[heady blunts]

Originally Posted by slownickel

When you use molasses, are you worried about the sulfur dioxide or sodium benzoate being added? I can imagine that would knock back any good biology from happening.

Here we are real careful not to use it in the field (and I use a lot).

for ACT and other microbial cultures, teas, and ferments it's best to use unsulfured blackstrap molasses and avoid sodium benzoate.

those 5 gallon buckets of molasses at the feed store often come with all sorts of bad shit mixed in there.

poor cows

[slownickel]

Most of the sugar cane farms that I have worked on use mechanical harvesters. This means that the green leaves that would normally be cut off by hand (imagine) would go into the harvested chipped up cane plants.

So unfortunately, what the farmers apply is Roundup or some chinese glyphosate herbicide to the cane so as to mature up the leaves and dry them up prior to harvest, this way they can burn the cane (imagine) faster and easier, setting more sugars.

Molasses is made from the accumulation of impurities in the cane juice process with more and more of the sucrose removed. Known for being full of minerals, which is true, including the ones tied to the glyphosate molecule.

I did my first year of college at St. Joe's in North Windham! And my girlfriend was from Caribu! You all are crazy.

Imagine.

[heady blunts]

yikes!

makes perfect sense.

[Slickdeez16]

Originally Posted by Team Microbe

This thread will be a brief summary of the philosophy behind No Tilling, along with a guide on how to transition over into this type of system from your current set up. Enjoy!

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"What is No Till Gardening?"

No Till Gardening resonates from the natural processes we see in our ecosystem. It abides by natures laws, and focuses on building soil through natural processes rather than dumping it out, re-amending, and then refilling your pots.

It is the never-ending cycle of life, death, and decay that our ecosystem relies so heavily upon to regenerate without the need for human intervention. In nature a tree falls to the ground, is decomposed, and eventually returns to the ecosystem in the form of humus. In a no till setting, we harvest our flowers and return all leaves, branches, and stalks to the mulch layer to follow suit. Nutrition once lost is now returned, and held onto indefinitely via the (hopefully) relatively high TCEC (total cation exchange capacity) of the soil body.

Most of us can recognize this process by what we all see come Autumn; leaves fall from the tree tops and land on the ground, are broken down and returned to the soil. Without this intrinsic process of the soil food web, leaves would pile so high that trees would become completely engulfed in organic matter; resulting in certain extinction. This is the magnificent orchestra of the soil food web; a never-ending cycle fueled by trillions of microorganisms, soil enzymes, bacteria and fungi that regenerate ecosystems - no matter how small the size. [/size]

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Week 4 of veg - 25 gallon containers



1) Container, or raised bed?

The first thing you should determine is the container size and how many gallons your soil mix will be. Unlike soilless mediums, below ground biomass will directly correlate to above ground biomass in soil. With that being said, you're going to want to figure out what size pots (or beds) will grow the size plants you want.

I started with 10 gallons, and moved up to 25 gal containers recently I don't like going under 10 gallons, because plants become root-bound for me in mid flower when I veg for the typical 4 weeks. The 25's are light enough to move around, but give me more wiggle room for root development so to speak.





2) Your soil mix

This is everything, and should be where you invest most of your budget. Balance within the soil is everything. A balanced soil mix will exponentially outperform an imbalanced soil mix. When certain elements are in excess, they can greatly effect other elements or completely lock them. So choose a balanced recipe that's tried and true rather than letting your inner Bill Nye go ham with the amendments.
There are many mixes out there, so choose the one that suits you and what you're able to source locally. I'll post the recipe I've used with success for the past 2 years, but first I'll touch on alternative solutions for the base mix because this will be subjective depending on your location/access to different materials. Use whatever you can buy locally to avoid having to ship heavy materials to your state.

Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
Replacements - Leaf mold

Lava rock
Replacements - Pumice, Grow Stones, Perlite

Compost
Replacements - Earthworm castings, Organic manure


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No Till Soil Base Mix:

1 part Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
1 part (high quality) Compost
1 part Aeration (75% Lava rock, 20% Bio char, 5% Rice hulls)

Mixed with:

Acadian Kelp Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot

Neem Cake and Karanja Cake 50/50 Mix @ 1/2 cup per cubic foot

Crustacean Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot

Gypsum Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Brix Blend Basalt @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Glacial Rock Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Oyster Flour @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Malted Barley @ 2 Cup Per Cubic Foot

1 Handful of Red Wigglers (per container)

1 Handful of European Night Crawlers (per container)

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Side note -
The greatest thing I've found when it comes to adding worms to your containers is the fact that in time (2-3 cycles) your worms will completely turn over the soil into nutrient-rich worm castings. This is huge, because you can then take that original body of soil and use it for your 1/3 humus portion in a future base mix. That's right, you can triple the volume of your original soil mix in less than a year's time. Talk about sustainability!




