No till Soil Maintenance

Ever read so many different things you get info overload? Thats where I am at.

I have a thread going over in the vert section. You can peep that Here.

Im doing 20gallon no tills with Coots mix. 2k watt vert. Currently the plan to maintain my soil and keep it alive is
Living mulch dutch white, mulching the prior plant. Quarter pound of European night crawlers/pot, and eighth pound of red wigglers/pot. Top dress will be a couple cups of my amendments at the end of cycle and the plant i just harvested. Water. Euro NCs will eat root ball, Rwigglers will eat the plant and nutrients. Providing the EWC. And the added benefit of keeping the soil nice and broke up.

So i guess i want to know if this will cover it. I have read so much about all these other things people do. Compost teas, sprout teas, coco water drenches, Bioag products like TM7, Fulvic ect ect.

Are any of these necessary. I get trying to maximize yields and all that. But for the grower with out a lot of free time, I dont want my grow to be a time suck. I dont mind spending the weekend in the garden if i have too but I even plan my vacations from work around my harvest times.

Also I'm cheap. lol. If I dont need that stuff then i dont want to waste money on it. Forums have saved me a crap load of money over the years.
However if theres a big ass gap in my plan here, i want to know so i can remedy that.

I think you might be relying too much on the worms. I'm not sure the worms in the pot will be enough to supply the plant in the same pots. But coots mix should get you by for a good while. You may need to feed some or use a good mulch. This will depend on how long the plants are in the pots though. Bigger plants eat more.

For me though, I like diversity and I'm also cheap. So I make a lot of fermented fertilizers from wildflowers, comfrey, lambs quarters, horse tail and the like. The comfrey I cultivate the rest grow nearby and I forage for them. Most likely your inputs will vary based on your results, and what you have to work with, but you will hit a rhythm fairly fast. After about 3 cycles, it gets easy peasy.

I also make simple botanical teas of alfalfa, kelp, comfrey, alfalfa and neem meal, and sprouted seed teas, but with all my inputs none get used a lot. As I mentioned I think diversity is imporant, and I think it brings out more of what the plant has to offer. Think insanely stinky buds, bud.

The actual growing part is fairly easy. I spray neem oil weekly on vegging plants. And once plants are in flower, there is not a lot to do. Great for a lazy grower. And it helps to get new plants in pots soon after harvest. This keeps microbial networks intact. The plants ussually take right off in pots still alive from the last grow.

sounds like you need super @az2000 he knows everything, especially if i post first.

shredder4 said:

I think you might be relying too much on the worms. I'm not sure the worms in the pot will be enough to supply the plant in the same pots. But coots mix should get you by for a good while. You may need to feed some or use a good mulch. This will depend on how long the plants are in the pots though. Bigger plants eat more.

For me though, I like diversity and I'm also cheap. So I make a lot of fermented fertilizers from wildflowers, comfrey, lambs quarters, horse tail and the like. The comfrey I cultivate the rest grow nearby and I forage for them. Most likely your inputs will vary based on your results, and what you have to work with, but you will hit a rhythm fairly fast. After about 3 cycles, it gets easy peasy.

I also make simple botanical teas of alfalfa, kelp, comfrey, alfalfa and neem meal, and sprouted seed teas, but with all my inputs none get used a lot. As I mentioned I think diversity is imporant, and I think it brings out more of what the plant has to offer. Think insanely stinky buds, bud.

The actual growing part is fairly easy. I spray neem oil weekly on vegging plants. And once plants are in flower, there is not a lot to do. Great for a lazy grower. And it helps to get new plants in pots soon after harvest. This keeps microbial networks intact. The plants ussually take right off in pots still alive from the last grow.

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OH man, the worms are everything. Especially in no till. I have done no till outside. which is why this method got me so excited. But in my out door garden, worms changed everything. Never have compacted soil ever again. no dry spots.
They can also tell you how moist the soil is, they'll come up if its too wet. Once you see a worm, you know your done watering. Also the worms will control their population.
Im only going to be growing the living mulch on 2/3 of the pot closes to the light. the back third will be a pile of mulch, amendments, ect for the red wigglers. I'll also be adding things from my kitchen for them to munch on. then every harvest well rotate the pot and mulch in a new spot and plant the new plant in the old mulch spot.

I also just finished reading some more on growing other things for your plants. Ive got some 1gal fabric pots, picking up some seed. Basil, Yarrow, catnip, stinging nettles, and comfrey. And a couple of aloe plants. Small pot blumat system, done.

So it sounds like i should get a little air pump to make some teas on occasion.

On point with neem oil. I picked up the IPM kit from BAS. So I have some malted barley seed.

Start a worm bin. THAT is *the big azz gap in your plan*.

I've NEVER added worms to a container, but always end up with plenty of worms. Why? From adding fresh VC (vermicompost), from my bins that is full of cocoons and baby worms.

Mature worms added to containers don't do all that well at adapting. Worms born into the mix adapt easily. The baby worms, I have no idea, since they are so small they are hard to see even in the fresh VC.

