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Living organic soil from start through recycling

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Gascanastan

Gone but NOT forgotten...
Veteran
i can see where this would be a great method with much larger pots,i just dont see 5 gallons as being a large enough mass to really keep that going.it strikes me that this is a perfect method for someone setting up a largish grow for a dispensary who is actually concerned with producing quality meds. setting this soil mix up in say 200 gallon smartpots on pallets with at least 1 1000w lamp per plant...hoo doggy i bet you could grow a mess of fine meds that way...probably be able to grow a bunch of your tea component plants in situ...


i always think of that term in the sense of the NASA goal of creating a way to feed people in space ,as in a true closed loop where the plants create oxygen for the humans who create co2 for the plants as well as recycling their waste into plant food and the plants are cleaning the water which is also recycled....that sort of thing...but theres still no loops to be closed here,top dressing and adding things in a liquid form is still re-amending,no matter what,you are still going to have to bring outside sources into the system.
I already ran a 5 gallon no till 3k once yield and quality phenominal..I think I got 5 fat ass pounds off that one....it was awesome from start to finish. Since I have the 5 gallon pots and the constant factor of space I am not doing larger pots due to having to move them more than I'd like at my current location atm.
I'm saying it works in 5 gallon pots for 2 cycles let's try 3...or 4... take risks evolve,and succeed...stop being such neh sayer and try it..jeeeesh. just fucking do it...we'll hold your hand as your life changes...you won't have to be afraid of failure if you are capable of following direction.

You got some of the top organic guys here with years of practicle experience appling these newly introduced concepts in public for all to see. Risking ridicule and ney sayers all the while making it happen regardless of the doubters and haters....results are happening here ....compared to a few pages over where they are still locked in some kind of primal battle with a plant..still asking,"what's wrong w/my plant"..goo goo sob sob...

I am confident (due to experience) that I can run 5 gallon no tills for more than 2 cycles...and at my age that's not bad.


BTW..no matter wtf I do in the garden..I.do NOT fail to bring in a quality crop EVERY time...for years...back to back..thump thump thump.. ka-ching everybody is happy.
 

Gascanastan

Gone but NOT forgotten...
Veteran
Btw I didn't put that red thumb there......seems maybe there's a 'bug'..or?????.

I ain't raggin on fishstick...just hoping to get the in-fromation past that hydro-thick skull...it's not his fault..he was a victim of marketing.

Happy Anglo-Saxon day all~
 

ClackamasCootz

Expired
Veteran
Gascanastan

With AgSil I've eliminated another bottled liquid product, i.e. Pro-TeKt and that now leaves me with only fulvic acid, Spinosad and neem oil (or karanja) liquids.

No 'white lab-coat' technology here!

LOL

CC
 

ClackamasCootz

Expired
Veteran
Jah say like a thief in the night
Rastafari will visit
Pleasure lovers easy to catch
One by one they bit the dust
Jah life is a blessing
In his grace three score and ten
Jah life is to enjoy
Still them alive but them already dead

It's not a door
Of wood and stone
Jah Rastafari is coming through
Is this door that enter to your soul
Jah has the key to your heart
Take care in what you do and say
Jah Rastafari is watching you
On your mark, get set
Ready to go to Rastafari


Knock Knock - Ijahman Levi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwZANDl6Bmo
 

Gascanastan

Gone but NOT forgotten...
Veteran
Gascanastan

With AgSil I've eliminated another bottled liquid product, i.e. Pro-TeKt and that now leaves me with only fulvic acid, Spinosad and neem oil (or karanja) liquids.

No 'white lab-coat' technology here!

LOL

CC

I somehow knew this would happen.....I wanted to believe it like I wanted to believe in Santa....but that fat bastard let me down......organic living soil won't let you down.

