Ways to increase yields in an organic soil setup?

[Easy7]

Peat does suck, that is my opinion & personal knowledge. It's not a renewable resource & has many disadvantages!

Edit: I just read that peat moss has been used as wound dressings. Because of the acidic nature, biological life forms don't grow aka bad for organic farming.

 

[al-k-mist]

^^^ Damn you, youre right, its not renewable
if i had the time, space, and money, i would make a mix, and just use coco for part, and peat for part...everything else exactly the same. someone who has plenty of dollars should do this.

all i can do is add my $.02 These are things that i have noticed somewhat increased yields
definitely pot size, without a doubt.
training...and veg time. strain, for sure, but even killer strains need space, and time to get to the size where they will yield more
topping, or LST, or some training. support for the colas will allow trhem to grow bigger, try cheap yoyos or strings suspended from top of growroom, if you can

and(yes, i await the flack)...stripping the leaves off of the lower areas...allows more airflow, and more attention to the colas and bigger buds. when it is topped and trained out, i cut the bottom facing branches, too

, canopy, even light distribution, as people have said. training, with topping, scrog, lst, etc..this will open up the plant, allowing an even camopy and allowing the light to hit inner buds which will grow mo

 

[offthehook]

Grow in one cubic meter of soil, keep soil at optimal moist levels, feed only once a week at appropriate concentrations, keep entire medium at 21C.

 

[VerdantGreen]

study on pot size and its influence on plant size. someone might be able to post up the actual paper?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18612661

VG

 

[SpicySativa]

study on pot size and its influence on plant size. someone might be able to post up the actual paper?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18612661

VG

Man!!! I wish they had MRI images of air-pruned roots in a Smart Pot... That's a comparison I'd like to see.

 

[Greenheart]

Good article VG. I usually veg in 3gal and smaller then transplant to 5 gallon for bloom. About 2 weeks after transplant the new growth starts getting crazy fast and then I put them into the bloom cycle. I would say 5 gallons for a 4-6 ounce yield. Some guys may do better depending on strain and experience but it's pretty easy to hit that range using 4 foot plants in 5 gallon pots.




* To add to the OT malware subject I find HijackThis to be an effective tool. With that spybot SD and grisoft's AVG I seem to stay free. I believe he is talking about the underlined words that pop up more information every time your mouse passes over however and those will do nothing for that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IntelliTXT

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah that would be interesting.

i didnt find any increase in yield whatsoever by using air pots, which are a similar thing to smart pots.... but then i use pretty big pots anyway.

 

[offthehook]

If you want to grow different strains on a shared cubic meter of soil, you'd better go about it like this:

Make or buy a cubic container : 1 mtr x 1 mtr x 1 mtr.

Fill with soil untill 30 cm underneath the edge of the unit. Compress soil at 10 cm intervalls while filling the unit.

Place square pots of minimally 30 x 30 x 30 cm (or 30 liter grow bags) without a bottom on top, and continue filling them with soil untill upper edge is reached.

Use tensio meter in every bottomless pot, or do blumat auto watering system.

Make sure you can monitor the mois levels totally down below inside the unit too! (by either using a tenso meter or your hand. > you can make a hole in the side down below of the unit for that purpose.)

The problem with growing several strains on a large shared medium is that they will out compete each other right from the start when their roots become intertwined.

By keeping the roots apart for the first month of their lives, they will have nothing to compete, hence giving them all a better chance to devellop more uniformly. (= getting bigger all over.)

 

[Microbeman]

Not to derail a thread, but I'm still unsure of what you guys are referring to?


Is this an Internet Explorer thing?
I get no definitions or pop-ups browsing this site with Firefox or Safari.



Might want to try a different browser. This site is very clean for me. No pop-ups, suggested links, etc over here.

I get no pop ups

 

[soursmoker]

If you type in a word like clone or genetics or phenotype or genotype...

I could go on forever, but those words are italicized and when you scroll over them a definition pops up on your screen.

 

[Durdy]

Peat does suck, that is my opinion & personal knowledge. It's not a renewable resource & has many disadvantages!

Edit: I just read that peat moss has been used as wound dressings. Because of the acidic nature, biological life forms don't grow aka bad for organic farming.

Give this link a read my friend

Peat VS Coco Coir

and if your too busy to get some reading done just look at this

These studies show that coconut coir should be used with great caution. Although the Sri Lanka brands performed better than the Mexican brands, no brand performed consistently better than sphagnum peat. Some species tolerate coir better than others. The addition of calcium sulfate to the media did not have a consistently beneficial effect on growth and in some cases it reduced growth. The best growth in coir media occurred in the Grow Coir® brand. We are continuing these studies to determine the underlying causes of poor plant growth in coir.

 

[ghostmade]

sprout teas in veg and flower,silicon,teas i should just say the organic section here.70%humidity during strecth or heavy misting/lighttea folairs constant temps always between 70 and 80,75 being the sweet spot imo.but wut i kno im just a noob wh aint never pulled 1 down peace and good luck on your quest


p.s. i get no pop ups on here ever in like 7 years never...dnt...get...noid...lol

 

[Easy7]

Give this link a read my friend

Peat VS Coco Coir

and if your too busy to get some reading done just look at this

These studies show that coconut coir should be used with great caution. Although the Sri Lanka brands performed better than the Mexican brands, no brand performed consistently better than sphagnum peat. Some species tolerate coir better than others. The addition of calcium sulfate to the media did not have a consistently beneficial effect on growth and in some cases it reduced growth. The best growth in coir media occurred in the Grow Coir® brand. We are continuing these studies to determine the underlying causes of poor plant growth in coir.

