Motherlode Gardens 2014

[OvergrowDaWorld]

i popped them, 2 out of 5 survived, i think one is female, not sure yet..

Those the ones D.U.D.E made?
They looked like shit... every grow of em Ive seen.
Even shitty growers wont ever grow them again.
How did yours come out LyryC?

Those little puppy-pad protectors are very kind of you Shcrews.
I bet theres alot of prickers/thorns and what not, that can hurt his little paws out there.
Good on you.

Plants are looking great! Next year Im growing in 200gln smarties guerilla style.
I think my shits are rootbound and just starting to show flowers in around 80glns.

 

[mapinguari]

You know wind and heat also evaporate water, which mulch also helps with.

I'm an Aussie, we don't have any problems with large plants.

These guys never heard of Kangativa, I guess...they're on a weird anti-mulch crusade for some reason...

 

[goldcountryguy2]

Nice progress guys. I'd love to smoke some of ur Bodhi stuff. Is that a stuffed animal or living dog?

 

[SG1]

To me, mulch serves many purposes.

Here's the tricks.

Firstly, I love my worms and what they do for my plants.
Mulch of any kind is worm food.

All my outdoor pots are recycled in place over the winter.
I seeded them with a lb of red wigglers 2 years back.
During the year and fter harvest, I put all leaves off the plant onto the soil.
I then fill the pot full of fall leaves, gotta rake leaves every year anyway, may as well put them to work.

Over the winter, leaves feed the worms, worms turn it into poopies and compost, and of course the mirco herd go crazy for both.
Come spring time, my soil is full of worms, and of course even more poopies and compost.

During the early spring and through planting time when plants are small, the mulch protects the moisture content and allows plants to go nearly their first month with little water and no feedings.
All amendments can go right onto mulch in the wet winter months and is slow released throughout the winter.

Fact is:
All season long, you get free sustainable nutrients, you conserve water, and can revert to all recycled, no till growing.
I have cut my soil costs from $2,000 a year to $200 in amendments to recycle.


I also have 3 compost tumblers full of worms that I use for my tea feeds.
All compost, worms, and their egg cases are all strained and returned to tumblers.
My OD weed growing cost went from $12 an ounce down to $6 an ounce.
Good business to utilize worms and mulch.

 

[epicorchard]

You know wind and heat also evaporate water, which mulch also helps with.

I'm an Aussie, we don't have any problems with large plants.

Put it this way, tree frogs hang out under my plants. Its shady and cool. Not much heat and evaporation ocurring down under there.

 

[Bulldog420]

These guys never heard of Kangativa, I guess...they're on a weird anti-mulch crusade for some reason...

I have buddies that like to poo poo on mulch as well. I think the only reason is because they are too lazy to apply it. If your a frog looking for shade and water, obviously under plants is a good spot. Doesn't mean it's cool, just cooler than out in the open. The only downside to mulch that has been brought to my attention is the carbon input into the soil. If your soil is perfectly balanced, then mulch may throw this off. However I feel most people are not working with perfect soil, and the addition of mulch would be beneficial in most cases. Keeps the top lair of microbes alive and flourishing.

 

[SG1]

If the microbes are healthy, PH remains balanced.
Every creatures poopies contain Nitrogen, which increases decomposition, which feeds the microbes and other wild life.
It's a constant cycle of life with a complete food chain.
All uncomposted material, high in carbon just stays at the surface dry, just provides shade.
Creatures feed from the bottom up and eat what they want.
Nothing wasted.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

I don't bother with mulch, I just grow Big plants.

 

[Bulldog420]

I had this question for Mr. Astera author of The Ideal Soil and this is what he said....

Mr. Astera

I have a question that is a bit off topic, hope that is ok

Where does mulch fall into the perfect soil? Until lately, I have been using redwood, and fine redwood as mulch. It keeps the soil moist and breaks down into humus fairly fast. However, the other day somebody brought to my attention that all the extra broken down mulch will raise my carbon inputs. Do you consider this a problem? If so, how would you fix it?

