hey Rancho, I started them in solo size planters. The autos went into 5 gallon pots and my photos went into three gallon. I'm not planning on changing anything. Gonna see how the autos do before I change anything. They are sort of my testers. I will be moving the photos to five gallons before I switch them but that wont be until the autos are finished. I will check out your no till, thanks. hey Rancho
Right on. I never asked if you were gonna change anything. Just wondering what your plan was to get through flower? After you harvest, do you plan on recycling your soil? Thanks RD
Ahh. Oh, I'm gonna reuse the soil on my next grow. I was planning on mixing it all up and filling the pots again. I'm gonna have a two month flowering gap so leaving the dirt in the pot prob wont be good I'm thinking. Probably too much of a gap for the no till. I don't know much about it though.
If your used soil is going to sit for awhile before another plant goes in it, plant a cover crop in it. It will keep the soil "alive" until you're ready for another round of canna'. Clover is always good. Here's a cover crop "mix" available from BAS... http://buildasoil.com/collections/frontpage/products/cover-crop-blend The pots are still going to need water and light. If there's no room in your veg' grow space, put your pots next to a window...
Yeah no room. I got three autos and three photos. The photos are gonna be very big. I've trained two but one is bigger than my autos already. What do you suggest about storing the soil for two months?
No windows that get decent light that you could stick them in/under/next to? If you can't leave them in the grow space, and don't have windows, you're obviously going to have to containerize the soil somehow. Which means dumping the soil out of the pots, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of no-till but isn't a big deal. Now you're just "recycling" your soil... Moisten it like you did when you built it the first time for cycling, store, and then hit it with an ACT right before you want to use it again.
It would be cool if someone could come up with an excel spreadsheet calc that would have drop boxes for the different ingredient, and based on how much you say you want to make, it would tell you how much of what you need...
Totally forgot I had this one going!!! Thanks for the reminder stavi. I've been building one of my own. It 'works', but no drop boxes.
Hello Everyone, Summary: I know it's been awhile since someone has posted here but it seems to be the most relevant thread. I am currently trying to create my own soil and am having difficulty understanding some things. I have for the most part balanced them (Multiple amendments) so there are no lockouts or abundances of a single nutrient. Now the ratio is 3.61-2.59-3.13 (I won't include all the Mac's and Micros) which is near what is supposed 'optimal' 4-1-3 or 3-1-2. My numbers should work due to the availability of the nutrients at given times. Now my question is how long would this feed for? I know there are a host of variables that come into play when answering a question like that but does it work similarly to how one would feed with bottled nutes? I.E feeding once a week with a x-x-x . The recommended usage for most amendments is 1 Tbsp per gallon so if I plan to grow the entire cycle with a set N-P-K feed would I have to give it Two tablespoons per gallon or would that cause an abundance of nutrients that would affect growth? I also hope to re-apply the amendments at the end of each 3 month cycle and would like there not to be an abundance at the end of growth so the plant will naturally draw from the leaves as to not have a harsh final product. Questions: How long would the recommended 1 Tbsp of amendments per gallon of soil at 3.61-2.59-3.13 last? Do amendments work similarly to bottles nutes in the sense that they would have to be applied weekly(As if someone were feeding plant tea at the same concentration)? Would applying twice the amount of amendments cause problems in the soil (I.E twice the concentration 3-2-3 vs. 6-4-6)? If 1 Tbsp per gallon of soil is not sufficient for entire growth cycle (3 Months) what do you recommend? If my set N-P-K ratios are not optimal and amendments are similar in the sense that they can be applied (topdressed weekly) then should I make separate mixes to topdress throughout the grow? All and any help is appreciated but please try to answer the questions concisely and without condescension. Please excuse my grammatical errors. Thanks, JoT
You need to toss everything you wrote here out the window and learn about organic growing. Everything you have asked is about trying to apply a bottled nutrient formula into an organic method and it doesn't translate like that. There are no N-P-K numbers that concern us. We are worried about a properly constructed soil that is full of beneficial bacteria , quality compost and worm poop, with a proper amendment mix to sustain. If I had one piece of advice for you, I would say that you are making it WAY more difficult than it really is. Toss ALL of those numbers out the window. You don't need them. Construct a proper soil using kelp meal, alfalfa meal, oyster shell powder, neem meal, crab meal, glacial rock dust, source the most quality compost and earthworm castings possible, get some promix HP or sunshine #4 and mix it up at the right ratios and you are done. No, you do not add amendments like you do bottled nutrients, every week unless you wanna burn up your plants. I highly suggest studying up on organics after you clear your mind of prior growing methods. I will reiterate, it DOES NOT TRANSFER BETWEEN METHODS. Each method is a completely different mind set. Good luck.
