Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

[bobrown14]

Always take cuts. Can toss the un-worthy after.... I take keep the keeper cuts as moms and take cuts from them and keep the mother in veg for long long time. Then always take extra cuts in case the mom decides she's had enough bs.

Sometimes when that happens I'll give her what she wants and put her in flower. Ugly duckling turns into pretty woman.

 

[DoobieDoobs]

Hey guys, just wondering, what kind of organic material do you top dress with your no tills? I did a couple ROLS cycles, but now I got 2 15 gallon pots and I want to keep using them as a no till kinda deal. So I was wondering what kind of organic inputs should I be top dressing with my pots, I have been using leaves, and branches, e.g. what was left of my previous grow, but I want to know what else I can use. Thanks.

 

[bobrown14]

leaf mold from the woods, ewc, kelp meal mixed with ewc, plant an oats cover crop while pots are empty to keep the microbes going. compost - ewc - vermi-compost. All or any of these and there are many more.

I usually just grow a cover crop of something.... wait until I plant a new plant in the pot and add amenments to the hole at up-can then into flower.

 

[DoobieDoobs]

leaf mold from the woods, ewc, kelp meal mixed with ewc, plant an oats cover crop while pots are empty to keep the microbes going. compost - ewc - vermi-compost. All or any of these and there are many more.

I usually just grow a cover crop of something.... wait until I plant a new plant in the pot and add amenments to the hole at up-can then into flower.

thank you, ill try to get some of it, good thing is I will get more use out of my worm farm.

 

[Nugbender]

I have a couple 5 gal coco based soil from a previous organic run, its been awhile maybe and the soil is all dried out, what would be the necessary steps I would need to take to bring these back to life?

I have some BAS craft blend, grokashi I could amend this with and some cover crop seeds, just sprouted some beans so it would be about a few weeks at least until I transplant

 

[blueberrymilkshake]

Rols Royce would be such a good username

 

[GreenestBasterd]

The blumats create little worm hotspots wherever the drippers are placed. It great!

Once harvest is complete I leave the blumats on and plant a mixed cover crop with a cheap led.
Once it’s 3-4 weeks old, I’ll switch the light off and let the worms, Woodlice and the rest get to work.
The lack of light brings the worms up to the top of the containers.
When you go in with a torch, the surface of the containers shimmers and moves and you can see recycling before your eyes!

One thing I noticed and couldn’t believe until I saw it was, the Woodlice would climb up the small plants and eat the leaf edges (took a while to work out).
They would only do this at lights off, and I’m certain it was due to the lack of food as the cover crop was all but gone.

This soil has only got better and better over the years and remained problem free.

 

[GreenestBasterd]

I have a couple 5 gal coco based soil from a previous organic run, its been awhile maybe and the soil is all dried out, what would be the necessary steps I would need to take to bring these back to life?

I have some BAS craft blend, grokashi I could amend this with and some cover crop seeds, just sprouted some beans so it would be about a few weeks at least until I transplant

Water well, top dress a small amount of kelp, barley and gypsum. Cover that with worm castings and mulch with straw/hay/alfalfa anything, but mulch. Add cover crop if you have it.
Leave somewhere moderately warm and keep moist, but not soaking, for a few weeks.
It should be better than before.

 

[TexasTwister]

new to the board. Just wanted to add that I finished this thread a few weeks ago. I learned so much. soo many myths dispelled.

Im sure as new locations go legal you get these posts a lot. was working in salts and now about to cook my first all organic water only. such a rabbit hole to go down. so much catching up to do. but just wanted to kickdown and say thanks to everyone.

 

[radicaldank42]

What soil mixture do you guys use. Like I mix bail of hp plus and sunshine mix and add few bags of perlite.

 

[Hipposcottamus1]

I am in my 3rd cycle outdoors in 30 gal pots and have ran into a problem. I have been top dressing with the standard ammendments along with EWC and compost.
My problem is now my pots are mounded which makes watering a little tricky, I have been just watering in really slowly to avoid overflow.
How would you go about the next cycle going forward with a no till mindset? Scrape off 2-6 inches and start over?

 

[bobrown14]

I poke a few holes with my finger the water will run into the holes instead of out of the container. I have the same exact issue too much top dress. A few holes works fine and water closer to the stalk,

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I poke a few holes with my finger the water will run into the holes instead of out of the container. I have the same exact issue too much top dress. A few holes works fine and water closer to the stalk,

Maybe use a wetting agent.

