Will this soil mix work for starting and maintaining living soil

[bobrown14]

I find this topic fascinating!!!! And am trying this approach on a very remedial level. Where the heck could I go to get all this stuff??? Garden Gallery??

BLack Swallow as mentioned - that soil recipe is about as short as it gets. We tried to make it simple and easy to make.... best part is the humus portion. If you start making your own compost from kitchen scraps you well on your way to having the best soil you cant buy anywhere!

 

[greenjeans]

compost from kitchen scraps

I've been vermicomposting for about 30 years - started with a margerine container of worms - went up to 6 laundry tubs - accidently killed them all from an overheated greenhouse save for a 1/2 dozen worms - back up to 6 tubs - used them all in last years grow - found about a dozen or so when I was cleaning up after last years grow - I'm back up to three tubs now and just harvested about 7 gallons of compost today...happy camper.
I never had a system for compost harvest - just used it worms and all but what I tried this time was to move the worms and particulate from the bin into a second bin until I got down to the compacted "soil" in the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the bin - since there was no food or anything that the worms wanted in it there was very few worms and it actually worked pretty simply. About 4 of the girls got a bit of top dressing. I'll work more of it in as time goes by and save most of it for next years mix. The petunias will do without!!!

 

[indicagrower42020]

Quick update , just a long process with moving but I am still gonna make a grow journal.

Also anyone got experience with buildasoil 3.0 oly mountain living organic soil? Was thinking of just buying that an then recharging it / innoculating it because its too long to wait for vermi compost an the whole process of building it from the start. So my idea is to buy that soil to just get started growing AND then start having my vermicompost an all the extra stuff for maintenance on the no till ready an sorted with the added benefit of having experience with the whe process. But again whats your thoughts on that mix. Seen a few videos an threads an seen nice buds in both quality an size but want to hear about it in 2020

 

[Nunyabiz]

Quick update , just a long process with moving but I am still gonna make a grow journal.

Also anyone got experience with buildasoil 3.0 oly mountain living organic soil? Was thinking of just buying that an then recharging it / innoculating it because its too long to wait for vermi compost an the whole process of building it from the start. So my idea is to buy that soil to just get started growing AND then start having my vermicompost an all the extra stuff for maintenance on the no till ready an sorted with the added benefit of having experience with the whe process. But again whats your thoughts on that mix. Seen a few videos an threads an seen nice buds in both quality an size but want to hear about it in 2020

I've been using the Buildasoil Oly Mountain Modern mix 2 for 4 years.
IMO it's the best soil out of a bag you can buy, the soil tilth once the cover crop and the worms have had a little time to work on it is excellent, virtually impossible to overwater, use a minimum of 15 gallon fabric pots, 25 gallon is best if you want to do no-till.

My first pots I used for 3.5 years and 8 grows but I let my cover crop go too wild for too long and had gigantic roots in it, the clover was like carrots.
I should have pulled up and re-sewn the cover crop once a year and I'd probably still be using that same original soil.
My tilth was fantastic, I could water with 2+ gallons a day with no worries of over watering in the slightest, though at the last grow it was just too many roots from the cover crop and combined with grow after grow of cannabis roots without the time allowed to "fallow" then the worms and microbes didn't have the time to fully break down the old roots.

So, since i didn't want to let my pots fallow for 6+ months to let the worms and microbes do their thing i went ahead and replaced most of the soil, pulled most of it out, shaved the top 5" or so off the top to put back on fresh soil, that was almost entirely fresh Unicorn Poop with lots of microbial life.

I inoculate with Rootwise Microbe Complete and Rootwise Elixir.
I also use a Comfrey Peach Fermented Plant Juice which has EM-1, LABs, and Super Cera Powder.
Also Bokashi and Gro-kashi, all of these keep microbial life going strong.

For amendments I used the Buildasoil Big 6 micronutrients with humic/fulvic acid, Craftblend.
For added nutrients I use Coconut water and Aloe Vera, Ferticell Universal Algae and usually at least one Alfalfa Sprouted Seed Tea per grow.
Few other assorted odds and ends.

