Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

bizfactory

Well-Known Member
Yep I've been doing that in general, especially in large pots, for years.
So it was something I didn't even think about when I set up my first no-till pot, it got an inch of lava rock as the bottommost layer. Mind you I've only used it on one run to now (and that was a crazy one, not due to the lava rock hehe), so there may be implications for no-till I am not yet aware of ;)
Thanks for the response. After I posted that question I kept searching around for an answer and found some interesting information against using aeration on the bottom of a container. I think i'm going to skip it this time but I'm still not sold on one way or the other.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=2838394&postcount=62

http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/how-to/tips/drainage-in-containers

https://bozannical.com/2012/08/24/the-great-myth-of-drainage-rocks/

https://www.rollitup.org/t/changes-the-way-you-think-about-drainage.424933/
 

calliandra

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the response. After I posted that question I kept searching around for an answer and found some interesting information against using aeration on the bottom of a container. I think i'm going to skip it this time but I'm still not sold on one way or the other.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=2838394&postcount=62

http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/how-to/tips/drainage-in-containers

https://bozannical.com/2012/08/24/the-great-myth-of-drainage-rocks/

https://www.rollitup.org/t/changes-the-way-you-think-about-drainage.424933/
Ah interesting!
Yeah I'm on the fence about drainage layers now too, thanks lol :P

I was especially intrigued about this perched water table thing - the aeration at the bottom of my big pots is specifically to prevent an anaerobic layer forming in the bottom of the pot, but if all it does is to create that anaerobic layer right above it, of course it would be moot.
I'll definitely check on that after my next harvest!
 

keepitcoastal

Well-Known Member
Look into cmh too @st0wandgrow The cmh bulbs last 3 times longer than hps bulbs. They're much more efficient than hps. Mine only pulls 339 watts at the wall. I'm covering a 4x4. It would be better at a 3x3 - 3.5 x 3.5.

Its my first run with a 315. I paid. $365 for it.mine is a phantom 315. The sun system lec 315 is about $480. It has a better ballast made by Phillips and it's not remote like mine. Still produces very little heat like my cmh. They both use the same bulbs. I think when I add more cmh I'm going to grab some sun systems
I've got 8 of the sun system ones in one of my veg rooms I like them quite alot actually . With the overlap they perform quite well with a 4X4 spread and they run very cool ..
 

bizfactory

Well-Known Member
I am fuckin pissed. I chopped my plants that were having all kinds of issues (droopy leaves, yellow / lime green color, slow growth) in my no till pots (2nd round). I ended up adding 1/9th of the total mix in pumice and obviously tilled / re-mixed the soil. I popped a health clone in one just as a tester to see if it would stay healthy or not. 2 days later it's droopy as fuck. I did a light watering during transplant but that's it. My lights are even turned down and all the way at the top of the tent. This plant was 100% healthy 2 days ago in a solo of FFOF.

I'm really starting to think there might be something really wrong with my environment. Plastic gassing off? Furnace / water heater leaking natural gas? I don't smell anything but I also have a fan exhausting out of the basement. Mold / fungus down there? I'm literally just making shit up now, I have no clue what's off. Temps are around 74 and rH is a bit low at 30-40%. Both of those numbers are not far off the other room where the clones are vegging.

or it's just transplant shock but I really doubt it's going to look better in a few days.

IMG_20160519_082724.jpg
 

bizfactory

Well-Known Member
A light alfalfa top dress in my first round but that should be it. I was using dynagro foliage pro in the solo so thats why its a bit dark looking.

I have some bas milled malted barley. I was just going to top dress but would making a tea be faster?

Roots weren't really damaged, I did sprinkle with endomycos as well.
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
A light alfalfa top dress in my first round but that should be it. I was using dynagro foliage pro in the solo so thats why its a bit dark looking.

I have some bas milled malted barley. I was just going to top dress but would making a tea be faster?

Roots weren't really damaged, I did sprinkle with endomycos as well.
Just topdress the barley then topdress more castings on top of that then water. A tea may be faster but the topdress will last 2 weeks. Malted barley (pureed) is pretty fast acting anyway. You see more of response the following day.
 

bizfactory

Well-Known Member
Thanks hyroot, I'll probably do a mix of worm power, homemade compost and denver leaf compost to put on top of the barley. Really hope it helps but I'm ready to be let down again. Seems like no matter what I try, the room / tent is just toxic for anything I put in there.

