First Ever Grow, No Til, Documenting Every Learning Step

[FutureGrower]

Anything is good. I will start from most commonly used and move down.

Barley straw
Wheat straw
Cocoa bean shells
Pine bark fines or nuggets
Leaf litter

Ty man

 

[Organikz]

@FutureGrower
Check this out. My cover is a light alfalfa, straw, pine bark fines and wholes malted barley grains....i figure it would act as a slow release in whole form as mulch. I still grind and feed weekly. The alfalfa is kept just barely growing. Just enough to keep the soil well aerated.

 

[FutureGrower]

@FutureGrower
Check this out. My cover is a light alfalfa, straw, pine bark fines and wholes malted barley grains....i figure it would act as a slow release in whole form as mulch. I still grind and feed weekly. The alfalfa is kept just barely growing. Just enough to keep the soil well aerated.

Thank you man! I’ll probably start out with something super similar and maybe grow my own ground cover in the future

Btw that’s a badass setup definitely goals worthy!

 

[Organikz]

Thank you man! I’ll probably start out with something super similar and maybe grow my own ground cover in the future

Btw that’s a badass setup definitely goals worthy!

Thanks...see how things go with a 20g. Easy to get the hang of things. You literally just watch plants grow so much you get a feel for what they tell you...sounds cliche...i know. You should never be looking at nutrient deficiencies as actual deficiencies. It's an environment issue. Seedlings may act funny for the first couple weeks anyway. Don't freak out. Think aboit a baby being born and you expecting him to throw on his work clothes and get to it...nope...

 

[Organikz]

When plants are phototropic like mine they are telling me they don't need anything but time. Phototropism is the phenomena in which plants will lean towards the strongest source of light. This tells you the plant is happy and photosynthesis is the main objective.

Anyway lol I think I've blabbed enough. Just tag me if you need anything else.

 

[FutureGrower]

Thanks...see how things go with a 20g. Easy to get the hang of things. You literally just watch plants grow so much you get a feel for what they tell you...sounds cliche...i know. You should never be looking at nutrient deficiencies as actual deficiencies. It's an environment issue. Seedlings may act funny for the first couple weeks anyway. Don't freak out. Think aboit a baby being born and you expecting him to throw on his work clothes and get to it...nope...

Yeah I’m hoping the 20g works too, I’m a little worried with auto flowers I may need to abort the tent and put it in my room but honestly I don’t really even care as long as all grows lol

Also awesome tips for the seedlings!

 

[FutureGrower]

When plants are phototropic like mine they are telling me they don't need anything but time. Phototropism is the phenomena in which plants will lean towards the strongest source of light. This tells you the plant is happy and photosynthesis is the main objective.

Anyway lol I think I've blabbed enough. Just tag me if you need anything else.

I did actually know something for the first time! I have a snake plant that is always leaning towards light so I looked it up, but I literally just throw some water in it lmao

 

[FutureGrower]

Btw man PLEASE ramble on, even if I know what your talking about it doesn’t hurt! Finding stuff on YouTube and google that’s no til has been difficult so any/all advice is appreciated!

I should note that almost everything I bought was off amazon and I definitely chose the wrong time of year to ship everything lol. I promise I’ll update this thread as my grow begins

Also @Organikz thank you for all the help genuinely the advice and direction is awesome if you can think of anything else you’d like to share please do!

 

[Ecompost]

Thank you man! I’m nervous I’ll mess something up but that’s the learning process haha

good luck buddy. Dont take the nerves to the grow room, mother nature has been doing this work forever buddy. @Organikz is on the money, less is more. I use $2 of biology and nutrients per plant/ per cycle in the first instance. As i reuse media, this figure typically reduces as Organic matter rises. I use a living root at all times to maintain active biology.

What happens when we turn soil over, or till it? Organix has pointed to the rapture. This isnt too far a scare story from reality, but not just for soil microbes, also for us.

