My last grow I used two five gallon felt planters filled with no till soil and the plants seems to do OK for the entire four month grow period with no added nutes. Pretty cool. But, for some reason, the potency is weak. I've done everything I can think of to correct this problem including re-assessing water, soil, light, pH, etc. I'm using 600 watt HPS on 18 off six. I was wondering if the plants would be even better if I transplant them couple of weeks before starting flowering phase. Transplanting them into two fresh five gallon containers to give them a fresh start with fresh soil. I keep thinking the plant during the veg process used up a lot of the nutrients. Good idea or bad?? Also, is there anything you need to do to enhance the no till soil? I know you really don't have to do this if the soil is no till, but again looking for ways to enhance the grow. Thanks.
1. Get bigger pots. 5gallon is a bit small for no-till. 2. Transplant as early as possible, the sooner they are in the final pot the better. 3. apply neem +kelp tea every 10-14 days. 4. apply malted barely every 10-14 days. read the no-till thread and follow the OP's methods. No-Till Gardening: Revisited some good info on the old no-till thread as well you should check out: No-Till Gardening HTH
Thanks Scooby. What is wrong with me. I did one whole grow with no-til soil and added NOTHING into the soil. They were all in five gallon felt. The flavor and potency is not that great..I'd say 3 maybe 4 on a one to ten scale. So what happens to the plant if it grows in a seven gallon vs. five gallon that makes the seven gallon better/healthier? I'm going to do it of course because I've done everything you've suggested so far, but I am nosey. Also, on a small scale grow of two to four plants, would there be a lot of difference in the overall quality of the plant if you used 1000w vs. 600w?
7 is the minimum recommended for no-till but i would say if you want really good results 15 and up is really where it starts to shine. of course this depends on what space you have but consider going with less but bigger pots. how big is your space?
@Sc00byD00bie So I've been hearing recently that topdressing is just as effective as making teas with much less work/mess included? Do you agree with this?
i agree with the exeption of new soil, in which case a tea might be more effective as it will provide more soluble nutrients faster. but in the long run, routinely top dressing will provide everything in a steady manner just the same. so i would say for new soil go with tea and switch to top dressing after round one. the above is concerning any amendment teas like kelp or neem etc but as far as compost or castings i would always just top dress and forgo making any teas, aerated or otherwise, with them. HTH
@Sc00byD00bie That makes perfect sense, thank you for clarifying! I am actually about to start a new no-till so this info will be very handy! So you do top dress compost as well as castings? I use the bu's dynamic compost but have never top dressed with it, only with the worm power that I also use.
Hahaha yes yes I know guilty as charged. Been on a tight budget and been throwing all my extra cash into my new grow room but within a month I will be doing my own worm farm!
Scooby 30 gallons of soil for two plants would be a lot of soil for a small time grower like me. And it would be a lot more expensive. And, I'm too lazy to mix that much soil. It is a lot of work for me to mix up the standard three cubic feet with amendments! I'm getting ready to start here and have everything needed to add the tea. But now everyone is talking about topping instead? Since this is new soil I'm using tea as you mentioned. I think I'll brew it every ten days and use each batch twice. I have the space for the large pots...but not the energy. I'm a lazy old guy.
Thanks for input wetdog. I'm going for sevens this time and will heed the advice from you and Scooby. The ONLY weak link I can find in the grow may be the 600 watt lights instead of 1000. I have two 600 watt lights so I'm just going to use them for awhile. One will be in a 4x4 tent and one in an open room. Each will be lighting two plants. I don't want to spend the extra money to get 1000 watt setup right now. I've got two plants about ready for flowering and two started seedlings. We'll see how the new soil and new teas do.
It's not so much the cost of a new set up, but the operating cost that really matters. BTW, 600w should be plenty for 2 plants. I try and stay outside as much as I can, but that's iffy in a not legal state. I'm looking into LED's more as they have finally seem to have come of age. What I have for a 4x4 tent (mostly unused), is a 400w HPS and 400w MH, in a 2 bulb Adjust A Wing hood. Magnetic ballast and all. Was looking into CMH bulbs for both that only pull 315w each. Better than the regular bulbs, but still a good bit more than comparable output from the LED's. Still researching though. Plus, everyone just got 'smart meters' installed, so that's a new consideration.
I have an LED light that was highly recommended, but I have not used it for an entire grow yet. Appreciate the info WetDog. I know nothing about smart meters.