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Organic, pro-biotic and organic growing without bottled nutrients

DoNothingGarden

By DoNothingGarden
in Growing Techniques

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resist Cannathusiast

resist

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Just read the entire thread, glad to see this style of growing is taking off in Aust! I've been doing my own soil mixes for about a year, and really impressed with the results. Has taken me a while to collect all the inputs, I spent probably $300-$400 towards my soil, but now I have enough to last years and years.

DoNothingGarden, great to have you here on the forum, thanks for being so generous with your knowledge. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask, if you don't mind.

What kind of saucers do you use for large fabric pots? My fabric pots are approx 50cm wide, and I haven't found any off-the-shelf products that are affordable. Only drip-trays meant for hydro which are like $150 a pop.. I need at least 4 saucers so this isn't feasible. For ages I've been thinking of a DIY solution, got some workable ideas but have held off executing them. Mainly because some of my DIY projects come out a bit rough and end up being a temporary solution, which is a waste of time/money in end. The saucers need to have a decent volume, because I'd like to try Blumats. As a Blumat-noob I've been told I need a catchment in case of water run-away while I tune them in, or I risk flooding my floor overnight. I see there are large-enough saucers being sold in USA, but so far I can't find them in Australia. If you considered importing and selling these saucers alongside your fabric pots, I would certainly be a customer (assuming the price is fair)

I'd also like to ask you about "worm juice". About 6 months ago I converted an old fridge into a worm farm, following instructions I found online. Have been feeding them kitchen scraps, paper/cardboard, and some garden clippings. When I add paper/cardboard I usually dampen it with EM1/labs-infused water to speed up the breakdown process. After 6 months there is a lot of worms, so the population seems to have grown and stabilized. As per the worm-farm instructions, there is a drain hole at the bottom to collect the "worm juice". So far I've been using this juice on my regular outdoor garden (non-cannabis), sometimes diluted and sometimes straight-up, and haven't noticed any ill-effects on the plants that have received it. II'm hesitant to use the juice on my indoor cannabis plants, because I read that if the worm-farm is immature, or has other problems, the juice can contain pathogens/toxins.

Now that you've heard the basics of my worm-farm operation, do you think it would be OK to use the juice on my cannabis plants? And if yes, what kind of dilution ratio? My best guess is to start small (eg. 10% juice to 90% water), wait 2 weeks to see if theres any ill effects, and then up my ratio to 20%.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice you might have!

Edited by resist
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DoNothingGarden Rising Star

DoNothingGarden

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Just read the entire thread, glad to see this style of growing is taking off in Aust! I've been doing my own soil mixes for about a year, and really impressed with the results. Has taken me a while to collect all the inputs, I spent probably $300-$400 towards my soil, but now I have enough to last years and years.

DoNothingGarden, great to have you here on the forum, thanks for being so generous with your knowledge. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask, if you don't mind.

What kind of saucers do you use for large fabric pots? My fabric pots are approx 50cm wide, and I haven't found any off-the-shelf products that are affordable. Only drip-trays meant for hydro which are like $150 a pop.. I need at least 4 saucers so this isn't feasible. For ages I've been thinking of a DIY solution, got some workable ideas but have held off executing them. Mainly because some of my DIY projects come out a bit rough and end up being a temporary solution, which is a waste of time/money in end. The saucers need to have a decent volume, because I'd like to try Blumats. As a Blumat-noob I've been told I need a catchment in case of water run-away while I tune them in, or I risk flooding my floor overnight. I see there are large-enough saucers being sold in USA, but so far I can't find them in Australia. If you considered importing and selling these saucers alongside your fabric pots, I would certainly be a customer (assuming the price is fair)

I'd also like to ask you about "worm juice". About 6 months ago I converted an old fridge into a worm farm, following instructions I found online. Have been feeding them kitchen scraps, paper/cardboard, and some garden clippings. When I add paper/cardboard I usually dampen it with EM1/labs-infused water to speed up the breakdown process. After 6 months there is a lot of worms, so the population seems to have grown and stabilized. As per the worm-farm instructions, there is a drain hole at the bottom to collect the "worm juice". So far I've been using this juice on my regular outdoor garden (non-cannabis), sometimes diluted and sometimes straight-up, and haven't noticed any ill-effects on the plants that have received it. II'm hesitant to use the juice on my indoor cannabis plants, because I read that if the worm-farm is immature, or has other problems, the juice can contain pathogens/toxins.

Now that you've heard the basics of my worm-farm operation, do you think it would be OK to use the juice on my cannabis plants? And if yes, what kind of dilution ratio? My best guess is to start small (eg. 10% juice to 90% water), wait 2 weeks to see if theres any ill effects, and then up my ratio to 20%.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice you might have!

Sounds like craft worm castings you have there! I would just use the biggest saucers U can find, fill with scoria and set the fabric pot on top.

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resist Cannathusiast

resist

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Sounds like craft worm castings you have there! I would just use the biggest saucers U can find, fill with scoria and set the fabric pot on top.

Thanks mate! Glad to know I'm on the right track with the worm farm. I'll start introducing the worm juice into my watering.

 

The biggest saucers I've found in Australia are 50cm, the exact same width as my pots. (https://www.hydrocentre.com.au/index.php/pot-500mm-black-saucer.html) So once I put the pots in the saucers, there wouldn't be any room for water runoff, in case the blumats flood. I hadn't thought of filling them with scoria, that would indeed create some room below the pot to catch excess water. Its hard to know how much room, but its something at least. Thanks for the idea, I'll have a good think about it, might be a good solution!

 

Maybe I also need to use a small-ish reservoir, at least in the beginning while I'm tuning them in. That way, if the blumats release too much water, hopefully the reservoir would empty long before my floor gets flooded.

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DoNothingGarden Rising Star

DoNothingGarden

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Thanks mate! Glad to know I'm on the right track with the worm farm. I'll start introducing the worm juice into my watering.

The biggest saucers I've found in Australia are 50cm, the exact same width as my pots. (https://www.hydrocentre.com.au/index.php/pot-500mm-black-saucer.html) So once I put the pots in the saucers, there wouldn't be any room for water runoff, in case the blumats flood. I hadn't thought of filling them with scoria, that would indeed create some room below the pot to catch excess water. Its hard to know how much room, but its something at least. Thanks for the idea, I'll have a good think about it, might be a good solution!

Maybe I also need to use a small-ish reservoir, at least in the beginning while I'm tuning them in. That way, if the blumats release too much water, hopefully the reservoir would empty long before my floor gets flooded.

I actually sell Blumats... Been using them for years and I've found the 50cm saucer under a 56L fabric pot with a blumat sensor and 3 distribution drippers works perfectly. I always used a 50L res.

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