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My first notill, trying to decide on an initial mulch

Aphotic

Member
I'm phasing this thread out, so please join me on my new thread, I will however still respond, begrudgingly to this one.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=7564744#post7564744


I've been reading through all of the notill threads for a few months now, from the first day of reading I was hooked! So I decided to redesign my setup, which took a while, mainly making my own raised fabric beds and rolling carts. Today I transplanted and flipped on the lights :)

I'm still trying to decide on an initial mulch. I have borage, comfery, stinging nettle, and chamomile all growing but not ready yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh, and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to all the notill threads, without all of your input I wouldn't be on this incredible journy !

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Ratzilla

Member
Veteran
Personally I like pine bark nuggets.
They last along time.
I often see roots attaching themselves to the pine bark.
I like to put down a top dressing before applying the nuggets.
Then I'll sprinkle some high N ,like blood meal on top of the nuggets.
The beasties go wild!
Ratz :tiphat:
 

growingcrazy

Well-known member
I think the best answer here is whatever you have local and available.

Living mulch is always your best option. The practice of sowing your living mulch and then covering with a light cover seems to have the best benefits. The consistent moisture allows quicker sprouting and a healthier micro life.

You can use seeds as simple as flax seed from the grocery store to buying a premixed cover crop or making your own from someone like Azure standard or the like. Then simply cover with bark or chopped straw/hay/grass lightly.

I do have to mention that I would say the containers with the healthiest living mulch also produce the best end products...

GC
 
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Mikell

Dipshit Know-Nothing
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Living mulch is hardly worth the hassle outside of permanent containers/beds. IMO, obviously.

Leaf litter, chips, etc etc. This is a very searchable subject.
 

Aphotic

Member
I've seeded with crimson clover as CC suggested , and thrown some chamomile seeds in. Though after the canopy bocks the light reaching the soil I imagine they won't do very well.
 

Aphotic

Member
Living mulch is hardly worth the hassle outside of permanent containers/beds. IMO, obviously.

Leaf litter, chips, etc etc. This is a very searchable subject.[/QUOTE

These are perminant beds. I know this is a searchable subject, and I've done a fair amount of searching and reading. I made my post because I'd like to share what I am doing, and have a conversation about some options.

Many of my favorite notill threads on here have been inactive for several years, I didn't see a point in resurrecting them. I also encountered some problems registering, so I've had to be an observer here for several months, now that I am registered I'd like to interact.

Thanks
 

Aphotic

Member
Personally I like pine bark nuggets.
They last along time.
I often see roots attaching themselves to the pine bark.
I like to put down a top dressing before applying the nuggets.
Then I'll sprinkle some high N ,like blood meal on top of the nuggets.
The beasties go wild!
Ratz :tiphat:

I was considering hardwood chips as I have some edible mushroom plugs planted in the soil.
 

ValleyKush

Well-known member
Veteran
Do you want your mulch to breakdown into soil, eventualy filling up your pot or would you prefer your mulch to last a long time so you dont have to replace? The bigger the chuncks you use the slower they will degrade. Just something to consider.

I filled my no till pot 3/4 full so that over time my mulch will build up. I'm using cannabis stems, leaves and buds. Imo it's good to have a variety of sizes and textures for all shapes and sizes of microbes.

My vote for most practical/easyest to find goes to leaf litter and/or woodchips.
 

corky1968

Active member
Veteran
A 4 inch layer of straw mixed with leaves with top layer of 2 inches of loam and manure works nice.

For mushrooms, I like using oak chips mixed with some oak sawdust.
 

Aphotic

Member
Do you want your mulch to breakdown into soil, eventualy filling up your pot or would you prefer your mulch to last a long time so you dont have to replace? The bigger the chuncks you use the slower they will degrade. Just something to consider.

I filled my no till pot 3/4 full so that over time my mulch will build up. I'm using cannabis stems, leaves and buds. Imo it's good to have a variety of sizes and textures for all shapes and sizes of microbes.

My vote for most practical/easyest to find goes to leaf litter and/or woodchips.

I'd like the mulch to break down, and now that I'm thinking about it I should have left more room at the top. Though I bet that my soil will shrink a bit as its not packed down. I think I'll go into my forest and grab some leaf mulch that's been decomposing for a while and mix in some chopped up stems and leaves from the last harvest.

How long has your bed been going?
 

VortexPower420

Active member
Veteran
Leaf mulch from various places in the forest would be my first choice. You will bring in so many good critters that will really help kick your soil off.

I am also a big fan of living mulches to. Evenn tilled pots. The plants really respond to having something else growing in the pots. The initial transplant shock diminishes the more active your soil is and a variety of living plants in there helps.

Yes most die off but the worms love it. 2 weeks before chop I plant a new cover crop for next run.
 

Aphotic

Member
Leaf mulch from various places in the forest would be my first choice. You will bring in so many good critters that will really help kick your soil off.

I am also a big fan of living mulches to. Evenn tilled pots. The plants really respond to having something else growing in the pots. The initial transplant shock diminishes the more active your soil is and a variety of living plants in there helps.

