Mulch. Just do it.

[mad librettist]

Clover remains greener much longer than grasses do, in both drought and cold
conditions. Swards containing Microclover® are a brighter green earlier and later
in the year. It has a good summer colour, as it is particularly resistant to drought
because of its deep rooting system.
Normal white clover looks considerably different to turf grass. Microclover® has
such tiny leaves (one third of the size of ordinary white clover) and short stems,
so that from a distance of two meters it looks like ordinary grass.
Microclover® does well in shaded areas that receive at least some sunshine
during a day. Microclover® is evenly distributed in the sward; it doesn’t have the
patchy and weedy appearance as seen with ordinary white clover.

from the microclover people.

I am hoping for deep roots that keep moisture spread out through my mix. The soil in there supports a perched water table, so this would eliminate the problem.

Plant will be dropped in soon, already vegged a month. It will be vegged another month - 2 months to fill out a scrog canopy about 4 square feet, 20" off the soil surface. I will be selecting for thick branches and waiting til I get them. No wimpy branches tied to screens!

 

[mad librettist]

copying earlier pics so we can see the progress

i'm using my rake to do some thinning. When I scratched the surface today in broad daylight, I disturbed some wigglers.

I'd say lesson learned here is don't sow as thick as I did. be conservative and add more seed later. as you can see my clover is lanky from overcrowding.

 

[jaykush]

id say lanky from lack of light, i plant my clover much thicker than that.

 

[mad librettist]

ah ok thanks jay. This is my first time using clover that isn't a volunteer. I shuffled them around the room a bit, but the light situation can't be helped until maybe 10 days from now or so. Do you think I should just reseed a few days before I move them?

The seedlings I culled are nice stuff to mulch with. go figure! Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't experiment with mulches and FPE's made from sprouts. Lots of energy in seeds!

I can't vote on any more threads today, but that was helpful, thank you.


For the curious, this mix is along the lines of VG's "topsoil in the mix" thread. I have DE instead of perlite though, and charcoal and zeolite. The base is peat, the primary food is biotone and bokashi. On the surface, potter's clay has been worked in to make a more water retentive layer.

 

[mad librettist]

I managed to get 2 of them into my flower tent, and I rasied the other one up to the window. I reseeded all of them to make sure I get a good start.

 

[Geoffrey Boycot]

I have a 4'x2'x2' pile of damp pine needles that have been sat there since last summer. would they work as a mulch? i also threw in an old bag of chicken manure to try and heat the pile up for increased decomp....but that may make it unsuitable for indoor mulching purposes?

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Pine oil has many benefits. The mulch may be quite acidic... but the chicken poop is alkaline and so being quite a few months old you probs have some really good material! The pine will resist breaking down but that can be a good thing as your mulch will last longer maybe...

Maybe chuck on some dolomite lime just to be sure. A simple ph soil testing kit does come in handy for this kinda thing.

Indoors it would work best if allowed to dry right out first.

 

[Geoffrey Boycot]

cheers SS. i'll give it a go on 50% of new pottings. see what happens.

 

[mad librettist]

just my 2 cents: pine needles are for mulching pine trees.

 

[mad librettist]

video of the worms at lights on. you miss ost of the action as the camera adjusts to the light.

http://s357.photobucket.com/albums/oo14/maryjohn420/?action=view&current=2e6ae8ea.mp4

 

[jaykush]

nice, try holding a magnifying glass in front of the lens for clear close ups.

 

[mad librettist]

well, it was pretty clear, but photobucket really grained it up.


you can still make out the movement tho.

 

[jaykush]

yea i could see some stuff moving, but if you got a magnifying glass laying around it will help.

 

[OPT]

For future reference, if I were to top dress my plants with quano in flowering, should I pull back the mulch on the top and put directly on the soil, or right on top of the mulch?

I'm guessing pulling back the mulch, top dressing, then putting the mulch back on is the correct way....

What do you all think?

OPT

 

[h.h.]

I think I'm lazy and usually throw it on top of any mulch, maybe throw more mulch on top.
I think under the mulch would be more effective immediately and be a bit more economical.
As far as the correct way. Is there one?

 

[cjk]

adding the guano on top of the mulch is fine. usually mulch is very chunky / textured which allows the guano to fall through it and avoid it getting washed away. it interlocks the guano in place so to say. i wouldn't just keep adding mulch though because you only want an inch or an inch and a half to avoid overwatering and to keep roots aerated.

 

[mad librettist]

living mulch: just... live it?

living mulch: just... live it?

I'll see what I can do jay!

it will have to wait til I'm done playing with the new macroscope and the camera for the microscope.

woot!

 

[Geoffrey Boycot]

pine cones? they'd look a lot like bark chippings if broken up....there has to be a lot of energy in them surely?

 

[jaykush]

adding the guano on top of the mulch is fine. usually mulch is very chunky / textured which allows the guano to fall through it and avoid it getting washed away. it interlocks the guano in place so to say. i wouldn't just keep adding mulch though because you only want an inch or an inch and a half to avoid overwatering and to keep roots aerated.

to add to this, the mulch is the most biologically active area in your soil, so this is where top dressings get processed best.

 

[love2gro]

put that on, then mulch.

the compost is made of :
Contains Composted Wood Shavings, Redwood Compost, Composted Chicken Manure, Mushroom Compost, Fir Bark, Bat Guano, Kelp Meal and Alfalfa Meal.

Do you think topdressing with this then mulching would feed a plant through flower? The soil they are in will probably get them through the stretch, but im trying to figure out what to topdress with.