Organic no till, probiotic, knf, jadam, vermicomposting, soil mixes, sips etc... Q & A

projectinfo said:

I used 20gal totes but im Switching to multi plant sip beds .


The totes work good, its just a peat wick . But the plastic degrades and breaks . Its just not ideal long term for this living soil .

I suggest getting some cheap ply wood and angle brackets . And wheels if you want to get fancy.

Line with 6ml vapor barriar from hardware store. Lay down pumice. Not perlite.

Perlite breaks down and floats. And makes alot of dust .. Im just not a fan And im guessing by the end if your first run youll have a layer of perlite dust at the bottom of your res.

After your pumice layer, put a layer of cheap landscape fabric . From the hardware store, then put your clackamas coots mix with 50% aeration and 25%castings/compost and 25% peat/coco - this is adjusted for sub irrigated soil, for better drainage
- but you can decide your own soil mix

And the rest of the coots mix./hyroots mix at the start of the thread .

Then 4-6 inches of dead leaves , straw, hay, grass, dead brown meterials .

The more greens you put in, the more hot composting will happen .... And the more bad guys get in


The more browns you use the more fungal your mulch layer will get and fungi breaks down much like a boss forming a beautiful mycelium mat and a fast humis layer .. Not to mention the boatload of other benfits the fungi offer From breakingdown cellulose in the brown meterials, to transporting water and nutrients to your plants , they aerate your soil and form complex intellegent networks with your plants .

With the sip make sure you put a good size fill tube, and drain .. It makes a vent to prevent stale air in your res, also no light in the res youll get slime. Go get a thru hull fitting from a boat shop. That way yoy can add a proper drain. Google thru hull fitting. Tthey screw tight and have a gasket on each side with a barb fitting to add a hose if you like.

And honestly i gave up keeping the res soaked/full all the time . Instead , learn to move your pots every day and get a feel for when they feel lighter,. Not dry by any means Ok.... But lighter like you know the res is empy for a day or two . And the pot isnt mega heavy any more might even be handy to have a dipstick for the res to make sure their drinking what theyve for befor you drown them again. If their not drinking, somethings wrong. Just wait befor doing anyrhing or change your environtment check for pests.

The way i do it , is in full bloom when their drinking heavy il give them a 2 liters of water with a splash of em1 or labs or aem

Then the next day the mulch layers getting dry so i might grab the sprayer and give a couple passes on the mulch. Also a good time to add things to be watered in like boksshi, malted barley, kelp, molasis, knf ferments, castings, compost. Not all at once. Just whenever you need at the time ok.

Next day the mulch is pretty wet i wont do anything .

Next day im kind of moving things around feeling how heavy ..

If the pots still heavy and the mulch is dry il wet the mulch a bit more to slow down water evaporation and this is the sweet spot ...

Where you can slow down the soil from evaporating for a few days i notice the most growth . Not soggy But not light either more aeration might help this.

When i tried keeping the res full with 2 inches of water all the time i got problems with slime and anaerobic smells its a touchy game playing the soggy soil game . The trick is if your keeping the res full all the time, overflow the res with new water every 2-3 days and plastic mulch or a thick mulch

But i suggest just monitering your water usage and switch between letting the res go dry and spraying your mulch while adding good castings and bokashi weekly/by weekly to keep your mulch colonized.

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Avant_Gardener said:

Thanks for the excellent explanation of growing system..With the KNF ferments, FPJ, FFJ, and Flower Power are you adding to the rezi or applying it on top?

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Avant_Gardener said:

Thanks for the excellent explanation of growing system..With the KNF ferments, FPJ, FFJ, and Flower Power are you adding to the rezi or applying it on top?

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pollen205 said:

Is microbe life photosynthesis plus probiotic ?

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MustangStudFarm said:

This is a great thread and it deserves to be read from the beginning. It would answer a lot of questions and everyone will be on the same page. Not trying to be rude. It's just a lot more fun when everyone is on the same page. I've been trying to convert over to KNF and SIP, but it has taken me a little while.

When I started following this thread, I thought that everyone was using boakshi compost and not just the bokashi bran. None of it made sense! Anyways, I made my first FPJ and it really worked so I'm diving deeper into it now. I have my first EarthBoxes that I just started and if it works out, then I'll probably convert the rest of my room.