Interesting, but they I dunno...........used shit for brains nutrient solutions. I didn't say coco is better than peat, just that I like my compost better than peat.

Edit: I used to go into the woods & find tree's that had a section rotting. A nice forest compost that was very loamy. This worked nice in mixtures. A nice tree that is laying down with a canoe style rot, this compost builds up nicely there. Sometimes I would find a rotten spot in a tree standing up, this loamy compost jus t piles up. Never had bug problems either

 

[Microbeman]

On yield;

What sort of yield are you after? Expectations may have been made unreasonable by the chemical fertilizer industry.

Our yield averaged 0.6 to 0.7 grams per watt. This was using no-till living soil in a vertical orientation in containers 36" x 12" wide X 18" deep. It pretty much took 2 seasons to 'break the soil in'. Rooted cuttings were planted directly into the soil. No transplant nonsense.
Plants had a 10 to 14 day vegetation period at 18/6. No reflectors/canopy of course. Mostly side cuttings were taken but some tops and then flipped to 12/12 lighting. Time to harvest 49 days with indica. It seemed the highest yields were with 'single cola' configurations, where the plants were not topped.

Bear in mind this was a relatively large commercial activity so not a lot of time for pampering.

Soil feed; EM fermentations, ACT, fish hydrolysate, topdress vermicompost, kelpmeal, alfalfameal.

I suggest larger containers and experiment with some unmolested soil to allow microbial hierarchy to establish.


On Peatmoss;

We use sphagnum peatmoss because of its superior CEC and its nice microbial load. It is absolute bunk (IME) that it causes acidity in a living organic soil. If used primarily, without anything else mixed in and without coming to life then yes it promotes acidity. It is used broadly to this effect in conventional berry growing.

I have yet to have a living soil garden where I have used peatmoss mixed up to 50% with vermicompost & topsoil, not balance out at around 6.3 to 6.5 pH (usually 6.4)

In Canada, according to literature, peatmoss is renewable. Read up.

 

[Easy7]

Ya peat is renewable, at an entire 1mm a year!

Edit: I am sorry I just dumped right in a said peat sucks. I am sure it's good for fruit plants at a mixed rate. I never mixed it in soil for ganja just used peat mixes from the bag and hated it....so I stay away from peat.

 

[Microbeman]

Ya peat is renewable, at an entire 1mm a year!

Edit: I am sorry I just dumped right in a said peat sucks. I am sure it's good for fruit plants at a mixed rate. I never mixed it in soil for ganja just used peat mixes from the bag and hated it....so I stay away from peat.

As I said, read.

In 1999, 1.2 million metric tonnes or about 10 million cubic metres of peat were produced in Canada. This volume of peat harvested each year is small in comparison to the estimated 70 million tonnes or more of peat that accumulates naturally each year in Canada. On a volume basis, there are an estimated three trillion cubic metres of peat deposits in Canada. Peat is accumulating nearly 60 times faster than the amount harvested

At present, less than 17,000 hectares of Canada’s 113 million hectares of peatlands are being used for peat or peat moss harvesting.

http://www.peatmoss.com/blog/environment/issues-paper

 

[OrganicOzarks]

On yield;

What sort of yield are you after? Expectations may have been made unreasonable by the chemical fertilizer industry.

Our yield averaged 0.6 to 0.7 grams per watt. This was using no-till living soil in a vertical orientation in containers 36" x 12" wide X 18" deep. It pretty much took 2 seasons to 'break the soil in'. Rooted cuttings were planted directly into the soil. No transplant nonsense.
Plants had a 10 to 14 day vegetation period at 18/6. No reflectors/canopy of course. Mostly side cuttings were taken but some tops and then flipped to 12/12 lighting. Time to harvest 49 days with indica. It seemed the highest yields were with 'single cola' configurations, where the plants were not topped.

Bear in mind this was a relatively large commercial activity so not a lot of time for pampering.

Soil feed; EM fermentations, ACT, fish hydrolysate, topdress vermicompost, kelpmeal, alfalfameal.

I suggest larger containers and experiment with some unmolested soil to allow microbial hierarchy to establish.


On Peatmoss;

We use sphagnum peatmoss because of its superior CEC and its nice microbial load. It is absolute bunk (IME) that it causes acidity in a living organic soil. If used primarily, without anything else mixed in and without coming to life then yes it promotes acidity. It is used broadly to this effect in conventional berry growing.

I have yet to have a living soil garden where I have used peatmoss mixed up to 50% with vermicompost & topsoil, not balance out at around 6.3 to 6.5 pH (usually 6.4)

In Canada, according to literature, peatmoss is renewable. Read up.

I feel you on the yields. That is why to this point I have not cared one bit about what the yields were. I do however feel I am in a place where yields can be addressed. I really don't know what yields I am expecting. My personality dictates that I always want to do better so I suppose this is the next rational step. I would be happy with .75grams/watt. That is until I achieve it, and then I would shoot for 1gram/watt.

 

[Durdy]

Ya peat is renewable, at an entire 1mm a year!

Edit: I am sorry I just dumped right in a said peat sucks. I am sure it's good for fruit plants at a mixed rate. I never mixed it in soil for ganja just used peat mixes from the bag and hated it....so I stay away from peat.

This could be your problem.

I have a peat based mix and a coco based mixed that are ammended almost identically. The plants in the peat based mixed are growing much better! That being said the ones in the coco are growing pretty good too.

 

[rasputin]

If you type in a word like clone or genetics or phenotype or genotype...

I could go on forever, but those words are italicized and when you scroll over them a definition pops up on your screen.

Yeah, this is what I was talking about.

Freedom & MM, you don't see the small window pop up if you put your cursor over those words?

 

[Microbeman]

clone genetics phenotype genotype