Once again...lots of questions. Hoping to get a discussion going on no-till vs reammending soil. I have been using 15 gallon smarties for my first grow and my original plans was to go no-till. I'm not sure how well that is going to work since the root ball seems to disrupt the soil quite a bit when I remove it. I'm putting rooted clones into flower to try to keep the root mass down but it just seems like I'll be filling the holes with new super soil anyways which seems like it defeats the purpose of no till...unless I'm misunderstanding the concept. I like the idea of no-till but I can't see how that is an effective use of the soil since the roots don't come anywhere close to reaching the lower portion of my pot. What would you guys recommend? Are 15 gallon pots even big enough fro no-till? ...OR should I dump the old soil into a large container, mix it up, reammend it, let it cook and then just re-pot it later? I have enough soil that I could rotate for months before putting the used soil back into production. Really just wondering what the majority of you guys do and what has been most successful for you.
since the root ball seems to disrupt the soil when I remove it Don't remove it - just dig out a small hole with a little gardening trowel and drop a 1 gallon potted, vegging plant into the hole. Plan ahead and have a plant ready to drop in the same day you harvest the first one. The old roots will be gone pretty quickly - soil bacteria breaks them down pretty fast. I'm putting rooted clones into flower to try to keep the root mass down Why? I like the idea of no-till but I can't see how that is an effective use of the soil since the roots don't come anywhere close to reaching the lower portion of my pot. Why not veg them for a month, or two months first? I stopped recently due to an unrelated issue, but used 15 gallon pots of homemade soil in a no till setup for several years with no lessening of quality or quantity. I would grow the plants large for several months prior to flower - perhaps 2' tall and 3' across before the hit the flower area. I would flower for 10-12 weeks finishing with fairly large 2'to 3' high, four foot across plants. The same day of harvest I would dig out a one gallon hole, dust it with some castings and stop a vegging plant into this hole, leaving the bulk of the existing roots in place. They dissapear quite quickly, let me assure you of this. This is the essence of a no-till organic horticultural garden - leaving the soil life in place and established. The new plant would go into the veg area for 4-8 weeks until I was ready for a new plant when a space opened up and the cycle gets repeated. Nutrients are replaced by top dressing with assorted amendments, botanical teas, compost and castings top dressing - etc. Does this help? J
Indeed! Thanks. I don't have near the space i would need to veg my plants that long, unfortunately. I'm thinking about putting together a no till bed for veggies though. I'd be able to keep that out in the open. ;-)