Recycled Organic Living Soil (ROLS) and No Till Thread

[Rrog]

Great looking retort ! Great looking dog!

 

[DonBrennon]

Great looking retort ! Great looking dog!

He keeps the local herion users out of my house, but he's actually scared of his own shadow, if a cat fronts him out he shits himself lol

 

[hyroot]

He keeps the local herion users out of my house, but he's actually scared of his own shadow, if a cat fronts him out he shits himself lol

My cat thinks he's a dog. Acts like a bad ass and shows off to every one. Only gets a long with dogs that are the same size except for a neighbors German Shepard. They actually have played together. When no one else is around. He turns into a spoiled crybaby. Wanting to top off his food bowl every 5 minutes and get him new water every 5 minutes.

 

[Wetdog]

I'd start light and adjust from there. 1/4 cup tops IMO.

I personally don't use neem seed cake in my worm bin. I jacked a few plants up with it so I'm a lil gun shy to be honest.

Big +1 on the light part I add neem to my mix, top dress with it and add it to the worm bin. 1cup/cf is max added to the mix and 1/2cup/cf is plenty. A light 1/4cup for the top dress is more than enough. I'll sprinkle a bit on the surface of the worm bin every 2-3 weeks.

This last season it was pretty much my IPM and it worked great. Just need to get it added to the mix along with the other amendments and let it cycle. Top dress later, but the top dressing alone is kinda so so if it's not in the mix from the git. Found that out the previous season.

Read through the information at Neem Resources, they recc the 1/2cup/cf amount and also touch on how much worms love it. Far from pushing more so you buy more, the message is "go light", and less is better. Pretty much like kelp meal that people mostly over apply. *I* apply kelp and neem at the same rate, usually 1/2 cup/cf and never over 1cup/cf. More just creates problems rather than working better.

Neem cake and Kelp meal are pretty much the only things I'll spend the shipping cost on to buy in 40-50lb bags.

Wet

 

[kkt3]

I started my pile in the fall of 2014. I was using my neighbors in the interim. Mine is ready, and I've used it in the last couple batches of soil that I've made. No unwanted critters, or ill effects of any kind that I've noticed. I chose to add a good amount of N (alfalfa meal) to my pile to both speed the process up, and attract thermophilic bacteria to the pile to destroy any pathogens that may be present. So far so good!

I just take a leaf blower and blow all of my leaves in to one corner of my yard. I then run over the leaves with my lawn mower to increase surface area and break them down a bit. Wet it down, project some alfalfa meal over the pile, turn, then leave it be. 12 months later and you're left with a dark, crumbly material that makes the best medium I have ever worked with. Good water retention, but also very porous. I used to water my 10 gal containers once every 3-4 days. Now I have to water every 36-48 hours. Absent an automated watering device (like blu mats) it makes for a bit more work, but the growth and overall health of my plants has improved drastically. I'm assuming this is due to the increased oxygen to the root zone, and perhaps fungi/bacteria that colonize the leaf mold.

It's free, easy to make, and is the most environmentally friendly medium that I'm aware of. I urge everyone to try it!

A question for you st0wandgrow. Do you use any type of leaves? Is there a more beneficial leaf?

 

[st0wandgrow]

A question for you st0wandgrow. Do you use any type of leaves? Is there a more beneficial leaf?

I only have maple trees in my yard, so I don't have any first hand experience with other leaves, but from the reading I've done there is only subtle differences between various types of trees leaves. Oak for example is higher in lignin, so they take longer to break down.

One of the keys IMO is to try to get to the leaves before they get too brown and crumbly. Fresh leaves have a higher N content, so they will decompose quicker than older leaves. If you have a lawn mower with a bagger, you could always mow the leaves up which will shred them, creating more surface area, and you will also get some lawn clippings (N) in the mix.... both of which will help speed things up.

 

[Mohican]

I have found that the worm compost tea balances out the soil and the plants will tell you whether they are missing anything. I am still supplementing with high chemical PK doses to improve resin production. I use Mad Farmer MOAB.

I have been getting great results with Kelp meal and juice so I may be removing the MOAB from the mix.

 

[Mohican]

I read that the N component is usually lacking in compost and needs to be supplemented. I recently added bone and blood meal to my compost pile along with some greensand and azomite.

 

[JSJ]

Hey guys, first off if this question has already been asked/answered, I apologize now,

I have been reading this thread for the last two days (whenever I have an extra 5 minutes).....

So I have ran a couple of my pots through a few grows now. They are FULL.

I was thinking about trying to cut the top off my pots, like sod farmers would do, pull dirt out of the bottom of the pot and replace the "sod" back in the pot.

So my question to you guys is, A) Is this something you guys do? B) How do you go about this?

I was thinking of letting it dry out a little so I could pull the whole "plug" of dirt up enough to cut underneath the roots and separate it.

The other thought I had was to cut down through the dirt and roots and divide it up like pizza slices and then try to dig out each "slice" roots and all, and then patch the "sod slices" back on top after removing some dirt.