Just put this soil mix together it is cycling very well so far and should work well as a well balanced mix for cannabis. So to make a cubic foot of base I do 2.5 gallons of each amendment to make 7.5 gallons which equals a cubic foot. So that's one part compost and or ewc, one part perlite and or rice hulls, and lastly peat moss and or coco. I did peat moss, perlite, and worm castings for this current batch. Reason I say and or is you can mix and match for a bit of diversity such as half and half peat and coco. Then per each cubic foot of base I add the following: 1 cup dolomite lime 4 cups glacial rock dust 2 to 3 cups of your dry mix dry mix consists of: 1 cup all purpose mix 5-5-5 like plant tone or happy frog all purpose I used happy frog works well 2 cups kelp meal 1/2 cup of each: High N guano, high P guano, Neem meal, Karanja meal, greensand, oyster shell 1 cup insect frass Now this mix actually works out to 7 cups total so it works well for 2 cubic feet of base soil being the seventh cup is oyster shell and greensand. Mix it all in and water it in with molasses at a tablespoon per gallon of water. I turn it over in my bin for the first week or so then I leave it alone for the next 3 weeks until I'm ready to use it. Hope this helps anyone looking for a basic mix based off of ITGs thread which has served me wel over the years.
How does this mix sound? 3 cu feet of peat moss 0.5 cu feet of Black Gold organic soil 3 cu feet of Top soil 50 pounds of composted cow manure 2 cu feet of mulch 8 cups of blood meal 8 cups of bone meal Perlite 7lb of lava rocks
You need kelp and rock dust...neem if possible...also not sure how many cu ft 50lb of manure is but assuming aeration, peat, and humus quantities are close to equal just make sure to get some kelp and rock dust.
I used 3 cu ft of peat moss, 1 cu ft of top soil, 0.5 cu ft of black gold, 50 pounds of cow manure (1.25 cu ft), about 20-30 lava rocks, 8 cups of blood meal, & perlite. I didn't have much perlite (0.25 cu ft) but the black gold had a lot in it, plus I hear earthworms will aerate my soil. I don't have much money right now but I can get 4lb of kelp meal. All I could find when I search rock dust is this, would it work? I have FoxFarm grow big & tiger bloom on hand in case I run into any deficiencies.
easiest to source will be glacial rock dust, add 4cups per cu ft of dirt...kelp meal is a MUST...you seem to be a bit short on aeration maybe get a lil more perlite or rice hulls. Also might want to consider dolo or oyster shell flour...all this ish is cheap so shouldn't be much of a problem. Seriously tho make sure to get rock dust and kelp
Can I substitute kelp with Espoma Garden-Tone? NPK is 4-6-6. It contains 15 essential nutrients. It also contains organic matter rich in vitamins and beneficial microbes to improve soil. I can't find any rock dust or kelp near me so I'd have to order them but I have 2 week old seedlings in just black gold that will have to be transplanted into my mix by next week.
I consider kelp meal and rock dust to be essential. My understanding is kelp provides the microbial life your dirt needs and the rock dust provides a home for it...do you not have a nursery or garden store that carries these items? My local organic market even carries kelp meal in their bulk spices section(not priced great but if you only need a lil) maybe an option. I dunno what your schedule is like but you should be able to find this stuff in a week...if it's a 2week old u should have tons of time.
My good friend Clive uses Equal parts: Peat moss Coco fiber Cotton burr compost Mushroom compost Vegan backyard compost Pear lite Then about 300 red wriggler worms- they reproduce and provide nitrogen and other goodies, like aeration throughout the entire grow Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum