Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread
- Thread starter headtreep
- Start date
bizfactory
Well-Known Member
There was probably only a week between the last round of plants and when I put the clones in. They were healthy at the start. Something is way off...I just can't figure it out. You really think these are worth throwing into flower? I was starting to think chopping and re-mixing the soil would be my next step. At least I would get to see the roots and check for stuff like root aphids. I do have some fliers but I'm 90% sure they are fungus gnats. They def trail off if I hit them with BTi.
So frustrating. One of the plants is even almost purpling on the tips of the leaves? Never seen that one before.
st0wandgrow
Well-Known Member
Are you running no till?Thanks fellas, just watered with the plain AACT. Next watering I'll add the LAB I just finished with the aloe/coconut.
My plants are looking rough so hopefully between these two they'll turn around. The soil should still have PLENTY of nutrition as long as the microlife is good. I lightly top dressed with kelp, alfalfa, neem/karaja, gypsum, and oyster shell flour at the beginning of veg and this is only my 2nd grow in this soil (first official no-till round).
They are a bit lime green and sorta droopy. Definitely not prayingI recently started hand watering because I suspected the blumats were causing the soil to be too damp but after 2 weeks of hand watering, still the same signs. This has really got me stumped. Temps are in the high 70s and rH is in the 30-50% range most of the time. The first round was SOO EASY, having a hell of a time on the second.
Here's a screen cap of my webcam:
View attachment 3669825
edit: Nevermind, just read that it is no-till.
I had some plants that looked like that when I was trying no-till. I dicked with it forever. Adding this, subtracting that. The final conclusion that I came to was that my soil was too dense and compacted. It was starving the roots of oxygen. I went back to dumping my soil out and re-amending after each round and it was a 100% improvement.
Others are using no-till with great success, so I'm not saying that it doesn't work. It just didn't work for me. I add lots of worm poo to my base, and then top dress with it a couple times through the grow. I suspect that this contributed to the density of my soil.
bizfactory
Well-Known Member
Yeah man I've top dressed with EWC twice so far in these pots. I have been suspicious of root problems for a while because they just show all kinds of different signs. Pretty much every def imaginable, slow growth, droopiness, etc. When I took the blumats out of the equation and have really been letting them dry + AACTs and no improvement? Ehhhh, somethings fucked.
Even if I end up re-mixing / tilling this soil I might still try again. I know it works, but like you said, you have to make it work for YOU.
hyroot
Well-Known Member
Make sure you have equal amounts of peat, castings and pumice. And pumice aerates a lot more than perlite. It doesn't break down and float like perlite either.
Adding pumice to my mix made all the difference. I run about 5 generations before dumping and reamending. Usually about that time I have changed my pot size almost every time like clock work
Adding pumice to my mix made all the difference. I run about 5 generations before dumping and reamending. Usually about that time I have changed my pot size almost every time like clock work
bizfactory
Well-Known Member
Thanks hyroot, I was definitely thinking of adding more aeration if I have to mix these pots up. Currently they all have lava rock but it doesn't seem to be enough, I hardly see any when I'm digging around. The rice hulls all seem to have disappeared by now.
Pumice seems almost identical to normal lava rock, is there anything particularly better about it? Where would be a good place to find the stuff in a couple gallon quantities?
I have 3x 15 gallon pots but one of those is in a smaller tent. I'm almost about to just scrape that one and having a look inside the soil to see if I can learn anything. Remix with a bit more aeration and peat and lighter on the castings / compost. These have been "vegging" since Feb!!! Ridiculous.
Pumice seems almost identical to normal lava rock, is there anything particularly better about it? Where would be a good place to find the stuff in a couple gallon quantities?
I have 3x 15 gallon pots but one of those is in a smaller tent. I'm almost about to just scrape that one and having a look inside the soil to see if I can learn anything. Remix with a bit more aeration and peat and lighter on the castings / compost. These have been "vegging" since Feb!!! Ridiculous.
GreenSanta
Well-Known Member
I thought you were already in flowering, I would just let them dry really good (in case you have been overwatering...) and I would put a big handful of redwigglers with next watering.... and since you are still in veg I would aggressively trim it and see if the new growth is nice.
In flower though, when my plants look similar to yours I just ride them out.
Also if like stowandgrow suggested you have a heavy soil mix, it can be hard to tell when its time to water because the containers feel heavy no matter what, if thats the case, I like to have mine in saucers so that I can give them a set amount of water without having to worry about runoffs, say I give 1.5 gallon of water, within an hour the plants finish absorbing it from the bottom and I know for certain this plant is good for a day or 3 depending on its size. Hope that makes sense.
Chronikool
Well-Known Member
Yip....if i am top dressing with worm castings i make sure there is a healthy amount of wormz included...they will live in any size pot and if your organic conditions are right will stay put, aerate and fertilise forever more...
GreenSanta
Well-Known Member
Water, nothing u can do in the last week to improve flavor and taste, which are mostly strain(pheno) related anyway, if u are disappointed with the way she smells, u must wait until after dry and cure and confirm once in the jar, some strains truly improve tremendously after a few days in a jar, more often than u think...
On a side note, I have had praying mantis hatching in the grow room today!!
Did you figure out what the problem was? I am in the same boat with the same issue and am not 100% positive what caused it. I over watered also.
Thats your problem. Your aeration breaks down. I do not advocate using rice hulls at all for that reason. However, as a worm compost aeration rice hulls can't be beat!
Get some pea gravel, turface, or more lava rock. Your problem will magically disappear!
bizfactory
Well-Known Member
Nice man, thanks for the input. Might just scrape these plants and re-mix! They are still lookin haggard but not really getting worse..
Quintessence
Active Member
Quick question for the ROLS pros here. I am about to mix up a batch of soil which will be a mix of more or less the following:
1/3 Peatmoss
1/3 Rice Hulls and Pumice
1/3 EWC and Malibu Compost
with the B.A.S Coots kit added
I recently went up to the Mountains and while there I grabbed a small bag of soil. My question is this: Should I put some of the forest soil in my mix while it cooks or should I just keep it for compost teas? I know it's good to introduce as diverse a set of microbes into the soil so it probably wouldn't hurt to do both right?
1/3 Peatmoss
1/3 Rice Hulls and Pumice
1/3 EWC and Malibu Compost
with the B.A.S Coots kit added
I recently went up to the Mountains and while there I grabbed a small bag of soil. My question is this: Should I put some of the forest soil in my mix while it cooks or should I just keep it for compost teas? I know it's good to introduce as diverse a set of microbes into the soil so it probably wouldn't hurt to do both right?
The_Physicist
Member
Whats the best light that I could buy for flower for the lowest cost?
bizfactory
Well-Known Member
I did it last round with all the branches when I didn't have more straw. About 4 months later, most of it is gone or at least buried.