Back to bags, no more soil recycling

[FireIn.TheSky]

Give notill a chance with some help from some of us on here, and then after two runs if you don't like it write a thread about how bad notill sucks.

Let's get started. I'm sure moses is in as well. Who else wants to help?

Not today, I've had enough chasing my own tail for the time being. That's the kind of stuff you take on when everything is going well.

When things are going bad and you've been financially raked over the coals for quite some time it's easier to cut your losses make a small investment and go back to what works.

I used a 3 bag blend back before I strated recycling it worked very well. Tbh there is no real super taste difference to warrant the added frustration at this point.

I also did worms for a while in a worm bin, in scrapped that too because it was like caring for a pet, and the mit's they were a pain in the ass too.

I'm going to start outdoor growing soon, these heaps and heaps of old soil I have will fill a few nice beds for that.

 

[MileHighGlass]

If you ever change your mind we are here.

My notill beats my recycled soil quality all day everyday. There really is no comparison, and there is literally no work to do. Throw some shit on top of the soil, plant some plants, harvest, repeat. Way easier then lugging soil from the store to your place and then dumping it all, and starting over once again.

Again we are here if you ever change your mind.

 

[aridbud]

For small batches....prefer recycled soil, re-amending.

 

[wasgedn]

no tilling or just working with supersoil i so laid back and easy but the key in recycling soil is active compost tea and or EM-a...
on living soil you need less nutrients...
when u use to much fert your soil gets bad and dead...its more important to add wormcastings and microbes and fungus than fertilizer to recycle the soil , so the soil can circle...

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

If you ever change your mind we are here.

My notill beats my recycled soil quality all day everyday. There really is no comparison, and there is literally no work to do. Throw some shit on top of the soil, plant some plants, harvest, repeat. Way easier then lugging soil from the store to your place and then dumping it all, and starting over once again.

Again we are here if you ever change your mind.

I agree it's easy, just not up for experimenting ar this point in time.

I'm a actually quite familiar with the process I have been kicking around IC since 2007 under a different name. I've seen all the trends pass thru here from bukashi, recycled, roll, no til etc..

This place hasn't been the same since vonforne, mad liberttist, gascan, the coot, etc left

 

[mojave green]

Or, you could make it even easier by going mediumless hydro. I buy one of these about every three years!
General Hydroponics MaxiBloom - 16 lbs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KQWKUM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_8rWrybY38N4VK

 

[MileHighGlass]

I agree it's easy, just not up for experimenting ar this point in time.

I'm a actually quite familiar with the process I have been kicking around IC since 2007 under a different name. I've seen all the trends pass thru here from bukashi, recycled, roll, no til etc..

This place hasn't been the same since vonforne, mad liberttist, gascan, the coot, etc left

Notill may be popular now with cannabis growers, but organic farmers have been doing it for a very long time. I started notill in 2010 and am still doing it. I do it outdoors in my vegetable garden and indoors in my cannabis garden.

As far as "experimenting" goes, there's not a lot of that to do. Many people have their techniques down.

If you miss those guys you should jump on instagram. You would be amazed at who you will find. Coot is like an instagod these days. It's prettty funny.

 

[Avinash.miles]

so it begs to be asked; what bagged soil is so good that you will abandon recylcing / no-till?
my experience with bagged soils is that they are inconsistent - some wildly so.
alot of people local to me use black gold, but about 6 years ago i found a bandaid in a bag of black gold and it just rubbed me wrong - that ain't organic

if you are doing this right you soil should be getting better with time (i know mine is) and should be lending itself to making more and multiplying what you have.

i mix up to 100 gallons at a time in a 5x5 foot area, on a tarp in a kiddie pool

also, in my mind organics is about using what is available locally and what you can do on your own by your own hands, it's comes from an agrarian lifestyle - of ranching & farming, animal husbandry and crop cultivation.

now-a-days tho people grow organic in one bedroom apartments (to varying degrees of success) - and it's do-able because of a well rounded understanding of organic techniques from around the world. Different cultures in different environments have created techniques to maximize their crops (organically), by utilizing these "trends" as you call them like bokashi, fermented plant extracts, botanical teas, compost teas, no-till, sub-irrigation, and so many more.

i mix my soil regularly mostly out of convenience because im moving or changing up the grow, but as i've become more stable and run more rounds in my no-till beds full of recycled soil... i do see the soil improving from one run to the next for sure. i do notill in large containers because imo plants do best in large containers of organic soil, but i believe that it can work on a scaled down level like 5 gallon buckets.

but.
really
what is most important
to me
is what bagged soil could possibly be quality and consistent enough to abandon these organic techniques?
i could see wanting bagged soil for the sake of convenience, like if ur back aint no good to mix soil or move soil and got no help, or if yer consulting building out for someone else.... but for my own use, i'd recycle and reuse and notill in that organic soil after the first run.
and... what do you plan on doing with organic soil after you use it once, throw it out and buy more bags?

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

I ran moonshine mix for years with great success. I stopped buying bagged soil for a few reasons, one I was cheap and trying to cut costs, two my grow got larger and at the time I had plenty of time to dedicate to mixing my own, three the legal climate was not what it is today so it was a lot more difficult to dispose of large volumes of soil.

100% honesty I never really saw too much of a quality difference in end product with bagged vs recycled. There was many years of success with it but now just as a few years ago my soil hit a brick wall. It seems every 2 or 3 years the substrate crap out.

I think ppl look at soil the wrong way, at the very core it is something plants grown in. If they are getting the nutrientts they need from somewhere they will be happy, soil does not need to be this all encompassing complicated mish mash of materials for plants to grow well. Proof positive it coco generally yields better looking buds and more yield and it an inert medium.