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pollen205 said:

Is microbe life photosynthesis plus probiotic ?

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MustangStudFarm said:

Some pics of my new EarthBox. Buying the Earthbox was kind of unexpected, so I used the last 2 clones that I had. They were shitty looking clones and they were the worst of the bunch, I already transplanted the better looking ones.
View attachment 4304031

Just one week in the EarthBox and these plants are starting to recover. I thought that these would really prove if the EarthBox was everything that Alan Adkisson said that they were. He claimed that he was able to transplant a tomato plant that had mosaic virus and the plant recovered. Anyways, these are Mn deficient. I corrected the soil and foliar sprayed and they are starting to recover. Keep in mind, these were the worst plants that I had and they are starting to recover very well. This is more of an experiment I suppose. If it works, I'm going all in on this method.
View attachment 4304033

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MustangStudFarm said:

It was hard for me to find information about it, but I finally found what makes this product different. Rhodopseudomonas palustris and Rhodospirillum rubrum. It also has mycorrhizae fungi. I have not been able to use it yet, but I'm probably going to make some Bokashi with it.
https://www.microbelifehydro.com/our-technology/faqs/

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projectinfo said:

your going to like the earthbox , are you following their regime for dolomite and bokashi ?

topdressing anything elese?

em1 or bokashi steeped tea in the res?

any foliar sprays so far?

good luck

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pollen205 said:

On my bottle there is nor rubrum just Rhodopseudomonas palustris ...I really want to know why they eliminate rubrum

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MustangStudFarm said:

Some pics of my new EarthBox. Buying the Earthbox was kind of unexpected, so I used the last 2 clones that I had. They were shitty looking clones and they were the worst of the bunch, I already transplanted the better looking ones.
View attachment 4304031

Just one week in the EarthBox and these plants are starting to recover. I thought that these would really prove if the EarthBox was everything that Alan Adkisson said that they were. He claimed that he was able to transplant a tomato plant that had mosaic virus and the plant recovered. Anyways, these are Mn deficient. I corrected the soil and foliar sprayed and they are starting to recover. Keep in mind, these were the worst plants that I had and they are starting to recover very well. This is more of an experiment I suppose. If it works, I'm going all in on this method.
View attachment 4304033

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pollen205 said:

OMG what couse all that mycelium on top of the soil...loking sooo good
This is soil porn...Can I get this mycelium on top of the soil if I dont habe that earth box and cover like earthbox have

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pollen205 said:

OMG what couse all that mycelium on top of the soil...loking sooo good
This is soil porn...Can I get this mycelium on top of the soil if I dont habe that earth box and cover like earthbox have

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MustangStudFarm said:

It's Grokashi and I've seen people use straw for a cover, but I think that I have been getting spider mites off of my straw. I don't know how else I would get spider mites in the middle of winter?

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MustangStudFarm said:

It's Grokashi and I've seen people use straw for a cover, but I think that I have been getting spider mites off of my straw. I don't know how else I would get spider mites in the middle of winter?

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meangreengrowinmachine said:

hmm yeah thats odd I would bet you are right about that... maybe cover the straw with some dimacetous earth to kill off the mites? Or.. I mean it really looks like what you are doing is working GREAT!!! I just applied my first application of grokashi last night hoping I get some great results like this! I am going to be making some of my own as well but I figured I would start with some base stuff since it is not the much cost wise... soooo much cheaper to make in bulk though.

Question on your soil test as i think maybe I should try that out. Is there a specific one that you used and was it based on recomendations? Can you point me in the direction?

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MustangStudFarm said:

Your plants looked fine in the other thread... I have Amazon Prime, but they have a $5 cheaper option if you don't mind waiting a week. Everything is in the kit like the postage, lab fees, container, soil scoop, and bar# that you will use to look up your results online.

https://www.amazon.com/Soil-Savvy-Understand-Fertilizer-Recommendation/dp/B079GMTHFD/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=soil+savvy&qid=1553204878&s=gateway&sr=8-2

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projectinfo said:

spider mites can hangout in your floor cracks , come in off your c02 bottle when you get it changed, your fan if theres no pre filter on the intake , your clothes, hair, your friends .. lots of ways .

looks like the grokashi methods working out for ya ,.

i made my own labs , made kashi out of it and robertos brew and its all working just as fast as em1 . im making my own imputs from here out.

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