The no till mix is designed to not have to cook because it is not terribly high in nitrogen. The added alfalfa bumped up the nitrogen in the soil but necessitated the cook time
Well you want Nitrogen your whole grow just a lot less in flower but still needed. Kelp is an amazing nitrogen supplier.
From my understanding and reading of the (monstrously long) no-till thread is that the coots/mofo mix is gentle enough that yes, you can plant directly into it. Adding things like alfalfa or bone-meals will necessitate letting it sit some time to cook, as those will compost and literally make the soil hot (as in temperature).
Kelp is most effective in leaf development which will increase your photosynthesis process. Want less kepl in flower though to get less leafy buds.
Nice it’s looking. The alfalfa was 1/2 per cf? As for the no til recipe states 1/2-1 cup of the amendments. What did you do? Same for the basalt 4-6 and Biochar 6-8
Ahaha thanks I’m working my way through I’m on 10 of what like 900 ahah smh great knowledge tho. I wasn’t planning on using any bone meals but after my research I feel alfalfa is a very good ingredient to include. I’m not in a rush either so I have time to cook.
On advice from a few people I did just over a 1/2 cup per cubic foot on everything that calls for 1/2 to 1 then I did 5 basalt and 7 biochar.. I charged my bio char for 10 days in 1 cu ft of the compost that was going in my recipe.. I mixed everything else without the bio char so it could start cooking then added the bio charge to the mix once it was charged
Keep in mind when calculating your amendments that you do not amend the aeration. So if you have 3 ft³ total one peat moss 1 compost 1 aeration you only amend 2 ft³...
So if kelp and alfalfa both are boosting the nitrogen i wonder if leaving out alfalfa and going heavier on kelp would b a good idea since you won’t have to cook and it will be high in nitrogen
If you dont want to cook then just use bottled nutrients and actually do some research on the company and what they put in their products.
Honestly the added alfalfa isn't really necessary. Especially if you do the kelp and neem teas and things of that sort. But in general the mix doesn't require it and is all you need
Interesting that I did not know I was planning on accounting the aeration as well. You might have saved me right now
You should also look into KNF applications. Super cool and gives you something to do while you're not mixing up nutrients all the time.. One more reason to not need alfalfa. Make a clover FPJ and you have all the nitrogen you need readily available
I don’t mind cooking at all just trying to figure out the best method for organic no til. I don’t want anything to do with bottles
Honestly having come from bottled nutrients in soil I can't agree with you more. This whole idea is just an amazing type of gardening and it really pisses me off that it took me 10 years to find it....
Never heard of it I will look into it. I was planning on using compost teas and seed sprouted teas to feed but it seems those aren’t necessary as well? It has me scratching my head that I can really grow quality with this little ingredients.
When it comes to the cups of amendments per cu ft, I think a lot of people miss a critical concept. If you are using smaller volumes of soil say 10 gallons, then I move toward the upper end, say a cup. If you are using say 25 gallons of soil, you can go to the lower end or say 1/2 cup of amendments. When mixing a soil, I stop and think about the total amount of amendments per pot or per plant. Kind of like a reality check. As you move on to make your own mixes from scratch or whatever, and gain some experience that will be a useful way to look at things. That may help make sense of the ranges on things. fyi- bonemeal doesn't need to cook, but needs 2 weeks or more for the P to become available. It doesn't get hot when it breaks down in a mix (or worm bin). cheers os