Anyone done No-Till and what was your experience?

[childofmelee]

Just wondering if anyone here has tried doing No-Till or more accurately No-Dig as I'm thinking of trying it myself with my outdoor grow. I remember someone saying when they tried it their plants didn't get as big probably due to the roots not being able to push out as much compared to when the soil is loosened up with the spade.

Anyone tried it?

 

[River Rooster]

Haven't pesonally tried it but would only try if you knew the soil was a nice loam and I would still use a broadfork or something similar to loosen/aerate the soil without turning it. It works for vegetable growers so of course can work for cannabis. Generally people get results from no till over years and often people still dig over the very first time to prep a new area.

 

[exploziv]

Depends on how good your soil is, if you don't want to touch it at all you would probably need at least 10 cm of good compost put over. If you do want to touch it, at least a broadfork for aeration, maybe spread some compost before as well so you add organic matter. But results will vary based on your local soil and how it was taken care of. Be aware that some people that say it works for their vegetables have did it for years while also adding lots of compost and amendaments, also some might just lie in their videos about it. I wouldn't expect good results from first year, unless it's great soil already.

 

[childofmelee]

Haven't pesonally tried it but would only try if you knew the soil was a nice loam and I would still use a broadfork or something similar to loosen/aerate the soil without turning it. It works for vegetable growers so of course can work for cannabis. Generally people get results from no till over years and often people still dig over the very first time to prep a new area.

Good idea with the broad fork.

 

[childofmelee]

Depends on how good your soil is, if you don't want to touch it at all you would probably need at least 10 cm of good compost put over. If you do want to touch it, at least a broadfork for aeration, maybe spread some compost before as well so you add organic matter. But results will vary based on your local soil and how it was taken care of. Be aware that some people that say it works for their vegetables have did it for years while also adding lots of compost and amendaments, also some might just lie in their videos about it. I wouldn't expect good results from first year, unless it's great soil already.

Thanks for the information. I'll have to check the quality of the soil as I'm currently uncertain what type of dirt I'm dealing with, then I guess I'll decide what to do based on the soil quality.

 

[exploziv]

A soil test never hurts!

 

[Brother Nature]

No-till is a tool as much as it is a technique. As exploziv says, your first run won't be great, you'll need to build the soil up first using the correct planting techniques. I have a no-till backyard garden, but it has taken a year and a half to get it to a point where I would plant cannabis in it. It is an incredibly beneficial way of farming and there are many papers on it, but I would recommend a lot of research and planning prior to embarking o your journey.


In saying all that, cannabis grows like a weed and can survive in some of the most inhospitable environments so plant as much as you can wherever you can.

 

[St. Phatty]

I have places on my land where the natural soil is so hard and clay like that it kills plants.

Other areas where the natural soil is the epitome of a "Sandy Loam".

Location Location Location.

 

[TresPlantas]

Hey, i want to grow no till too.
But as many said before in the first year the results are not the best. In my garden I have pretty good soil on top but after the first layer there is pretty hard clay. So what I did is that i dug big holes for the plants and filles them up with compost (that‘s obviously not a no till approach). But from now on my plan is to only use cover crops and top dressing.
In the introduction of the no till handbook athor writes that it comes to three principles:

1. don‘t disturb the soil as much as possible
2. keep the soil covered (mulched) as much as possible
3. keep it planted as much as possible

If you don‘t want to dig holes you can use cover crops that have deep roots to break open the soil. Or you just let your plants do the work since cannabis develops deep taproots. I would guess then it‘s best to transplant to the final spot as early as possible to make sure your plants develop a deep taproot.

 

[goingrey]

If you don‘t want to dig holes you can use cover crops that have deep roots to break open the soil.

Any particular ones you would recommend? Preferably ones that could be controlled from spreading with reasonably easy measures..

Or you just let your plants do the work since cannabis develops deep taproots. I would guess then it‘s best to transplant to the final spot as early as possible to make sure your plants develop a deep taproot.

Yeah here we get to the "location location location" @St. Phatty mentioned. Sometimes it works but sometimes they just get stunted and stay small. Not necessarily bad, stealthy plants, very little work... Just have more of them. Doing it with store bought seeds could get quite expensive though.

 

[TresPlantas]

Any particular ones you would recommend? Preferably ones that could be controlled from spreading with reasonably easy measures..


Yeah here we get to the "location location location" @St. Phatty mentioned. Sometimes it works but sometimes they just get stunted and stay small. Not necessarily bad, stealthy plants, very little work... Just have more of them. Doing it with store bought seeds could get quite expensive though.

I have to look them up and translate. My shop (not a camnabis grow shop) has cover crop mixtures for different puposes (deep roots; stuff to attract bees; fast growing; building soil; fixing nitrogen). The thing is that i think that nothing beats cannabis in terms of taproots. If you have time you could sow some regular hemp one year to break the soil an then use this as a mulch. An the next year you start with regular plants. Or you dig. This year I‘m only using clover as clover. And for the winter I ordered a mixture that stays during winter.

