My no-till is peat-based (originally Pro-mix Organic Herb & Vegetable) and I've noticed in the last few cycles the volume of my grow medium has been shrinking. When I first noticed this happening in cycle #3, I thought perhaps it was just natural compaction due to settling but the soil level continued to fall at a slightly increasing rate of at least 1/2 inch per grow cycle.
I'm now nearing the finish line in what has been a very long cycle #7 (due to only growing one plant to fill a 5X5 as a silly experiment), and the soil is now almost 4" lower than it was during the first couple cycles. The rate of loss seems to continue to accelerate. I didn't think peat moss would decay that quickly? Where am I eventually headed with this?
In case it makes any difference, the setup is a single 4 foot diameter pot in a 5X5 tent, relying only on organic material cycling (both green and grown) for nutrients applied as mulch. I start a thick cover crop in late flower, and push it down once the plants in the next cycle start to shade them out. Some homemade worm castings were added to the initial mix as an inoculant when the soil was first made, then as a top dress for the first cycle only. (There are live worms and stuff living in there.)
I should also mention that I permanently keep bamboo poles in the soil around the edges of my pot for tie-off points for LST, and have had to replace them all at the start of this cycle because they had decayed completely away 2" below the soil line.
Drainage, water wicking capacity, and plant health don't seem to be affected yet but I'm wondering how this will eventually affect future cycles. Also I've been thinking about topping the mix up before starting the next cycle, and I just don't know with what yet.
I'm now nearing the finish line in what has been a very long cycle #7 (due to only growing one plant to fill a 5X5 as a silly experiment), and the soil is now almost 4" lower than it was during the first couple cycles. The rate of loss seems to continue to accelerate. I didn't think peat moss would decay that quickly? Where am I eventually headed with this?
In case it makes any difference, the setup is a single 4 foot diameter pot in a 5X5 tent, relying only on organic material cycling (both green and grown) for nutrients applied as mulch. I start a thick cover crop in late flower, and push it down once the plants in the next cycle start to shade them out. Some homemade worm castings were added to the initial mix as an inoculant when the soil was first made, then as a top dress for the first cycle only. (There are live worms and stuff living in there.)
I should also mention that I permanently keep bamboo poles in the soil around the edges of my pot for tie-off points for LST, and have had to replace them all at the start of this cycle because they had decayed completely away 2" below the soil line.
Drainage, water wicking capacity, and plant health don't seem to be affected yet but I'm wondering how this will eventually affect future cycles. Also I've been thinking about topping the mix up before starting the next cycle, and I just don't know with what yet.
