No-Till thread?

[Team Microbe]

1 cubic foot of soil mixed
3-gallons of peat moss
2- gallons rice hulls/perlite/lava rock
2- gallons of worm casting/compost
1/2- cup oyster shell flour
1- cup gypsum
1/2- cup azomite
1/4- cup basalt rock dust
1/2- cup bentonite
1/2- cup crab shell meal
1/2- cup fish meal
1/2- cup alfalfa meal
1/2- cup fish bone meal
1- cup kelp meal
1/2 gallon biochar

This is my current soil mix. It has been revised over the past 4 years or so. I had it tested in 2013 but can't remember the results. It was with logan labs.

Now for notill all rice hulls isnt the best idea, but can be done. I will mix in about half lava rock for some of the rice hulls. I have been working on a new soil mix that uses pine bark fines instead of the lava rock. So it would be a gallon of pine bark fines and a gallon of rice hulls. Also I am going to be switching to large chunks of biochar instead of the 3mm size. This way I have more aeration during the life of the notill soil.

The point of the pine bark fines is to allow for a home for fugnal growth to happen. A lot of us growers use biochar to help with bacteria etc.. to grow but we don't give the fungal hyphae a place to reside.

Also I am starting to use oak leaves, and maple leaves as part of my mulch so that I can have a layer of leaf mould right on top of the pot.

I don't know why I left some of these techniques behind when I moved from Arkansas. I used leaf mould that was from my property, and just about everyone in my area used pine bark fines for aeration, and mulch, including myself.

No better time then now to get back to what I was "brought up" on.

Nice mix Brady! Slightly similar to mine I see...

Also good point on the fungal/bacterial ratio aspect - I feel like a lot of soil is bacterial dominant until mineralization is formed, which would be a good reason to incorporate something like wood chips I think. GreensourceGardens uses a lot of alder bark and chips in their hugel beds I know, that stuff kicks ass from what it looks like.

 

[Gullygsg]

Runoff is one of the biggest problems of agriculture. Whether you are chemical or organic. The leaching nutrients get into our water ways, and will eventually kill of aquatic life among other things.

One of the best things about notill setups indoors is the ability to control runoff, thus saving water(which is a finite resource), and keeping the nutrients where they need to be. Which all equates to saving money.

Get on instagram and jump on the notill bandwagon. It is huge right now.

You too can use neem cake and karanja cake for absolutely no reason. Throw in some malted barley, and aloe and you have joined the hipster notill community.

Most of what's going on right now is a fad. Don't believe me? Then why have the hipster notillers all but stopped using the ever magical coconut water powder?

I run notill indoor, and outdoor for vegetables and I do not like to be considered a part of what is going on in the Cannabis community with regards to notill.

I was running notill before it was cool, and I will most likely run it when the hipster kids find another teet to suck.

It is but one way to garden in a sea of ways.

The reason why the coconut powder is not as big as before is because we fresh is better as with anything life

 

[Lovesponge]

A million apologies for not posting in a while. TM!!! I'm humbled by your presence. I'll have pictures up soon. Been running SIP Soil from BAS, no worms yet unfortunately (but I have good castings, also BAS) and all the rock powders and amendments they offer. Just still learning how and when to apply each of them, and it's daunting. But so far, we are seeing amazing results. Just wish I could combat a couple odd deficiencies here and there (N, Ca, or Mg issues we think) Will post photos for your viewing and expertise. Thank you all for flocking to this thread.

-Sponge

 

[Team Microbe]

A million apologies for not posting in a while. TM!!! I'm humbled by your presence. I'll have pictures up soon. Been running SIP Soil from BAS, no worms yet unfortunately (but I have good castings, also BAS) and all the rock powders and amendments they offer. Just still learning how and when to apply each of them, and it's daunting. But so far, we are seeing amazing results. Just wish I could combat a couple odd deficiencies here and there (N, Ca, or Mg issues we think) Will post photos for your viewing and expertise. Thank you all for flocking to this thread.

-Sponge

No worries, thanks for starting such a killer thread man!

Buildasoil has been a huge help for me personally, I can't source a lot of things locally so they solve that problem for me. Jeremy is a great guy too... as real as they get.

Just curious, what soil mix did you go with? And what are you adding to your routine?

 

[Team Microbe]

bump

 

[Lovesponge]

I'm essentially taking Antonio Bacchus' Modern Method and combining it with BAS' "SIP Soil", which is designed more for use with their Earthboxes I believe. But.. It has a good base mix, and for $10 per cubic foot, and because I had to budget and get a yard, I felt it was still a good move. I originally wanted Modern Mix, but it was twice the cost, and they split it up into Malibu/Oly Mountain combos, so I just went basic until more money comes up and I figure out whether I would want fish compost or cow manure combined soils as my base for bloom, or veg, or mix them?

