COorganics - No-Till Organic - 2nd No Till Run - Indoors - GSC Forum Cut

[Radogast]

Nice frigging job on that room.
Mdf inside and out with insulation _ that's a hurricane proof room.

I'd congratulate you on the elegance of your suspended cripple wall, but it would just show my ignorance of construction terms.

A really nice flower space. Are you going to use the sideboard outside for a potting bench and supply hut?

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Not sure yet, will begin with 10 gals. Not sure how many of those either. Floor is a bit less than 8'X4' so bed will be smaller than that and will be at least 18" tall, likely taller.

What are you making the beds with? I imagine any kind of tote wouldn't be strong enough and probably too narrow for this.

 

[Ranger275]

Howdy COorganics,
Congrats on the awesome dual-purpose room. I hope you never have to use it for the 2nd purpose.
A couple years ago I did a 5x5x50' outdoor bed for a client in VA. A good friend warned me that the bed would likely be N-deficient in the first year as everything got settled in. We chose our first year planting accordingly. As yours is a dedicated herb-bed, you won't have this luxury. You may want to bump your N in Y1 to overcome this natural balancing.
One of my favorite advantages of raised beds is their increased surface area for planting. Due to the curvature of the surface, as compared to a flat-bed, you get 20% more growing area. So your 4x8 bed that would normally have 32sqft will now have 38.4sqft! This, of course, won't affect the volume of the room, but is something to keep in mind.
Hope this helps.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Howdy COorganics,
Congrats on the awesome dual-purpose room. I hope you never have to use it for the 2nd purpose.
A couple years ago I did a 5x5x50' outdoor bed for a client in VA. A good friend warned me that the bed would likely be N-deficient in the first year as everything got settled in. We chose our first year planting accordingly. As yours is a dedicated herb-bed, you won't have this luxury. You may want to bump your N in Y1 to overcome this natural balancing.
One of my favorite advantages of raised beds is their increased surface area for planting. Due to the curvature of the surface, as compared to a flat-bed, you get 20% more growing area. So your 4x8 bed that would normally have 32sqft will now have 38.4sqft! This, of course, won't affect the volume of the room, but is something to keep in mind.
Hope this helps.

Just curious why would a raised bed be more Nitrogen deficient?

 

[SweetSue]

Ahhh, I miss the smell of sawdust and the whine of power tools. Dale and I have done some amazing things with wood over the years. It's hard sometimes to accept that this part of our life is probably behind us.

Good work there CO. Bit by bit the plan comes to life. If you ever sell this house in the future I would think this room will be a great selling point in Colorado. I'm looking forward to seeing the bed construction.

Ranger, with the CC soil packed in around the tree trunks and branches of the bed base there shouldn't be any nutrient concerns at all.

 

[COorganics]

Yes, this soil mix is very well put together, and alive. I have never seen any signs of deficiencies, (outside of normal senescence).

Watch and see how it works for me.

 

[COorganics]

What are you making the beds with? I imagine any kind of tote wouldn't be strong enough and probably too narrow for this.

Hi there ClosedCircuit,

I don't have a plan for the hugelkultur bed really yet, I just know that soon, I'll be growing in a single large container, instead of multiple smaller ones.

If I wanted to spend some money this geoplanter might do the job. Or I may DIY build something similar.

GeoPlanter

Not sure man. The first flower cycle in the new room will definitely be in standard 10 gal nursery pots.

I saw you're worm farming... Good stuff man. That little cabinet you built is pretty cool. And don't compost your plant, even weed with seeds gives you a buzz! And a lot of motivation to grow some sensi next time as cleaning seeds from your bud gets really old fast! Are you positive your growbox is 100% lightproof?

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Hi there ClosedCircuit,

I don't have a plan for the hugelkultur bed really yet, I just know that soon, I'll be growing in a single large container, instead of multiple smaller ones.

If I wanted to spend some money this geoplanter might do the job. Or I may DIY build something similar.

GeoPlanter

Not sure man. The first flower cycle in the new room will definitely be in standard 10 gal nursery pots.

I saw you're worm farming... Good stuff man. That little cabinet you built is pretty cool. And don't compost your plant, even weed with seeds gives you a buzz! And a lot of motivation to grow some sensi next time as cleaning seeds from your bud gets really old fast! Are you positive your growbox is 100% lightproof?

Its funny you brought up those geoplanters because when you made this thread I was thinking about the same planters that are sold at buildasoil.com. That's probably a good call!

I really don't intend to toss out any plants. Even of they are seeded they will still be higher quality bud than anything on the street here, even the stuff that comes from out west that isn't taken care of properly.

I think I have a small light leak. The aluminum tape I have been using at the seems is drying up and peeling off of my panda film and is leaving small holes exposed in one area. I need to work on it tomorrow night. Either way, once the grow is done I will be ripping that film down and repairing that whole wall and messing with my fan layout. I'm thinking also about the best way to implement a Titan RH controller and humidifier in such a small space.

Any suggestions would be welcome! And thanks for checking out my thread, friend.

