On a mish to find a good prepackaged soil

[Chrystal]

Nah i haven't started a mix yet I'm thinking if i can get this good of results from a potting mix by adding worm castings i might just use that combo

[Carbcon]

Probably as simple as it gets, and very effective. I'd be trying that tomato mix that Billy goat has.

 

The sunflower I have in with Scott's and castings is the most vigorous I have ever had.

[Chrystal]

Installed the Moisture Matics today lets see how they roll work i mean according to the directions they take 3-7 days to start working and they flood the saucer with a few millimeters of water for between 3-5 days at the beginning, only installed the MM's on the two larger tomato plants

[itchybromusic]

yep the things castings/compost can do added to shitty pre bagged potting mix 

imagine what it can do " Without " the limiting factor of shitty soliless potting mixes

[Chrystal]

yep the things castings/compost can do added to shitty pre bagged potting mix 

imagine what it can do " Without " the limiting factor of shitty soliless potting mixes

 

Baby steps i will get there i am liking this whole soil scene, just watered the tomato plants piece of piss, water strait from the tap and strait into the soil, i love it!

[itchybromusic]

that's cool 

 

not a fan of using tap water myself , especially when trying to have a living soil 

chemicals aren't real good at promoting soil life & the soil life does a much better 

job at growing plants than we do 

 

if watering is something your interested in then 2 things you could look into

 

Blumat watering systems , if you haven't seen them B4 , gravity fed or direct

from a tap , capillary action watering 

 

the other is

 

SIP's , Sub Irrigated Planter , these are my fav , use 2/3's less water than any 

growing system that waters though the top 

 

both these systems give plants constant moisture without over watering 

taking me & you almost out of the game , we get to watch & consume the fruits of there labor

[Chrystal]

Yeah i really like the Blumat's i would chose these 100% but i read on OSA that other members have flooded there rooms when initially setting up i can't afford any floods at all, the Blumats is what had me looking for self watering systems

[itchybromusic]

i have heard this as well but have also had people have no issue with them at all

from memory this guy has had no issue running blumats indoors  

https://youtu.be/OZLETQrHiFk

 

sometimes operator error can come in to play with some issues 

 

otherwise sip's aka earthbox 

https://youtu.be/hGaKwAd3Mbw

https://youtu.be/UbwN1MN2sjs

https://youtu.be/xpopShfmyrY

[Chrystal]

I checked out the first two videos the Earth Box looks interesting i thought that much paddy for that amount of soil would have burnt the plants for sure

 

while i was trying to remember the name of the EB i found this product its similar to the Blumats but there is no flooding https://easioyya.com/product/best-value-8-easioyya-kit-complete-with-30l-tank/ they are in Au and USA $140 for 8 dippers they mentioned 1 dripper will do up to a 400mm pot they look to be oversized clay waterers to compensate there transfer rate for needy plants that are thirsty

 

what i like about this Easi Oy Ya setup is there is no flooding at all, also mentioned on there web site is u can use clear hydroponic nutrient and u can also use coco coir as well as soil for a medium (in the FAQ)

[itchybromusic]

what burns plants is an excess of nutrients , mainly excess nitrogen but not the only culprit 

 

a well made compost won't have that issue , not to mention top dressing or mulching is a more

natural way & a much more forgiving way to feed plants , out in the wild all plants have a mulch layer 

& are used to growing there feeder roots into that layer 

 

i've seen the oyya setup , pretty much the same idea as blumat but not quite the same , from memory 

whatever system you get you'll need to dial it in to get the best out of it , when you do you'll be laughing 

 

i prefer as much as poss to feed a plant via a mulch layer & not via bottles , i run an organic system with

lots of microbial's that could cause some issues over time going through drip lines when i do use some sort of liquid 

 

the last earthbox vid with Kevin Jodrey is prob the most telling on what kind of system it is , he run's a clone operation 

all his mum's are in earthboxes , as he mentions , cultivars would be giving 1 rooted clone for every 700 clones taken 

in a normal system , soil or coco , once in a probiotic earthbox , all clones rooted to make the cultivar viable in large numbers