A DIY bin can be started for under $50 including the worms and you'll have a never ending supply of VC and worms. BTW, red wigglers and european nightcrawlers both do well in the same bin and IIRC *redwormcomposting.com* sells a combination of the two just for that purpose. My bins have had both for several years now.

Starting a worm bin will change everything, for the better. More, IMO, than any other action you could do.

Wet

Egg zackly Wet Dog. Worms do end up in pots but I would not rely just on them. Worm bins are the way to go.

Do both. If your pots are at least 15 gals. Throw worms in there. Or buy worm pods and throw them in there and have a worm bin. Best of both worlds.

"the back third will be a pile of mulch, amendments, ect for the red wigglers. I'll also be adding things from my kitchen for them to munch on."

I mean i see the reason for worm bin, but whats wrong with doing the same thing in the pot? why do i need a separate container to do this in? I mean the only difference is im doing it in 8 places rather then in just one?

Anyone know a good vermi diy/thread on here lol.

Just wondering have you ever added alabama jumpers? I heard europeans were only great for composting so I never put any in my garden. I might try the europeans if they will stick around.

You could give them a try. they like to dig deep. So would need a tall pot. The Europeans will eat the root ball of the prior plant leaving castings where the root used to be. Ill get a worm bin if i have too. but I still think that in 4 months of a grow cycle i can feed worms enough to get enough casting. If not, ill start a bin.

I've found that the adult ENC's WILL wander when lights are off, A good tip if you have only got fabric pots in your tent is to put a pot of good soil on the floor with accessible holes, so the worms can get in (better still, get some aloe vera or other plants in there). This will stop you finding loads of dead worms in nooks and crannies and under your fab pots, keep the soil moist and the worms have an escape route/safe haven.

All my aloe plants have worms in because of this, most probably too many, but the plants seem to thrive off their presence tho. The only downside is clearing up wormcasts from around and under the pots, I just scoop this up, add a little compost and put it back in the top. I imagine I'll have to add some ph buffering soon now I'm thinking about it, my compost isn't too acidic but I'm pretty sure the wormcasts are.

m4s73r said:

"the back third will be a pile of mulch, amendments, ect for the red wigglers. I'll also be adding things from my kitchen for them to munch on."

I mean i see the reason for worm bin, but whats wrong with doing the same thing in the pot? why do i need a separate container to do this in? I mean the only difference is im doing it in 8 places rather then in just one?

Anyone know a good vermi diy/thread on here lol.

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The worms won't make enough castings during the plants cycle IMO.

I agree with wet dog. If
You make your own castings, you'll be adding worms to your containers wether you know it or not....plus you'll be inoculating the soil with trillions of microbes. Without those, everything else you add is pointless. How are all if the amendments to be broken down without an army of microbes.

Build a bin! There's no shortcuts where this is concerned.

m4s73r said:

"the back third will be a pile of mulch, amendments, ect for the red wigglers. I'll also be adding things from my kitchen for them to munch on."

I mean i see the reason for worm bin, but whats wrong with doing the same thing in the pot? why do i need a separate container to do this in? I mean the only difference is im doing it in 8 places rather then in just one?

Anyone know a good vermi diy/thread on here lol.

Click to expand...

There is a large DIY thread right here, within the first three pages.

The main thing is, ideal conditions for worms are not ideal conditions for growing cannabis. They survive quite well in pots, but to thrive and multiply they like a bit more moisture and food, a bit too wet and too rich for most plants. Worms self regulate their population and conditions in a growing pot just don't allow for the large population needed for VC production and more worms to keep up that production. In my bin (18 gal Rubbermaid), there are easily 4-5,000 worms. In the same size no till it would be more like 4-500 worms. Plenty for that plant and pot, but not enough to produce any 'extra'.

Also, indoors and outdoors are two different balls of wax. Just like with growing, outdoors is much more of a 'Set it and forget it' type of thing. Worms can smell (No, I don't know how), and will find food sources. Used to get fishing worms by setting a watermelon rind in a shady spot. In a couple of days there would be plenty of worms under the rind having a party. No idea how they found it, but find it they did.

LOL .... Start a damn bin! I'm getting tired of typing trying to save you 4 months only to find out that JUST worms in the pots won't provide you with all you really need. Mainly a source of VC for top dressing and a ready source of worms.

You've got the right concept and attitude AFA worms and the no tills, just need to take that final step.

Wet

OK OK OK OK OK. Ill get a worm bin going. lol. Actually after reading the last response I decided to get a worm bin going. And I had a bunch of gift cards from amazon so i picked up a worm inn and a couple k of worms. So its on the way. I also got seeds for Basil, comfrey, catnip, and yarrow. And got a couple of aloe plants on the way as well.

Worms don't belong in pots. They're mammals and will suffocate if the pots are overwatered.

I have a large outside veggie garden with plenty of earthworms. The soil still gets compacted. I have raised beds filled with compost and builders sand but it still needs a turnover with a fork now and then to loosen it up. Yes, I do mulch.