build my own mulch?

[Kaptain_Kronic]

sooo..... i shouldnt have read the mulching thread in one sitting, and certainly not on 420....

anyway, this is my first run back in soil, first run with organic amended soil, first time trying mulch (ever)

heres what i have implemented so far:
6 parts promix bx
2 parts EWC
2 parts perlite
1 cup powdered dolomite lime per cubic feet

amended with: mix per gallon soil
1/3 cup high N peruvian sea bird guano
1/2 cup high P indo bat guano
1 tbs kelp meal

water with: molasses and i was using liquid karma, but stopped because i dont know if i can use with organic living soil
i also give a compost tea made of molasses and EWC
my mulch idea
base layer of chopped up sticks and twigs
covered with grass clipping,clover,wild onion, "weeds"

i mowed 3 days ago, it has rained lightly every day, but has had sunny time too. i raked all the grass and "weeds" into piles to let it start to do its thing.
i also spent about 2 hours breaking twiggs into small peices and filled about half a 5g bucket yesterday. can i use this stuff? i cant bring myself to put it on my soil untill i have someone to back my move haha

i want to do this on every plant i have indoors. some are in 5gal smarties, some in 4 gal hard pots (till i repot)

 

[mad librettist]

skip the twigs. you are mulching an annual, not a tree.


later on you can mulch your stems, but only once you have a good mulch layer going.


don't forget to consider a living mulch

 

[Kaptain_Kronic]

a living mulch will probably be tested at least once, but not now. right now i just need something on top of my soil, and i prefer that it be of benefit, as opposed to just being inert like perlite.

have lawn clippings in abundance and thought it would be cool to put them to use.

i guess what im really after, is the obvious -slow evap, temp low, and even watering- but also after reading the mulching thread I really want it to be a good boost for my soil and its microbes. and i would like to do something today if i can come to an agreeable plan of action

 

[h.h.]

Sticks and stems can be of some use in layering the mulch to keep the grass and such from compacting.
Make sure the grass is herbicide free. Use it sparingly to promote bacterial growth as well as provide nitrogen. I don't think I would really use it past early veg. just past the seedling stage. Use it over compost. Dried leaves and flowers after that. Pre soak them in some compost tea, sprinkle some ewc over the top. A dusting of oatmeal, cornmeal, a little bone meal, and some black bean flour, a layer of kelp then a touch more oatmeal and bean flour. Then throw your stems over the top.
Use DE around the stem if needed to help keep the mulch from direct contact.
You're basically establishing a compost heap over your root zone. Following the lasagne method. keeping pretty much the same carbon/ nitrogen ratio with more emphasis on the carbon as the plant matures. Anything green, releasing nitrogen during flower, is bad. You want it finished before that stage. Leaf for leaf and flower for flower.


It's sugar for sugar, and salt for salt go down in the flood its gonna be your own fault

 

[mad librettist]

nutrient needs for cannabis in flower are actually the same proportion as veg, just more of them.

yes, that means you need N in flower.

 

[h.h.]

I'll rephrase that to excess of anything green...
While the needs of our plants may be the same, our needs change. We want them doing a death dance, not sucking up nitrogen and moving to Florida.
I noticed this when growing next to a compost pile. The plant just never bloomed completely. It stayed dark green. My last grow trial with the oatmeal, I put grass around the smartpots only to end up with the same results.Light airy buds. The plants were healthy as hell, but weren't giving it up.

 

[Kaptain_Kronic]

eh.... maybe im doing too much new stuff for one round. i think ill fold my cards on this one and just use an inert mulch round. everything else im already doing is new to me, guess ill just see if im even doing organic soil right, before i mess with mulching for nutrients.

i wont stop reading on it, but it seems even more less known or agreed upon that soil mixes and amending... perlite this time, but one plant i have my eyes on to experament with, so maybe ill do H.H lasgana method on her.

i do agree with the death of dance being necessary. mine dont do this quite as much as my dads. seems like by the time his plants want to be chopped they have already lost their green and start dropping their sun leaves. makes trimming very fast, but he trims wet now, so very sticky.

 

[h.h.]

Not to confuse you. Mad is correct in his statement.
We don't want to kill the plant either.
Some greens and especially grass, due to it's high fertilization rate, can be applied as green manures. I think of grass as fertilizer when used as mulch. It enhances leaf growth as well as enhancing flower and fruit production, mainly it enhances leaf. Lots of chlorophyll. Buds stretch more with the new growth and become airier. Plants depend on it and become addicted.
Like fertilizer, use it sparingly. It does help activate your other mulch. Sprinkle it over the top.
Like you said, one thing at a time. Start with EWC and unfinished leaf compost until you get the idea.

 

[mad librettist]

hh is right to warn you about grass clippings in flower.

if you brew up some grass clippings you will notice lots of protozoans. they cycle N like nobody's business.

do you have your trimmings from your plants? that's great mulch.

if you have some straw, you can mix that 1:1 with your grass clippings and mulch that.


or do like hh said and make lasagna. don't give up just because you encounter some difficulty!

 

[Kaptain_Kronic]

i wouldnt call it giving up so much as acting now before my girls have a problem, and continuing my research for my net batch.

today i went ahead and top dressed a little ewc and put on a good inch to inch and a half of washed pearlite on all my girls. i do have a few small clones that are having a slow go of getting established so i left space around their base for the time being. i gave them all a drink(my outdoor girl included)of some compost tea and washed out my bucket and air lift and "watering can".

my blue widow

one of my white widows

 

[mad librettist]

when you get a chance switch that perlite out to something with nutrition.

 

[h.h.]

You won't need to switch the perlite. Eventually it will just float away.

 

[mad librettist]

good point.

get some nutritious mulch on there though!

 

[Kaptain_Kronic]

i will eventually. i figured id have to remove it to topdress for flower, so hopefully ill have some good mulch ready... since i wont have leaf mold till 2013..

 

[mad librettist]

get on the net and find some spoiled hay or straw. put a wanted ad on craigslist.

you will get some free material.

 

[h.h.]

.
While leaf mold is idea, dried leaves work well. Add a little nitrogen (grass) with them.

 

[shmalphy]

I have been filling a mulch bucket with scrap leaves from clones, and ones that fall off late flower, plus all my roots and stems, cut up into small pieces, and adding coffee grounds and banana peels from my breakfast everyday. I also have added well rotted wood chips from a stump I found, and leaf mold from deposits I found in my compost pile. I just keep adding anything I come across that I feel would be a good mulch and try to constantly diversify it. It ends up a rich black color, and I screen it before I use it and put all the big stuff back in the bucket for next month.