Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

2022-11-29

stolen cactus

2022.11.29: proj.apt`garden/stolen cactus:

. there were 3 pots of potatoes,

the pot on the right was half dug up,

in a place where 2 types cactus were located,

but one of the cactuses was thrown to the side.

I dug up the rest of the pot looking for potatoes,

but all I could find were 2 very small ones,

and one of the seed potatoes that seemed chewed,

while the pot seemed dragged out of place,

having me wonder if an animal did this,

but most likely a human was looking for a cactus.

2022-10-29

soil science by Nydia Needham 2022

 22.10.29: bk.care/apt`garden/Nydia Needham 2022 soil science:

. I browsed through a book about gardening:

Nydia Needham 2022`A Spoonful Of Soil Helps The World Go Round: 

Basic soil science, testing, amendments, composting, 

cover crops and watering techniques

https://amzn.to/3SS1JWu[ad]

5-star/buried clay pots for irrigation!:

2009-12-31

the surprising benefits and costs of urinals

11.26: gear/urinal/unisex

11.26:
. find a urinal that can double as a backup potty,
like the Passport Potty, but it's ok to spend more
on something less annoyingly small .
[12.31: Passport Potty:
$70 non-spillable toilet" passport potty toilet 1.0
(10L #6003, 2.6gal water closet, 2.6 gal sewage)
509 921 5350
wholesaler" maurice sporting goods; 4674 aircenter circle; reno, nv 89502-5949
importer" cedar key manufacturing; northbrook, illinois 60065
manufac" sanitation equipment ltd; ontario, canada, L4K 2S7
The problem with urine is that it is
the main source of some of the chemical nutrients
that have to be removed in sewage treatment plants
if they are not to wreck ecosystems downstream.
Despite making up only 1 per cent of the volume of waste water,
urine contributes about 80 per cent of the nitrogen
and 45 per cent of all the phosphate.
Peeing into the pan immediately dilutes these chemicals
with vast quantities of water,
making the removal process unnecessarily inefficient.
A lucky few, however, live or work in
one of the buildings in continental Europe
where you can find a future must-have eco-accessory:
the urine separation toilet.
These devices divert urine away from the main sewage stream,
allowing the nutrients to be recycled rather than treated as waste.
They could solve all the environmental problems associated with urine
and even turn sewage plants into
net producers of green, clean energy.
Tue Mar 04 16:41:28 GMT 2008
Is any one in the USA working on the urine separation toilet
what to do with the urine? Personal Systems?
There is a lot being done in other parts of the world,
little in the US, I work in Ecuador.
also my blog inodoroseco.blogspot.com (Spanish).



The liquid waste vessel will contain approximately 2.2 gallons of urine.
The translucent material of the container allows easy visualization of the liquid level.
review (with good pictures):
. the way it's shaped and how narrow it is,
you'd think urinating would present a back-spray problem .

This urine-diverting composting toilet – which is 100 percent PVC fee –
uses no water and keeps solids separate from liquids,
reducing odor and making it possible to reuse waste and urine
for composting and fertilizing.
The Separett Villa can be deployed where no plumbing exists,
allowing for a greater reach of the technology
www.ecovita.net Separett of Sweden Urine-Diverting Composting Toilets
Ecovita is the exclusive North American supplier
of Separett urine-diverting composting toilets. www.separett.eu/
--Separett urine-diverting composting toilets
and waterless urinals provide attractive, inexpensive,
easy-to-maintain, odor-free ecological sanitation
for waterwise comfort!
A urine diverter only to make your own system or to improve an existing pit latrine
The Separett Privy kit transforms your outdoor toilet
into a modern urine-separating toilet
As urine and solids are separated,
you are spared latrine odor and the waste is very easy to take care of.
Feces collect in the latrine or a garbage bag while urine drains via a hose
to a soakaway or tank.
The kit is easily installed under the bench of the outdoor toilet.
To ensure comfort all-year-round,
the kit includes a seat that feels warm as soon as you sit down.
Comes with plans for making a urine-diverting composting toilet
and a graywater system.

Just under the seat is something called a Separett,
a device that sends urine through one hole and feces down another.
Each lands in lidded, 5-gallon containers,
which are vented to the outside
and accessed through a small door on the side of the house.
When the receptacles fill up, they're emptied.
Nitrogen-rich urine is diluted with water
and fed to plants;
feces is left to mellow for a year,
at which point it has decomposed enough
to ameliorate health concerns
and can be used for amending soil.
. I found a Separett online and bought it for $127.
I planned to put my backup toilet in my bedroom.
The chief environmental health specialist
for the L.A. County Department of Public Health
couldn't tell me if composting toilets were even legal,
so I also wanted to make sure my system could be easily disassembled.
Following advice from the Separett manual
and a book that is something of a composting toilet bible,
"The Humanure Handbook,"
I affixed the Separett into the supporting sides of the bench,
just beneath its hinged lid. I set up the collection buckets.
. used hamsters' pine bedding for the "bulking agent" .


