Karl Nation builds a living soil box (or tries to)

Do you think Karl Nation will be successful this year?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • If he adds "X" soil ammendment (chime in)

    Votes: 1 33.3%

  • Total voters
    3

Karl Nation

Member
Made a 12x8 grow box. I am trying to make a living soil (not a no till living soil though). In the bottom of the box I put one bale of hay and one bale of straw. 4 yards of tripple mix and 3 yards of black topsoil (mixed). On top, about 50 pounds of worm casings and 5lbs of Azomite, Oyster shell flour, compost I have been making for 5-6 years, beneficial microbes, 250 red wiggler worms, sheep manure, horse manure, blood meal, bone meal, glacial rock dust, and probably some other stuff I forgot. Hope this year is good after all that. Last year I got some disease that affected all of my plants including the ones in soil and the ones in auto-pots :-( IMG_20230511_124709.jpgIMG_20230508_180129.jpg
 
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Nizza

Well-Known Member
Some of you might remember my twin brother Hot Karl. He died recently. Too much Heroin, Bitches and Blow, in that order.
Sad. He always gave me his best buds. Miss you bro.
hey man I lost my bro too and that sucks alot man I feel for you dude. For me it helps to think that the reason I think of him wasn't his disorders but he had a really big heart. Don't stop thinking of your bro ever! Your grow bed looks really nice , very nice build dude and I hope the passion of growing makes you think of him more
 

Karl Nation

Member
Thanks a lot man, yeah he was a legend. He was a musician I remember going to visit him one night and there was literally a line of girls lined up to get into his bedroom. What a guy. Wish I had started my plants a little earlier I only started my seeds a couple weeks ago I got some clones online but they didn't take to transplanting very well.


hey man I lost my bro too and that sucks alot man I feel for you dude. For me it helps to think that the reason I think of him wasn't his disorders but he had a really big heart. Don't stop thinking of your bro ever! Your grow bed looks really nice , very nice build dude and I hope the passion of growing makes you think of him more
 

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
The straw was for drainage and the hay I figured would break down and might also provide a nice cover crop.
A cover crop is a plant(s) you put on top to grow and pull nutrients from the bottom, or some even pull nitrogen from the air, then you chop them and leave them to compost on the top releasing what they've accumulated. Kind of like cycling the soil. Hay underneath wouldn't be a cover crop.
 

Karl Nation

Member
Is that wood pressure treated? Or raw cuts
The only pressure treat is on the 6x6s in the frame on the bottom and the six posts everything else is not pressure treated but the entire inside of the box except for the bottom was wrapped with plastic so that the wood would last longer. And on the bottom like I mentioned I had straw and under the straw I had Garden fabric to prevent the raspberry bush next door from growing up into it. Apparently the new pressure treated Wood uses a different process and it's safe to use but just to be on the safe side all of the exposed areas in my box are untreated and wrapped with plastic.
 

Karl Nation

Member
A cover crop is a plant(s) you put on top to grow and pull nutrients from the bottom, or some even pull nitrogen from the air, then you chop them and leave them to compost on the top releasing what they've accumulated. Kind of like cycling the soil. Hay underneath wouldn't be a cover crop.
It would if it grew up through the soil and it's already starting to it seems.
 
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Karl Nation

Member
I was thinking I'm missing bat guano but I got so many bats around here I'm just going to shovel the s*** into the box.
 

The Hippy

Well-Known Member
Your going to end up with monster sized plants. Be ready to deal with that. Many have lost it all here in Canada trying to harvest too much at the end. Our seasonal window goes to shit pretty fast here or sometimes even early.
If you plant any now your in for monsters unless something goes wrong. I personally don't know anybody who like outdoor really. I know some who smoke it cuz it's what they have. But they really prefer the better alternative being a clean indoor grow. No Ants, Bugs, Bird shit or dust.
Keep some room in between them so you get tons of air flow to keep them dry. These outdoor bitches can get HUGE and grow into each other. Keep em short for awhile as well. The guys I've seen with biggest plants got the worst weed in the end. Try harvesting 4 or more huge plants in the end window of time is a quite a job. You need a lot of help.
Not trying to be a spoiler just saying what I know and have seen. Maybe your in BC where it can be better. Cheers !
 
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Karl Nation

Member
Your going to end up with monster sized plants. Be ready to deal with that. Many have lost it all here in Canada trying to harvest too much at the end. Our seasonal window goes to shit pretty fast here or sometimes even early.
If you plant any now your in for monsters unless something goes wrong. I personally don't know anybody who like outdoor really. I know some who smoke it cuz it's what they have. But they really prefer the better alternative being a clean indoor grow. No Ants, Bugs, Bird shit or dust.
Keep some room in between them so you get tons of air flow to keep them dry. These outdoor bitches can get HUGE and grow into each other. Keep em short for awhile as well. The guys I've seen with biggest plants got the worst weed in the end. Try harvesting 4 or more huge plants in the end window of time is a quite a job. You need a lot of help.
Not trying to be a spoiler just saying what I know and have seen. Maybe your in BC where it can be better. Cheers !
Agree with all of the above. In Ontario here. Not my first outdoor grow, and yeah I didn't want monsters so I am starting from seed, aside from the two clones I got, and I started my seeds late. I don't really like outdoor but it presses just as nice as indoor and the rosin is good. Plus I eat it, I prefer to smoke indoor buds. I will do a garden in it next year and just a couple plants.
 

Karl Nation

Member
Your going to end up with monster sized plants. Be ready to deal with that. Many have lost it all here in Canada trying to harvest too much at the end. Our seasonal window goes to shit pretty fast here or sometimes even early.
If you plant any now your in for monsters unless something goes wrong. I personally don't know anybody who like outdoor really. I know some who smoke it cuz it's what they have. But they really prefer the better alternative being a clean indoor grow. No Ants, Bugs, Bird shit or dust.
Keep some room in between them so you get tons of air flow to keep them dry. These outdoor bitches can get HUGE and grow into each other. Keep em short for awhile as well. The guys I've seen with biggest plants got the worst weed in the end. Try harvesting 4 or more huge plants in the end window of time is a quite a job. You need a lot of help.
Not trying to be a spoiler just saying what I know and have seen. Maybe your in BC where it can be better. Cheers !
I also have this automated bud trimmer which works amazing I can do a pound in like 30 minutes and I'm talking about a pound dry so basically 5 lb wet...
 
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