List of Australian Organic NoTill Amendments and Components

[pug1010]

interview with Alan Atkinson , probiotic farming 

https://youtu.be/boOOTh-zzOw

very interesting itchy ... seems like a genuinely nice fella.

 

are you still using an earthbox indoors or something similar?

[itchybromusic]

yeah i like what he go's on about & the open source grokashi he puts out there to diy via the PFA 

 

i would still run the earthbox indoors but just haven't done an indoor run in a while 

when i did use them they were great but plants grow quickly & fill out there root space 

so you need to turn around a earthbox grow in around 4 months which shouldn't be an issue indoors 

 

side note earthbox are making or have made a bigger version of there currant earthbox 

 

i ran them outdoors too but ran the grow to long & ran into some root bound issues 

 

you realize pretty quick the plant gets allot bigger in a sip than the equivalent non sip pot 

they just don't need the same length grow time to achieve the same sized plant 

 

has def made me think about when i need to start a grow in a particular sized normal pot 

the plant will only get as big as the normal pot will let it , no need to plant a seed at the end of September

in a 50lt pot if your not going to harvest till May the next year

to run that time , September to May you'd wanna consider going at least double that or even triple that 50lt size

 

my thinking is , why set yourself up for probs with plants getting root bound early to mid flower from

being in a pot not big enough to last the distance 

 

i'm sure we've all had plants we've harvested from a pot root bound to buggery with no issues 

but why tempt fate , with a lill planning ahead , root bound probs can be removed from the table 

 

fabric pots also help the root bound thing & will let you grow a bigger plant for the same sized pot  

[pug1010]

thanks itchy ... great info mate and always leads to more questions ...

 

just wondering ... how you apply the grokashi as a top dress with your cover crops and straw? also ... do you use their recipe or have you fine-tuned it a little - not sure of the availability of cocao shells.

 

Mulch Dressing (top layer)

1/3 cup of Dolomite/Azomite per square foot of soil

1/2 inch of cacao shells and GRO-KASHI

1 inch of compost (e.g. Malibu’s Biodynamic Compost)

*Apply Mulch Dressing every two to three weeks

 

sorry itchy ... another couple mate ...

 

do you think using em1 (as a soil drench) with fulvic acid, ksil and aloe would be okay or would it better to alternate between the two different drenches - em1 on one watering and fulvic/ksil/aloe on a different watering? one more mate ...

 

this one is on blumats (for my current fabric pots) ... i don't think i can manage the troph system, but reckon i could possibly get a few classics (they seem to work similar to auto-siphons) in the tent ... do you have any thoughts on these mate?

 

cheers itchy.

Edited May 21, 2019 by pug1010

[pug1010]

still getting my head around this one ...

 

after reading a bit more ... i'm guessing that the above recipe is for the topdress, but the actually grokashi recipe is a bit different and takes a bit more work (unless you live in the u.s and buy the product:)) ... had a read on buildasoil and noticed the grokashi recipe had a few dry ingredients and a fair few liquid fermentation ingredients that might be a difficult to source.

 

just wondering how you make your grokashi itchy and also whether you reckon it would still be worth it for a 50L fabric pot, in a non-sip system?

[itchybromusic]

hey mate 

 

i use his recipe as is 

 

very hard to find cocao shells here in oz , they are dangerous for dogs , i'm sure you've heard chocolate is bad for dogs 

 

there is enough minerals in the grokashi to last 10 to 14 days after top dressing

 

in an earthbox with it's shower cap on it will build a thick bacterial mycelium mat  

 

this is an earthbox outdoor last year 2017/18 you can see the roots growing up into the mycelium 

 

in a normal pot the mycelium will air prune & not be that visible , working in normal pots i tend to use 

it anytime i top dress something a little more than meals or powder type amendments , kelp neem ect ect 

 

like when i chop & drop the cover crop i'll add grokashi b4 chopping or b4 i top dress castings or compost 

for the record i'd also add a kelp neem ect ect when i do both the above 

 

using grokashi in an earthbox is a lill diff but basically the same , in an earthbox the plastic shower cap protects 

the mycelium mat from the wind & water = no rain , all water is from the roots up 

