Organic no till, probiotic, knf, jadam, vermicomposting, soil mixes, sips etc... Q & A

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
add blatticomposting to the thread title.:)

just got some ivory head roaches to compost along side my worm bins. I figure every 6 months I clean this bin by adding it to my recycled soil mix for insect frass and chiten along with the castings from my worm bins
You are a bold person using roaches. They are one of only a few bugs that really creep me out. Kudos to you, you'll get some amazing black gold!
 

thecosmicgoat

Well-Known Member
I've got in touch with a local brewer and have asked for some malted barley. He says" no problem, Just bring me a bucket. Do you want spent or unspent malt"

So do I want used or unused malt from the brewer?
Thanks!
 

mr. childs

Well-Known Member
I've got in touch with a local brewer and have asked for some malted barley. He says" no problem, Just bring me a bucket. Do you want spent or unspent malt"

So do I want used or unused malt from the brewer?
Thanks!
can you accept a pail of both & see which one works better for your grow ?
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I do ferments. I used to do even amounts of brown sugar and organic material and ferment for a couple weeks. That's the knf method. The sugars trap the microbes and make them go dormant not allowing them to multiply.

View attachment 4026002

Adding water to ferments allows the microbes to multiply. Also makes it easier for cannabis to uptake.

So now I follow more of the Jadam / Gil recipes. But KNF is a good place to start and get a base of knowledge from.

I fill a bucket 1/3 of the way with organic material.
Add 1 pint of activated labs and fill up the rest of the bucket with RO water
Ferment for 3 weeks, Then open and stir, Then ferment for 1 more week.
Then remove 1 pint of solution and add 1 pint of RO water. then use. Roughly 1 tbsp per gallon.

FPE
Flower power- bananas, papaya, pumpkins.
Veg power - plants only fermet one type of plant at a time. I ferment mainly aloe and comfrey separately for veg ferments.

reds, yellows - flower
greens - veg
pinapples and mangos are too acidic

I have a recipe for fermenting citrus to make a pest spray foliar. I will post that tomorrow.


Also make sure to use a sealed container with an air lock. If exposed to outside air while fementing, that can invite harmful pathogens and possibly cause fusarium to develop in the soil.. Make sure it's sealed and use an airlock to allow the co2 to escape
This is starting to make sense now that I understand it better. I just needed to go back through and read this thread again and it answered a lot of questions that I had. I think that I'll give the FPE another shot because I have these weeds in my yard that are over 6ft tall and there is plenty of them. I have several 55gal drums that are food grade plastic and they have locking lids and a nifty screw in cap the size of a carboy bung that I can put an air lock on. I'm out of LABS but I have 5gal of bokashi bran, can I substitute?
 

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
On the podcast with Alan Adkisson, he said that SIP is much like the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon". They used LABS in their rez also. I'm kicking myself because I recently invested in 8gal square pots. I might look into SIP after a couple of Harveys.
When they use labs do they add molasses to feed it in the rez?
 

Avant_Gardener

Active Member
When they use labs do they add molasses to feed it in the rez?
[/QU
When adding LAB to the a rez, use the appropriate amount unactivated (regular) or activated LABS that is proper method. So, activated LAB is fermented LAB and molasses. Do this every two or three weeks, it would be beneficial to your rez. I hope this answers your question. Cheers!
 

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
When adding LAB to the a rez, use the appropriate amount unactivated (regular) or activated LABS that is proper method. So, activated LAB is fermented LAB and molasses. Do this every two or three weeks, it would be beneficial to your rez. I hope this answers your question. Cheers!
Thank you for the answer! How much lab and molasses is needed per gallon of water?
 

Avant_Gardener

Active Member
Here is the Holy Grail of LABS and more than you may want to know.

 

madvillian420

Well-Known Member
Why is "no-till" a good thing? i reused some old soil from my last grow recently and it was quite compact/tangled with roots. I broke it all up and put it into a new pot, loosely. isnt that more ideal than soil that was compacted by months of life and being watered ?
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Why is "no-till" a good thing? i reused some old soil from my last grow recently and it was quite compact/tangled with roots. I broke it all up and put it into a new pot, loosely. isnt that more ideal than soil that was compacted by months of life and being watered ?
You break up the fungal hyphae network when you mix it up. No-till doesn't disturb it.
 

outliergenetix

Well-Known Member
i'm at work so i was just skimming these recent comments. to whomever said they are kicking themselves for not buying SIP containers i would say you can use a SIP method in any pot, especially fabric pots. you just water from the bottom. i don't do that atm because i don't have enough saucers to pull it off with my containers but even veggie gardening when i started stuff indoors i would water from the bottom. it definitely aids in root developement imo. plus it is easier to get the right amount of water. for example just pour little in the bottom saucer at a time and when it stops being sucked up and absorbed it saturated
 

