The term " No till" refers to the practice of not tilling the soil, usually in a field thereby not disturbing the soil by plows....turning it over. What we organic growers are doing in growing cannabis in pots....barrels, sacks, whatever, so long as it is not OUTSIDE , is NOT NO TILL. It is organic. ..It is non chemical, it is a lot of things...but one thing it is not is no till. The very term relates to the lack of disturbance to the soil...the lack of turning the soil over before planting.....We very much "disturb" our soil before planting...mixing, turning, adding in this or that ingredient before allowing our supersoil to mellow and cure. We are no more "no till" than the fellow using chemical based fertilizers and bloom busters in massive quantiles throughout his grow sine neither of us really disturb our soils once our plants are up growing in our pots. We need to drop this misnomer of " no till" as it doesn't accurately describe our process.
Dude - the folks that practice no-till gardening indoors generally use larger sized pots. Once their soil is made, cycled and in the pot it doesn't get disturbed. It doesn't get mixed. After harvesting a plant a new one is planted next to the existing stem. The old rootball breaks down on its own and is never disturbed, plant after plant after plant. It's as no-till indoors as the gardener that practices this outdoors. By the way, your name makes my stomach turn - no offense. J
Yeah BB, not all organic growers refer to it as no-till. Because most organic growers aren't using no-till. However, some people are in ten-twenty gallon pots. Take out root ball, place new plant in and top-dress. How is that not "no-till"?
"Take out root ball, place new plant in" I run a perpetual garden so always have assorted size vegging plants ready to go. I normally will just dig a small hole; let's say anywhere from 16 ounce to a gallon, right next to the existing stem and drop a new plant into that hole after maybe tossing in a small fistful of vermicompost & Kelp or something similar; usually whatever is closest to me at the time.Neither the existing root ball or stem is disturbed. There is no need to remove the root ball. I've gone up to two years and a dozen plants later in the very same pots of soil without ever disturbing it. J
Ah, I've heard of some people doing it this way. Probably better for the soil as the rootball must have nutrients contained in it.
I say we stop calling ourselves 'growers'. After all, its our little microbe buddies down in the soil and on the surface of our plants doing all the real 'growing', right? Instead, maybe we could just refer to ourselves as tenders or microbe feeders or some such. Iol
OP probably just got done reading One Straw Revolution. That book made me feel bad for disturbing any soil and having the arrogance to think I might know what's happening in nature. Then I stopped taking it so literally.
Just joking around. I dont care what anybody calls anything at all. I do, however, care about occasionally capitalizing on opportunities to lightheartedly poke a little fun from time to time. Its nice to take a break from the seriousness of organic gardening every now and then. Be well, all!
I'm one of those guys who never really shook Fukuoka's voice in my head. I do my growing outside and I won't scratch my ground any harder than a chicken would. Crazy? Maybe, but if I can get plants to use their roots to do the digging and amending for me, I think it'd be crazy NOT to let them do it.
I agree! I prefer the label 'chlorophyll manager'. In the end if we've managed our tasks and resources well the plant will have become all it could become including unlocked potential. ... Chlorophyll Manager reporting for duty!
In one of jerry's posts at the beginning of the composting thread he calls it "microbe-husbandry" I think I like this term the best, so far.
IIRC you too, like myself, are also a cannabis herbivore who enjoys a nibble or three during the growth? Sucking on a fan leaf to see how sweet she is..... mamma jamma...
since going organic in big pots "voyeur" seems about correct voyeurism.The principal characteristic of voyeurism is that the voyeur does not normally interact directly with the subject of his/her interest, who is often unaware of being observed. The essence of voyeurism is the observing but may also involve the making of a secret photograph or video of the subject during an intimate activity.
no not on a regular basis but I have nibbled on a few to see what the hubbub was about. I will never try another leaf from any hydro setup....idiaf how well tended they are, shit tastes so nasty. At least the sap I tried from my own plants didn't have a really bitter, kind of metallic taste to it. Just bland or somewhat sweet.