Cann's Organic No-Till Garden

[Rrog]

Very interesting! As a side note, I feel it is a dangerous thing to have a widespread anti-bacterial strategy, and here's why:

We can't possibly kill everything. Bad microbes are characterized as weaker, but faster. Good microbes are generally slower but stronger. So in a sterile environment the bad microbes can get an upper hand quickly. That's also why I don't use anything "anti-bacterial" whether a soap of a plastic / fabric.

 

[kushking42]

the only part about the horsetail tea that im questioning is the boiling part. what is the point of that?

 

[Rrog]

Hmmm. I've not heard of boiling a tea. Bubbling / "brewing," yes, but I would think boiling would potentially ruin some molecules.

 

[kushking42]

ya check out nugs tutorial thread on subs forum. im pretty sure cc said something about not boiling when he mistook a question regarding a 'hot tea' in the rols thread @ ic..

 

[Rrog]

Ya, I wouldn't boil. Simple cool water extractions with a little bubbler. The secondary metabolites, hormones, plant enzymes, etc can be delicate and fleeting and I really can't imagine a boil helps. I'm sure you may extract more, but lose some really beneficial molecules.

I like Nug's Mainlining achievements, but I would not use the soil he uses. I gather he's a sort of rep for Sub.

 

[headtreep]

Yeah I used to use Sub's SS as well Rrog and it's NOT for No till or recycling imo.

 

[Rrog]

Sub is adamant about NOT recycling soil and basically says because he would have no idea how much to re-mix with after a grow. He comments how low the cost of the soil is. Now he's selling soil, so I won't speculate further. The point is in this day and age who can afford to throw away perfectly good soil??

 

[headtreep]

One more point about that SS from Sub, it sucks ass. That's what got me started on this quest to higher knowledge. NPK what???

 

[Rrog]

Funny -Treep. That's my exact flight path also. I went from Hydro, where I found that inoculating my res with microbes and a tad of molasses kept the res clean and smelling nice. That made me pursue a system that embraced microbes. Was a soil that pumped in air. Interesting but another gadget system that appeals to the male brain. After that I sought a soil recipe that I didn't have to research. Subs SS was recommended by many so I used it. With great success, I might add. Now using the soil ecipe I post anywhere that I can.

 

[ganjamystic]

what's your recipe Rrog?

these are mine, very much influenced by sub's supersoil, but tweaked/customized by me. still untested at the moment as I'm doing a grow for a friend right now using his methods... but as soon as I finish up with this, in a few weeks, I'll be starting my next round and was planning on using these recipes... I'd love some input/suggestions in the mean time...

• base mix (seedling/clone mix):
  1/2 growstones and/or chunky perlite
  1/4 coco and/or peat (amended with yucca, aloe, comfrey, nettle, yarrow, horsetail, hops, dolomite, azomite, and beneficial bacteria/fungi)
  1/4 compost (made from fruit & vegetable peels, skins, rinds, cores, and stalks; cannabis leaves and stalks; grass clippings; forest debris; dry dead leaves; greensand and rock powder)
  
  vegan amended mix:
  100 gal base mix
  40 lbs compost and/or worm castings
  12 lbs fossilized bat guano 0-7-0
  6 lbs soybean meal 7-2-1
  6 lbs alfalfa meal 2.5-1-1
  3 lbs kelp meal 1-.1-2
  3 lbs neem seed meal 5-1-2
  1 cup dolomite
  1/2 cup azomite
  2 tbsp granular humic acid
  
  sea-based amended mix:
  100 gal base mix
  40 lbs compost and/or worm castings
  5 lbs fossilized bat guano 0-7-0 or 3.5 lbs seabird guano 1-10-0
  4 lbs fish bone meal 3-16-0
  4 lbs alfalfa meal 2.5-1-1
  3 lbs soybean meal 7-2-1
  3 lbs kelp meal 1-.1-2
  3 lbs neem seed meal 5-1-2
  1 lb fish meal 10-4-0
  1 lb crab shell meal 4-3-0
  1 cup oyster shell lime
  1 cup epsom salt
  1/2 cup azomite
  2 tbsp granular humic acid​
  
  
  
  

 

[ganjamystic]

^ with plain spring water, compost tea, worm casting tea, herb tea and/or FPEs as needed..

 

[Rrog]

Base Soil

1/3 Sphagnum Peat from Premier Peat or Alaska Peat
1/3 Aeration material (pumice)
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)

½ Cup Neem Meal (2 g / L)
1 Cup Crab Shell Meal
2 Cups Kelp Meal
2 Cups Fish Meal
2 Cups Fish Bone Meal
1 Cup Sul-Po-Mag
½ 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.

The diversity really comes from making your own VermiCompost, IMHO. Dozens of different nutrient sources wonderfully composted and microbially active.

 

[ganjamystic]

and I'm planning on continually reusing/recycling this soil, no-till style.. top dressing between rounds with castings, compost, amendments, cannabis mulch, etc. and re-inoculating with teas.. what do you guys think?

 

[ganjamystic]

nice so it looks like you use all the same stuff as the 'sea-based' mix I'm gonna make, plus charcoal and Sul-Po-Mag.. what are the benefits of those? should I burn wood to make charcoal? what type?

oh and looks like I should add some gypsum too?

 

[Rrog]

"My" recipe is very largely from the No-Till thread on IC. I've only modified a couple line items.

The charcoal you can make. http://www.prokashi.com/videos/ See the Biochar 2.0 video. Silly simple and crazy beneficial. I use spent carbon from a carbon filter. Fresh carbon has the advantage of holding Anions like N. After a couple years the charge on the carbon changes and it then attracts Cations.

So making your own is once again... better. Very common theme.

Mystic- do you make worm castings?

 

[Rrog]

and I'm planning on continually reusing/recycling this soil, no-till style.. what do you guys think?

Are you shitting me? This is cause for celebration!

 

[ganjamystic]

"My" recipe is very largely from the No-Till thread on IC. I've only modified a couple line items.

The charcoal you can make. http://www.prokashi.com/videos/ See the Biochar 2.0 video. Silly simple and crazy beneficial. I use spent carbon from a carbon filter. Fresh carbon has the advantage of holding Anions like N. After a couple years the charge on the carbon changes and it then attracts Cations.

So making your own is once again... better. Very common theme.

Mystic- do you make worm castings?

nice. give thanks. I'm kind of in limbo right now, living away from home, finishing up a grow for a friend, but as soon as I'm back at my place I'll def be making my own worm compost. I might build an open-bottomed bin in the yard.. in the past I always just made a big compost pile, and it usually had lots of worms in it.. but bears and possums and raccoons would sometimes dig in it and I think eat the worms, so I'm thinking I'll build a bin with walls and a lid and an open bottom this time..

 

[ganjamystic]

Rrog, do you think it's better to apply things like nettle, comfrey, horsetail and all that only in tea form, or do you think it would be beneficial to add them in powdered form to the soil mix as well? I was planning on amending my base mix with powdered yucca, aloe, nettle, comfrey, yarrow, horsetail, and hops.. and maybe some spirulina and fermented rice protein powder

 

[Rrog]

I think fresh is always best if possible. Dried would obviously be great also. Just need to watch the N

 

[Rising Moon]

Powdered herbs work great in soil mixes, highly recommended in my book.