But you can't go wrong with the Buildasoil soils.

 

[Nunyabiz]

I think Living Organic Soil grows the best bud.

 

[indicagrower42020]

Damn that really nice. Those plants look good. I was planning on getting 50-100 gallon pots . An my original idea was have 100 gallon pots , for 1 plant an have 6 in a 10 x 12 room , aligned in a u shape with an extra plant in the middle, eventually. But for now 3 to 4 plants will work for me I just want to have a lot of bud to smoke on , good quality bud so when I get the hang of those 4 plants then ill move up to my limit of 6.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Might as well just make two 5x5 beds and hang a 650w 4 x 4 light above each one.
Could plant 4 in each one or save room to grow veggies.

 

[indicagrower42020]

Might as well just make two 5x5 beds and hang a 650w 4 x 4 light above each one.
Could plant 4 in each one or save room to grow veggies.

Hmm I have seen that an i do like the sleeker more cleaner look of that BUT let me look more into the pros and cons of a bed. Just because I plan on doing multiple strains at one time in a room, no more than 3 types. Dosent using a bed kinda restrict me from that?

 

[bobrown14]

100 gal pots are too large for indoor unless you are indoors in a greenhouse with 20' ceilings. In living soil your plants will get VERY large. The limit to size is the container. I have issues with size in 7.5gal containers indoors.

Outside my plants are 8' tall and only have been outside since May 10th. I have 1 in a 50 gal container and she's big. Too big for inside.

 

[indicagrower42020]

100 gal pots are too large for indoor unless you are indoors in a greenhouse with 20' ceilings. In living soil your plants will get VERY large. The limit to size is the container. I have issues with size in 7.5gal containers indoors.

Outside my plants are 8' tall and only have been outside since May 10th. I have 1 in a 50 gal container and she's big. Too big for inside.

Hmm ok so does Scrogging and topping help keep height down ill have 8' roofs but still just wondering, if because there's always nutrients the plants will eat an just keep growing ( of course taking into account veg time and expecting bloom growth). Cause I liked the idea of less maintenance with a bigger pot. So I guess my question is can you control the height of a plant indoors with a 100 gallon pot

 

[bobrown14]

Control plant size by controlling root ball size. Topping isnt something I do as a general rule for a lot of reasons. Every time you top a plant it will slow the growth and stress the plant.

Height is genetic so if you wanna grow in large containers indoors take genetics into account.

For example you wont be under control growing a sativa in a 100 gal pot.

Here's a hybrid I have going it's not even in flower yet and almost 8ft tall she's in like 40gal of soil.

You can scrog but that takes a long veg time due to the topping part of it in veg.
I'm more into getting things done. Less time to harvest = less time for buds in the can and also reduces my risk factor.

 

[indicagrower42020]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Nunyabiz]

My preference is 25 gallon fabric pots.
Those are perfect size to maintain a healthy ecosystem with the worms, bugs and microbes and cover crop.
25 gallons of soil especially in fabric pots is plenty of size for a large root system.
It is also large enough to create a good buffer for nutrients all the way to harvest.
I've never topped a plant because its totally unnecessary and just gets rid of another bud you could have had.
Using LST serves the same purpose of apical dominance and does so without slowing growth.
Just bend the plant over about week 2 of veg and keep training until you fill up the SCROG, try to get all growth tips even then flip to flower.
Here is my Jack Herer currently.
Week 6 of veg I think, i am going to try to get some growth over to the left half of the SCROG but my limitations are going to be once all the tops on the far right run out of space to spread i will have to flip to flower because then they will have nowhere else to go but up.
So i try to keep those bent down sideways as much as possible which slows their growth slightly while i try to encourage faster growth on the left side.
Probably 1 to 2 more weeks of veg.

 

[Nunyabiz]

With 8 weeks of veg that's usually about right to get a solid root system that fills the 25 gallon pot completely and gives me a large trunk with lots of thick side branching that's capable of supplying enough nutrients for lots of large buds.