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
i'm at work so i was just skimming these recent comments. to whomever said they are kicking themselves for not buying SIP containers i would say you can use a SIP method in any pot, especially fabric pots. you just water from the bottom. i don't do that atm because i don't have enough saucers to pull it off with my containers but even veggie gardening when i started stuff indoors i would water from the bottom. it definitely aids in root developement imo. plus it is easier to get the right amount of water. for example just pour little in the bottom saucer at a time and when it stops being sucked up and absorbed it saturated
I agree, in early flower i went 13 days between watering, only reason why I changed the water out is my lab is currently brewing and the rez got a little smelly. I could see once I have my lab in not having to water for 3-4 weeks in early flower and maybe every 10 days in mid to late flower. My clone hasnt been watered in over two weeks and my 9l pots areare going to be filled with pumice in bottom 2 inches for veg coming up.
 

outliergenetix

Well-Known Member
I agree, in early flower i went 13 days between watering, only reason why I changed the water out is my lab is currently brewing and the rez got a little smelly. I could see once I have my lab in not having to water for 3-4 weeks in early flower and maybe every 10 days in mid to late flower. My clone hasnt been watered in over two weeks and my 9l pots areare going to be filled with pumice in bottom 2 inches for veg coming up.
yea andit's nice because it does keep an optimal /oxygen/moisture. basically idles at feild capacity. that said i like watering from the bottom even if not using a self watering system. to me just watering your saucer instead of the top of the soil has allot of benefits. the only time i'd say to top water is realy when you are feeding with a top dressing, which i do do at flip. i usually give em a boost with a top dress of varied guanos(one high N one high P) and langbenite(for sulfur/mag and high K)
 

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
yea andit's nice because it does keep an optimal /oxygen/moisture. basically idles at feild capacity. that said i like watering from the bottom even if not using a self watering system. to me just watering your saucer instead of the top of the soil has allot of benefits. the only time i'd say to top water is realy when you are feeding with a top dressing, which i do do at flip. i usually give em a boost with a top dress of varied guanos(one high N one high P) and langbenite(for sulfur/mag and high K)
Yeah, no slow down in growth ever!

I've got two soil recipes in the SIPS currently, a real fluffy airy mix with rice hulls that doesn't root bound coming out of plastic pots and a subcool modified soil with some coco in it. The rice hull recipe dries out in the top 3-4 inches needing top water, the modified subcool recipe doesn't need any top water as roots are right to the top. Thinking of doing the same top dress with green manure.
 

outliergenetix

Well-Known Member
Yeah, no slow down in growth ever!

I've got two soil recipes in the SIPS currently, a real fluffy airy mix with rice hulls that doesn't root bound coming out of plastic pots and a subcool modified soil with some coco in it. The rice hull recipe dries out in the top 3-4 inches needing top water, the modified subcool recipe doesn't need any top water as roots are right to the top. Thinking of doing the same top dress with green manure.
i had a sample of rice hulls from a store before. i did like em, but i would say for me making soil and gardenign in a closed loop fashion is as much a hobby as growing cannabis. i try and make my soil using all my waste etc and not buy anything. not for any reason it is superior just what i enjoy and what i think is responsible. for this reason i dont really have any way of aerating a mix with say rice hulls, perlite etc... i used to use all my old hydroton rocks in my soil but i even stopped that as i have finally got the right moisture holding capacity im after. maybe not perfect for a long term sips, but for me it works. i did this by using a higher ratio of coco in my customized coots mix. i used coco instead of sphagnum or peat moss for this reason. it is a hassle i have to now worry about cal/mag in my soil grows with all the coco but it is worth it to not have to aerate the soil with perlite or anything. this is not exact but a good way to think of my soil is pure coco with high grade compost i make. i do have other additives on hand for immediate issues or an extra boost but mainly i just make my own stuff.
 

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
i had a sample of rice hulls from a store before. i did like em, but i would say for me making soil and gardenign in a closed loop fashion is as much a hobby as growing cannabis. i try and make my soil using all my waste etc and not buy anything. not for any reason it is superior just what i enjoy and what i think is responsible. for this reason i dont really have any way of aerating a mix with say rice hulls, perlite etc... i used to use all my old hydroton rocks in my soil but i even stopped that as i have finally got the right moisture holding capacity im after. maybe not perfect for a long term sips, but for me it works. i did this by using a higher ratio of coco in my customized coots mix. i used coco instead of sphagnum or peat moss for this reason. it is a hassle i have to now worry about cal/mag in my soil grows with all the coco but it is worth it to not have to aerate the soil with perlite or anything. this is not exact but a good way to think of my soil is pure coco with high grade compost i make. i do have other additives on hand for immediate issues or an extra boost but mainly i just make my own stuff.
I'm getting there but just bought a bag of chicken shit fert with food web additives, couldn't pass up on the price. I like coco but have found dolomite lime raises ph too much so now add gypsum instead. Rice hulls make the soil seem chalky, it's a weird texture. Testing still in process. I'm really getting into making my own stuff like dandelion leaves are 1-0.15-1.18, it's a pretty good ratio for flower and they are everywhere. Also wheat bran at 2.7-2.9-1.6, alfalfa at 3-2-2. Fish emulsion at 5-1-1. Seems like with all four of those it's good for all stages.
 
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