On a mish to find a good prepackaged soil

[freddie]

Great thread.

 

I am an indoor organic grower. I recycle now but my mixes started out as basically a potting mix (vege and herb) and coir, about 50/50. To this I add some blood and bone, kelp, an organic soik conditioner that includes calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, copper, boron molybdenum. I sometimes use some guano pellets but not always. I always add some worm castings from my own bins. I guesstimate how much of each but mostly my plants turn out pretty well. After each grow I just add a little more of the above. I actually think it gets better over time. I will eventually just go no till.

 

Worm castings are just about the best thing you can add to your mix. Years ago I grew a gigantic basil plant in a 50/50 mix of castings and coir. Unfortunately I can't get castings commercially any more and my bins don't produce enough but I would love to try this with cannabis.

 

I have  recently begun using bokashi, both the juice diluted and the actual bokashi. Diluted human urine is also a great fertilizer, especially in the early stages.

[Chrystal]

Was trying to work out how that patty actually gets to the roots since the EB feeds water up from the bottom but seeing you said the roots grow up and into the patty that makes sense

 

i plan on building a 2x2m green house soon after i move i will put my autopots in there and i was looking at some other basic no power systems to go in there as well looks like the EOY is the go will pop a canna in there later in the year

 

i plan on using the EOY in doors too i was looking at a few different systems and ways but i think soil with a EOY in fabric pots will be the go that way there is no mixing nutrient and checking ph and all that shit

 

one thing i wanted to ask is will the WC in my pots last a season or will i need to add more?

[itchybromusic]

Great thread.

 

I am an indoor organic grower. I recycle now but my mixes started out as basically a potting mix (vege and herb) and coir, about 50/50. To this I add some blood and bone, kelp, an organic soik conditioner that includes calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, copper, boron molybdenum. I sometimes use some guano pellets but not always. I always add some worm castings from my own bins. I guesstimate how much of each but mostly my plants turn out pretty well. After each grow I just add a little more of the above. I actually think it gets better over time. I will eventually just go no till.

 

Worm castings are just about the best thing you can add to your mix. Years ago I grew a gigantic basil plant in a 50/50 mix of castings and coir. Unfortunately I can't get castings commercially any more and my bins don't produce enough but I would love to try this with cannabis.

 

I have  recently begun using bokashi, both the juice diluted and the actual bokashi. Diluted human urine is also a great fertilizer, especially in the early stages.

cool stuff mate 

yeah it gets better the more you grow & take care of a living soil , up to a point 

there's only so much beneficial life you can squeeze in a pot B4 any extra makes no diff 

 

 

Was trying to work out how that patty actually gets to the roots since the EB feeds water up from the bottom but seeing you said the roots grow up and into the patty that makes sense

 

i plan on building a 2x2m green house soon after i move i will put my autopots in there and i was looking at some other basic no power systems to go in there as well looks like the EOY is the go will pop a canna in there later in the year

 

i plan on using the EOY in doors too i was looking at a few different systems and ways but i think soil with a EOY in fabric pots will be the go that way there is no mixing nutrient and checking ph and all that shit

 

one thing i wanted to ask is will the WC in my pots last a season or will i need to add more?

the idea will be you'll need more but you can make castings in the pot via a mulch layer 

as long as the mulch layer is thick enough to keep the bottom of the layer moist , worms & 

other soil life will consume it , in turn pee'ing & poo'ing out Castings at the top of the pot 

so rain or watering can flood casting nutes though the soil 

 

if you keep the carbon to nitrogen ratio close enough to right in regards to top dressing 

worms will be attracted by the natural composting process , worms prefer to eat bacteria , the bacteria just happens 

to be on organic matter as it breaks down , the best casting come from worms consuming not quite finished compost  

 

the thing with the earthbox is that plastic cover catches evaporation on the under side , making the condensation rain downwards 

under the plastic , you get both wicking & top watering 

 

keep in mind larger volumes of soil are much easier to take care of , less prone to large moisture fluctuations which plant & especially 

soil life don't like 

[Chrystal]

Say if i do the WC on top of the pot than compost once all the WC is gone and the plants need more nutrition am i able to tease away whats left on top from the roots and replace it with fresh WC or should i just put another layer on top of the existing one?

