Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

Nurseries use a lot composted pine bark based mixes and it worked well in Fafard B which I used years ago. The NAPA 8822 is about the very same thing as Turface.
 
Groat21 said:
And how long does it usually take to break down? Assuming indoor environment, constantly being grown in.
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Quoting quote, seems perlite is not all the same in this and some seem more crumbly right from the start. Squeeze a pea size grain an$ it is dustwhile others are harder and have better integrity.

Anyone use crushed granite gravel for drainage. It’s used extensively in the upper Midwest for roads and trails.
 
hillbill said:
Quoting quote, seems perlite is not all the same in this and some seem more crumbly right from the start. Squeeze a pea size grain an$ it is dustwhile others are harder and have better integrity.

Anyone use crushed granite gravel for drainage. It’s used extensively in the upper Midwest for roads and trails.
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Soooo?? Seems everyone on this thread goes off topic on answers...
 
hillbill said:
Quoting quote, seems perlite is not all the same in this and some seem more crumbly right from the start. Squeeze a pea size grain an$ it is dustwhile others are harder and have better integrity.

Anyone use crushed granite gravel for drainage. It’s used extensively in the upper Midwest for roads and trails.
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I use medium sized pumice in my beds for aeration. Works great for me.

On a different note regarding a post I saw earlier. Cover crop is not going to be stealing much in the way of nutrients. The amount of nutes found in your soil is going to be way more than the actual cannabis plant can uptake, and thus it isnt going to straight compete against your cover crop. We aren't growing another high nutrient hog plant as cover crop, like tomatoes or something, your growing smaller plants that are being used to keep the soil moist and safe. I dont cut down my cover crop unless it is literally interfering with my cannabis plants, and when I harvest, I then trim back the cover crop and let it regrow. Any nutrients that were "stolen" aren't going anywhere but back into the soil anyway. Also cover crop performs other benefits such as keeping a diverse population of microbes around your plants. Every plant is going to need something different at any given moment, the plants put out specific exudates to attract specific microbes to get specific nutrients. Clover might be looking for some lead while your cannabis is looking for some boron or maybe some zinc. And when your cannabis wants some lead, well the microbes are nearby thanks to your clover, and wa la, your cannabis is being more efficient since the microbes that support it are already near the root zone. Remember by nearby I'm talking about millimeters not feet. The roots only grab nutes that are within millimeters of the root tips (without help).

Cannabis is going to dominate most cover crops, and the competition is not happening. Cannabis grows too big too fast to find interspersed clover, rye grass, dill, whatever your cover cropping as competition. It's like a NBA star on the court with a bunch of high schoolers. It's not competition, the star is still going to do what he wants.
 
Only pumice here in rural mid South is the landscape chunks which this old guy isn’t gonna screw with. I do use sharp gravel that fills creek beds here after heavy rains and may drive down the hill and shovel some up today.
 
Groat21 said:
And how long does it usually take to break down? Assuming indoor environment, constantly being grown in.
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if you're using perlite in a no-till bed setting... probably take a while to break down. the problem I have with perlite is that it is chemically inert. It has almost zero CEC. whereas pumice and scoria (lava rock) have a really good CEC.
 
ShLUbY said:
if you're using perlite in a no-till bed setting... probably take a while to break down. the problem I have with perlite is that it is chemically inert. It has almost zero CEC. whereas pumice and scoria (lava rock) have a really good CEC.
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know any good sources near Ontario, Canada?
 
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Groat21 said:
know any good sources near Ontario, Canada?
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The only canadian organic grow supplier I know of is blackswallow, people often reference them on here. not sure if that works for you. I'm from the states so I'm the wrong person to be asking lol.
 
ShLUbY said:
The only canadian organic grow supplier I know of is blackswallow, people often reference them on here. not sure if that works for you. I'm from the states so I'm the wrong person to be asking lol.
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That’s who I’ve been using, and they have them. $26!!! I’m mid order lol


Edit: this was meant for the other forum you replied to about the fabric pot... found it!
 
ShLUbY said:
if you're using perlite in a no-till bed setting... probably take a while to break down. the problem I have with perlite is that it is chemically inert. It has almost zero CEC. whereas pumice and scoria (lava rock) have a really good CEC.
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I found some lava rock, it looks natural too, but it’s large size(biggest pieces are 2-3 inches)

Would this work if I crushed it? I would probably just use a few bags and then perlite and some biochar.

https://www.homehardware.ca/en/7lb-barbecue-lava-rocks/p/6422542
 
ShLUbY said:
yup crushing is totally fine. if you have a landscape supply store near you, you might be able to find it cheaper, and already crushed.
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Could not find pumice anywhere, but I picked up about 15 gallons of red lava rock for FREE today.

Will this rock work? It seems pretty porous, and there’s a good variety of sizes. It was in their garden bed for 5+ years, I can clean it and crush it if necessary.
A0CF2585-4536-41C5-A8F3-7D50E64FD353.jpeg

I am using a 65 gallon pot, was aiming for 20 gallons of aeration, maybe 25(still undecided, could use some input)
I was going to use 5 gallons of biochar, and then the rest lava rock/ perlite. I already have the 15 gallons of lava rock and about 5 gallons of perlite
 
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