Avanish, yes In a perfect world yeah organic should be local, but it's not. It's all trucked to the hydro store where I go and buy it, or I get it shipped from hundreds of miles away. Unless you are out sourcing nettles and leaf much from the forest there is nothing ecofriendly about it. You are still using mined minerals, mined guanos, exotic this and that.

I'll use the spent soil for outdoor beds and hopefully an outdoor crop.

Even with recycling for so many years I still end up with humongous volumes of extra spent soil. Take it account all of the pumus, ewc, compost etc.. you add back each grow you are essentially doubling the volume every few months which would still lead to piles of waste product.

I'm not trying to convert anyone here I am simply stating after years of practice I don't think it's any better than other methods

 

[moses wellfleet]

 

[Avinash.miles]

still curious if u gonna just dump used soil like its trash?
and what bagged soil u planning on using?

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

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[FireIn.TheSky]

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I don't get it.

If you think you guys are dropping lines I've never heard before it ain't that way. I've been growing organically for a decade I've tried just about every method under the sun.

People leave this forum but the attitude remains thensame, don't challege the status quo

 

[Avinash.miles]

I ran moonshine mix for years with great success. I stopped buying bagged soil for a few reasons, one I was cheap and trying to cut costs, two my grow got larger and at the time I had plenty of time to dedicate to mixing my own, three the legal climate was not what it is today so it was a lot more difficult to dispose of large volumes of soil.

100% honesty I never really saw too much of a quality difference in end product with bagged vs recycled. There was many years of success with it but now just as a few years ago my soil hit a brick wall. It seems every 2 or 3 years the substrate crap out.

I think ppl look at soil the wrong way, at the very core it is something plants grown in. If they are getting the nutrientts they need from somewhere they will be happy, soil does not need to be this all encompassing complicated mish mash of materials for plants to grow well. Proof positive it coco generally yields better looking buds and more yield and it an inert medium.

Avanish, yes In a perfect world yeah organic should be local, but it's not. It's all trucked to the hydro store where I go and buy it, or I get it shipped from hundreds of miles away. Unless you are out sourcing nettles and leaf much from the forest there is nothing ecofriendly about it. You are still using mined minerals, mined guanos, exotic this and that.

I'll use the spent soil for outdoor beds and hopefully an outdoor crop.

Even with recycling for so many years I still end up with humongous volumes of extra spent soil. Take it account all of the pumus, ewc, compost etc.. you add back each grow you are essentially doubling the volume every few months which would still lead to piles of waste product.

I'm not trying to convert anyone here I am simply stating after years of practice I don't think it's any better than other methods

flaws in your methodology (not taking advantage of all the "trends" perhaps) left you with loads of "spent" organic soil even tho you are recycling (should only happen if you downsize drastically)

i assure you that what i add back each grow does not double the volume of my media every few months - it doesn't even double every few years from re-amending.

you are right about exotic materials and shipping and mined resources.
but
there is always a choice to be made between different additives. you can get minerals mined locally or close to you or even in the usa instead of world wide.
the choice lies in your methodology
it's about how FAR each of us wants to take it

not everyone lives in an agricultural area - many live in urban places where a "hydro store" is the best place to get organic grow materials, but i bet a short trip out of that urban area would yield high volumes of the needed ingredients or acceptable replacements.

is moonshine mix a bagged soil?
i want to know what bagged soil(s) you plan on using in the future, correct me if im wrong still haven't gotten that answer, then i'll leave u alone with your decision & this thread

 

[Avinash.miles]

I don't get it.

If you think you guys are dropping lines I've never heard before it ain't that way. I've been growing organically for a decade I've tried just about every method under the sun.

People leave this forum but the attitude remains thensame, don't challege the status quo

duno what the status quo is that you are referring to?

people come and share new ways of doing things on icmag all the time that change how other growers do what they do... there is no status quo here imo.
lots of people turn to these forums for a new way to do things, such as an alternative to bagged soils

 

[Avinash.miles]

best i can tell moonshine mix basically is bagged soil, just different bags mixed together

 

[growingcrazy]

If your getting the same quality out of your recycled mix as a bag mix then you have something going wrong.

Don't follow the mix of gas and coot to a T. As this will cause a lot of unneeded bullshit to arise and make you very sick and tired of recycled soils.

"recycled" soil is what makes this big ball we are flying through space on tick. If a soil company can bag a mix that works better for you, then you need to go that way. It is obvious the connection between recycling and a better end product is being lost along the way somewhere.

Some people have the natural talent to cook, and some burn toast.

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

If your getting the same quality out of your recycled mix as a bag mix then you have something going wrong.

Don't follow the mix of gas and coot to a T. As this will cause a lot of unneeded bullshit to arise and make you very sick and tired of recycled soils.

"recycled" soil is what makes this big ball we are flying through space on tick. If a soil company can bag a mix that works better for you, then you need to go that way. It is obvious the connection between recycling and a better end product is being lost along the way somewhere.

Some people have the natural talent to cook, and some burn toast.

This is total BS.

Too many variables and I never said I used coots mix.

Either way one thing I notice is a lot of ppl like to say this or that but never tried a method they put down.

I've done both for a long time I can say no difference.

 

[moses wellfleet]

I don't get it.

If you think you guys are dropping lines I've never heard before it ain't that way. I've been growing organically for a decade I've tried just about every method under the sun.

People leave this forum but the attitude remains thensame, don't challege the status quo

No brother I am just having fun. you grow how you wanna. the only rule is you must post up pics of dank buds, right?

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

No brother I am just having fun. you grow how you wanna. the only rule is you must post up pics of dank buds, right?

Sounds fair to me