Now all we need is home-stoned application rates~ This is fucking awesome Coot...this is big.
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
to be honest,after reading 70 odd pages in this thread,and getting started on several others i have come to the conclusion that its going to be way too expensive to switch over,more than 50% of the mix ingredients arent available here,by the time i add in shipping on what i cant get it slips into the why on earth would i do this category...plus it really looks like i would be taking a substantial loss of yield,like around 30%,and i was never dissatisfied with what i was growing in the first place,and by all appearances the nute line im using is made of exactly the same stuff you guys are using!! and as a bonus i dont need to get a biology degree in my spare time to even remotely understand whats going on...
now when i get my outdoor gardens going then i think all this would really come into play,and the day i can have a greenhouse full of hazes they absolutely will be in organic soil...but until then,i think i will just stick to my sinful ignorant ways.

thanks to all you principles here,this is without a doubt one of the most concentrated accumulations of actual science anywhere on the site,as well as being highly entertaining.thank you for all your patience as i asked the same stupid questions no doubt covered over and over elsewhere. as well i appreciate that you are willing to debate rather than just dismiss out of hand my ill informed ramblings...
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
to be honest,after reading 70 odd pages in this thread,and getting started on several others i have come to the conclusion that its going to be way too expensive to switch over,more than 50% of the mix ingredients arent available here,by the time i add in shipping on what i cant get it slips into the why on earth would i do this category...plus it really looks like i would be taking a substantial loss of yield,like around 30%,and i was never dissatisfied with what i was growing in the first place,and by all appearances the nute line im using is made of exactly the same stuff you guys are using!! and as a bonus i dont need to get a biology degree in my spare time to even remotely understand whats going on...
now when i get my outdoor gardens going then i think all this would really come into play,and the day i can have a greenhouse full of hazes they absolutely will be in organic soil...but until then,i think i will just stick to my sinful ignorant ways.

thanks to all you principles here,this is without a doubt one of the most concentrated accumulations of actual science anywhere on the site,as well as being highly entertaining.thank you for all your patience as i asked the same stupid questions no doubt covered over and over elsewhere. as well i appreciate that you are willing to debate rather than just dismiss out of hand my ill informed ramblings...

Too bad Uncie. When I started down the road we just dragged stuff in from outside, besides the peatmoss. The vermicompost was homemade. The yield did not change but the quality was assured. We had less PM, less pests, less pathogens. It all went to a dispensary.
 
Happy thanksgiving everybody!...i am very thankful for this thread lol..even though it's a twisted holiday...hope you all have a good one and be safe..
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
MM you guys have one important thing that makes it work out there i think...water that falls from the sky....without some actual atmospheric moisture it makes composting much more difficult,and in spite of being a fairly good sized little city,this place is quite backwards when it comes to getting quite a few of the inputs,even the things i can find in state the shipping just kills...not to mention i have no desire to have the ups truck showing up at my house over and over..

the real crux of the matter is there is just too much new info for me to assimilate to be comfortable with switching,without real understanding of what i was doing i feel i would just be setting myself up for disaster,after years of struggling to even feed myself its nice to be able to do things like buy my first new bike in 22 years...

but this spring you bet i will build my outdoor veggie gardens up with a fine organic soil mix and get a barrel composter and set up a worm farm and all that,in that context i can experiment to my hearts desire,but its taken me years to even be an average grower!
 

gregor_mendel

Active member
Uncle

You work at a hydro store, right? (sorry if I have the wrong guy here)

Are you not able to order these things at work?

I do understand how you feel, though. I live in a place where none of these things are available at feed stores, like they seem to be for everyone else.

Maybe instead of giving up, we can all work together to identify your local weeds (to substitute for kelp), and determine what alternative dry amendments you have available at work.

