Jumping in with both feet....

So in an attempt to get away from mixing multiple bottles of synthetic and non-synthetic nutrients daily to feed my plants, I want to try an organic-ish no till mix for my plants.

This will be a first for me.

First off my room is sealed and I suppliment CO² and will continue with bottled CO² in my future grows. So I guess my first question is, will a no-till living-soil be able to release enough nutrients to my plants quick enough to keep up to my performance style of growing?

I grow in an 8x8 room with a canopy of 4x8. Most of my seeds packs are 5 seeds so I will probably grow about 4-5 plants of the same strain in my future grows and will use SCROG techniques to fill the 4x8 canopy area. This should allow me to utilize 15 gallon grow bags or air pots, pot type is still up in the air as I consider things like run off and water retention. I realize that I don't really need or even want run off with a no till soil but I also don't want it retain huge amounts of water. I want to water more often than not.

As for watering, I am planning on adding a Growtek FM20 auto watering system. So I should be able to give the plants whatever level of water they require to maintain optimal saturation levels in my soil.

The biggest concern I have is the soil itself. I am leaning towards a soil that does not contain slaughter house type additives. I have looked into many recipe's and the one from Build a soils web site has caught my eye. I will not be purchasing anything from build a soi as I am in a different Country and shipping would be crazy. I can source most things locally for considerably less than buying a kit.

This is their recipe, should I be adding anything to it? Do all you organic pros think it will work for me?

Living Soil Recipe:

1 Part Organic Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss

1 Part Premium Organic Compost

**Was thinking 60/40 compost/EWC**

1 Part Premium Organic Aeration and Drainage (We use Rice hulls and Pumice)

**Pumice is a no go here, was thinking perlite/clay balls/rice hulls. I really want to add rice hulls for silica content.**

Fertilizer Amendments Per Cubic Foot:

1/2 Cup Premium Organic Kelp Meal
**I love kelp**

1/2 Cup Premium Organic Neem Cake

1/2 Cup Premium Organic Crustacean Meal

Mineral Amendments Per Cubic Foot:

2 Cups Premium Natural Basalt Rock Dust

1 Cup Premium Organic Oyster Shell Flour

1 Cup Premium Organic Gypsum

Extras:

5% Charged Bio-Char (From a leading company with testing to prove it)

**Will probably try to make and charge myself with some sort of local microbe innocculant**

Small Amount ThermX15 powder or just water with ThermX70 Liquid.

**Can probably find a local substitute*

I know I have thrown a lot of info out there, hopefully someone has enough patients to read all this and bounce some suggestions off of me. As I have said this is all new for me but I am a very experienced grower, just with synthetic nutes.

Also this mix calls for 33% peat moss, 33% airation and 33% compost.

Could a 30% peat, 30% compost and 40% airation mix work better to encourage rapid root growth or would it take too much compost out of the mix and starve my plants?

Welcome. Only 2 .5 yrs for me so plenty here more knowledgeable then I.
Some things I’ve learned or tested.
40/40/20 peat,aeration compost does better then the 1/3 1/3 1/3. Just breathes better I think.
Watering,I just went straight to sips. Coming from hydro rdwc I couldn’t see my self having to water on the plants schedule.
Vermiculite, excellent CEC capacity and silica.
4 cups rock dust per cuft. I’m just seeing the benefits now after 7 or so grows.
Good luck.

Your mix looks good. Mixing EWC and Compost is a good idea. Slightly more aeration than compost is good too.

If your soil is a little light and your plants get hungry you can always top dress with more neem/kelp and compost. As long as your microbes are kicking it doesn't take long for plant based top dressing to take effect.

For types of pots, think about your environment. If the air is especially dry where you are, go plastic to slow down the drying process and keep your soil in the nice, moist zone. If it's cold and wet where you are use air pots to keeps soil aerated and aerobic.

myke said:

Welcome. Only 2 .5 yrs for me so plenty here more knowledgeable then I.
Some things I’ve learned or tested.
40/40/20 peat,aeration compost does better then the 1/3 1/3 1/3. Just breathes better I think.
Watering,I just went straight to sips. Coming from hydro rdwc I couldn’t see my self having to water on the plants schedule.
Vermiculite, excellent CEC capacity and silica.
4 cups rock dust per cuft. I’m just seeing the benefits now after 7 or so grows.
Good luck.

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I never even thought of vermiculite. I used to use it years ago but dropped it for more perlite. How much do you recommend? Or would you completely replace something like perlite/rice hulls or % of peat?

youraveragehorticulturist said:

For types of pots, think about your environment. If the air is especially dry where you are, go plastic to slow down the drying process and keep your soil in the nice, moist zone. If it's cold and wet where you are use air pots to keeps soil aerated and aerobic.

Click to expand...

My room is sealed with all the climate control that goes along with being sealed. I can pretty much dictate whatever climate parameters I would ever want. I just worry that the type of pot I select could potentially make the living soil, not so living closer to the edges. I want to run the plastic air pots but the biggest I can find is 13 gallon. The fabric grow bags on the other hand should still let me air prune roots but keep soil moister than air pots, are available in 15 and 20 gallon bags, cheaper......I should probably just go with bags.

Im not exactly sure if using vermiculite as all of the aeration portion is ok.My soil has perlite and Im just starting to add it in.I re amend after ea grow, let cook etc.

I know in the world of salts its a 50/50 peat vermiculite mix or so Ive read.

myke said:

Im not exactly sure if using vermiculite as all of the aeration portion is ok.My soil has perlite and Im just starting to add it in.I re amend after ea grow, let cook etc.

I know in the world of salts its a 50/50 peat vermiculite mix or so Ive read.

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I might add a cubic foot of it just for shits and giggles. I like water retention and silicate it offers.

Another thing Ill add is pot size,since organic takes time to break down.Dont short yourself unless your growing small plants.10g is small.

Yeah I should be able to fit 15 or 20 gallon fabric grow bags. Guessing I should just do the 20 gallon ones. Can probably fit 4 of them every grow.

myke said:

Im not exactly sure if using vermiculite as all of the aeration portion is ok.My soil has perlite and Im just starting to add it in.I re amend after ea grow, let cook etc.

I know in the world of salts its a 50/50 peat vermiculite mix or so Ive read.

Click to expand...

I used only vermiculite for one grow and it got a bit compacted and a tiny bit soggy at the bottom of the pot (I was top-watering at the time). I still use vermiculite for silica, water retention, and I hear it has good CEC, but I'm not sure if my setup realizes that benefit. But I use perlite as well, probably 60:40 perlite:vermiculite in my last soil mix.

My soil mix is very heavy in leaf/grass humics, so a peat or coir mix might not have the same issues with just vermiculite.

Ever think about running SIPs?

GrassBurner said:

Ever think about running SIPs?

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No, I haven't. I tried hempy buckets and Autopots. Didn't really care for them. Especially the Autopots. Hated them things. I prefer top watring.

GenericEnigma said:

I used only vermiculite for one grow and it got a bit compacted and a tiny bit soggy at the bottom of the pot (I was top-watering at the time). I still use vermiculite for silica, water retention, and I hear it has good CEC, but I'm not sure if my setup realizes that benefit. But I use perlite as well, probably 60:40 perlite:vermiculite in my last soil mix.

My soil mix is very heavy in leaf/grass humics, so a peat or coir mix might not have the same issues with just vermiculite.

Click to expand...

I am thinking I can find rice hulls locally so that should cover my silica needs. But I will probably add a bit of vermiculite just to diversify it. Also if I make a fairly light soil the vermiculite should help me ballance everything out.......is my thinking anyways. Maybe 10% or less was what I was thinking.