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The New & Improved [ROLS MEGATHREAD].

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MileHighGuy

MileHighGuy

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I've also noticed that when I used a mulch of Compost that was mostly wood and leaves the moisture level was better and it was very easy to water.

I also like having the EWC as a Topdress/mulch but the watering takes forever... the Earth Worm castings take awhile to let the water pass through and sometimes I've under watered because of it.... I think my favorite has been the Buffaloam compost mixed with the woody chunks from my compost pile as a Mulch or topdress. Next time around I think I'll be adding a living mulch for fun.

By far my worst mistake was filling a pot to the brim.... with it now mulched to the top I can barely water without it spilling over the sides. I'll never do that again.

What kind of wood are you using Mr.S?
 
invocation

invocation

Member
Good call about the mulch. I use dead fan leaves, coco chips, and dry botanical like nettle and whatever else comes from a tea. Seems to be working great it's just that living mulch sounding so much more beneficial. I think I'm going to stick with what I got for now. My soil seems to keep nice and moist.
 
Coba

Coba

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Veteran
you'd probably have to use something ground-coverish... like a ground cover that canopies out. short.
 
Coba

Coba

Active member
Veteran
"I'd be curious to see pictures of carpets of living mulch being utilized and maintained successfully long term. "

it's like sedum or something...
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or heather or something...
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but, it's been in this marsh grapefruit for a couple of years now...
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R

RanchoDeluxe

Member
Red clover is about 1 dollar a lb. Used it to cover crop my entire outdoor raised bed veggie garden.
Still have at least 3/4 of a lb. after using it as a cover crop for my 300 gals of recycled mix. 10- 30 gal smarties. I've been sprinkling the red clover everywhere, mostly just for fun.
 
Neo 420

Neo 420

Active member
Veteran
"I'd be curious to see pictures of carpets of living mulch being utilized and maintained successfully long term. "
I want to try that but I grow my girls so dang big that by time flowerin time comes around, there nothing but shade down there and shit starts to die off.

In my recycled plants I use the fallen and pulled leaves from cannibus as mulch. I have noticed it takes some for them to actually start giving me water retention benefits. Once the leaves are in a decent decomposed state is when I saw benefits. It does look nice to see leaves in various states of decomposition. Gives it some flavor...

Side note:
2 or 3 days ago I made a ewc/compost mix to top dress a few recycled plants. I removed the layer of canna mulch and the soil had a rich dark look with these little specks of decomposing canna leaves dotted everywhere in the soil which gave me a aha moment. This process itself is apart of soil building...

For me all recycled soil containers get mulch and all no till containers get living mulch.
 
xmobotx

xmobotx

ecks moe baw teeks
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i agree w/ u new for me living mulch has been a cyclical thing where i start some clover prior to the canna and by the time flower comes along it's looking a little rough down below ~by harvest; it's all gone

if i start it in veg; it seems to make for too much N during the flower cycle
 
B

BlueJayWay

This process itself is apart of soil building...
Click to expand...

Yes! This is my reasoning for using plant material (lots of it) as mulch. Once you've done it consistently for a length of time, and especially the no-tills, you really start to build up a lot of soil munchers and the process goes pretty quick and there becomes a constant influx of organic matter, 'nutrients', etc. that is always becoming available to the plant.

And then there's the established 'pockets' of clover and the like bringing their own benefits to the table.

All part of mimicking nature :D

Here's some ROLS and mostly No-Till flowers runnin' their course...

Velvet Rush x NL/H
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Blue Orca x Cherry Bomb
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The One x SC99
picture.php
 
V

VortexPower420

Active member
Veteran
Neo 420 said:
"I'd be curious to see pictures of carpets of living mulch being utilized and maintained successfully long term. "
I want to try that but I grow my girls so dang big that by time flowerin time comes around, there nothing but shade down there and shit starts to die off.

In my recycled plants I use the fallen and pulled leaves from cannibus as mulch. I have noticed it takes some for them to actually start giving me water retention benefits. Once the leaves are in a decent decomposed state is when I saw benefits. It does look nice to see leaves in various states of decomposition. Gives it some flavor...

Side note:
2 or 3 days ago I made a ewc/compost mix to top dress a few recycled plants. I removed the layer of canna mulch and the soil had a rich dark look with these little specks of decomposing canna leaves dotted everywhere in the soil which gave me a aha moment. This process itself is apart of soil building...

For me all recycled soil containers get mulch and all no till containers get living mulch.
Click to expand...
I second this most of this statement. I can not speak on living mulch yet as I have just started.

I to have noticed a nice rich dark squirming layer of humus right under my mulch.

My mulch consist of alfalfa hay, canna leaves, spent tea materials and recently some living mulch. Cant wait for spring to break so I can start using comfrey as a muclh. Looks like I have a long time to wait. I am in the process of getting 10- 12 inches of snow on top of the 1.5- 2 foot snow pack ii yard. Fucking snow belt areas. Im not going to see the ground until Bicycle day.

The living mulch is just my left over sprout tea makings including alfalfa beans, mustard, radish and wheat grass. I plan on including clover and who knows what else as I am moving up in pot size.

I feel the active mulch layer helps incorporate my mineral top dressing better making them available faster and while helping with the soil building process.



Some random pictures of my whole living soil process in action.

ROLS first round not yet recycled. I planned on doing no till but want to move up in size and mineralize more but will be recycling then no till for life.

Thank to all you great minds out there in the organic soil forum and the old ROLS thread for helping make my garden great.

Also thanks for making a new more friendly place for all to come to for learning and sharing. I can't wait to see what you guys have in store for the cleaned up organic soil forum.

Thanks for all the hard work everyone. What is happening here is priceless and revolutionary, everyone should be proud of them selfs.

Timbuktu
 
M

MrSterling

MHG - it's a bit of everything in the area. Some southern pine, hackberry, locust, holly, oak, maple. It's a drive but the county grinds whatever people drop off at the dump. Works out well to drop off a truckload of brush and then pickup some nice wood mulch for free a couple months later. I've a couple heaps of that mix which have been sitting for between 12-18 months. Just used the year ols stuff in the bottoms of my new worm bins for aeration. I was shocked by the amount of worm activity in the still woody material. So in the worm bins they went too.
 
D

dogfishheadie

stunning stuff man, looks great! how you pull it off with your living conditions and churn out sexy buds is beyond me.

real quick, buddy and I are about to pull the trigger on this permaflex rubberized, paint on, water proofing material for the floors and walls (sealed room).

I'm a bit apprehensive thinking that there will be off gassing of some sorts, possibly killing our friendly microbes working hard below. he's thinking once it's cured it won't be a problem. pretty fiscally into this project and this will be my first time with organics, would hate to find out three months from now there was a problem. plus, it's expensive!

anyone much smarter than I able to check out the msds sheet and let me know if we're in the clear? Temps should remain in the 60-70ies, unless we lose power mid summer. much appreciated!

http://www.sanitred.com/shop/permaflex.html
 
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