Also, apologies, but my ADHD really shows.. Especially in my quest for true medicine.. <3

Intermittently, and primarily for the veg phase, I sort of went off my own judgement as per what they needed. But I ended up coming up a little short, but still got amazing growth (Mango Haze, Bear Dance, Blueberry, and Blackberry Kush). From about 6" transplants to bushed out around 24" for the Mangos in week 5 of veg, and 34" for the tallest, a Blueberry in week 1 of flower, with 4 weeks of prior veg time. We took them from 1000w MH parabolic, to 3 hoodless with wing reflectors 1000w, and then got 3 more HPS during their veg phase (worked with what we had at the time, didn't initially have all 6 lights on them) and vegged them out for a month to catch the transplants up. In 7g Geo-Pots (lava rock layer at the bottom, SIP soil, then barley straw and cover crops mix, hope to gets serm werms soooooon, red wigglers. Was debating nightcrawlers or earthworms, but remember reading something saying that they have higher soil depth requirements than wigglers?) And just giving teas (aerobic AACTS, anaerobic AACTs , and SSTs) and topdressing with amendments and EWC mixes. I am in the process of compiling everything to give you more specifics and numbers... http://themodern.farm/methods/#Schedule

"http://themodern.farm/methods/#Schedule"

That's the link to my regiment. I figured I would go with his guidelines and then just develop my own as I learned with practice.

 

[Lovesponge]

Posted a photo of the ladies in bloom, just 12. They're on my profile... Not sure how to link (I suck. Even double posted.. :/ )

 

[Team Microbe]

I'm essentially taking Antonio Bacchus' Modern Method and combining it with BAS' "SIP Soil", which is designed more for use with their Earthboxes I believe. But.. It has a good base mix, and for $10 per cubic foot, and because I had to budget and get a yard, I felt it was still a good move. I originally wanted Modern Mix, but it was twice the cost, and they split it up into Malibu/Oly Mountain combos, so I just went basic until more money comes up and I figure out whether I would want fish compost or cow manure combined soils as my base for bloom, or veg, or mix them?

Also, apologies, but my ADHD really shows.. Especially in my quest for true medicine.. <3

Intermittently, and primarily for the veg phase, I sort of went off my own judgement as per what they needed. But I ended up coming up a little short, but still got amazing growth (Mango Haze, Bear Dance, Blueberry, and Blackberry Kush). From about 6" transplants to bushed out around 24" for the Mangos in week 5 of veg, and 34" for the tallest, a Blueberry in week 1 of flower, with 4 weeks of prior veg time. We took them from 1000w MH parabolic, to 3 hoodless with wing reflectors 1000w, and then got 3 more HPS during their veg phase (worked with what we had at the time, didn't initially have all 6 lights on them) and vegged them out for a month to catch the transplants up. In 7g Geo-Pots (lava rock layer at the bottom, SIP soil, then barley straw and cover crops mix, hope to gets serm werms soooooon, red wigglers. Was debating nightcrawlers or earthworms, but remember reading something saying that they have higher soil depth requirements than wigglers?) And just giving teas (aerobic AACTS, anaerobic AACTs , and SSTs) and topdressing with amendments and EWC mixes. I am in the process of compiling everything to give you more specifics and numbers... http://themodern.farm/methods/#Schedule

"http://themodern.farm/methods/#Schedule"

That's the link to my regiment. I figured I would go with his guidelines and then just develop my own as I learned with practice.

I say you should mix the fish and cow compost for more biodiversity, for all phases of growth.

 

[Lovesponge]

Thank youuu. Saw that the fish compost based soil mix had tons more nitrate (NO3) than the Bu. So figured it was for veg, but mixing them also came to mind. Thank you for clarifying!

 

[Team Microbe]

mhmm!

 

[Lovesponge]

Week 1 Bloom, with 4 weeks of veg time under half of the time 3, then other half 6 1000w HPS to veg, as we had only HPS bulbs. Mix of 6 Bear Dance, 5 Blueberry, and 1 Blackberry Kush.

 

[Lovesponge]

The deficiencies I was talking about... Thinking Ca, or Mg, maybe a little N..

 

[cannaisok]

No til came from chem farming?

All farming is simple farming unless you use chems?

No right way?

Sorry, I respect your efforts but I do not agree wholeheartedly with everything you are saying.

There is one right way, it is sustainable agriculture. How that is achieved however is where we have choices, but even then, most people don't really understand the concept (including many people in the agricultural industry).

In regards to the what is wrong in regards to sustainability there is more to it than chemicals like roundup and eagle20.

Both organic and synthetic methods are attributed to causing nitrification, a serious detrimental byproduct of agricultural practices.

Sustainable doesn't mean no chemicals, very specific organic methods or a compromise in the existing metrics one enjoys (amount of yield, % of cannabinoids, etc).

It means understanding causation in the agricultural processes and choosing the ones at your disposal that achieve maximum output using sustainable practices.

The part that most everyone is ignorant to, because they can't soil test their soil for them, is microbial activity.

