Alt_organix
New member
I was curious what the no-till growers do to refresh their beds for next harvest. Chop cover crops, turn mulch layer, bokashi's, soil tests, top dress's, ect?
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Refreshing No-till beds
- Thread starter Alt_organix
- Start date
growinthehills
Member
I used to just top dress with a few amendments mixed with worm castings. I always wanted to get a soil test before I top dressed in order to have more knowledge before I "blindly" amended the soil but, over the years I never tested and never had an issue. I would recommend a soil test though.
growingcrazy
Well-known member
Test, add amendments according to test results. For $40, you will gain more than $40 worth of extra end product as a result.
paradoxlost
Member
Worms, long rooted cover crops, etc
B
Bongi
Yesterday I did topdress with different amendments using spoon and just throwing number of spoonfulls out of my head. What had higher NPK I used less and those which had lower I used more. I topped that with wormcastings. I have not used this technique before. I hope I did not fuck up. I gave few pots with plants in them to a friend which I handled in same way some time ago. He has not complained so I think they will do fine.
Next time I will get tests done.
Next time I will get tests done.
Alt_organix
New member
What do y'all do with your mulch layer? I have straw with cover crop growing out of it. When top dressing with amendments and worm castings would you move the straw first or do it right over everything.
growinthehills
Member
I prefer to remove the mulch before I top dress and then place it back down on top of the top dress. That way I preserve the mulch. After I would top dress the worms would usually process everything within a week or so. I would also place all my prunings under the mulch and the worms would go crazy after that and process very quickly.
When you have a cover crop actively growing it is hard to remove the mulch. I would usually cut my cover crop sometime within the first month of flower since my canopy would shade it out so much that it would start die/ stretch any way. After I was done re-amending/top dressing I could plant a cover crop if I felt like it.
When you have a cover crop actively growing it is hard to remove the mulch. I would usually cut my cover crop sometime within the first month of flower since my canopy would shade it out so much that it would start die/ stretch any way. After I was done re-amending/top dressing I could plant a cover crop if I felt like it.
Alt_organix
New member
Thanks for the input about mulch layers. I've been curious what other people do.
