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Mulch. Just do it.

flat3ric

Member
What a great thread. Made me take a walk outside to see if I could find any white clover, and I found a bunch in just a few minutes....harvested some and planted it in my 5 gal smartpot :)

I also came across a few patches of what looks like yellow clover....any reason I shouldn't try some living mulch using this too?

di-SU5T.jpg
 

who dat is

Cave Dweller
Veteran
I've got really interested in this too but was trying to get ahold of microclover seed only. Any of ya'll come across a link for somebody who only sells microclover? I've seen some mixes with grass being sold but I don't want anything too tall taking over. I want to use this for my regular old houseplants too. Thanks.
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
you won't find any until next season, when it will be all over the place and more expensive if the producers get it right. seems to me they were not prepared for the level of interest this product has generated. this puts Monsanto to shame with techniques used by Gregor Mendel hundreds of years ago. This must be an absolute godsend in places like Montreal, where it's illegal to use chemical ferts or pesticide on your lawn.

But for your garden, consider regular white clover along with the hundreds of other plants that could help


a few notes:

1)it stays small, but micro clover growing on its own does not stay as micro as you would think.
2)the short stature means it is very far from the light during flower. This may be alleviated in sog grows
3)shade tolerant, but still needs light, maybe more than house plants typically get indoors.


I am trying crimson clover to get something taller. we shall see how that goes. white micro clover does not survive scrogging so far.





Everyone trying this, if you want to help out try to note how your living mulch fits in to the veg-flower cycle. When and what do you seed, do you mow, how long in flower, does it come back, pot size, medium, etc... It would eventually be nice to have a guide that covers different situations from coco to vert, and that relies on seeds people can actually get.
 
Last edited:

descivii

Member
I did my own write-up here of what I'll be trying and it'll be done in vert.

Bolivian Jew, Turtle Vine = Callisia repens

Habit: Rosetting stems are creeping or pendant with age; upright in juvenile growth. This sprawling plant covers ground quickly and easily; probably invasive in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Naturally terrestrial, lithophytic and epiphytic though epiphytic growth is likely broken away from an originally terrestrial stem base.

Height: Since stems are sprawling height is limited to 4 - 5" tall; forming mounds or "pillows".

Width\Diameter: In a healthy plant it may become hard to distinguish where a particular plant starts or stops. Rooting occurs easily at each node resulting in a carpeting effect. Each point of contact and subsequent rooting may result in new individuals crowns.

Experience tells me that it makes a dense mat of roots in the top 2" of soil and thins as you go deeper. I also know that it grows year-round without attention to season or day length. I have only seen this plant flower once in my possession in almost 10 years. Cuttings can be made by mutilating a plant and throwing on ground or in pot and cover with an inch of soil. I wonder about possible compound in this plant as it roots far easier than anything I've ever rooted.

EDIT:
Apparently Callisia are known to have medicinal effects, used in curing of stomach ailments, eye and gyno-issues......odd combo, right?!?!
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
mad your white clover didn't come back after harvest? did you continue to water?
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
mad your white clover didn't come back after harvest? did you continue to water?

no resting in my garden! for sure I watered it, and seeded with the crimson clover, chickweed, etc...

I think this is because I am inside under artificial light. Compared to what they can store up with a full season of sun, we are not talking a lot of energy. Under the scrog, we are talking an HPS 5 feet away with a thick canopy between them. Their unshaded period is under LED, with a CFL added if they are lucky.

Or it could be the variety of clover as well, as it does not seem to tolerate mowing that well either.


best advice I can think of for indoor living mulches is wait a long time before chop and drop if you want perennial clover to come back. If someone can figure out what white clover really needs, that would be helpful. Maybe it needs a certain light cycle as well, like the crimson clover does.
 

MrFista

Active member
Veteran
Maybe the soil N hit a proportion where the clover did not retake (after chap and drop). High N is detrimental to N fixers. If seed is still in the soil, as N drops it may take again.

This is of course ecosystem sized advice, so probably wrong.
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
Maybe the soil N hit a proportion where the clover did not retake (after chap and drop). High N is detrimental to N fixers. If seed is still in the soil, as N drops it may take again.

This is of course ecosystem sized advice, so probably wrong.



could be could be.

But with white clover it is supposed to be coming back from the roots.

I do have enough light to germinate down there, but they only take if I get them to the veg area.
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
no beans hh?

those stalks look mighty bare!


you can make squash living mulches more secure by burying nodes here and there. New roots will grow, and it's like parallel circuitry vs. serial circuits as far as pests shutting down the plant are concerned.
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
The stalks are in a weak back corner of the plot that didn't get a lot of sun at the time. The whole plot was basically planted in the wrong spot and planted thick as a break between me and the street. I get short cobs that are perfect size for me and more than plentiful enough. Corn likes nitrogen and the soil was lacking when I started having mostly mulch and little compost. I'll make crop circles when they're done.
The Mj was recently placed now the area has more sun. It was in a pot and was got root burned from a neglectful caretaker leaving it out in 113* weather. It's still in the pot, dug in, with the bottom removed, surrounded by eucalyptus firewood and soil. I want to give it it's own root space.
The pumpkin (squash) is excellent for ground shade while letting in air. Ambient temperatures are reduced dramatically.
They seem to root pretty well on their own. One reason I left the Mj in the pot. I was afraid of the roots being too evasive.


edit;
Beans are intermixed and for the most part didn't fair well when planted. Probably too much shade. I should have given them a head start.. When the corns down,I'll replant some sweet peas for the winter.
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
you want to plant the beans when the corn sprouts.
That makes sense. Let them grow with the corn.
I was a bit unorganized in that section. Hot, sandy, by the street, I avoided the area until the pumpkins grew in.
I'll over winter with some sweet peas and perhaps some scarlet runners and asparagus beans, then corn again in the spring.
Hot summers here with very mild winters.
 
D

Durdy

Hello my mulcher friends!

I have three large bags of vermiculite leftover from being used for stove insulation. I've read this can make a good mulch. I was thinking about puttin on my greenhouse plants

Any precautions I should take before placing in my raised beds?

Rinsing?

Thanks
 

self

Member
I've used insulating verm in my mediums before with no ill effect. It might make a good mulch, insulation verm has a larger particle size then horticultural verm. I did not rinse mine, but it had been outside in a bag with some holes in it for over a year, so I guess that might count as a rinse, but I don't think theres any need to treat it to be used for insulation.
 

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