Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread
- Thread starter headtreep
- Start date
hillbill
Well-Known Member
natureboygrower
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure where you're from, but I'm in the Northeast and my compost pile is still pretty cool. Due to covid, I ended up grabbing some compost out of my pile which I had planned on letting it sit for another summer (it's a lobster shell based compost) It wasnt broken down all the way, so I ran it through some window screen and got a really nice, rich looking, fine compost. I amended my last indoor grow soil with it and said what the hell and gave it a shot ( this was 3 weeks ago)
Anyways, long story short, my fear of fungus gnats came true a week ago. There was an explosion of flyers like no other. Even with my preventive measure of mosquito dunks and covering my SIPS pots so there was no exposed soil they mustve been dormant and hatched, Im not sure. I set up some yellow sticky traps, caught a lot of flyers then the hypoaspis miles showed up like I've never seen before either. Im guessing with how 'fresh' my compost is, there were more miles than gnats , and they completely fucked up all those gnat eggs buried in the soil. Two days ago I opened my grow cabinet doors and there were hardly any flying gnats. Overnight they disappeared.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, hopefully you will have more beneficial bugs than nasties and nature will correct things on it's own. Good luck.
What is your soil mix?
Mr Westmont
Well-Known Member
Base soil is 1 part Kelloggs Soil amendment, 1 part Coco, and 1 part homemade vermicompost. I then regularly and casually (dont measure, I just grab a handful and sprinkle on top:
1. Alfalfa Pellets (rabbit food really)
2. Neem Meal
3. Bat Guano
4. Insect Frass
5. Azomite
6. Dolomite
7. Kelp Meal
8. Langenite
9. Crab Meal
10. Fish Bone Meal
11. Humic Acids
.......and then whenever the fruit on the counter or in the fridge goes bad, i put most of it in the worm bin, but some of it i bury right into the indoor soil. Worms will swarm to it and eat it up.
SouthernSoil*
Well-Known Member
Hope everyone has been good during these crazy times ! Just popping in to share some photos of my outdoor grown in the South-African sun, re-used my base mix i left in a pot for 6 years lol (peat,perlite&ewc) just added some extra fresh EWC and made a gallon of tea 3 weeks into flowering with some EWC, this Sea based organic fertilizer & ofcourse some Molasses with no sulfur. Soon i will be crushing up some crab for some chitin for my next grow but struggling my ass off to get the amendments you guys use especially during this lockdown.
Would you guys agree these ladies are ready for harvest ?
Would you guys agree these ladies are ready for harvest ?
Attachments
I'm using living soil in 5 gallon fabric pots and considering going to no till. My understanding is that with no till, at harvest, you cut the stalk at soil level and then plant in the same pot/same soil. My question is, if you've just harvested, the root ball won't have started to break down and it seems like it would be difficult to plant into a root ball.
What am i missing here?
What am i missing here?
Wizard of Nozs
Active Member
I've always considered no till and living soil to be the exact same thing. What exactly is the difference between the two to you? You can cut the stock in living soil as well as it is living, the roots break down process is part of that environment and to be living, root breakdown is a process that needs to take place anyways.
In no till or living soil, your roots begin to break down way before the plant is cut. You can plant immediately after you've cut the stock. This is because the stock itself is relatively inert material until the breakdown process starts to happen. It also wont choke out any new roots since it should be in a state of decompose. Worms help move this process along relatively quickly as without, you'd have to wait much longer for the breakdown process to be complete.
I have used super soil recipes, no till/ living and what have you for many years and the process is the same in either one. You can replant in a super soil as well. It all depends on the amount of amendments already present and the amount of replenishment happening. Without worms, you may need to let the soil set and breakdown before replanting simply because the nutrients haven't been restocked yet.
Below is some great material to read for starting out or even for experienced users.
In no till or living soil, your roots begin to break down way before the plant is cut. You can plant immediately after you've cut the stock. This is because the stock itself is relatively inert material until the breakdown process starts to happen. It also wont choke out any new roots since it should be in a state of decompose. Worms help move this process along relatively quickly as without, you'd have to wait much longer for the breakdown process to be complete.
I have used super soil recipes, no till/ living and what have you for many years and the process is the same in either one. You can replant in a super soil as well. It all depends on the amount of amendments already present and the amount of replenishment happening. Without worms, you may need to let the soil set and breakdown before replanting simply because the nutrients haven't been restocked yet.
Below is some great material to read for starting out or even for experienced users.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
I let my pots sit for a couple months after I chop the stalk, and by then all the roots are decomposed and turned back into nutes. But you don't need to wait for it to break down, I just have extra pots, so I rotate em usually.
Sorry, my terminology may be a little off.I've always considered no till and living soil to be the exact same thing. What exactly is the difference between the two to you? You can cut the stock in living soil as well as it is living, the roots break down process is part of that environment and to be living, root breakdown is a process that needs to take place anyways.
In no till or living soil, your roots begin to break down way before the plant is cut. You can plant immediately after you've cut the stock. This is because the stock itself is relatively inert material until the breakdown process starts to happen. It also wont choke out any new roots since it should be in a state of decompose. Worms help move this process along relatively quickly as without, you'd have to wait much longer for the breakdown process to be complete.
I have used super soil recipes, no till/ living and what have you for many years and the process is the same in either one. You can replant in a super soil as well. It all depends on the amount of amendments already present and the amount of replenishment happening. Without worms, you may need to let the soil set and breakdown before replanting simply because the nutrients haven't been restocked yet.
Below is some great material to read for starting out or even for experienced users.
I use living soil to refer to the process of building an organic soil with an active microbial population and then letting the soil and microbes do the work of taking care of your plants. This soil can then be discarded and fresh soil mixed or composted and reused or reused with the no till method
When i say no-till i'm referring to cutting the stalk and planting the new crop immediately back into the same soil without giving it time to break down the rootball. I believe this has the advantage over recomposting of preserving the rhizosphere
We had been making fresh soil each crop, but not want to start recycling it. In the past, we have had a very dense root ball after harvest and I just imagined that trying to plant straight into a pot with a large root ball would be difficult as opposed to dumping the pots into a compost bin and waiting a couple of months to reuse it so that the root ball would have decomposed.
From your and @PadawanWarrior 's responses, it appears my concerns are unfounded and that planting into a freshly cut root ball is not a problem?
Thank you both for taking the time to respond!
DonBrennon
Well-Known Member
Just dumped 10 recently harvested, hydroponic fed rootballs on top of my wormbin and the worms are loving them.................
Yup! Bacteria, fungi, and indirectly protozoa too
We gotta feed our critters something, and if we let them starve to death I guess we can keep replenishing what we let die with brewed or fermented teas and such. In a no-till situation, the only way to get organic material (food) down to the rhizosphere is with the roots of dead plants. Worms help transport some too by eating near the surface then borrowing down. This is why it's important to keep something growing, rather than storing your pot away in a dark closet. Mycorrhiza also enjoy living roots to play with. That's why if you take a break, it's better to grow something like legumes or something rather than wheeling away your pot for a rest to rotate them IMO.
Dabbie McDoob
Well-Known Member
This is a great thread. I recycle my soil and it saves money and produces some great results.
The micro biodiversity of composted recycled super soil is crazy.
I suggest to all.
Take some super soil that is white with myco and innoculate your other composts with it. Works amazing.
The micro biodiversity of composted recycled super soil is crazy.
I suggest to all.
Take some super soil that is white with myco and innoculate your other composts with it. Works amazing.
dannyboy602
Well-Known Member
Try diotomaceous earth for gnats. Adults and larvae.