Thanks

Bulldog-

Love the name. If you have something that is working for you, all is good. Make sure you have enough Ca and all will be well.

Michael A

Hope this helps.

 

[ponobegone]

ive pulled back my mulch and had stringy cobweb looking roots underneath, i like that

 

[epicorchard]

ive pulled back my mulch and had stringy cobweb looking roots underneath, i like that

I'd like that too. I also like growing 12lb plants without mulch. I'm trying to perfect the Stupid Simple KISS method. If I can remove a step and still crush it at harvest than that step is gone.

Probably won't hurt, but mulch is definitely not necessary.

 

[ozza]

If you had to water less, wouldn't that be simpler?

 

[Meds215]

Some of us like our soil to dry out a little quicker. Less chance of root rot and fungus problems I'm at every 3 days right now with no mulch should be every 2 soon once buds are bigger. What ever works for.you stick with it I don't mind watering

 

[Shcrews]

These guys never heard of Kangativa, I guess...they're on a weird anti-mulch crusade for some reason...

growing 12lb plants without mulch. I'm trying to perfect the Stupid Simple KISS method. If I can remove a step and still crush it at harvest than that step is gone.

Probably won't hurt, but mulch is definitely not necessary.

Mulch is an extra step in my opinion. Some people benefit from it, others do fine without. We didnt use any, although if we had more money and time to plan this garden we might have. Anyway our plants look fine and they only need water every 2-3 days right now.

I think there are many more important things such as soil mix, soil size, genetics, sunlight, supp lighting, water availability/quality, cages, pruning, pest control, nutrients, security, trimming, harvest, etc.


i would rather have all those things dialed in before i mulch. And then, why not... Pono's garden always looks great so obviously it doesnt hurt when done properly.

 

[Shcrews]

Those the ones D.U.D.E made?
They looked like shit... every grow of em Ive seen.
Even shitty growers wont ever grow them again.
How did yours come out LyryC?

Those little puppy-pad protectors are very kind of you Shcrews.
I bet theres alot of prickers/thorns and what not, that can hurt his little paws out there.
Good on you.

Plants are looking great! Next year Im growing in 200gln smarties guerilla style.
I think my shits are rootbound and just starting to show flowers in around 80glns.

yah those are the ones, hopefully there's a female so i can at least see what all the fuss is about.

200gal pots doesn't sound like guerilla style. why not do more smaller plants? less of a pain. anyway that's cool !

I had to get the shoes for my dog, he gets foxtails in his paws and they go into his skin and get infected.

Nice progress guys. I'd love to smoke some of ur Bodhi stuff. Is that a stuffed animal or living dog?

. He's a living chick magnet who chases tennis balls like no other. I'll save ya some Bodhi...

 

[Shcrews]

took some pictures at sunrise.

WiFi#3 x Snow Lotus:

 

[Shcrews]

Ancient OG (Bodhi)

Ancient OG (Bodhi)

these are over 10 feet tall

 

[Bulldog420]

Absolutely beautiful picture. How are those t-posts standing up? I drove one in the ground yesterday and it took forever in this hard ground, not sure I will ever get it out. Looks like yours are not drove too far into the ground, please explain. Anything I can do to avoid more pounding would be huge. Thanks again.

 

[Shcrews]

Cherry Pies double potted in an 800

CP doesn't want to get tall.. the biggest one is only 6 feet and very bushy.

 

[Shcrews]

Absolutely beautiful picture. How are those t-posts standing up? I drove one in the ground yesterday and it took forever in this hard ground, not sure I will ever get it out. Looks like yours are not drove too far into the ground, please explain. Anything I can do to avoid more pounding would be huge. Thanks again.

We used 6ft t-posts , pound them in about 2 feet with a post pounder. Then attach the big posts to those with bailing wire. For our main supports we are using 12' t-posts. A lot of people use 10' bamboo. Don't get the cheap 8' green stakes from Home Depot, we have some of those and they suck.

shouldn't be too hard to pound the posts as long as you arent going into rock. The ground here is red clay with some boulders, the t-posts go in easy but you definitely need a post puller (or pickaxe) to get them out.