I just couldn't justify the cost of various rock dusts shipped to my house from the PNW, so I went to a local gravel yard, and picked up a 5 gallon bucket of crusher fines for no charge. I screened it at home, threw the big chunks in my outdoor veggie garden for drainage, and started getting a gallon or two at a time of different colors of rock dust at the bottom of local cliffs. I get all the free 2 years+ aged horse manure I can haul locally as well, and it is teeming with composting worms, so I screen it and harvest the worms. I have them in a 20 gallon smart pot in my garage, slowly but surely multiplying. Since I live in CO and it is cold in the garage now, even though it is underground, I vent my dryer in there to warm it up.

All the while I am running crops rather successfully with salt nutrients, but I plan to have a solid soil ready when they run out - about two more cycles.

Just want to encourage you to make the best of what is locally available. Don't see what you can get, get what you can see, and open up your time frame a little while you continue with the bottled gunk.
 

shmalphy

Member
Veteran
Expensive? You obviously don't "get it"

Other than keeping the lights on, I get barley seed at the food store, or just use quinoa which I keep on hand anyway. I get "floor dry" at the auto parts place, Alfalfa at the feed store... Pennies per plant, if that. Most if not all of it could be replaced with something free, sourced locally.

The key is having a solid humus component to your soil. Something you won't find at the hydro store.

I know people using the general organics line and store bought "soil" (replaced each time) on the same strains I am running and the resin output on theirs is pale in comparison. Aroma is weak, and flavor is severely lacking.
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Microbial activity will hinder compaction and the health (or lack) of your plants in no-till runs will reflect this. Proper aeration amendments will go a long way and is crucial in no-till sit-ups, I learned that the hard way :D

I've done two runs no-till in 5 gal buckets with no drainage, although that will be changing because the smarties next to 'em visibly outperformed the buckets - probably drilling holes in half of them soon lol and buying more smarties, I feel like I can feel the roots wanting more air, especially by the end of flower, although two crops back to back did just fine with no breathing except from up top, whatever....

The 18gal size seem to be a sweet spot, meaning most everything ive done in that size comes out golden and no fuss, damn near set and forget.

need to do more work on my 50gal smarties, I.e. much thicker layer of rocks etc on the bottom and/or get the damn things up on a pallet and off the concrete floor! Also quite different watering needs when you get that big indoors, my first run was dry all the way around the edges, top to bottom, and too moist in the middle - water from the outside in rather than the inside out, like water heavier on the perimeter and light in the middle, spraying the exterior of the fabric pots during foliars could only help also.

BlueJay; You may wish to consider using some locally sourced rocks/stones in the bottom of a large no-till. I've been thinking on this and hypothesizing that using stones (eg. round river polished & gravel) with a variety of colors may provide longterm release of a variety of minerals in addition to providing drainage. This concept is similar to the one where a variety of colors in vegetables provide humans with a variety of nutrition and vitamins.

Where we moved to two years ago, the soil is very rocky, as we are sitting on top of an old mountain slide. Besides that we have a very high water table.These pretty much necessitated building raised beds. We dug out a pond about 20 x 60 x 7 feet deep and used the fill as our base. It was full of clay and multi-colored rocks of all sizes. We eliminated rocks larger than hardballs but there were many smaller, red, gold, white, blue, granite rocks. On top we piled a soil mix of topsoil, sand, aged wood bits & compost (15% OM). We ended up with beds around 16 inches high and about 80 x 20 in total. The plants which went into the bed did extremely well, supplemented only with ACT. Subsequent years will tell the story.

What I think can (does) happen is, as the soil matures, the microorganisms become heirarchically arranged at various depths so there are bottom dwellers mining the minerals and passing converted nutrients up the chain to the next level of microorganisms and/or to the roots. Conversely the top dwellers are able to process the organic matter applied to the surface.

When we constructed our greenhouse we layed down sand which was packed and leveled, then put down landscape cloth, then 3/4 inch crush gravel with fines mixed in. We kept some Empress trees in there which were raised from seed and transplanted into one gallon pots. They did exceedingly well and we discovered why when we went to move them out to harden off. They had put roots into the gravel and were deriving nutrients (micronutrients/minerals) from it.
 
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