well I have used winter barley before, with no ill effect. however it was food crops.
so...
tell us how it goes! and tell us the species you have
so...
tell us how it goes! and tell us the species you have
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Mulch. Just do it.
- Thread starter Dignan
- Start date
how about oxygen in the soil? presumably the living mulch would be in competition with the plant for that?
I find the ground under a living mulch is always less compacted than bare earth.
for sure, the wrong species planted with cannabis could take steps to deny all kinds of resources.
in soils that would be compacted without a living mulch. for example soils with higher clay content. benefit GREATLY from plants like clover in the way of getting oxygen in the soil.
like mad said, there are species of plants that don't help. the biggest one of those imo is grass. grass is greedy. grass loves to grow with more grass. its not beneficial in any way with this type of growing system or growing cannabis.
All things in perspective. Grass works good under a large tree. The shade and the mulch from the tree keeping it under control.
Back on my rant about using EWC mainly for top dress, the clover roots as they grew, died and withered would keep the top dressing aerated and circulating. An " ah-ha" moment, putting the 2 concepts together.
Back on my rant about using EWC mainly for top dress, the clover roots as they grew, died and withered would keep the top dressing aerated and circulating. An " ah-ha" moment, putting the 2 concepts together.
agreed, grass works well under trees once the trees are well established - provided there is enough light and moisture for the grass.
my concerns/doubts are over living mulch in a pot. i wonder if the cons outweigh the pro's - for instance mad i wonder if your plants would have yellowed so early if they hadnt had to compete with your living mulch for available N, and such things as compaction arent really much of a concern in a pot...
my concerns/doubts are over living mulch in a pot. i wonder if the cons outweigh the pro's - for instance mad i wonder if your plants would have yellowed so early if they hadnt had to compete with your living mulch for available N, and such things as compaction arent really much of a concern in a pot...
If you're using the clover as a mulch, isn't it a nitrogen fixer? Granted, my knowledge is shaky at best, but I thought that was another one of the benefits.
im no expert either, but afaik it will fix nitrogen only when it 'needs to' and use nitrogen from the soil if it's readily available. the plant provides some oxygen to the symbiotic bacteria in 'return' for nitrogen.
also the nitrogen is pretty much fixed in the clover roots until it dies.
http://overton.tamu.edu/forages/cool-season-legumes/nitrogen-fixation/
VG
also the nitrogen is pretty much fixed in the clover roots until it dies.
http://overton.tamu.edu/forages/cool-season-legumes/nitrogen-fixation/
VG
grass and trees do not share a symbiosis.
trees do much better with a diverse groundcover rather than grass. i care for over a hundred trees from fruits to nuts to all kinds of other useful trees, even more wild trees. having grass just makes it easy to mow. we all know how much americans love their lawnmowers.
im with verdant when it comes to indoor vs outdoor. you reap many more rewards when using a living mulch outdoors. indoors you just have to be more selective. i would definitely do some chamomile, it benefits ANY plant growing with it.
im with verdant when it comes to indoor vs outdoor. you reap many more rewards when using a living mulch outdoors. indoors you just have to be more selective. i would definitely do some chamomile, it benefits ANY plant growing with it.
yet it was the grass of the prairies that made the ground so fertile. Removing the grass created major problems with erosion to the point the grass could not reestablish itself. Planting trees slowed erosion to the point the grass could reestablish. One of the first things growing on a burnt hillside will be grass. It allows the larger plants to get established. While deep roots bring up moisture, shallow roots keep the ground open where dew of the leaves can keep the surface moist and cool.
I'm not here to promote grass. I prefer strawberries, squash and whatnot.
i don't pull the rye. It dies here in the summer anyway. The Bermuda is evasive and runs deep. It gets dug out...
But we're talking indoor mulch. While I am beginning to see the benefits of less evasive use indoors. Even letting clover get out of hand would be a mistake. It can set some deep roots competing with the product. It's simple enough to keep chopped and in a large enough container the cons are easily negated.