 

These MM's are sucking that water like no tomorrow out of those self watering bottles each has used around 200-250mls in 24 hours

[itchybromusic]

castings is the end result , if you keep putting castings on top you are effectively feeding your plant but also feeding worms there own shit 

start a soil mix with castings & compost & you have nutrients & soil inoculation covered , use green manure / straw / kelp / neem / leaves 

grass clippings / flowers ( def not florist flowers ) , to feed worms & soil life as mulch to make more castings in the pot & continue what's

known as Nutrient Cycling 

 

root systems will consume more on warmer days , less on cooler days , but any root system is constantly evolving as the plant gets bigger 

a 1.7m x 1.7m black russian plant i have in a earthbox at the mo is consuming 4lts per day on cooler days & anywhere between 6 & 8lts per day on warmer ones 

[Chrystal]

Ah yeah i get ya now, i will have to look at different manures to see how they work and how long they take to break down there is few places near by that sell manure and one place sells fresh manure bagged but I'm not exactly sure if i want it in the house would be good for the green house tho

 

the Earth Box looks pretty cool but i wasnt sure about the over flow hole and it leading to a flood, a 1.7m2 girl on one of those pots would look like a nice grow

 

i looked into the whole SIP linked buckets to a reservoir with a float and than a tank above that that is probably the cheapest option of all because buckets sell for $2.50

 

are there any more of those clay cone shape self watering devices on the internet that u know of?

[itchybromusic]

ok

Green Manure i mentioned , are plants used as top dress not animal manure although you could use animal manure as well 

i prefer not to use animal manures unless i know the source of the manure & how animals are fed & looked after 

considering most manures come from commercial operations where costs are minimized while big grocery squeezes every last drop out of farmers 

 

there's no real need to know exactly how long something will take to breakdown , you just set up a monthly regime of top dressing , canna is an annual plant 

as long as you leave space in your pot for a think mulch layer , at some point the plant will be done , chop it off leave the root system as food for the next plant 

soil volume will increase & decrease as plants grow & then chopped , this also assumes larger volumes of soil , 50 to 75lt being the smallest sized pots 

 

you control watering so to much over flow would be on you , you can make yourself a float to give you a visual ref to filling the res , indoors i use baking trays under the EB's

as a drip tray for the lill extra that will over flow when you fill the res but you get to see water come out over flow , you stop watering there would be less than a liter of over flow 

 

you can make wicking / sip's out of almost anything  

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/Emberainband/videos

 

oyya's & blumat are the only ceramic i'm aware of 

[Chrystal]

12 days in that vegi mix now two on right with old mates special worm castings, whats the chances of old mate screwing with the worm casting because these results look outstanding you'd think every garden store would mix in worm castings into there mix, could u imagine the sales? they would go thru the roof

 

are u able to boost the worm casting with additives possibly growth enhancers without killing the worms in the worm farm?

 

just topped up the Moisture Matics i will calculate from here on how long they take to need a refill i may cover one with a bag to stop evaporation but i have no motivation atm

[itchybromusic]

as you can see you don't need much of anything extra added to castings to have good results 

 

making casting is expensive , making quality castings is even more expensive 

 

i've seen 20lts of castings for $60 . $30 & even $15 

 

the $15 & $30 were both from piggeries that sell worms for fishing , the $15 guy fed his worms pig shit & dried dog food 

the $30 guy was most likely the same except he screened his casting though wire mesh to give you a consistent looking end product 

 

the $60 guys have used herbs , green manure , kelp , neem & one worms really like is minerals = rock dust 

if you've heard the term nutrient density of food , this is were it mostly comes from , rock dust , & as i've said 

b4 what go's though a worms gut comes out better the other end 

 

when you look at the above ingredients & think how big a worm turd is you realize how much you need to have 

to make such a small amount of castings & why these's ones are so expensive 

 

best additive to castings , rock dust , least casting yield is from kitchen food scrapes cos there 99% water 

[Chrystal]

Ahh i got my worm castings for pretty much next to free it actually cost triple the price in fuel to pick it up than what it cost but the bloke was a family man with kids so he might have used food scraps I'm not to sure but thanks for that last post i will ask next time what have the worms been fed

 

i was thinking about using the autopots i have been told i can use well composted soil in them, what is well composted like bagged potting mix? was told to mix it with perlite or expanded clay balls

 

now if irun a 25/25/50 mix of WC/soil/expanded clay balls or perlite since it is a 50/50 mix do i need to check ph because it is a soil system but it is also a hydro system to on the other hand