Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread
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legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
I feel like I rambled and made things more complicated than they need to be. Forget all of that talk about fertz and guano, what I'm really asking is how do I get started? All of this stuff is a bit overwhelming. I can make the mix posted on the 1st page and let it sit, but then what? transplant the clones and that's it?
Then from there, what is a basic feeding regimen? Foliar with what and how often? How often do I feed w/ teas, and how often do I topdress?
I really am sorry to ask you guys to spell it out for me, but I'm really looking to get started and this thread is so long. I've been reading it along w/ others for quite awhile now. I know feedings are based on the plants needs, so there is no set in stone way of saying what teas I should feed it and when, but any type of fundamental guidelines, just to help me wrap my mind around all of this are very very very welcome.
Thanks again.
Then from there, what is a basic feeding regimen? Foliar with what and how often? How often do I feed w/ teas, and how often do I topdress?
I really am sorry to ask you guys to spell it out for me, but I'm really looking to get started and this thread is so long. I've been reading it along w/ others for quite awhile now. I know feedings are based on the plants needs, so there is no set in stone way of saying what teas I should feed it and when, but any type of fundamental guidelines, just to help me wrap my mind around all of this are very very very welcome.
Thanks again.
DANKSWAG
Well-Known Member
Legaleyes13,
You use your base soil for seedlings, add amendments to large volume of base soil to make super soil. Place Super Soil in bottom half container and base soil in top half, when transplanting make sure to apply mycro fungi to roots to help build the symbiotic relationship between fungi and roots in the soil. You'll find as you build your soils you will develop your own recipe. If you build a soil properly no need to feed foilar or otherwise. however if you want to do that that is where compost tea comes in because spraying your plants with diliuted manure used to create healthy bacteria will give additional feeding and protection against disease. The top dressing, foliar feeding, compost teas are methods to supplement feeding should you soil mix not be up to par. If a base soil and highly amended soil (Super Soil) are made right at the beginning no need for additional feeding.
The recipe below is complete and from another member rfog? The purpose of creating super soil is that it will feed your plants from veg to harvest no need to continue to add nutrition. You stimulate the soil life microbes by using compost teas that have Earth Worm Castings and Guano's but this is to primarily created healthy bacteria and fungi to add to your soil biology, it is the microbes that need nutrition in turn they take organic matter and make it in available forms for the plants roots.
There is a book called teaming with microbes, you will need it if you want to master using soil, for what your feeding is the soil biology then in turn they will take care of all your plants needs, you just need to keep the soil web and its micro life happy. It really isn't that complicated.
If anyone's interested in a better soil with much better cost savings MIX YOUR OWN. Then RECYCLE IT. Throwing away dirt is not necessary.
Base Soil
1/3 Sphagnum Peat from Premier Peat or Alaska Peat
1/3 Aeration material (pumice and lava rock)
1/3 EWC
Per Cubic Foot of the Base Soil:
3 cup Charcoal (activated)
4 cups Rock Powders (4X Glacial, 1X Bentonite, 1X Oyster Shell, 1X Basalt)
1/2 Cup Neem Meal (2 g / L)
1/2 Cup Crab Shell Meal
2 Cups Kelp Meal
2 Cups Fish Meal
2 Cups Fish Bone Meal
1 Cup Sul-Po-Mag
1/2 Cup Alfalfa
1/2 cup this 3 part lime mix:
1 part powdered dolomite lime
1 part agricultural gypsum
2 parts powdered oyster shell
1 cubic foot = 7.5 gallons.
Moisten with Fresh Aloe (2 Tbs Juice with 1 gallon water) and Accelerant Tea (Comfrey, Yarrow, Horsetail or Nettle)
I pre-inoculate with BTI and Nematodes.
