420 Magazine

@Emilya I think is but she will chime in a let us know.

yes indeed... I try to keep everything in my grow chemical free, or at least in the traditional sense. Everything is chemicals when you get right down to it, but natural and organic is what I shoot for.

I grow 100% chemical free, organic.
Its really about the easiest way to grow.
You just grow soil and let the soil grow the plant.
Just need to use large fabric pots, 20+ gallon is best.
Plant a cover crop, add worms and rove beetles.

I agree you cant get 100% chemical free. But I do try.
I love growing my own soil also. i use worms but never rove beetles. I am curious on that. Why do you use fabric pots? Is it a specific type of fabric? Do you make them yourself? Is it hard to contain the water on an indoor grow? I can only grow indoors in my state.That is why I ask.

Rove beetles eat pretty much anything in the soil so will keep fungus gnats away.
I use fabric pots because they breathe better, the roots air prune as they reach the sides and spread out giving a far larger root system.
I grow in a bath tub so no problem containing water.
But you can put a tray under them to catch water, just the put on top of a pot elevator to get air under the pot.

There is no problem with using cloth bags and keeping the moisture in. It is the soil that holds the water, not the bag. I use them because they create air pruning of the roots as they hit the sides of the container, and this creates bigger and better root balls. I buy them commercially because these days they can be purchased for under $1 apiece. Transplanting from small bags to larger is easy, because I just cut them away and buy new ones the next time. I do not use plant elevators because I actually want my plants to suck back up the small amount of runoff that I create, and because I rely on the roots to do it, I have no problems with my soil drying out between waterings... even the bottom gets dry sitting right down in my drip trays.

Thank you Nunyabiz and Emilya. I do have another question based on your answers. How many Rove beetles would I need per plant? I know roots are very important. Why would you want the roots to be pruned? Does the air pruning alter the overall growth? I am extremely sensitive to chems. Wouldn't some of the chems used to clean, waterproof or structure the fabric to make the bags get absorbed into the plants? Is there a certain fabric that would be more safe than others? I will have to make mine if I choose this way next. I am using plastic right now (not my choice) I do have a barrier between the pot and the plant but it is kinda redundant. My next grow I don't want to use plastic. I keep away from plastic as much as I can in everyday life. The cloth bags do sound interesting. Thank you so much for all your advice. I can use any and all knowledge at this point.