 

[BeansfromtheGods]

How much eposm salt does one add to a soil drench? Currently in week 5 and seeing signs of yellowing and want to touch it up with some magnesium. Just topped off with oyster shell for the calcium

 

[radicaldank42]

How much eposm salt does one add to a soil drench? Currently in week 5 and seeing signs of yellowing and want to touch it up with some magnesium. Just topped off with oyster shell for the calcium

so you gotta be careful with epsoms salts because it is a straight up salt and salts is what plants poo and cause problems excessive salts. but i beleive its a 1/2 teaspoon

 

[bobrown14]

How much eposm salt does one add to a soil drench? Currently in week 5 and seeing signs of yellowing and want to touch it up with some magnesium. Just topped off with oyster shell for the calcium

Look up "senescence" plants dont stay green all the way to flower. This is genetics and cultivar specific.

IF this is your first run with that cultivar I would suggest leaving it be and adjust your amendments for the next run.

5 weeks = 35 days, I have plants that start loosing leaves at 30 days which = senescence. This is a common thing plants do. All ya gotta do take a look outside. Some trees color earlier some wait till later in the fall. The trees that loose leaves are not having deficits. Plants loose leaves for a lot of reasons.

Adding Mg to a living soil is not usually a recommendation unless your soil test indicates Mg deficit.

IF you dont have a soil test the best way to add Mg is to top dress vermi-compost or another compost source like Coast of Main lobster compost + kelp meal. This will have more than enough Mg along every other micro and macro nutrient the plant needs so all your bases covered without adding salts that can build up over time causing a tail chasing situation.

Cannabis plants are Ca hogs. Gotta be REAL careful adding in CaCo3 (oyster shell flour) to a container with living plants. CaCo3 can drastically change soil pH in a container. Farmers add that in the early spring to fallow fields for this reason.

Your better choice for adding in Ca is to add gypsum - there's your sulfur and your calcium without messing with soil pH. The Ca will be "somewhat" soluble from the Gypsum.

 

[BeansfromtheGods]

Look up "senescence" plants dont stay green all the way to flower. This is genetics and cultivar specific.

IF this is your first run with that cultivar I would suggest leaving it be and adjust your amendments for the next run.

5 weeks = 35 days, I have plants that start loosing leaves at 30 days which = senescence. This is a common thing plants do. All ya gotta do take a look outside. Some trees color earlier some wait till later in the fall. The trees that loose leaves are not having deficits. Plants loose leaves for a lot of reasons.

Adding Mg to a living soil is not usually a recommendation unless your soil test indicates Mg deficit.

IF you dont have a soil test the best way to add Mg is to top dress vermi-compost or another compost source like Coast of Main lobster compost + kelp meal. This will have more than enough Mg along every other micro and macro nutrient the plant needs so all your bases covered without adding salts that can build up over time causing a tail chasing situation.

Cannabis plants are Ca hogs. Gotta be REAL careful adding in CaCo3 (oyster shell flour) to a container with living plants. CaCo3 can drastically change soil pH in a container. Farmers add that in the early spring to fallow fields for this reason.

Your better choice for adding in Ca is to add gypsum - there's your sulfur and your calcium without messing with soil pH. The Ca will be "somewhat" soluble from the Gypsum.

Appreciate your share, I haven't used gypsum much as an additive. I already added a little oyster shell flour and 1watering with a little epsom in there. Just made a SST with barley and kelp me ill just water her out for the next week and ease up on the feeding to run out the excess.

When is the best time to take soil tests? After a fun finishes?

 

[bobrown14]

soil test after mix - then yearly.

Feed the soil micro-organisms.

 

[BeansfromtheGods]

What soil mixture do you guys use. Like I mix bail of hp plus and sunshine mix and add few bags of perlite.

Living soil mix from buildasoil I bought years ago

 

[BeansfromtheGods]

The blumats create little worm hotspots wherever the drippers are placed. It great!

Once harvest is complete I leave the blumats on and plant a mixed cover crop with a cheap led.
Once it’s 3-4 weeks old, I’ll switch the light off and let the worms, Woodlice and the rest get to work.
The lack of light brings the worms up to the top of the containers.
When you go in with a torch, the surface of the containers shimmers and moves and you can see recycling before your eyes!

One thing I noticed and couldn’t believe until I saw it was, the Woodlice would climb up the small plants and eat the leaf edges (took a while to work out).
They would only do this at lights off, and I’m certain it was due to the lack of food as the cover crop was all but gone.

This soil has only got better and better over the years and remained problem free.
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How high up do you have your reservoir at?