Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

[Wetdog]

Im sorry I'm a total noob.
I have no idea what I'm trying to gain from kelp.
I only want to grow organic and read here that everyone is using kelp for amazing results.
The high potassium is easy to replace I guess so that whats left are the micro nutrients.
I looked green sand up and rock dust up and it looks nice.
But it doesnt seem to have nearly the same range and amount of micro nutrients like kelp does.

Kelp is a "must have", plain and simple. The kelp used is harvested in the N Atlantic, mainly around Nova Scotia or Iceland, very cold and not very polluted. I get THORVIN from Iceland and 100% organic. For me it's just easier to source and cheaper than the Canadian, but both are the exact same kelp and both organic. For me, the trace, minerals, and enzymes are much more important than any K value. That's why it's a "must have".

Greensand works great as is and suppliments kelp perfectly and I've always added to my mixes for the last 8 years. I've recently discontinued adding rock dust to my mixes as they didn't supply anything that the greensand wasn't already supplying and were just adding unwanted density to the mix.

This has just been my experience, buy and use whatever you feel comfortable with.

Wet

 

[MrKnotty]

Happy ladies just got an SST, plus aloe, plus stinging nettle ferment! 3 more weeks till they get there 100 gallon pots in the greenhouse. Two strains: strawberry/banana kush and sour D/lemon kush. Mmmmmmmmm tasty.

 

[MrKnotty]

Just topped all my plants. I then blended them up in a food processor with about a half gallon of water. Once everything is nice and pulverized, I transfer everything to a 1/2 gallon mason jar and add about 1 oz of molasses. Sometimes I don't even put in a full ounce. Seal up the jar and date. Everyday I open the jar open for 30 seconds and then reseal it. In one month my fermentation will be done. I usually start with a teaspoon per gallon added to my feeds. I will work the dosage up higher once I see how strong my fermentation is. I highly recommend fermented cannabis plant tops. The ladies really respond well to it. Try it out!!

Peace

 

[Tyleb173rd]

Does anyone have any indoor mulching ideas? I’d like to keep my living soil containers moist on the surface. My fear is that organic mulch will bring in bugs that I don’t want to fight.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

eh bugs are not always a bad thing for your soil, my worm bin often has lots of critters in it. But you could use Dimacetous earth, it is natural bug killer (gets in their exoskeletons and basically takes away their ability to absorb water and they die of dehydration kinda brutal sounding lol)

 

[ShLUbY]

Does anyone have any indoor mulching ideas? I’d like to keep my living soil containers moist on the surface. My fear is that organic mulch will bring in bugs that I don’t want to fight.

if you have the mulch thick enough it shouldn't bring in bugs. rice hulls, perlite, pumice, sand, cocoa shells, straw, etc... basically anything that wont harm your soil will work fine. I use pumice in all my recycled containers, and use carbon material for my no-tills like chopped up cannabis stems, rice hulls, straw, etc.

 

[Tyleb173rd]

Thanks for the replies, good brothers. What about top dressing? At the end of the cycle do I remove the mulch and rinse?

 

[ShLUbY]

Thanks for the replies, good brothers. What about top dressing? At the end of the cycle do I remove the mulch and rinse?

i wouldn't bother rinsing, just reuse. any top dressings go under the mulch, so you'll have to pull it off and then put it back on after topdress.

 

[Tyleb173rd]

i wouldn't bother rinsing, just reuse. any top dressings go under the mulch, so you'll have to pull it off and then put it back on after topdress.

Roger that....thank you.

 

[Mazer]

Does anyone have any indoor mulching ideas? I’d like to keep my living soil containers moist on the surface. My fear is that organic mulch will bring in bugs that I don’t want to fight.

Dear Tyleb173rd,
I do ROLS and recently started to leave all my leafs (...) and green trimming material from the plant on the top of the soil. Right back to the roots.
I'll let you know if I see any problem arising but so far so good.

Recyclingly yours,
M

 

[bizfactory]

Mulching with leaves is fine / preferred in my opinion.

 

[Chunky Stool]

eh bugs are not always a bad thing for your soil, my worm bin often has lots of critters in it. But you could use Dimacetous earth, it is natural bug killer (gets in their exoskeletons and basically takes away their ability to absorb water and they die of dehydration kinda brutal sounding lol)

My worm bin has lots of bugs in the top tray where I put fresh scraps but I don't worry about it.
I could always keep bugs away by burying each layer of scraps with soil from the recycle pile, but it would use up space very quickly.