I also notice that in the morning when the lights come on my plants droop the most and look the worst. They sorta pop up a bit during the day but never a healthy leaf structure or the typical praying for light.

I put another healthy clone still in a solo into the tent that is currently praying. We'll see if it starts to deteriorate in a few days. Could be pretty telling if it's the soil vs environment. Current screen shot from my webcam :(

fuck.jpg
 
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PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Just picked up everything I need to make my first no till pots. Here's my mix


BASE:
1/3 Peat
1/3 Pearlite
1/3 compost/EWC

AMENDMENTS:

1/2 cup per cu.ft

Kelp meal
Fishbone/Crab meal mixture

And a mixture of glacial rock dust, gypsum pellets, and oyster shell flour @ 4 cups per cu.ft.

I wanted to add some neem or karanja cake to the mix but apparently in Canada neem is strictly regulated and I can't find anywhere.

I also picked up some mycorrrhizae to inoculate my roots with when I transplant into the no till pots.

Can I just add a handful of worms to the pots when they get filled, and what worms should I be getting? There's a worm farm just down the road from me and they have a few different types.

If there's anything else that I should be adding in please let me know!
 

Tical_514

Member
I get my neem meal from this website http://www.reindeersnatural.ca/neem_meal.htm
It is a important part of the mix

I would put 4-6 cup of glacial rock dust and 1/2 cup of gypsum.

You can add 1 Cup of Malted Barley Powder per cu.ft, its a good source of enzyme! That will help to start the life in your soil. You can use it as a top dress every week or 2, try to grind it as find as possible without heating it too much.

You should put worms in your pot, get some red wigglers, they eat the most, I think. Its good to have night crawlers too, they are bigger but they don't eat as much as the red wigglers. Good for aeration and diversity. You can get them in your own garden.

Top dress with dandelion, its the season!

And start a worm bin in a fabric pot

Check this forum https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/no-till-gardening-revisited.1400505/

Coots and Mofo have give alot of good infos!
 
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GreenSanta

Well-Known Member
I am fuckin pissed. I chopped my plants that were having all kinds of issues (droopy leaves, yellow / lime green color, slow growth) in my no till pots (2nd round). I ended up adding 1/9th of the total mix in pumice and obviously tilled / re-mixed the soil. I popped a health clone in one just as a tester to see if it would stay healthy or not. 2 days later it's droopy as fuck. I did a light watering during transplant but that's it. My lights are even turned down and all the way at the top of the tent. This plant was 100% healthy 2 days ago in a solo of FFOF.

I'm really starting to think there might be something really wrong with my environment. Plastic gassing off? Furnace / water heater leaking natural gas? I don't smell anything but I also have a fan exhausting out of the basement. Mold / fungus down there? I'm literally just making shit up now, I have no clue what's off. Temps are around 74 and rH is a bit low at 30-40%. Both of those numbers are not far off the other room where the clones are vegging.

or it's just transplant shock but I really doubt it's going to look better in a few days.

View attachment 3685648
First, this plant just look transplant shock, I wouldnt worry about it at all. I M O , this is exactly what I was saying some while ago on this thread, people follow a no till recipe and call their garden a no till garden, of course the first round is fuking outstanding. That is when I said stop calling your grow a no till grow if you are on first or second round, I said come back when you are on your fifth round is still producing amazing flowers...

to be successful at no till, I M O, is to do raised beds on wheels and letting the beds rest between cycles, and when I say raised beds I mean big beds, if you grow in a 15 gallons pots and get over 10 oz I can almost guarantee you the next crop won't be nearly as good.

Some people prefer to make a fresh batch of supersoil every cycle to ensure maximum yield but I prefer the approach of remixing / reamending with high quality worm castings, and goof around with amendments, sometimes I fuck up but even when I do I ride it out and get great weed out of it.

