No Till using Down to Earth and when to reapply

O

Organic Michigan Grows

Member
Ok, so I'm going no till and using Down to Earth for the amendments. Also I will be doing a perpetual harvest where (2) plants will be harvest every two weeks. My question is, when should I apply amendments again after the two are harvested? Right after as that pot gos back into the veg room? Or does the amendments last in no till for 6, 9, 12 months? Each pot will veg for 6 wks and be in the flower for 8wks of this helps you know how long they will be in the pot. They will also be in 30gallon smart pots. Thanks
 
Cannasaurus Rex

Cannasaurus Rex

Well-Known Member
Other than a myco dusting, 30 gallon smart pot should be good for at least 3 cycles probably years with just regular topdress? I'm not a no-till guy, but isn't the point of no-till not disturbing soil or adding ammendments? I'll go do another week of reading from Rodale.
 
O

Organic Michigan Grows

Member
All adding a top dress would not be disruptive to the soil. It would be as equivalent as to adding a top dress of compost. So I know I'm good there. Why I ask about adding more at the end of a season for each pot is. In time you'd think that some nutes would be weaker in time since the plant would be up taking them. I mean yes if you have worms in there, they are creating nutes in there as well but they fall short of having what's good during the flowering cycle.
I've read and read on this forum about living organics and received much information bit seems that this section is jumped over if doing a no till in a separate room of perpetual growing.
Also I got my love for this as ove watched a guy on YouTube called kaligrownbudz. I've asked him questions and he has gave answers but this question I had not received an answer from him. Much appreciate the reply Rex, thanks
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
Organic Michigan Grows said:
Ok, so I'm going no till and using Down to Earth for the amendments. Also I will be doing a perpetual harvest where (2) plants will be harvest every two weeks. My question is, when should I apply amendments again after the two are harvested? Right after as that pot gos back into the veg room? Or does the amendments last in no till for 6, 9, 12 months? Each pot will veg for 6 wks and be in the flower for 8wks of this helps you know how long they will be in the pot. They will also be in 30gallon smart pots. Thanks
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I'd call the store directly and ask them. The people in the DTE garden center really no their stuff. But honestly the label should have everything you need. I'd just scratch in a top dressing as if it were a planting bed sice that's basically what no till is. If the roots are too thick in the top layer of soil I'll mix my amendments with a bit of fresh soil to make a new top layer.IMG_20191202_174536463.jpg
 
O

Organic Michigan Grows

Member
Thanks Joe, I had actually got in touch with them and they said yes if applying a new plant in the existing area to do a light top dressing. It will help continue to keep the soil charged yet not to much because your food web is always working when your not.....
So now that I have the instructions on how much to give plus the ok already to do this, it's a wrap. Thank you for those who have replied especially schmoejoe. Happy growing everyone.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
Organic Michigan Grows said:
Thanks Joe, I had actually got in touch with them and they said yes if applying a new plant in the existing area to do a light top dressing. It will help continue to keep the soil charged yet not to much because your food web is always working when your not.....
So now that I have the instructions on how much to give plus the ok already to do this, it's a wrap. Thank you for those who have replied especially schmoejoe. Happy growing everyone.
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Go with a lighter recommended amount. I did a five strain test using five ratios ranging from less than to more than recommended and some strains even burned in the mid range of the recommended usage. Every test plant of the less than recommended range finished a four week veg and full flowering cycle with no deficiencies and only teas used other than the DTE blends (I used equal parts biolive, all purpose, and flower and bulb mix). Those were in 7 gallon pots.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
madvillian420 said:
worm castings are a great way to add some life back to soil and can basically never be over-applied
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The only thing to watch out for with worm castings is that they are very heavy and dense. To much can mess drainage and the moisture/aeration ratio. I do like to mix worm castings into my top dress. It helps to keep everything from shifting when watered and also helps to keep it from drying out between waterings which helps to keep biological activity up.
 
O

Organic Michigan Grows

Member
Good point Joe, I use the worm castings as well but to help with aeration I like using a little rice hill with some lava rock. I stay away from perlite considering through time it turns to like a concrete. As for keeping the moisture good I use a combination of clover and straw. Plus the love worms I have in their like it.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
Organic Michigan Grows said:
Good point Joe, I use the worm castings as well but to help with aeration I like using a little rice hill with some lava rock. I stay away from perlite considering through time it turns to like a concrete. As for keeping the moisture good I use a combination of clover and straw. Plus the love worms I have in their like it.
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I'm not a fan of perlite either. I spent years building greenhouse beds with 24 seven gallon pots worth of soil every 30 days. I never had an issue with compaction but the perlite does turn to dust and become useless in the best case. Any compressed bales of soil I've seen with perlite it's already rushed into dust on day one.
 
madvillian420

madvillian420

Well-Known Member
SchmoeJoe said:
I'm not a fan of perlite either. I spent years building greenhouse beds with 24 seven gallon pots worth of soil every 30 days. I never had an issue with compaction but the perlite does turn to dust and become useless in the best case. Any compressed bales of soil I've seen with perlite it's already rushed into dust on day one.
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what do you use for aeration/drainage in its place?
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Organic Michigan Grows said:
Good point Joe, I use the worm castings as well but to help with aeration I like using a little rice hill with some lava rock. I stay away from perlite considering through time it turns to like a concrete. As for keeping the moisture good I use a combination of clover and straw. Plus the love worms I have in their like it.
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Just sucks trying to climb the rice hill to get the rice hulls. Just kidding man, I like to mix hulls and lava rock in mine too to avoid compaction later.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
madvillian420 said:
what do you use for aeration/drainage in its place?
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I always start with a mix that has good drainage and aeration so it's never really been a big issue. I like to add coco coir. I've also experimented with hydroton and was really impressed. When I finally get my next garden set up I'm going to use pots a size up so I can run hydroton and coco chips in the soil without losing useful volume for root growth.
 
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