 

[SoilGirl]

This is going to be so cool to watch, how exciting! Great job with the build and set up, I'm going to follow this very closely, especially when you bring in the cottonwood logs. I want to do the same thing for our outdoor non-420 gardens, and actually already started a hugelkultur flower bed up against a fence haha.. they were dying there because we weren't keeping up with watering, the logs should do just the trick, absorbing groundwater over the rest of the winter, so we shouldn't have to water as much and we'll actually have pretty flowers this summer!

I just piled up old logs and leaves and chicken crap while it was seeming to warm up the other day. Not very precise but... oh well it'll break down haha...

I hope you totally rock this grow with LOS/hugelkultur CO! and bet you will! Then I bet we'll see a lot more cannabis grown this way haha. Maybe even by me! ...eventually.

 

[COorganics]

@ClosedCircuit, Use dark colored caulk on the interior and exterior seams. When you think it's light proof, close it up with all the lights in a pitch black room. Take note of any light leaks and fix.

That should solve it.

Soilgirl,
Welcome aboard my friend!

I'll be doing the hugelkultur beds for veggies come spring as well. But indoors? Haven't been able to find a single person doing hugelkultur beds indoors. I'm breaking new ground so to speak once I get mine up and running. It will be weird if I don't have to water much. I'm not going to have much tending to do to the garden.

Should make for an interesting indoor grow to say the least.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Caulk sounds kinda messy though...and a bit too permanent for me. I'm still messing with everything. Maybe once I get my set up where I like it.

 

[Ranger275]

Re Post#24: Not really sure why there might be a N-def, but it may have to do w/Carbon:Nitrogen ratio.
None of this is meant to dissuade you from an awesome project, just wanted to give you a heads-up.

 

[COorganics]

No worries ranger.

Not sure why you experienced that with your own project. I'm very confident in my soils ability to carry generation after generation of plants, with out ever showing any deficiencies whatsoever. As I type that, it sounds like a bold statement, and I guess it is. But time will prove it true and I'll document it here.

 

[Ranger275]

I'm confident your biosphere will support many gens of healthy growth. It is only Y1 that I had been warned about. Maxe sense: Gaia marches at her own stately pace, and will be rushed by no Man.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Re Post#24: Not really sure why there might be a N-def, but it may have to do w/Carbon:Nitrogen ratio.
None of this is meant to dissuade you from an awesome project, just wanted to give you a heads-up.

Would the logs (carbon) be higher in nitrogen based on when they were cut down? So if they were cut down in winter they would be a higher carbon source because they've already released all their sugars into bloom and fall foliage...where as a spring or summer logging would retain higher nitrogen? I have the difference between hay and straw in my head. I know trees aren't like annuals, but generally when plants are in bloom they use less nitrogen/stop feeding bacteria and archea with carbon exudates.

Just thinking out loud.

 

[SoilGirl]

CC I think that many logs actually leech N out of the soil during early decomposition. So the goal is to get ones decomposed enough that they don't take N out of the soil, but put it back in. Either way, N shouldn't be a problem for CO lol, hes got tons of compost and worm castings and OM in general for the top, its probably just smart for him to go grab a few naturally rotting trunks that are littered across the mountains anyways.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

CC I think that many logs actually leech N out of the soil during early decomposition. So the goal is to get ones decomposed enough that they don't take N out of the soil, but put it back in. Either way, N shouldn't be a problem for CO lol, hes got tons of compost and worm castings and OM in general for the top, its probably just smart for him to go grab a few naturally rotting trunks that are littered across the mountains anyways.

I see. Didn't know it absorbed alot of nutrients. I personally dont think he should have any problem. It just crossed my mind that the lumber you use could change the soil makeup depending on when its was cut down.

 

[SweetSue]

No worries ranger.

Not sure why you experienced that with your own project. I'm very confident in my soils ability to carry generation after generation of plants, with out ever showing any deficiencies whatsoever. As I type that, it sounds like a bold statement, and I guess it is. But time will prove it true and I'll document it here.

If it's not the soil I'm growing in making all the difference than we have no explanation for the vibrant bushes I'm growing in no my tiny closet. I have absolute faith in this particular soil recipe to continue on for generations. I have yet to look at my plants and even wonder about deficiencies. I don't know why anyone would chose any other way.

 

[drcannabi]

Hi Sue,

It's because of the hydro industry. There is very little money to be made by promoting and retailing the products that make our soil. Once the initial small investment is made, people figure out how to source and mix there own OLS.

With hydro, you can spend a grand just figuring out what works for you. There are thousands of manufacturers and they're all making money hand over fist. You can't make your own bottles of hydro nutrients.

Before the hydro and bottled nutrient industry blew up, everyone had the own worm bin and compost pile.

In essence, it's all about the money.

 

[SweetSue]

A sad but true commentary drcannabi. I couldn't even make myself look at chemicals, and once I smoked cannabis grown without chemicals I was stunned. I was also immediately intolerant of the chemical taste in commercially available product. All that work flushing! Definitely not for me. From the start I was looking for something that grew itself and demanded little of my time.

I haven't ever smoked anything grown in LOS. I'm excited.