DankSwag
st0wandgrow
Well-Known Member
I'm going to recommend an easy introduction for you, but first here's what I would do. Set yourself up a worm bin! The compost that you use is the most important piece to the puzzle. EWC brings the micro-life to the mix, and without a thriving colony of beneficial microbes in your soil it doesn't matter what ingredients you add. Setting up a worm bin (or two, or three) is as easy as picking up a 15 gallon rubbermaid tote from Home Depot, adding some bedding and kitchen scraps, then adding some worms. You can order your worms online at Uncle Jims, or source some locally. You will need *at least* a pound (roughly 1,000 worms) to start a bin. Get the worm bin started NOW, and then when you're ready to make your next batch of soil the castings from these bins will be ready to use.
A basic, easy soil that will get you great results is as follows:
Base:
-1 bag Fox Farms Ocean Forrest (1.5cf)
-1 bag RINSED coco coir (1.5cf-2cf)
-1bag worm castings/compost (1cf) *purchase the best quality stuff you can find locally
- 1cf aeration material (perlite, rice hulls, lava rock, pumice, etc)
To that, add the following:
-1 cup alfalfa meal
-1 cup kelp meal
-1 cup neem seed meal
-1 cup crab shell meal
-1 cup dolomite lime (because it's the easiest to source)
-2 cups all purpose organic fertilizer (Espoma, Down to Earth, Dr Earth, etc)
-15+ cups rock dusts (this will be the most difficult to find, but it's very important)
Mix all of those ingredients together with your base, wet it down and let it sit for 6 weeks. You want the soil moist, but not wet. Check it every few days. If you start to smell an ammonia odor, dump it out on a tarp and let it get some air for a few hours. If you wet it down properly you shouldn't need to do anything, but it's not a bad idea to check on it periodically until you get the hang of it. This recipe will give you plenty of juice through veg and the first few weeks of flower. At that point you can top-dress apx 1/4-1/2 cup (depending on the size of your container) of your all purpose organic fertilizer, and cover that with and inch or so layer of worm castings/compost. You can use nothing but water if you so chose, but I would recommend a silica product (pro-tekt or agisil) once every couple weeks, and some fish hydrolysate every couple of weeks as well. Aside from that you can use plain water. If you're using tap water be sure to let it sit out for 24-48 hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate, and if your city uses chloramine it would be a good idea to use an organic ingredient to bind the ammonia which allows the chlorine to then dissipate. RO water is fine to use as well.
Dankswags recipe above is great, but to me it's for more advanced organic gardeners. Making bio char, and using a 100% peat base can be tricky. If you don't activate the bio char properly, it can actually steal nutrients from the soil and work against you. Also peat is VERY acidic, so until you get the hang of properly liming your soil using coco coir as part of your base gives you more room for error imo. I use coco coir as a part of my base and I love it.
Good luck
legaleyes13
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys... I'll mention, that even for my first mix, I can get my hands on some high quality compost, so I don't need to start out with the bagged stuff if that makes a difference. I have teaming with microbes already, but haven't gotten through much of it yet. For whatever reason, I thought ROLS/no till was different than mixing super soils and layering.
I'll get on the worm bin, too.
I'll get on the worm bin, too.
DANKSWAG
Well-Known Member
In my own defense the recipe I posted is not mine it is from RFOG? Anywise the base is 1/3 Sphagnum Peat from Premier Peat or Alaska Peat
1/3 Aeration material (pumice and lava rock) 1/3 EWC.
NONE THE LESS SOMETHING NICE FOR MY ROLS FRIENDS
http://oregonbd.org/Class/accum.htm
DankSwag
1/3 Aeration material (pumice and lava rock) 1/3 EWC.
NONE THE LESS SOMETHING NICE FOR MY ROLS FRIENDS
http://oregonbd.org/Class/accum.htm
DankSwag
RedCarpetMatches
Well-Known Member
I just found a cheap source of pumice. My rice hulls are getting a tad mushy, and my 3rd gen coco is basically peat in texture. I'm hoping pumice will not float like perlite...combine that with small lava rock, and be done with the fussin.