$1,399 BioLet 30 NE, Non-electric composting toilet (homedepot.com)
A waterless composting toilet used primarily where it is not practical or economical to install a conventional toilet. It is an on-site, self-contained, biological toilet that uses aerobic decomposition and evaporation to reduce human waste to a nutrient rich, hygienically safe humus. The BioLets reduce the volume of waste entering the toilet by approximately 90%, leaving only 10% of the original volume for disposal. This can be recycled back to nature in a safe way w/out polluting the environment.

* Most Advanced Composting Toilet In The World!
* Requires no water, septic, or chemicals and produces no odors!
comment:

2009-12-27

container gardening

gear/container gardening:

Hydroponics (Greek water and labour)
- replaces soil with a nutrient solution.
Hydroponics farmer Sergio Roque Monteiro told IRIN
he learned to farm without soil in Brazil
before moving to Cape Verde in 2000.
Soil is full of contaminants that weaken plant growth.
. if there is no electricity to power his water pump,
hand watering is vital.
The biggest disadvantage is the plants need constant watering
because there is no soil to keep them moist.
If they go without water for a few hours, they die.
But more than the continuous energy
and constant watering needed to run a hydroponics system,
. high start-up costs discourage converts .
Most set-up materials are available for local purchase:
tank, netting, iron or wood and cement.
except for testing the acidity
of the mineral nutrient solution .

4.15: proj.apt`hort/rejuvinate dried plant:
. I had these large potted plants
tried transplanting them in long trouph planters
hoping the roots would follow the water,
but the one that is dried-out now
hadn't put out any roots at all .
-- I found out after moving its dried remains
back to the pot it came from;
there it can soak, and might come back .
. its twin is still doing ok .
. there are now 3 trough pots
for the 3 main sunny shelves in the office .
. trough experiments that didn't make it
will be reused for growing
beans, seeds for sprouts, and garlic .

5.21: gear/urine-recycling as fertilizer:
. how can urine be decomposed for recycling?
I would like some odorless way to reuse the urine,
because mine certainly has a lot of valuable minerals;
esp'ly selenium .

8.13: care/the 7 years of famine:
. wise to save for emergencies,
but routine now is to store canned goods for a year
then reuse so that it requires consumption of canned foods .
. can save energy instead of canning food
then grow food rapidly as needed with grow lights .

11.27: gear/hydroponics/urine recycling:
. urine might kill burmuda grass,
then diluted would help surrounding plants .
. to keep it clean and legal,
urine might work for a hydroponics module .
-- my urine is full of se too!
todo.web:
. hydroponic units locally, and books how to do it .

Vertical farms grow food inside buildings -- not conventional greenhouses,
but multi-storey buildings, quite likely in cities --
hydroponically, in a water-and-nutrient solution,
or perhaps aeroponically, using a mist of nutrient-laden water.
(Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)
The approach could grow the same crops with as little as
10 per cent of the water used in traditional agriculture,
Despommier argues.
So far it has only been tried on a very small scale.
Paignton Zoo in South Devon, U.K., for example,
is growing produce to feed some of its animals.
But advocates of vertical farming -- notably Dickson Despommier,
a Columbia University professor of public health --
envision towering gardens in the heart of a city.
Despommier, who is working on a book on the idea,
sees vertical farming as part of the answer to
global warming, water shortages and inner-city health problems.
12.17: web.gear/garden/urine composting

mix it 50-50 with water,
and add a capful of seaweed emulsion while you're at it. Use a sprinkling can.

vegetables are grown in drainless containers
ideally with 18 to 20 liters capacity
-- stuffed with deciduous tree leaves or grass clippings
up to 4/5ths of their capacity,
topped by a three to five centimeter layer of good soil,
where seeds are planted, or seedlings are transplanted.
On the wall of the container, five to ten centimeters from the bottom,
a hole is bored for drainage the container thus maintains a water reservoir at the bottom.
Finally, a stick is inserted right down to the bottom,

. urine is the best fertilizer for this system.
We call this liquid organic fertilizer (LOF).
. castings of red worms (Eisenia foetida) contain the P and K
that the LOF lacks .
Further experimentation with the more complete fertilization system is necessary.
In this context, soil pH is a variable that has to be better understood.
We also plan more experimentation with wormfeed
to include substances that could increase the percentage of P and K in the castings.

12.18: bk.gear/garden/what's p and k stand for?
p: phosphate and
k: potassium, potash