Cann
Member
Welcome! This thread will document my journey into No-Till gardening indoors…ROLS style.
First, a history:
I have been growing small scale on and off for a few years – nothing over 1000w until this year. I’ve experimented with many different media, but always reverted back to soil in the end. Earlier this year I decided to ramp things up and I set up a flower room with 3600w and a veg room with 1000w. At the time I was under the impression of most folks and figured it would be a great idea to buy a line of bottled nutrients (to compliment my bagged soil) in order to achieve the results I wanted. I have always been conscious about health and the earth, so of course I chose organic bottled products and soil (Roots Organic)...lol.
Fast forward to a few months later and I was spending way too much $$$ and had plants that were yellowing at week 4 in flower and I couldn’t keep them green. Obviously the flower production suffered, and the buds were decent but the yield low and smoke wasn’t smooth. Something didn’t feel quite right about the whole bottled nutrient regime. I had been searching for an answer and reading “advice” online for months, but didn’t find anything that truly resonated with me. When I asked the guys at the hydro store, they would just tell me to buy this or buy that - but it would never fix anything.
Then one day I stumbled across one of Lumperdawgz posts on grasscity, and eventually things started falling into place. I have always been a vegetable gardener, but had been brainwashed into thinking that for some reason I couldn’t apply those same principles inside. Once I was able to think outside the stoner science paradigm and apply my knowledge of gardening and permaculture principles to an indoor operation, I found bliss. With help from lumper (a.k.a. cootz) and others (shoutout to all those on the ROLS thread who helped me along!), I was able to lift myself out of the world of myth-based stoner science gardens into the realm of true horticulture.
After a short time I no longer felt bad about anything I was putting in my soil, I was spending less money at the hydro store, and I was getting much better results. No more pH pen, no more bags of Roots 707 soil, no more bottled gunk and cal/mag, no more unnecessary stress. That was about 4 months ago, and things have only gotten better since then.
Since my realization, I have started multiple forms of compost at my house (worms and bokashi on top of the thermal pile I already had going) and begun to cultivate beneficial plants (horsetail, nettle, dandelion, comfrey, yarrow, chamomile, etc.). I have been collecting local leaf litter, free manure/wood from the area, and just about anything that looks good for my compost piles. The way I view organic materials has changed, and I definitely see the world in a different light. A lawn covered in leaves is no longer a problem to be dealt with – it’s a goldmine to be collected and put to use!
Needless to say, I am very happy about the way things are going, and I want to share my journey with y’all. Hopefully this will show how easy it is to convert to no-till gardening from a bottled nutrient/bagged soil regime. If you have any doubts...just follow along.
Now onto the show:
The first thing I decided to do after my realization was to mix up a batch of soil from scratch following cootz’ recipe using the best local ingredients I could find. Around the same time I finished a flowering cycle (in Roots 707), dumped all the soil on a tarp, and reamended it following gascan’s instructions. A few weeks ago I finished another flower cycle, which freed up the room for me to start some no-till pots.
I had originally been running all my flowering plants in 4.6 gallon airpots, but decided I wanted to ramp up the pot size. Picked up some 10, 15, 30, and 45 gallon smartpots – and filled an assortment with my homemade soil mix and a few with my recycled 707. About a week ago I transplanted a bunch of ladies into said smartpots, and that brings us roughly to where we are today.
As far as the technical details go, I am running two flower tents (one 4x4 w/600 watts, another 8x8 w/ 3600 watts) - all 600 HPS lighting. I have one 4x8 veg tent with t5 fluorescent lighting - (2) 4-foot 8 bulb fixtures. Multiple A/C units in the mix, fans, a carbon scrubber for the larger tent, etc.
Here are some pictures of the setup. I'll start with the recently transplanted ladies in their new home, and some pictures of mulch in the no-till pots (although I guess they can’t be called that until my second cycle through..).
For some reason it will only let me add a few pictures per post, so bear with me...
progression of mulch...
First, a history:
I have been growing small scale on and off for a few years – nothing over 1000w until this year. I’ve experimented with many different media, but always reverted back to soil in the end. Earlier this year I decided to ramp things up and I set up a flower room with 3600w and a veg room with 1000w. At the time I was under the impression of most folks and figured it would be a great idea to buy a line of bottled nutrients (to compliment my bagged soil) in order to achieve the results I wanted. I have always been conscious about health and the earth, so of course I chose organic bottled products and soil (Roots Organic)...lol.
Fast forward to a few months later and I was spending way too much $$$ and had plants that were yellowing at week 4 in flower and I couldn’t keep them green. Obviously the flower production suffered, and the buds were decent but the yield low and smoke wasn’t smooth. Something didn’t feel quite right about the whole bottled nutrient regime. I had been searching for an answer and reading “advice” online for months, but didn’t find anything that truly resonated with me. When I asked the guys at the hydro store, they would just tell me to buy this or buy that - but it would never fix anything.
Then one day I stumbled across one of Lumperdawgz posts on grasscity, and eventually things started falling into place. I have always been a vegetable gardener, but had been brainwashed into thinking that for some reason I couldn’t apply those same principles inside. Once I was able to think outside the stoner science paradigm and apply my knowledge of gardening and permaculture principles to an indoor operation, I found bliss. With help from lumper (a.k.a. cootz) and others (shoutout to all those on the ROLS thread who helped me along!), I was able to lift myself out of the world of myth-based stoner science gardens into the realm of true horticulture.
After a short time I no longer felt bad about anything I was putting in my soil, I was spending less money at the hydro store, and I was getting much better results. No more pH pen, no more bags of Roots 707 soil, no more bottled gunk and cal/mag, no more unnecessary stress. That was about 4 months ago, and things have only gotten better since then.
Since my realization, I have started multiple forms of compost at my house (worms and bokashi on top of the thermal pile I already had going) and begun to cultivate beneficial plants (horsetail, nettle, dandelion, comfrey, yarrow, chamomile, etc.). I have been collecting local leaf litter, free manure/wood from the area, and just about anything that looks good for my compost piles. The way I view organic materials has changed, and I definitely see the world in a different light. A lawn covered in leaves is no longer a problem to be dealt with – it’s a goldmine to be collected and put to use!
Needless to say, I am very happy about the way things are going, and I want to share my journey with y’all. Hopefully this will show how easy it is to convert to no-till gardening from a bottled nutrient/bagged soil regime. If you have any doubts...just follow along.
Now onto the show:
The first thing I decided to do after my realization was to mix up a batch of soil from scratch following cootz’ recipe using the best local ingredients I could find. Around the same time I finished a flowering cycle (in Roots 707), dumped all the soil on a tarp, and reamended it following gascan’s instructions. A few weeks ago I finished another flower cycle, which freed up the room for me to start some no-till pots.
I had originally been running all my flowering plants in 4.6 gallon airpots, but decided I wanted to ramp up the pot size. Picked up some 10, 15, 30, and 45 gallon smartpots – and filled an assortment with my homemade soil mix and a few with my recycled 707. About a week ago I transplanted a bunch of ladies into said smartpots, and that brings us roughly to where we are today.
As far as the technical details go, I am running two flower tents (one 4x4 w/600 watts, another 8x8 w/ 3600 watts) - all 600 HPS lighting. I have one 4x8 veg tent with t5 fluorescent lighting - (2) 4-foot 8 bulb fixtures. Multiple A/C units in the mix, fans, a carbon scrubber for the larger tent, etc.
Here are some pictures of the setup. I'll start with the recently transplanted ladies in their new home
, and some pictures of mulch in the no-till pots (although I guess they can’t be called that until my second cycle through..). For some reason it will only let me add a few pictures per post, so bear with me...
progression of mulch...
