Indoor, No-Till, First Run

[descivii]

I really like the idea of an organic, indoor bed and the no-till seems pretty natural as far as soil goes. Somebody else gave me the idea a while back and it was circling around in my head for a while when I got into a car crash. That down time gave me time to think out what I would like to get out of and put into my grows.....With that said this indoor bed is new and I hope to continue to improve the soil as well as the crops.
At the moment there is only mj in the bed but polycropping is deffinately in the future. I am interested in the idea of going vert with the indoor bed; if there were a "wall" on 3/4 of the perimeter with the plants being trained in 'espalier' (flat against a wall, ex. victorian style gardens) style. With plants encircling the bulb, virtually no light is wasted. However, I could not afford to sit around waiting on money to further my room when I could be doin a run with a regularly hung horizontal reflector. So I can pay for improvements as well as provide my own quality smoke.

Also, soil is Promix, EWC, crushed Phosphate, POM Fruit N Flower, Marine Couisine, kelp, BioPak, Happy Frog Conditioner with ACT added on a weekly - bi-weekly

Ideas? Experience?

J.

P.S. Ignore the bar and cabinet shelving. They both came with the room but are not bein used as of yet. I will be using the shelving for my mother plants in the future and the bar is nice for working at. Ill be gettin them cleaned up and start puttinn some workk into those at latter date.

 

[mad librettist]

for your polycropping - sow the seeds about 2 weeks before harvest. should dovetail nicely.

 

[3rdEye]

I'm watching. Haven't done a no till yet, but i'm prepping a 2ft X 2ft X 4ft bed and that one i'd like to start no-till. Great thread

 

[descivii]

I also forgot to mention; the gurls are 3 weeks into flower today. I have been flipping the light up to 1000wtt for the middle chunk of the day since it has been unusually cool here so I can shoot 50F.ish temp air into the room and across the ballast. Not that the ballast has probs but it's pretty awesome when surface temp is chilly to the touch after running 6+ hours at 1000. I'm only kickin the light up cause it's pretty cool here last week or better, otherwise that room heats up when I move from 600 to 1000. The 600 keeps it perfectly comfortable on a typical day but 1000 makes the room feel sauna-ish. However, lately being able to draw this cool air makes 1000 comfortable. Might as well take advantage of unusual weather patterns.

Also, I've been thinking that I might do well to have a blender that I can blend scraps before being added back to the bed. I'm thinking for quicker breakdown or would it\ should it make a difference?

Thanks 3rdeye, hoping this will be a viable option for some of us urbanly limited folk. I can spit on my neighbors porch from mine so in ground mj isn't an option yet in life.

J

 

[mad librettist]

re: "quicker breakdown"

start off like that, then put it on whole.

it's like having a perpetual cab in the end.

 

[CannaExists]

Fantastic photos.

 

[descivii]

Thanks Canna, I actually suck at taking pics but my girl's camera is like 10Mp and I have Photoshop....I have a hard time screwing up pics thanx to technology. Taking the yellow out is a pain in the ass though.

At some point I would like to have a "natural means" of adding CO2, no ppm monitoring nor would the room be sealed but .....like a friend of mine used a punching balloon (big balloon with big rubberband) attached to a straw with a pinhole leak and he just re-blew up the balloon everyday. Certainly wasn't anywhere near 12-1500ppm but it could only have helped or made no difference. Being free and costing only a moments worth of exhaling...... Perhaps I will come up with something that works for me and I like.........Ideas!?

 

[mad librettist]

yeast?

 

[pinecone]

I've got a no-till tote going in my small 400w cab. I'm happy enough with it that I don't think I'll be tilling or mixing up soil(less) mixes again.

Pine

 

[CannaExists]

yeast?

Yes! Get some Herbal Beers fermenting in there! I would so do that if my cab was big enough to fit my fermenting jugs.

 

[descivii]

I now have spidermites terribly on my plants which are at day 40. The LGS is is getting close and the rest have a couple weeks. Anything I can do? I am working on getting lady bugs but is it gonna change much at this late in the game?