But I‘m just starting to figure it out. No data here yet. It‘s just what I guesstimat what could make sense. Maybe we can start a no till thread for next season or maybe for autum because it makes sense to prepare for next season in autum.

 

[goingrey]

If you have time you could sow some regular hemp one year to break the soil an then use this as a mulch.

Hehe or just regular ganja... no-till.

 

[TresPlantas]

My shop suggest these as crops that loosen the soil:
vetch
blue lupine
sainfoin
horn clover
I just picked the ones that had deep roots in the description. I have no idea if googletranslate did the job. It‘s a german site

 

[TresPlantas]

Hehe or just regular ganja... no-till.

Even better but that could get expensive. Maybe a seedrun first

 

[farmerlion]

Childofmelee, what is the reason behind the notill grow? Is this in a remote area where stuff is being carried in? Buried cables/waterlines? It's not the most efficient way of growing unless circumstances dictate a style.

I have been developing what I call fungal repositories for 7 years now and it would work incredibly well for what you are doing. You could have incredible soil in a few weeks. There's no digging but you are making a thumb sized hole in the ground. I recommend three repositories per plant.

You do need power for a blender or carry your smoothie in with you. I have been using my same soil for 7 seasons now and it's in incredible shape.
I use potatoes, bananas, watermelons, strawberries, blueberries and pineapples. Whole eggs are a great starter for fungal colonies to start with. Feel free to check out my threads.
Peace farmerlion

 

[exploziv]

Interesting, farmerlion, did you do any side by side with this versus no fungal add-on?

 

[childofmelee]

Hey, i want to grow no till too.
But as many said before in the first year the results are not the best. In my garden I have pretty good soil on top but after the first layer there is pretty hard clay. So what I did is that i dug big holes for the plants and filles them up with compost (that‘s obviously not a no till approach). But from now on my plan is to only use cover crops and top dressing.
In the introduction of the no till handbook athor writes that it comes to three principles:

1. don‘t disturb the soil as much as possible
2. keep the soil covered (mulched) as much as possible
3. keep it planted as much as possible

If you don‘t want to dig holes you can use cover crops that have deep roots to break open the soil. Or you just let your plants do the work since cannabis develops deep taproots. I would guess then it‘s best to transplant to the final spot as early as possible to make sure your plants develop a deep taproot.

One of the main reasons I want to do No-Till is because I'm going to put a lot of plants out and that is a lot of holes to dig. I'll check the condition of the soil.

 

[childofmelee]

Any particular ones you would recommend? Preferably ones that could be controlled from spreading with reasonably easy measures..


Yeah here we get to the "location location location" @St. Phatty mentioned. Sometimes it works but sometimes they just get stunted and stay small. Not necessarily bad, stealthy plants, very little work... Just have more of them. Doing it with store bought seeds could get quite expensive though.

These are expensive seeds so I want to get the most out of them and stunted small plants is what I was afraid of if I do No-Till. If I had lots of inexpensive seeds then not a problem, small stealthy plants are even better.

 

[childofmelee]

Childofmelee, what is the reason behind the notill grow? Is this in a remote area where stuff is being carried in? Buried cables/waterlines? It's not the most efficient way of growing unless circumstances dictate a style.

I have been developing what I call fungal repositories for 7 years now and it would work incredibly well for what you are doing. You could have incredible soil in a few weeks. There's no digging but you are making a thumb sized hole in the ground. I recommend three repositories per plant.

You do need power for a blender or carry your smoothie in with you. I have been using my same soil for 7 seasons now and it's in incredible shape.
I use potatoes, bananas, watermelons, strawberries, blueberries and pineapples. Whole eggs are a great starter for fungal colonies to start with. Feel free to check out my threads.
Peace farmerlion
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The main reason for the No-Till grow is to cut down on labor, I plan to have a big grow so lots of holes to dig. But if it means sacrificing yield then I'll get to work with the spade.

The grow area is in pine forestry, the pine trees are still small right now so I might get one or two seasons out of this area.

I'll check out your threads on fungal repositories. Thanks!!

 

[farmerlion]

Interesting, farmerlion, did you do any side by side with this versus no fungal add-on?

Exploziv, I did one year inside before I purchased the greenhouse. I had reused stakes from a previous year that had an aphid problem. Not knowing they could live in bamboo stakes I transferred the problem to the following grow.

I didn't complete a side by side grow the entire season, nor did I document the grow from that viewpoint. The season/winter prior to the greenhouse was the in depth study of fungal colonies and their association with the roots.

Determining that controlled repositories could be very beneficial is when I focused the entire environment. My research was dependent upon flowering onset and finish times. I tested roughly 60-65 strains from many geographical regions.

No surprise many seeds labeled with a certain finish time outdoors are very inaccurate. But to compare grow bags in the greenhouse, halfway through the first season I stopped the comparison, it wasn't even close.
Now I wouldn't even consider doing a grow without fungal repositories. Every medical grow should be done this way.
If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask.
Peace farmerlion