I am sorry to be so pessimist about no-till, but for indoor garden for the majority of us it does not make all that much sense.
 

kmog33

Well-Known Member
Anyone know if. Can use heavily diluted neem oil and not kill my soil?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

calliandra

Well-Known Member
First, this plant just look transplant shock, I wouldnt worry about it at all. I M O , this is exactly what I was saying some while ago on this thread, people follow a no till recipe and call their garden a no till garden, of course the first round is fuking outstanding. That is when I said stop calling your grow a no till grow if you are on first or second round, I said come back when you are on your fifth round is still producing amazing flowers...

to be successful at no till, I M O, is to do raised beds on wheels and letting the beds rest between cycles, and when I say raised beds I mean big beds, if you grow in a 15 gallons pots and get over 10 oz I can almost guarantee you the next crop won't be nearly as good.

Some people prefer to make a fresh batch of supersoil every cycle to ensure maximum yield but I prefer the approach of remixing / reamending with high quality worm castings, and goof around with amendments, sometimes I fuck up but even when I do I ride it out and get great weed out of it.

I am sorry to be so pessimist about no-till, but for indoor garden for the majority of us it does not make all that much sense.
Yeah I really get your drift, on the other hand I don't really understand why it would be so -- after all, plants create their optimal microbiology themselves, strongly localized to their root zones, outdoors too.
So I tend to see it more as "we're still missing something" as opposed to "doesn't really work" -- for now lol :mrgreen:
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
You just have to add worms to your pots. As in nature there's worms already in the ground. No till is emulating nature. The problem with each next round is the soil gets compacted more and more each watering. So the worms prevent that from ever happening. They keep the soil loose. And plus their poop is gold and you don't really have to worry about adding castings either.
 

bizfactory

Well-Known Member
I was 95% sure my soil was ok before re-mixing it, and this morning only seems to further prove that. This little clone was praying yesterday. The pic is 24 hours after being in my basement / tent. There's gotta be something off in my environment. That is so fast to start looking like shit and drooping that hard. My lights are dimmed and 3+ ft away, mid 70s temp and low 30s rH. I went down the VPD path but even 50% humidity didn't help much.

IMG_20160520_074651.jpg

I actually pulled the 15 gallon from the basement and put it in a closet under some Vero 18s I veg with. The closet doesn't have any exhaust or circulation fans. I'm almost positive the plant will be looking better in a few days. I just have no fucking clue what's wrong with my basement / tent set up.

IMG_20160520_075213.jpg
 

calliandra

Well-Known Member
I was 95% sure my soil was ok before re-mixing it, and this morning only seems to further prove that. This little clone was praying yesterday. The pic is 24 hours after being in my basement / tent. There's gotta be something off in my environment. That is so fast to start looking like shit and drooping that hard. My lights are dimmed and 3+ ft away, mid 70s temp and low 30s rH. I went down the VPD path but even 50% humidity didn't help much.

View attachment 3686401

I actually pulled the 15 gallon from the basement and put it in a closet under some Vero 18s I veg with. The closet doesn't have any exhaust or circulation fans. I'm almost positive the plant will be looking better in a few days. I just have no fucking clue what's wrong with my basement / tent set up.

View attachment 3686402
sheez sounds like you're in an annoying spot there - I've no genius ideas as to what the cause could be (sorry! :eyesmoke:), but one question, why do you make a point of giving her less light?
 

bizfactory

Well-Known Member
IMG_20160520_074651.jpg

IMG_20160522_124915.jpg

Friday vs Sunday out of the basement. Ridiculous. I guess I'm going to try super high rH, it's the only thing I can think of to try that is different between my closet / basement. Closet has no ventilation so it's higher humidity.
 

Quintessence

Active Member
Just completed my first ever harvest and this thread was invaluable in the process so I wanted to share the fruits of my labor and say thanks to everyone who contributed their knowledge. Everything is washed and is currently drying and I can't wait to get stuck into these delicious buds! Cheers!
 

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CaptainCAVEMAN

Well-Known Member
Just completed my first ever harvest and this thread was invaluable in the process so I wanted to share the fruits of my labor and say thanks to everyone who contributed their knowledge. Everything is washed and is currently drying and I can't wait to get stuck into these delicious buds! Cheers!
Nice looking plants man.
 
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