Yes exactly! Atmospheric Nitrogen is in the form N2-- an elemental compound-- just two N atoms bonded together. The bond between them is super strong though-- it is a triple covalent bond-- and is very tough to break. Rhizobia and Azobacter have the ability to break this bond and "fix" the N into a compound that the plant can use, namely Nitrate (NO3) or Ammonium (NH4). These bacteria accumulate on the roots of legumes and form nodules that are visible to the naked eye. TJ
Yeah I had planned on recycling my soil and planting white clover seed with each plant, but I've still got some research to do
Quick question, Can you add your aeration amendment (rice hulls) after you've already made the soil mix and set it aside for cycling?
Hello there I am fairly new to organic growing and I wanted some expert advice on a supersoil recipe by supercool". I'm using fox farm ocean Forrest 8 bags of that now since I have Hurd that fox farm burns young-ins, I cut every two bags a ocean Forrest with a bag of light warrior. I'm using 30 pounds of warm casting, 5 lbs of blood and bone meal, 5 lbs of bat guano,3 lbs of rock phosphate, 3/4 cup of Epsom salt , 1/2 cup of dolomite lime and 1/2cup of azomite and I use 2 tbs of powdered humic acid. Any suggestions or input. I'm a real fan of not using nutrients and like a floral smell with natural smooth taste. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Hey guys, where might I find more info on recycling soil? I get the basic gist of it: cut the roots, chop them up and reuse them, mix the soil back up and give it an ACT to rebuild the microorganisms. Is this the general idea? How often would you use an ACT on the soil, every cycle? Do you guys just toss your "spent" soil and chopped roots back into your main bin of cycled soil and mix it all up, or do you keep it separate? Just trying to get all my ducks in a row here. I've got my nice soil ready to go and a basic soil (1 part 75/25 Compost/EWC, 1 part Peat Moss, 1 part Perlite and some dolomite lime) for my rooted clones, they will go into 16oz styrofoam cups (or small pot) and transplanted to their final 5gal smart pots. I think I have everything ready to go soil-wise... got everything to make more ACT, basic soil, cycled soil, and just need to know about recycling the soil now. I could only find random posts here and there about it but no concrete info, but perhaps I am blind and overlooked a thread. Definitely can't wait to see my soil evolve over time! And from what I understand it will just keep getting better and better! Thanks everyone! Hope y'all have a great Friday!
Atmo, I don't know if you have read this yet, but it seems to answer your questions. I just planted a few seeds recently in this mix and am very excited about it too.
Awesome @[member="randomnameguy"] thanks! I'd like to take this time to also say, wow, I'm an idiot - it was right on the first page. I knew I saw that post somewhere hahaha
I don't know about your grow situation (this really won't work for a closet grower), but have you considered no-till? It's a lot less work, and as you're just getting started, it's really easy to set up. It's not something that I've personally started doing because I'm still experimenting with soil mixes, but BlueJay exemplifies just about the best example of indoor no-till gardening that I've ever seen. Check it out... http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1299862-blues-basement.html If you want to know about no-till gardening, this is the man to ask...
Very interesting! Any reason this won't work for a closet grower? I only just quickly looked at that link but it seems like he is just using Smart Pots which is what I also use. 5 gal here, not sure what he's got. Interesting, though! I will have to read more about this. I would have imagined the roots of each harvest would build up too much to be able to just use it over and over, but I suppose the dead roots would get broken down into beneficial nutrients and the like.. awesome, thanks @waktoo I also love the idea of using your harvest trimmings and leftovers for the mulch itself!
Smaller pots for the closet grower. The bigger the pot, the better no-till works. Blue is running some pretty big pots, at least 20 gal' I think. I asked BJ about doing this in smaller pots. It is doable, things just need more attention. Ask him anything you want. He's very amicable to helping out those of us that "don't know yet".
Ahhh ok, yeah it was hard to tell the pot sizes from the pics. Awesome, though.. def will be venturing over there and asking some questions, thanks for the tip!
Speaking of pot sizes in a conversation on here has me thinking whether I should go larger next season? Part of me wants to but part of me says it's a lot more money for the soil ingredients, they will take much more water and may grow so tall that the neighbors can see them although I don't think they would really care. How much larger would you guess a plant would get in say a 45-65 gallon smart pot as opposed to the 17 gallon totes I grew in this season? Just kicking around ideas for next season already.
The bigger the pot, the bigger the plant. Especially when growing outdoors. Think of how large plants get when grown in the ground. The more room that a plant's roots have to grow in is directly proportional to the size that the plant might attain, all things being considered. Trellising (or LST) can reduce the height of what will become large plants. It may even increase your yield...
I went from 5 gal bucket to a 2cf hole in the ground and my plants grew about 3ft taller and are over double in girth or roundness.
Do yourself a favor and read the first several pages. ITG makes a lot of great posts answering questions etc. She seems like a smart chick. Wish she would have hung around longer. TJ
Thank you all for posting so much useful information in this thread. Sent from my SPH-L720 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
In the nor cal crews journal you can see what some skilled growers do in 45s. Anywhere from 3-6 pound monsters in there. Crazy. But there not new to this and have grown strains long enough to know what there capable of. I did 25s this year as my first and can't complain giving circumstances. I know if I did 25s next year I'd get double then this year. But I'm going 45s. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Grasscity Forum mobile app