J

 

[mad librettist]

I would hit them with neem oil and wash it off at harvest.

spray every 3 days, no skipping days. Spray from below. Remove the most infested leaves. Don't forget to spray the stems. Use a hand blender to mix up the emulsion o you have even coverage.


you can smoke a spider mite with no ill effects, btw.

 

[MrFista]

My new series on ecosystem processes will help no-till gardeners. It's in the feed the geek thread (sticky in science forum) at the end. Not finished it yet though, be done within a few days. Use a dictionary if you got to, the series should help.

Forgive how dry it is, haven't had time to make it user friendly yet.

 

[descivii]

Fista,
I'm all over some bone dry science lit. Outta see me eyes water while scanning over the examples in the quantum mathematics book.

Well, the LGS probably won't gain much considering it technically has 10 days or so left, organic controls tend to take a few days to curb or check probs and then considering the cost to keep the plant in. While the light is on for other plants anyways I always keep a tally of shared cost among each plant.

CJ is hardest hit with about 25 days or so left, it is just beginning to really fatten up when I noticed the webs. (I spray kelp and it spots anyway). If I go with neem oil then I might be back on track in time to still pull decent buds from CJ. Again, I'm tryin to figure whether it is better to nurture at this point or cut as is.....pretty much the same boat for Romm too. Although, Rommulan hasn't been that great of an indoor grower anyway. Both CJ and Romm are buds about the size of a finger with stem still showing between buds.


After careful consideration I think I will cut LGS early before it gets sprayed with anything and see if I can't get rid of Borg and still get my buds despite these little sapfuckers.

PLease ring in with any comments or experience....

J.

 

[mad librettist]

it is just beginning to really fatten up when I noticed the webs

train yourself to look for stipling, not webs. webs indicate a very advanced infestation. you want to spot the very first little white dots. look along the veins of leaves every day from now on for the rest of your growing career.

pics of a leaf?

 

[descivii]

I caught it on my mothers cause I don't spray them but since I had been spraying with the kelp, I hadn't thought much of spotting. Lemme go get a couple pics.....back in a sec.

 

[descivii]

Ok, I'm not even gonna bother with pics, it was outta control. Webs on top of every cola and going down about 2". There was 2 swarms that looked like a and writhing pile of gold dust......terrible.....I'm ashamed I let it get this bad. I'm an estate gardener by trade.
I think a couple things happened; First I've been paying attention to my outdoor garden more than indoor (my city is under siege from rivers and failing levies). Secondly, I assumed that no signs in the flower area meant I was safe (I know better; always assume a contamination with plant materials and treat accordingly). Lastly, My need for being not wasteful causes me to want to box things in to utilize all the light......and I think this helped an already so/so situation continue. Between the walls blocking good line of sight for regular inspection and the trapping effect...all I ever saw was the tops.

Anyway, I cut most all the leaves leaving only the blades that poke out of the buds, if it had a petiole showing it got pinched. This will hopefully allow me to get them to the end with a little something at least. Goddamn, the Rom is so sticky, I could feel the trichs like sand between my fingers. Soooooo......my gurls are fat AND bald.

J

 

[mad librettist]

 

[descivii]

Finally got some neem oil. I ran out of "expendable income" for the month.....bless my gf, she not only puts up with me but she bought me some much needed neem as well as some equally needed Garden-Tone. Drop the light to 400watt and sprayed 'em all down and back up again....underside, topside, frontside and backside, they are thoroughly sprayed and hopefully I can ride it out without anymore issues. I have a couple upgrades planned for next round anyway so perhaps the whole room will be cleaned and "rebooted".

I have Photoshop....maybe I'll make a diagram or something like that to show what I plan to do when these gurls are done. Since the accident I'm home all day anyway. Fuckit!

J

 

[mad librettist]

when are you next 3 applications gonna be?

you need to keep up with their life cycle