I find the higher biochar PH (8-9) a perfect compliment to the acidic peat.
I find the higher biochar PH (8-9) a perfect compliment to the acidic peat.
Mohican
Well-Known Member
If you don't want floaters you can use sand (well washed) or pea gravel. I had some left over from a block wall project at my old house and I spread it all over my garden. Best moisture retention and weed blocking mulch ever for my hot climate! I have also read good things about volcanic sand. I tried making some by crushing volcanic rock but all I ended up with was powdered cement!
DANKSWAG
Well-Known Member
Hi Ginger Bread Man, 
You should think about making char out of those rice hulls
So I use a mix of peat moss, small volcanic rock, crushed oyster shell, coco, char and rice hulls and cloth pots
to provide aeration and prevent compaction.
But I am working on making char from rice hulls and testing it.
DankSwag
You should think about making char out of those rice hulls
So I use a mix of peat moss, small volcanic rock, crushed oyster shell, coco, char and rice hulls and cloth pots
to provide aeration and prevent compaction.
But I am working on making char from rice hulls and testing it.
DankSwag
Last edited:
hyroot
Well-Known Member
yep I asked about that a while ago in one of these threads if it can be used for biochar. But I just found out I'm not allowed to have a charcoal BBQ or smoker. Thanks hoa... That same charcoal is cheapest at stated bros. Less than $5 a bag.Thanks - I have tried ashes from the Malawi trimmings.
How much char should I use? Have you seen the mesquite charcoal they sell in stores. Looks like perfect biochar and shatters like glass. Pretty cheap too
Cheers,
Mo
DANKSWAG
Well-Known Member
Mo,
If it's from pure Mesquite and not saturated with an accelerate to burn as fuel for cooking.
Char should be from pure unadulterated carbon sources and have no petroleum bi products added to it.
If one could get pure Mesquite and then activate it by soaking in compost tea then hell ya use it and all you can get of it.
If there was only one amendment I could be allowed to use it would be char, it is a biology LIFESTAR as opposed to the deathstar
For all one has to do is let char sit for a cycle in your compost pile and PRESTO magic highly bio active soil that will get better and better
and with a half life of hmm 5k years. Not to mention the carbon sequester in the char that reduces CO2 emission, also its ability to absorb
methane gas coming from manures decomposing. It also indirectly reduces carbon because a healthy larger plant will consume more C02.
DankSwag
If it's from pure Mesquite and not saturated with an accelerate to burn as fuel for cooking.
Char should be from pure unadulterated carbon sources and have no petroleum bi products added to it.
If one could get pure Mesquite and then activate it by soaking in compost tea then hell ya use it and all you can get of it.
If there was only one amendment I could be allowed to use it would be char, it is a biology LIFESTAR as opposed to the deathstar
For all one has to do is let char sit for a cycle in your compost pile and PRESTO magic highly bio active soil that will get better and better
and with a half life of hmm 5k years. Not to mention the carbon sequester in the char that reduces CO2 emission, also its ability to absorb
methane gas coming from manures decomposing. It also indirectly reduces carbon because a healthy larger plant will consume more C02.
DankSwag
RedCarpetMatches
Well-Known Member
You can buy some very fine cheap char from KIS. You only need 5-10%. BUT the cool people make it.
PSUAGRO.
Well-Known Member
Char will raise your ph, combined with dolo(which I stopped using altogether/too much mag)====problem
You west coasters, shouldn't even be thinking about making your soil even MORE alkaline......unless your taking soil from a pine forest,lol
I would go easy on the bio-char, maybe 5%??
You west coasters, shouldn't even be thinking about making your soil even MORE alkaline......unless your taking soil from a pine forest,lol
I would go easy on the bio-char, maybe 5%??
RedCarpetMatches
Well-Known Member
My friend couldn't get much out of his blueberry bushes last season. I talked him into a compost pile with a ton of pine needles.
BTW folks, soft wood and a long slow char won't give you too high of a PH.