Yes most die off but the worms love it. 2 weeks before chop I plant a new cover crop for next run.

I think that's the plan, I've already planted crimson and mini white clovers, I'll incorporate leaf mulch from several spots of mature forest, I'll also be adding in some oak chips and twigs for the shrooms.

I read through the majority of your garden thread, good stuff!

I decided to make my own raised fabric beds 3 - 4' x 3' x 17" tall beds to start, they fill my flower room and leave just enough space to walk around the outside. The beds sit in plywood trays lined with pond liner and all have caster wheels. The seperate beds and wheels makes tending to the plants and watering a lot easier. Also each bed has its on trellis system that attaches the the PVC frame of the beds. I'm not sure if you can see the pics at the beggining of the post. I meant to make a tutorial fort the whole thing but spaced it. Also figuring out how to rig both my rooms with aircooled hoods on light rails was a bitch. I couldn't find much help online either. If anyone is considering going that route I could probably give some tips. They need to make spring loaded flex ducting, that would make things a lot easier.

Anyways I went big with the beds considering they are notill and I'll be stuck with them for a while, might as well fill the room. For my mother room I'm making fabric pots that slide into milk crates, each pot ends up being 7.4 gal, I decided to go against a single large bed due to the chance of the genetics of the different strains mixing via root and stem fusion.
 

Aphotic

Member
A 4 inch layer of straw mixed with leaves with top layer of 2 inches of loam and manure works nice.

For mushrooms, I like using oak chips mixed with some oak sawdust.

I had to get woodchips for a path at a house I was working on today, I just got the cheapest thing they had,which is arborist chips, usually a mix of everything though today it was all oak, they must have had a huge oak comedown somewhere. So I got 2 cubic yards for $20! So along with the leaf mulch I'll be throwing in some oak chips and dust of various sizes. The shroomies will love those.
 

Lapides

Rosin Junky and Certified Worm Wrangler
Veteran
Im not huge on mulch, but I had my help cut all of the stems from harvest into 1-2 inch pieces and covered with that.

It was cool I guess.
 

Aphotic

Member
Well leaf mulch and oak chips are down and the clover just sprouted last night pushing its way through the wood chips. I also added another 100 worms to each bin. I'm excited to see how the plants will react to the living mulch.
 

moses wellfleet

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
I gave up on light rails a while ago, they maybe of use in veg though. Light rails with air cooled hoods? Sorry but I think you are going to regret that. The back and forth movement is going to cause stress points in the ducting which will eventually wear through and then you will be sucking air out of your environment.

I will be watching this thread as I am also trying to go the no till route. Well done on registering and good luck for the rest of your grow!
 

Aphotic

Member
A 4 inch layer of straw mixed with leaves with top layer of 2 inches of loam and manure works nice.

For mushrooms, I like using oak chips mixed with some oak sawdust.

What type of straw are you using, is it organic? I raise goats and chickens and I haven't been able to source organic straw for their bedding. Its common practice for conventional wheat farmers to spray their wheat with roundup just before harvest, it makes all the wheat rippen at the same time. Its caused a rash of "wheat" allergies in people who've never had a problem with wheat before, in reality its a reaction to the roundup.
 

Aphotic

Member
I gave up on light rails a while ago, they maybe of use in veg though. Light rails with air cooled hoods? Sorry but I think you are going to regret that. The back and forth movement is going to cause stress points in the ducting which will eventually wear through and then you will be sucking air out of your environment.

I will be watching this thread as I am also trying to go the no till route. Well done on registering and good luck for the rest of your grow!

It was a pain getting it going but I've been running them for a year now. I'm running 2 1k lights on a 6 ft track, they only move about a foot. The cheap flex duct from the box stores blew out like you said, but once I got a better quality ducting and shortened the movement it works great. My yields are larger, the plants are fuller and happier. In my experience light movers are great, I think it just depends on your setup, for instance with my setup there is always a light above the plants, if I had just one light moving 6 feet I could see that stressing them out.

So far I'm pretty happy with the notill thing, I've been doing it in my gardens for a few years and its great, I never though of applying it indoors until recently. I'll post some more pics soon as my living mulch just popped out of the soil, and I plan on updating this thread throughout my first cycle.

Ty and gl on the notill!
 

Aphotic

Member
As promised here are some new pics. I've decided to update this thread until harvest.

The plants have gotten over thier transplant shock and are taking off, here is a shot the day they were transplanted and another taken last night.
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Here is a shot of the living mulch coming up, three kinds of clover, crimson, dutch white, and mini white. All of the clover seed was inoculated.
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And here are some shots of the mom room. I switched the setup in here when I went notill. I made fabric pots that fit inside milk crates, an idea I got from someone on here. Each pot is 8.4 gal, and is mulched with decomposing leaf litter from my forest, oak chips and dust, and the same three varieties of clover. I'm also chop and dropping anything trimmed off the girls.
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Well that does it for this update.

Thanks for stopping by!
 
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