The pro's aren't as readily visible and the ones that are can be accomplished by other means. We can recreate the nature...Or can we? We're here because something is missing in our recreations. The further we get away from nature, the more we lack. Living mulch is a major attempt to get back and explore what we are missing. While I'll chide Mad about it being something to play with. I think of hobbyists in their garage playing with memory chips until it dawned on somebody they were really good at counting.
If nothing else it will get you closer to your garden and closer to the dirt. I would say good Zen if I knew what that was.
I'm not here to promote grass. I prefer strawberries, squash and whatnot.
i don't pull the rye. It dies here in the summer anyway. The Bermuda is evasive and runs deep. It gets dug out...
But we're talking indoor mulch. While I am beginning to see the benefits of less evasive use indoors. Even letting clover get out of hand would be a mistake. It can set some deep roots competing with the product. It's simple enough to keep chopped and in a large enough container the cons are easily negated.
The pro's aren't as readily visible and the ones that are can be accomplished by other means. We can recreate the nature...Or can we? We're here because something is missing in our recreations. The further we get away from nature, the more we lack. Living mulch is a major attempt to get back and explore what we are missing. While I'll chide Mad about it being something to play with. I think of hobbyists in their garage playing with memory chips until it dawned on somebody they were really good at counting.
If nothing else it will get you closer to your garden and closer to the dirt. I would say good Zen if I knew what that was.
grass alone did not make the prairies fertile like they were, the buffalo's mob style grazing and fires had a HUGE role to play.
but yea thats got nothing to do with indoors.
i personally prefer a nice layer of decomposing organic matter from many different sources.
but yea thats got nothing to do with indoors.
i personally prefer a nice layer of decomposing organic matter from many different sources.
mostnonymouse
Member
I always assumed living matter was safe...Just like in the worm bin when seeds sprout.
The buffalo grazed on the grass while it was fuel for the fires. Grass ruled the ecosystem. What was missing was fungi. Trees wouldn't grow in some areas unless it was added to the soil.
Finding strawberries and squash work good together. The strawberries fill in around the squash and the squash keeps the berries off the ground while still getting good air movement. They both steal a lot of water which is an easy fix.
Lots of white clover in the yard. Small patches. Not as aggressive as the red which likes to get tall and fall over, spreading.
If I chop the white will it come back stronger or does it need to seed?
despite my doubts im very interested in what mad is trying out indoors in his big smart pots - i can see the benefit of something that competes for nutrients in early flower during the stretch and then got cut to decompose during the rest of flower. perhaps cress or mustard might work for that - or jays suggestion of chamomile which doesnt compete too much for nutrition... its good to try and push the boundaries for sure.
the first time i ever posted pics of my grow at this site i was told that the congested canopy was asking for mold - luckily thats never happened so far - what im saying is that there will always be scheptics but they arent necessarily always right...
VG
the first time i ever posted pics of my grow at this site i was told that the congested canopy was asking for mold - luckily thats never happened so far - what im saying is that there will always be scheptics but they arent necessarily always right...
VG
this post sounds like beat poetry. kerouac would be proud.
So I have a bin full of plants in which I covered the soil surface with 2-3 inches of sand to prevent fungus gnats. Is there any point in adding mulch on top or is the sand already doing that job? The plants seem to be able to go quite long without drying out.
See jay I'm kinda confused because I hear people say that mulch is mainly for maintaining soil temperature/humidity/etc, and that the specific mulch you use isn't that important.
Others seem to talk as thought mulch is one of their main nutrient sources. I'm already growing in compost-rich soil and feeding them compost tea. How would I go about designing a mulch recipe that contributes a significant amount of nutrients?
Others seem to talk as thought mulch is one of their main nutrient sources. I'm already growing in compost-rich soil and feeding them compost tea. How would I go about designing a mulch recipe that contributes a significant amount of nutrients?
