Earthworms are not your friend's in raised beds.

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

I cannot grow lettuce to save my life so I'm no help to you my friend. For those reading and saying Sow Bugs (that's what we call them in Oregon or Potato Bugs) and Earth Worm's don't eat live plant....OH THEY WILL if they don't have access to enough decaying material or there are too many of them, they will eat the roots. Where I live we have more issues with snails and slugs, i found out it was snails/slugs because I snuck out at night and checked out my garden just like Luis is doing this day. Luis is doing the investigative work NOW so he thrives later. I think having the birds go thru it is a very interesting idea and I'm going to keep that info handy for the future, it's so good for the birds. I can live more in balance with the worms/bugs because I have a lot more decomposing material and more space than Luis does in this particular bed. Gardening problems are magnified ten fold when you have a contained area like Luis does which is why his problem solving is so important to know about.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@OldSchoolPrepper that's exactly it, it's old compost, decaying matter is running out, so Earthworms go into overdrive procreating, this is how a worm 🪱 bin works, when worm population is down, you stop feeding until the numbers come up, I didn't have a raised bed, I had a worm bin with a growing population looking for food. The raised bed so far has no problems, the lettuce and tomato plants are still there, I snuck in the few seeds that sprouted in the viability test of the carrot, I want to see what does well in this area.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@@OldSchoolPrepper I learned a lot with this problem, I want to try to come up with solutions on how to grow clean food for at least a year after a nuclear exchange, Huples old nuclear war video touched how hard it would be to grow clean food after a exchange, that video opened up my curiosity, I'm even going to watch that Homestead disaster movie just to see if there are any crazy ideas 💡, I'm going to be building these raised beds with wheels on the rooftop garden to move beds to a secure room during a hurricane, this might protect beds from other disasters like nuclear war, I believe I can store half a ton of compost in my compost bin, and store chemical fertilizer for a years worth to try to get away with something, I would have to try to save some chickens, I might touch this subject next year.

[@MosaicHomestead]

Just got a idea for your lettuce problem, salt kills slugs, have you tried Epsom salt ?, it's salt that adds magnesium to your soil, you can't use a lot, but it might work...I'm going to see if this kills slugs as a experiment 😂

[@deervalleyhomestead]

here it's the beetle larva that live in raised beds. The way around it for me is to wait until the seedlings are stronger before planting.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@deervalleyhomestead we have beetle larva here, but didn't find any.

[@FocoTheFirst]

Interesting

[@MosaicHomestead]

@FocoTheFirst when I was putting compost inside the raised bed the first time, I said, wow, look at all those worms 🪱 lol, I thought worms did nothing to seeds and seedlings, gardeners praise worms in soil like it's the best...my research said otherwise when starting a vegetable garden, it's the first time using my own compost for vegetables, I usually grew small amounts in pots or buckets, but it was only with potting soil, I want to learn how to grow vegetables with my own compost, this was a great learning experience, so far all seedlings are OK and thriving, I will be putting up updates on the progress of the seedlings.

[@LibertyGarden]

I have never had problems with earthworms, but I don't have many. Most pro gardeners start plants in seed starting soil and once they are established with a healthy root system and foliage, they transplant to grow beds.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@LibertyGarden My problem is the chickens, I have to transparent small because the chickens will get to my seed trays before I get established plants, in the future, I want to direct sow in these beds, carrots don't like to be transplanted, it's better to direct sow, putting in small is to make sure compost is good to grow in, it gets rid of transplant shock...I'm trying to grow with my own soil, if there is ever a real SHTF, I want to be able to grow using my own soil, this includes DIY seed starting soil, Anyone can start seed in seed mix, I want to practice growing SHTF style, this includes Diy fertilizer as well, I have calorie dense covered with green banana and bread fruit, but I don't have veggies covered yet, I'm working on this now.

[@LibertyGarden]

Another thing, I plant enough for the bad weathers, the pests, the birds, and me. I usually broadcast a mixture of leafy green seeds on a raised bed and wait to see what makes it. Isn't it too hot in PR for lettuce. In my area, as soon as days go above 70F, the lettuces go to seed and start tasting bitter.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@LibertyGarden I have grown Romain successfully, I'm growing lechuga del pais, it's winter here so it's cooler, I'm also growing in a slight shady area so lettuce hopefully doesn't bolt fast, it's a experimental garden, I'm testing bed and what veggies do well, spinach is also a cold condition plant, but I've grown it here as well.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@LibertyGarden the spinach I'm growing isn't Malabar spinach, it's real spinach, Malabar isn't really spinach, that will grow here like weeds.

[@marygallagher3428]

Clever idea to have the chickens eat the worms and insects in the compost! Have you considered that you might be able to build a solar oven to use to "sterilize" the soil to kill the insects, etc., in it to make it more like a seed starting/potting soil mix?

[@MosaicHomestead]

@marygallagher3428 I was planning on getting a roof torch to torch soil after the chickens ate the bugs, but that video is coming next year, I'm going to put up all experiments and results through updates. Few to Nobody has videos on how they would grow food in after a nuclear war, Everyone is using store bought potting soil to start seedlings 🌱, this includes buying ingredients to make potting soil, I already tested my compost successfully for air layering, I got a mature lemon tree that will produce faster. The raised bed was fixed with the chicken screening, all plants are thriving so far.

[@marygallagher3428]

@@MosaicHomestead Would the roof torch "burn" the soil though? From what I've read that can happen if the heat used to sterilize soil is too high. Glad to hear the plants are thriving now!

[@MosaicHomestead]

@marygallagher3428 the torch is kept above soil, it will act like putting soil in oven, it won't be done for long because soil will be ran through chickens first, then a quick above soil heat, hot compost could get hot enough to catch on fire 🔥, but very rare, compost pile could reach over 170 F, I want to go about 150 max just to kill seeds inside compost.

[@ThePRGardenGuide]

Love the grid on this bed. Happy New Year!

[@MosaicHomestead]

@ThePRGardenGuide the veggies are growing in the bed, all the tomato plants are thriving so far, but for the next time , I'll filter through the chickens 🐔, and them heat compost to kill weeds seeds in compost.

[@felixdacat6572]

(12/31/24)..Hey brother...I just heard Electrical Power is out on the Island...I know you're solid and squared away...Wishing You and Yours the best for the New Year...Thank you for all you share with us...😊🎉💯👍💪

[@MosaicHomestead]

@felixdacat6572 it's going to be a dark New Years for a lot of people, it's a major blackout, almost 1.5 million people without power...Happy New Year

[@marygallagher3428]

How are you doing Luis? Has the big electricity blackout affected your neighborhood?

[@MosaicHomestead]

@marygallagher3428 Power went out at about 4 AM and came back at about 12 PM, but the rest of the Island was still in the dark, power is predicted to be fully restored within 72 hours.

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

Off topic, I see PR has been without power for a while and at least for a few more days...looking forward to the video, I bet, you're doing on that topic! Hope you & the family are well.

[@MosaicHomestead]

@OldSchoolPrepper the power is out right now, it came for a little while for New years eve, but out today on the first, I'm mixing it with a more useful video, I'm building a 2.0 of my direct solar power unit, it has a more powerful buck transformer and sinewave inverter.