With the proper microbes in the rhizopshere, not only can natural occurring levels of organic matter fulfill nutritional needs but robust soil microbiology acts as catalysts in conjunction with soil nutrient lowering the required nutrient density to feed them.

There is no need for the amount of nutrients most synthetic or organic farmers use because they ignore the evolutionary gap filled by soil microbiology. There is no need for a gross percentage of chemicals unless you ignore the evolutionary gap filled by optimal plant health. Both of these are facilitated by the microbiology these plants evolved to adapt to.

The closer we get to sustainability the closer we get to naturalized evolutionary microbiological populations that make all of this just happen.

 

[who dat is]

The deficiencies I was talking about... Thinking Ca, or Mg, maybe a little N..

View Image

View Image

View Image

Are those from lower on the plant?

I'm thinking a mix of N and P deficiencies

 

[Team Microbe]

Are plants flowering yet?

Have you trimmed up larfy lower branches/leaves at all?

Does the soil ever get too dry?

How does your new growth look, happy and healthy?

 

[VortexPower420]

If it's lower leaves, K, if its up more by the top Ca could be your problem. Not likely P.

What i think is wrong is over feed. If you are following that feeding schedule I could see problems.

It really takes way less then you think. I have gotten similar problems with a heavy kelp top-dress.

Let the microbes work. I find it funny he calls it modern Microbes and then has you following a feed schedule that most likely is shutting down some microbes. The whole thing seams like over kill to me. That first top dress is heavy.

Give them water and casting/compost slurry otlr a good act. Or just water only.

Letting them dry out has that affect sometimes to.

 

[Lovesponge]

Are those from lower on the plant?

I'm thinking a mix of N and P deficiencies

They are primarily on the lower leaves of the plants. Some sort of seemed to pale uniformly at first.

Are plants flowering yet?

Have you trimmed up larfy lower branches/leaves at all?

Does the soil ever get too dry?

How does your new growth look, happy and healthy?

Yes, plants are flowering. But the yellowing started around the third week of veg under HPS, and they are about a week and a half of flower in that picture.

Have trimmed a little from the bottom of each plant, so as to prevent mite progress (some other people near us have spider mite issues, but I have that under control), but do you think trimming more would help?

Only part of the soil that gets too dry is the top layer from time to time, due to the 86-91F temperature fluctuation during the day (am working on getting it down to 78-86) and we have only a maximum of 30% room humidity, and are in the process of dialing in the environment.

New growth does look happy and healthy.

If it's lower leaves, K, if its up more by the top Ca could be your problem. Not likely P.

What i think is wrong is over feed. If you are following that feeding schedule I could see problems.

It really takes way less then you think. I have gotten similar problems with a heavy kelp top-dress.

Let the microbes work. I find it funny he calls it modern Microbes and then has you following a feed schedule that most likely is shutting down some microbes. The whole thing seams like over kill to me. That first top dress is heavy.

Give them water and casting/compost slurry otlr a good act. Or just water only.

Letting them dry out has that affect sometimes to.

Well, we were in vegetative state while they began to yellow. Admittedly, it was my own judgement calls they played into what we gave them for veg phase, because he only has a bloom schedule, so I originally thought that maybe I either gave too much or too little of some things, but I honestly believe that his schedule doesn't seem like overkill, but hey, you may be right! I had been giving them AACTs (DragonflyEarthMedicine, EWC, and Pinto Bean Compost) and SSTs throughout veg, and they kicked a lot of ass! However, once I started feeding more pinto bean compost teas, the yellowing started to revert. Still have a couple of plants that show the yellowing, but the other four came back!

 

[VortexPower420]

If I were a betting man I would say K tox, but I am no expert.

Compost is high in K to begin with I knao nothing g of bean compost so who knows.

Just reminds me of when I put too much kelp on them.

Remember, less is more. If you constantly giving the plants/soil soluable nutes the the microbes shut down and then the plants rely on them.

Just some thoughts

 

[Lovesponge]

This is where they were one week into veg under 1000W MH, before we had the other 3 HPS up and running, and just decided to veg with the 3 instead of the 1, regardless of spectrum, for quicker growth.

These are only a month younger than those larger ones at the top of the page (those are the back 12).

 

[Lovesponge]

If I were a betting man I would say K tox, but I am no expert.

Compost is high in K to begin with I knao nothing g of bean compost so who knows.

Just reminds me of when I put too much kelp on them.

Remember, less is more. If you constantly giving the plants/soil soluable nutes the the microbes shut down and then the plants rely on them.

Just some thoughts

It could be.. The pinto bean compost soil test results:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0248/9641/files/LocalBeanCompost.pdf?14105359850260505119

For a while, they actually got primarily water after tea feedings and topdress.. So I actually thought they were getting underfed.. But my ratios could be wrong. Might be swinging the soil in too different a direction unintentionally.. Will have more of what I gave them throughout the cycle soon. Gotta write it all down from whiteboard pictures. XD