottle.

Not a lot of action on bed 11 where I sowed the green manure yet, I cleared the weeds around it again and the weeds in bed 14 ready for a sowing of late carrots on the next visit as I never got around to an early or a mid sowing. 

I direct sowed beetroots in the rest of the bed up to the white strip, that area is reserved for a trial of a new variety of Dwarf French Bean called "Satelit" which Marshalls press release states is

"A great tasting string-less white seeded bean. Produces straight beans approximately 13cm long and 6-7mm in diameter. A very early variety which will crop right to the frosts with no loss of flavour. Pods are held up and away from the foliage cropping 60 days after sowing. Disease resistant to Common Mosaic virus and Anthracnose."

The sprouts are growing well and looking good, I would have been really disappointed if I had not managed to get them in on time as they take so long to grow, but the different varieties I have in should give me a longer harvest period.

The SoilFixer Potato in buckets are looking good, but bearing in mind that we are supposed to be having another heatwave coming and we have not had a lot or rain I gave all the buckets a little drink to keep them moist.

The guy on the plot next to mine has done less than his usual and I'm now dealing with invasive brambles, stinging nettles and bindweed coming in on the boundary between our two plots. I may have to result to weeding his path that is on the boundary to create a fallow area between our plots.

With the wheel barrow fixed and an empty boot the two concrete blocks, four paving bricks and slab used as a platform for the Comfrey on Draft Water Butt were taken to the car and loaded into the boot ready for transporting to the Spencer Road plot.

Sweetcorn Sunday on Plot 1A

As I was on Spencer Road yesterday it's only right that I spend some time on Mill Green on a Sunday morning Bed 11 was cleared and the paths around it de weeded. the bed was sown with a mixture green manure

When I arrived on the plot the leaves of the spuds in first three SoilFixer buckets were looking thirsty, dry and curling up a little the 4th bucket with 20% SF90 wasn't so O can only put that down to better water retention.

The Lark sweetcorn was planted into bed 2 and the fox crash barrier was moved to the bed to try and protect the little darlings. The runner beans were unwrapped and rewrapped around the correct canes and they are now making their way up the bamboo canes.

I bought a solid replacement wheelbarrow wheel off ebay, as B&Q no longer sell replacements as there is a design fault with them or so I was informed by a member of staff.

The wheel is 2" smaller in diameter and narrower than the original, but two bits of Blue water pipe cut and placed either side keeps the bearings in place and the wheel in the middle of the bolted shaft.

So no more worries about punctures.

SoilFixer Potato Experiment & Runner Beans

The runner beans that I sowed a little over a week ago were getting to the point where they would start to wind around each other so they needed to go in today

I didn't have time to lower and fix the fames directly to the wall so I ended up hanging the new gallows brackets off the existing hanging basket brackets.

This means they are higher that they should be and that the cantilevering bamboo now aligns with the strut rather than the top member but it will do for this year.

I may tweak the brackets and fix at a lower level over the winter months, if I think it will be better lower down.

When I dropped off some compost on Friday buckets 1 3 and 5 of the SoilFixer Experiment were displaying the potato haulms, but this morning all the buckets are showing. 

Despite the forecast of showers, I did give them all a drink. I'm looking forward to seeing what the difference is between them in terms of numbers and weights of the harvest.

Note to self, get a luggage scales and some plastic bags ready for harvest time.

I also had some Grip Bond left over from the DIY I have been doing and silicone up the split in the lid to the large compost bin     

Sprouts & SoilFixer SF60 Potato Test

The year I have managed not to kill off the sprouts and have 3 of 5 different varieties and I selected the best two and planted them in the bed  Cromwell, Montgomery, Eveham Special, Bedford Darkmar 21 & Rubine.

The spares will remain in the coldframe as reserve. For more information on the varieties see Sowing Brussel Sprouts Blog Post

The SoilFixer SF60 Super Soil Improver biochar/colloidal humus matrix acts as ‘sponge’ for water and essential nutrients – storing them ready for use. The ‘sponge’ matrix supports increased levels of soil microbes. The microbes (notably mycorrhizal fungi) can access the stored nutrients. They form symbiotic relationships with plant roots and supply nutrients to the roots. This mechanism is sometimes described as ‘improved soil health leading to improved plant growth’. (More detail around SF60, the role as an improver versus fertiliser, versus compost can be found in the SoilFixer SF60 FAQ blog post)

The test mixes on Mill Green Allotment in front of Bed 12 Brussel Sprouts are from left to right:-  

1) My Own Compost & Coir 50:50 

2) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 5% by volume

3) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 10% by volume
4) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 20% by volume
5) My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser

6) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer

This is a bit of an adjustment to what I had planed to test, but I'm running late this year due circumstances outside my control and normally these would have been started early in the greenhouse at the end of March, but as I never really got the greenhouse clear enough I've waited for the last frost plus a couple of weeks.

In about 13 weeks when the foliage begins to turn yellow and die back I will harvest all six buckets and compare the weight and number of spuds from each bucket, As I'm using the Marshalls PotatoPots I may have a sneak peek at 5 & 10 weeks in before harvesting.   

Bed 6, Committee Meeting, Rats & Blue Water Pipe

There was a committee meeting on Spencer Road this morning, I popped some plumbing gear to my eldest daughter then made my way to the allotment and managed to get half of bed 6 and its path dug before the meeting. In the process I managed to extract 2/3 of a square flower bucket full of stones that have been left soaking in water to remove the mud before they make their way to the paved area.

Derek showed us examples of how the rats are eating their way into the composting daleks and a rat run and access formed under a shed.

You can clearly see the rat run forming in the grass path and the hollow they have made to make access under the shed easy.

My delivery of SoilFixer SF60 has arrived so the spud testing can start as soon as I finish the clearance of the greenhouse at mill green

In the afternoon I assisted my daughters partner in taking the old washing machine to the dump and in the process spotted that someone had dumped a roll of blue water pipe. So I rescued it and rolled it up tighter and used cable ties to hold it at the smaller diameter and it will make it's way to Spencer Road allotment on my next visit.