Rock Phosphate too slow for indoor gardening?

[SeaMaiden]

Back when I ran for a seat on a local water council I got myself an interesting quickie education on how water munis are run, some of what they're required to do and some of what they do just to preserve infrastructure.

Because infrastructure is the most expensive part of any water supply, they must, in most instances, add in substances that will prevent corrosion of main supply lines, pumps and pumping stations. The EPA requires *all* water supplies be treated with chlorine or chloramine, regardless of how clean or potable the water is. This surprised me, because the huge well owned by this southern California city is incredibly clean, though being under a huge layer of limestone it is already rather alkaline and hard, and especially high in carbonates.

Cravenmore, yes, I would put it out in the rain or start running RO/DI or even distilled water through it, as I think that should begin pulling some of the carbonates, etc, out of the substrate.

 

[Jungle.Microbes]

One thing I've worked into my amending process is I only add lime and other rock powders when the soil seems to be lacking at the end of the cycle. It's easier to top dress with some powders than have a soil out of balance. It's worked well for my over the years, just amend with the normal amount of compost and EWC, add minerals every 3-4 grows in small amounts. Guanos and blood/bone get added every other grow, but at the same time I have 2 batches going at any given time, so the one gets to sit for 3-4 months before it's even used. It gives it a chance to break down and not be so hot for the plants. I kind of just go by feel and how the plants reacted last time.. I definitely take it easy on the lime though, as mentioned above, the SRP acts as a liming agent, so adding that and lime each time you're amending is asking for troubles. It takes a lot of time for the powder to break down, so it stays in the dirt from cycle to cycle.

To anyone who doesn't recycle, give it a try, and see how much money you save.

 

[guest2012y]

I quit using lime altogether once it was added in minor amounts in the original mix.

This holds true for my soil as well...after three years I no longer use lime,yet will sometimes add oyster shell on re-amending to keep up with calcium needs. Seems to work just fine...

rogg..also,I have pots that are no-till and some that are not...there was an ever rotating juggle between ones that are and ones that are not depending on the exhaustion of nutrients due to the size of the soil biosphere in those smaller/larger pots. The smaller ones that hold smaller plants will need to be re-amended after 1 or 2 no-till cycles...especially since the smaller pots don't have a lot of room for topdressing to maintain a food source as the growth of cannabis increases.
However I am not running no-till this next cycle as every pot will be dumped and the entire soil re-amended.

 

[rrog]

Makes sense that a fixed container will run out of room at some point. The forest level rises as well, after all.

 

[h.h.]

Where does it come from and where does it go? It's not alchemy. it's shape shifting. You can't make something out of nothing and you can't make nothing out of something.
What we take out needs replacing, Other than a little off gassing, everything else is still there.
A forest floor should rise and then collapse again.
Pot size is the variable we add. Precharged soil in a small pot is an abnormality and would be very hard to fit into a no til system. Growing under lights, time is a factor we take away. We don't go through the dormant season where annuals return themselves to the soil.
If no til is possible, I can only really see it done with extreme mulch mixed in with lots of topdress material, and worms.
I can remember buying lime twice in my life. Garden lime and then dolomite because someone said something somewhere about needing it. The ring in the toilet tells me I don't. Occasionally letting lemon tainted water run through the pots eliminates any build up. Probably pisses the worms off a bit, but they soon get over it.

 

[heady blunts]

Makes sense that a fixed container will run out of room at some point. The forest level rises as well, after all.

if the soil is alive an you've got a big plant rocking in the container, the soil will get digested and the volume will decrease.

that big monster widow i grew last summer was eating like an inch of soil every week or two! had to top dress with tons of EWC and leaf mold to keep her happy.