Having multiple worm bins is the way to go but it gets expensive if you buy fancy ones like the worm factory. Lately I've been using 10 gallon cloth pots with drain pan lids from the dollar store.
I'll snap a pic.
-- edit --



This is the expensive one. (Works well but not worth $100.)

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

I use 27 gallon totes a hole in the bottom for affluent and a rope for it to drain to. I bought the tower thing second hand at a decent price and never actually used it as a worm farm as they suck for that imo. HOWEVER I do find them useful for harvesting castings... i add banana peels and such to the bottom of an empty tote then put one of those tower screen levels then fill with worm infested castings add a shop light to the top to drive the worms down and every few hours take the top layer of castings off. the worms will slowly migrate down out of the castings. now you have worms and casting separated.

 

[Chunky Stool]

I use 27 gallon totes a hole in the bottom for affluent and a rope for it to drain to. I bought the tower thing second hand at a decent price and never actually used it as a worm farm as they suck for that imo. HOWEVER I do find them useful for harvesting castings... i add banana peels and such to the bottom of an empty tote then put one of those tower screen levels then fill with worm infested castings add a shop light to the top to drive the worms down and every few hours take the top layer of castings off. the worms will slowly migrate down out of the castings. now you have worms and casting separated.

Yep, that's the best feature of the worm tower -- easy to separate worms from castings.
I just pull the bottom tray, give it a stir with a little rake, then set it on top with the lid off. Wait a day or two and you've got worm-free castings.

 

[Tyleb173rd]

Buildasoil recommends peat moss for their no till system. Could I use a coco/peat moss mix like Roots instead? Does the higher CEC of the 100% peat moss buildasoil mix make a huge difference in the end?

 

[Chronikool]

That ROLS life.... Alien Rift

PS got fungus gnats after buying in Afalfa hay. 1st thing i had brought in as a media. After i stopped using that and a few cycles later...all soil media (compost, worm castings, old soil) is from 'on farm' and problem free.

 

[Chronikool]

I love my Indoor..... (worm bin)

 

[ShLUbY]

View attachment 4122399

That ROLS life.... Alien Rift

PS got fungus gnats after buying in Afalfa hay. 1st thing i had brought in as a media. After i stopped using that and a few cycles later...all soil media (compost, worm castings, old soil) is from 'on farm' and problem free.

Rift looks amazing dude. That classic rift trait! I hope I get to run some one of these days. Ocean grown is next on my list of gear to run. Tropic moon and rift for sure. Thanks for sharing. Feels like I haven’t seen u on in a while

 

[Chronikool]

Rift looks amazing dude. That classic rift trait! I hope I get to run some one of these days. Ocean grown is next on my list of gear to run. Tropic moon and rift for sure. Thanks for sharing. Feels like I haven’t seen u on in a while

Yeah...i havent been disappointed from Oceangrown thatz for sure.

Yah...dont really post much these dayz...alwayz lurkin' though.

 

[Greenthumbs256]

Hey guys I just happened to lose my list from the last time I remixed my soil! So I went off the top of my head! If you guys don't mind did I forget anything or mess up on the amounts! My soil is around 6 cu ft in a big tote! This list is how much total I put of each amendment in the 6 cu ft of soil! Plz keep in mind this isn't new soil I have reamended this soil about 3 times already (over the past few years) so this is more of a touch up if you guys know what I mean!
Thanks for all your help u guys are the best!

6 cu. Ft of soil!!!!!!

1 bag .5 cu. ft. ewc.(homemade)
1 bag .5 cu. ft. Compost(local)
Small bag of extra rice hauls for extra aeration.

Bio live 2c
Neem meal. 2c
Alfalfa meal. 3c
Kelp meal. 4c
Fish bone meal 3c
Bone meal. 1c
Blood meal 1c

Crab shells 3c
Oyster shells. 2C

Gypsum 1c
Azomite 1c
Basalt 1c

Gro Kashi 3c
Incet frass. 2c

I also have laying around dolomite lime, soft rock phosphate, and diatomaceous earth! I didn't add them this round but they have been added in the past I didn't see a need to keep adding them bc Im sure they are still in the soil bc things like dolomite take years to fully break down! Atleast that is what I was taught if I'm wrong anywhere throughout this please correct me ready to Learn more than I knew yesterday! Thanks everyone!!!!

Edit; I've mixed these up and brewing a good compost tea to mix it down with and begin my 1-2 month cook! I've also threw in a few quarts of expanded em1 to boost the soil life will it cooks!