 

i reckon using EM-1 as a drench or foliar is worth it anyway you use it , even in a compost tea but 

only add it at the end of brewing as the microbes in EM are anaerobic 

 

they even recommend hydro guys use it to keep there feed lines clean , hmmmmm wonder if that works 

for blumats as well 

 

well believe it or not i just brought 5 of the classics to have a play with , 2 big & 3 small , i'll use them 

on indoor plants cos i live with an over watera & these gnats in the sun room while i eat my breakfast has 

gotta stop   whether the blumats help or hinder i'll find out soon enough   

 

so yeah i think you could make the classics work but how you make them work is another story , you have a carrot 

the thing you poke into the soil , & about 500mm of feed line , maybe less , so your reservoir would have to be close by 

& how do you make that work with multiple pots / reservoirs ? 

 

i follow the recipe Alan put in the files section i downloaded from his facebook group PFA Probiotic Farmers Alliance 

it's like doing KNF , grokashi is a ferment , there's heaps of how to make your own bokashi on youtube , that's the same 

thing just grokashi has a few diff ingredients than standard bokashi , main ingredient in both is EM-1

 

it's not that hard to make , you can get all the ingredients here in oz to make it , finding a larger quantity of organic wheat bran 

could be challenging but all in all it can be done 

 

def worth using in a sip or pot , there's no negatives i found or seen with using it , helps to make top dress mulch nutrients more readily

available to the plant    

Edited May 21, 2019 by itchybromusic

[pug1010]

nice one itchy ... thanks heaps for the gold.

 

as usual ... goes in my notes ... good to have it handy, as I reckon i might have to read it a fair few times - some nutrient dense info there mate ... a bit like activated almonds, eh? hehehe

 

if you don't mind, could you let us know how you go with the classics ... i think from memory RC might have used them a bit too ... am thinking of having four reservoirs (one in each tent corner) - only way i reckon i could fit them in when both pots are growing.

Edited May 21, 2019 by pug1010

[itchybromusic]

 

cheers mate 

i had a notes file of clackamas coot & a bunch of others 

for the same reason of re reading a few times 

 

i'll def let ya know how it go's i don't remember seeing 

anyone using them or i saw them & forgot , stoner 

 

btw the classics feed line is 1m long , just measured it 

wonder what modifications you can make to these classics

if any & still have it work the same 

 

interesting way to water , i was thinking , does the height of the reservoir 

make a difference in the amount of water transferred 

 

anyway you keep us informed on your experiments as well 

& i'll go have a search for RC's work with the classics 

[itchybromusic]

Installation

1. Remove green cap.
2. Soak clay cone in water for about 15 minutes.
3. Fill the clay cone with water.
4. Press the cap on the completely full clay cone.
5. Insert the Blumat into the soil near the roots. The clay cone must be completely under the soil.
6. Place the tube in a water container. Ready!

Tip: It is best to attach the cap when the tube is already in the water container. Then most of the air is pushed out of the tube and the watering starts faster.

 

 

 

Water Level

The water level in the water container is the same or slightly lower than the green Blumat cap.

This is the ideal position, water is dispensed according to the degree of moisture in the soil. Water discharge is approx.

75 ml / 24 h or 125 ml / 24 h (XL)

The water level in the water container is significantly lower than the green Blumat cap.

Watering is dispensed according to the degree of moisture in the soil. As the roots need more energy to draw in water, water discharge reduces to approx.

50 ml / 24 h or 75 ml / 24 h (XL)

The water level in the water container is higher than the green Blumat cap.

This positioning allows water to flow from the container into the cone, the Blumat Classic therefore constantly discharges water even if the soil is moist enough. The water discharge can amount to up to

150 ml / 24 h, or 200 ml / 24h (XL)

 

 

 

[DoNothingGarden]

Check out Sustainable Village for a huge amount of Tropf Blumat installation tips and tricks. I found if growing no till,take all the sensors out and recalibrate after every cycle and you won't have issues. Problems arise in gravity fed systems when too many fluctuations occur such as water pressure, water demand from harvested plants to seedlings etc. Try to keep elevated reservoir as full as possible for a consistent water pressure for success

[itchybromusic]

https://www.sustainablevillage.com/blumat