My Watering Regimen:

Day 1 - H20

Day 3 - H20

Day 5 - Coconut Water (1/4 cup per gallon) OR Freeze dried Coconut Powder (1 tsp per gallon)

Day 7 - H20

Day 9 - H20

Day 11 - Aloe Vera puree (1/4 cup fillet per gallon) OR Aloe Vera 200x powder (1/4 tsp per gallon)

Day 13 - H20

Day 15 - H20

Day 17 - Malted Barley powder (1/4-1/2 cup per 25 gallon pot) watered in with Bio Ag's Fulpower (20 ml per gallon)





4) Regeneration


Here's the important part. The part that most beginners will exempt after hearing no tilling consists of sowing a cover crop, or simply mulching in straw. A rude awakening is waiting for them if they don't follow this next step:

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After cutting, hanging and drying your crop remember to return your left over biomass to the surface of your mulch layer. This will not only feed your microorganisms, but it will return most of the nutrition used during that cycle to the soil. Just as leaves fall in Autumn, our biomass falls at harvest. And the cycle continues...

After taking cuttings/sprouting seedlings you can simply dig a hole next to your existing stalk, and plant anew. Your left over root mass will feed the microorganisms in the soil and will eventually be completely broken down, performing a natural "tillage" in the soil by leaving behind tiny channels of air. Combine that with the pathways made by the worms you've added, and you can soon begin to see how it is possible to never till again.

The only things that I add at the beginning of each cycle is 1 tbsp kelp meal per container (for too many reasons to list), and some straw if the mulch layer is mostly digested (usually by this time it is). That's it!

Hey TM, Do you grind your malted barley or use it whole? Thanks!

[Slickdeez16]

Originally Posted by Team Microbe

The only thing I add to containers before they begin a new cycle is about 1 tbsp kelp meal, and on occasion some karanja meal. About 2 tbsp of that will go in each 25 pot.

The high TCEC of the soil holds onto all of the elements I initially amended with, so that allows me to keep plugging clones in these pots run after run. I'm on my 2nd year in the same body of soil with no ill effects/deficiencies.



I wouldn't worry about using, Microbe Man uses it in all of his ACT recipes and his microscope says otherwise it sounds like. I personally don't find a need for it in the garden unless I'm using it for tea, and I don't make that anymore. Nowadays I make a compost extract to prevent the chances of breeding any bad batches

What's your process for making a compost extract? You literally never add any more than the kelp and karanja to reamend your containers? So there's no need for a top dress with anything else, ever?

[Team Microbe]

Originally Posted by Slickdeez16

Hey TM, Do you grind your malted barley or use it whole? Thanks!

I grind it down to a powder with my magic bullet blender to make it break down faster

Originally Posted by Slickdeez16

What's your process for making a compost extract? You literally never add any more than the kelp and karanja to reamend your containers? So there's no need for a top dress with anything else, ever?

Compost Extract by Lead

Correct, I never add anything other than kelp and the occasional karanja meal dressing. There's no need to add any of the other amendments again because I return biomass to the to layer after harvest; nothing is ever taken from the system asides from flowers.

The only thing I top dress with is straw multiple times per run because it gets eaten by the top layer fairly quickly!

[Slickdeez16]

Hey TM. Have your yields increased significantly since you switched to the larger 25 gallon geo pots? What are your average yields now? I'm just switching from doing trees in 5 gallons of dtw coco to 30 gallon no tills and I'm wondering if I'm gonna be able to stay close to the yields I'm used to. I know it's kind of a vague question because of the many differences in genetics and veg times, but will 30 gallons be enough to support a #+ plant given enough veg time? Thanks, slick

[Team Microbe]

Originally Posted by Slickdeez16

Hey TM. Have your yields increased significantly since you switched to the larger 25 gallon geo pots? What are your average yields now? I'm just switching from doing trees in 5 gallons of dtw coco to 30 gallon no tills and I'm wondering if I'm gonna be able to stay close to the yields I'm used to. I know it's kind of a vague question because of the many differences in genetics and veg times, but will 30 gallons be enough to support a #+ plant given enough veg time? Thanks, slick

I wouldn't say they've gone up too significantly, but they have increased, yes.

I'm sure you'll be able to attain the same yields, if not a little heavier than before. The first few cycles may be average but after that it really starts to get heavy so watch out!

A 30 gallon pot will definitely be able to support a 1 lb plant

[v1ru5]

Great thread!

I am actually looking into going soil after 12 years in hydro.

The problem is that I am unsure where to obtain many of these mix components you mention in Europe.

In my country majority of these things you mention in the first post are simply not available ANYWHERE.

Therefore my question to you is that do you know where to obtain these the soil mix ingredients and supplements in Europe?

Many times when I read about these organic style posts, it's all about the U.S of A, and I am left hanging "How to do this across the pond?".

This is the largest factor that has kept me in hydro for all these years, as it seems organic stuff is near impossible to do in EU (or at least in Finland) as the availability of stuff is near non-existent.

Often I've thought that "Apparently EU is the promised land of hydroponics and US is the promised land of organics"

If you don't know, I hope some european grower who sees this post could direct me to a shop (or many shops) that could make my organic dream come true.

Best regards,

v1

[heady blunts]

v1ru5---

check out this sticky from the organic soil forum:

Organic media & amendment suppliers in the UK

verdantgreen is in the UK and has been making his own water-only soil mixes for years. he's a great resource---very knowledgeable.