great update homie! had to take note on this one!!!!
ok so everything i will be saying, is what i learned through out the years of taking sustainable agriculture and reading books such as t
eaming with microbes soul of the soil, and much much more academic readings. PLUS hands on practice!
since i took notes ill be posting them with points.
1. yes rols is prettty much cutting the base off and leaving roots to decompose just like hyroot stated. roots are essential to a ecosystem because they help keep the soil in place, roots also make little highways for beneficial creature like worms or nematodes, and most important roots become food for the micro beasties.
2. coco/peat mix will last you years! i know because im doing it! within the ROLS community, it seems like 50/50 is best. some use only peat, some use only coco. i use both. however when it comes down to sustainability, sadly peat is being mined intensively in Canada, and destroying ecosystems that take thousands of years to develop, and coco is also becoming a problem because of by product waste such as shells, also coco is connected to bad work labor ethics. having said all that, its all the more reason to use coco/peat for as LONG AS possible.
3. i feel u on the space issue, i believe this is one of the main reasons people dont like ROLS. i say its all the more reason to do ROLS, think about it, in rols, u mix a batch and bam, never leaves the place until ur ready to move! if your constantly buying new soil, or bottle nutes, its really giving red flags to neighbors, and lets not forget where these bottles or "used" soil goes. sure u can argue it goes to the waste lands and gets composted, i would counter that argument with, STOP SUPPORTING CAPITALIST HYDRO COMPANIES. lol
4. subcool once said "i dont re use super soil because it gets "depleted"" this is both true and false, if a soil is packed with NPKS, the plant then only knows to eat NPKS, and therefore it then becomes sort of a "hydroponic way of growing/thinking"" ( i use this term alot) in ROLS or sustainability, soil DOES NOT get depleted, it only GETS BETTER. proof? LOOK AT OLD GROWTH FOREST/JUNGLES and my garden!|
5. Hydroponic way of thinking is using words or terms like "add more" 'need more P for flowering", or "more N for veg", once again this is false, the plant is more then just NPKS, much much more. AS A MATTER OF FACT, in ROLS its not about NPKs or growing a plant, ITS ABOUT GROWING SOIL, all the npks that are added in rols, become food for fungi/microbes/bugs etc etc which then turn into food for the plants. all this info is backed by science by the way, NOT MAKING IT UP! lol
6. bat guano, dont get me started....... wars have been fought over bat guano, people have died over bat guanos, (google it) this is because of simple capitalism, guano are no different then any other world resource, EXPLOITED.
to add more to the problem of guanos, they are mined, once mined, the ecology of the caves starts to deteriorate.the guanos are deposited in the cave and it becomes a ecology for insects, microbes and other animals. last i checked, more then half of the bat caves that have been mined ARE GONE. (google it)
and no i do not use guanos in my mix, i have been using my mix for over two years, and i dont get "Phosphorus deficiencies" (false hydroponic way of thinking) my buds come out consistent and chunky every run.
7. i promise last point and ill shut up.
in ROLS its about a good stable base mix. 33% peat/coco 33%pumice/perlite/rice hulls 33% wormcasting/compost and a good lime mix which consist of calcium rich oyster/dolmite/crab/eggs shell.
everything else is just extra really, i do add kelp, alfafa, crab meal, fish meal neem seed. and a couple others.
and of course MY SECRET WEAPON. BIM OR beneficial INDIGENOUS micro organisms
https://www.rollitup.org/t/beneficial-indigenous-micro-organisms-or-bim.762400/page-2
in rols we focus on good enzyme teas/ worm teas and botanical, aloe vera juice and coconut water. all these teas either help break down the NPKS into food, or help rejuvenate the microbes/fungi etc etc.
we also focus on IPM integrated pest management, which consist of natural organic techniques, and we also focus of good quality foilar sprays.
and lets not forget the backbone of ROLS. a good quality compost bin/worm bin, this is where your NPKS will be forming, for example, u want a stronger calcium dose? add oyster shell to the worm bin, worms will eat it and poop calcium rich poops, same goes with other NPKS(this is call vermiculture. worm poop goes into soil and the cycle goes on and on. same with compost
all info you need on rols is here,
https://www.rollitup.org/t/recycled-organic-living-soil-rols-and-no-till-thread.636057/
just like the led community, the organic rols community is very informative and dont fuck around!
much love!!! keep it sustainable!! keep it LOCAL!!