Any advise or a good direction to go in would be much appreciated!

Thanks guys!

 

[hyroot]

Hey guys, first off if this question has already been asked/answered, I apologize now,

I have been reading this thread for the last two days (whenever I have an extra 5 minutes).....

So I have ran a couple of my pots through a few grows now. They are FULL.

I was thinking about trying to cut the top off my pots, like sod farmers would do, pull dirt out of the bottom of the pot and replace the "sod" back in the pot.

So my question to you guys is, A) Is this something you guys do? B) How do you go about this?

I was thinking of letting it dry out a little so I could pull the whole "plug" of dirt up enough to cut underneath the roots and separate it.

The other thought I had was to cut down through the dirt and roots and divide it up like pizza slices and then try to dig out each "slice" roots and all, and then patch the "sod slices" back on top after removing some dirt.

Any advise or a good direction to go in would be much appreciated!

Thanks guys!

No. We just topdress castings and watered with seed sprout teas or coconut water. Which will break down all the old roots within a couple weeks. Increasing the microbial population. Then you can replant after or before that happens.

 

[AllDayToker]

Hey everyone,

So I'm a few weeks into flower, I still have at least 6 weeks to go. And my plants look like they are starting to fade a bit. I feel like I might not be watering or feeding enough.

I can post pictures for further assistance but for now I am just curious how often I should be feeding two large plants in 10g smartpots, that are past and stretch and now flowering fully.

And I don't know how well the microbe colony is in the soil, so let's say it's low. And ive only fed casting teas and alfalfa kelp meal teas up to this point, and nothing else.

 

[JSJ]

No. We just topdress castings and watered with seed sprout teas or coconut water. Which will break down all the old roots within a couple weeks. Increasing the microbial population. Then you can replant after or before that happens.

Thanks for replying back.

I have no more room to top dress anymore!!

So you are saying the SST and more castings will break down the soil enough for it to drop 3", so I can start top dressing again?

 

[hyroot]

Thanks for replying back.

I have no more room to top dress anymore!!

So you are saying the SST and more castings will break down the soil enough for it to drop 3", so I can start top dressing again?

No. When my pots have reached their limit. I have removed a couple inches of soil so I can topdress. That's after harvest of course. Then just throw that removed soil into a bin of other soil.

The enzymes break down the roots. At the same time the microbes feed on the roots.

If you can't topdress. Then water with a compost tea.

If you are in mid flower. Removing the roots will only be detrimental to the plant.

 

[JSJ]

No. When my pots have reached their limit. I have removed a couple inches of soil so I can topdress. That's after harvest of course. Then just throw that removed soil into a bin of other soil.

The enzymes break down the roots. At the same time the microbes feed on the roots.

If you can't topdress. Then water with a compost tea.

If you are in mid flower. Removing the roots will only be detrimental to the plant.

Again thanks for the reply.

The pots in question have been run through 3x time. They are harvested and sitting back in my veg room. They still have clover growing in them.

I was thinking it would be better to keep the living manure alive, with all beneficials intact with the roots.

But you say to go ahead and just rip the top 3-4 inches out of each pot and through it on the compost and start a new manure crop in my pots?

 

[hyroot]

Again thanks for the reply.

The pots in question have been run through 3x time. They are harvested and sitting back in my veg room. They still have clover growing in them.

I was thinking it would be better to keep the living manure alive, with all beneficials intact with the roots.

But you say to go ahead and just rip the top 3-4 inches out of each pot and through it on the compost and start a new manure crop in my pots?

The clover will break down roots while they're growing too. They facilitate microbes and exute enzymes from their roots. So you will be fine there. Just don't let them dry out.

 

[Rrog]

You have to leave the soil a few inches low when starting a soil to accommodate the added amendments over time. I am the worst at this. It looks pitiful to have what looks like an unfilled pot and put a plant in it.

 

[JSJ]

Hey guys thanks for the replies.

So just to clarify what is going on here. I started my manure crop to begin with in pots that had 3-4 inches of room to the top.

I plant my clones right in with the clover. I top dress fresh worm compost, once in veg and once in flower.

I leave my clover growing continously, just cut it back every week or so and leave all my clippings in the pot.

Now they are full and I have no more room to top dress anything.

Now to my unedumacted ass, it seems like I would want to keep all those layers of compost in the pot and remove soil from the bottom to make room at the top for layering more compost.

Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

 

[AllDayToker]

I feel like my plants are not getting enough food. Can someone tell me their thoughts based off these photos.

Plant 1


Plant 2


Thank you for your time.

 

[kmog33]

So this has peaked my interest a bit and I've looked into a bunch of the recipes, but is there any rols mix with less than like 5 parts? All of what I can find seem to be ~20 ingredients.


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[Organicgrow42]

@kmog33

I asked the same question s few weeks ago. Now my life has changed.

Start reading here: buildasoil.com

Aldo read this thread as best you can and the vermicomposting thread.

Now I'm just like hyroot. Mayne compost tea, sst, aloe and coconut water