Soil particles are held together by soil fungus and bacteria which secrete enzymes and compounds (glomalins and bio films) to aggregate soil particles (sand, silt, clay, and so on) and pockets of food (NPK etc etc), water and air. When we cut in to soil with a blade and grind the lumps up in to ever smaller parts, as per the common practice for the last 100 plus years, we disturb this network of soil glues, (glomalins) and break up the fungal chains holding the soil intact. The soil glomalins then become food for a new type of bacteria, non plant growth promoting family, called a R-strategist. These microbes consume the soil glues (glomalins) and these are released as nitrates in to the atmosphere. Also being released is vast sums of CO2 and methane, which go on to cause wider climate matters across the globe.
Once the soil glues have been destroyed, the soil becomes subject to erosion and loss.

radical plant roots can exert a force known to be greater the 700psi. The practice of breaking the soil up to allow so called pathetic plant roots to penetrate. Of course this is a frankly absurd myth, pitched to sell farming machinery and not to ultimately assist the plant.
It is common for plant radical roots to be destroyed in the process of germination, where one puts a seedling of a tap root plant in too shallow a pool of media. Again this puts pay to the myth that you need to plant in a small pot first and then grow on in ever increasing pot sizes. Again nice work for pot makers right.
What is critical to long term plant well being, is the secure delivery of a young seedling, with its radical root structure in place.

Go outside, take a look at where you see plants growing today? Honestly, ask yourself a question after you all do this, how is it possible that plants can grow in some of the locations we find then? here i find plants breaking asphalt, concrete, granite, growing out of the side of mountains and so on? Ask your local nursery how they maintain radical roots in seedlings? Question the balls of ultra fine hairy roots you see filling the trays, some of us have been led to believe this is perfect and whats needed right?.

Cannabis is a tap root plant, this means it has a powerful radical root system, more often than not i see people with plants that are living on secondary fine roots, and these plants are the ones that we must be careful not to over feed, under feed, over water, under water. The reason you see less drama in the real world when you look at plants, is the difference between intact radical roots and those planted by us with a damaged structure and a network of fine root hairs. These being unable to produce sufficient energy to penetrate deep in to the soil layers and so plants with this structure are the ones suffering drought, burn, drowning and so on, simply by rhe nature that most of the root system is in the upper, drier layers of the profile, where 99% of the pathogens also reside.

If you can, use as deep a soil profile as you might build. its less about width, more about depth for tap toot plants. Plants with strong intact tap roots, will seek the humid layers in the soil profile and rarely suffer from drought and so on. in turn this limits the amount of labor overhead to produce cannabis, and as with most farming, its labor where the bills stack up.

Peace

 

[Organikz]

Btw man PLEASE ramble on, even if I know what your talking about it doesn’t hurt! Finding stuff on YouTube and google that’s no til has been difficult so any/all advice is appreciated!

I should note that almost everything I bought was off amazon and I definitely chose the wrong time of year to ship everything lol. I promise I’ll update this thread as my grow begins

Also @Organikz thank you for all the help genuinely the advice and direction is awesome if you can think of anything else you’d like to share please do!

Omg dude you want a good you tube channel.

 

[FutureGrower]

good luck buddy. Dont take the nerves to the grow room, mother nature has been doing this work forever buddy. @Organikz is on the money, less is more. I use $2 of biology and nutrients per plant/ per cycle in the first instance. As i reuse media, this figure typically reduces as Organic matter rises. I use a living root at all times to maintain active biology.

What happens when we turn soil over, or till it? Organix has pointed to the rapture. This isnt too far a scare story from reality, but not just for soil microbes, also for us.

Soil particles are held together by soil fungus and bacteria which secrete enzymes and compounds (glomalins and bio films) to aggregate soil particles (sand, silt, clay, and so on) and pockets of food (NPK etc etc), water and air. When we cut in to soil with a blade and grind the lumps up in to ever smaller parts, as per the common practice for the last 100 plus years, we disturb this network of soil glues, (glomalins) and break up the fungal chains holding the soil intact. The soil glomalins then become food for a new type of bacteria, non plant growth promoting family, called a R-strategist. These microbes consume the soil glues (glomalins) and these are released as nitrates in to the atmosphere. Also being released is vast sums of CO2 and methane, which go on to cause wider climate matters across the globe.
Once the soil glues have been destroyed, the soil becomes subject to erosion and loss.

radical plant roots can exert a force known to be greater the 700psi. The practice of breaking the soil up to allow so called pathetic plant roots to penetrate. Of course this is a frankly absurd myth, pitched to sell farming machinery and not to ultimately assist the plant.
It is common for plant radical roots to be destroyed in the process of germination, where one puts a seedling of a tap root plant in too shallow a pool of media. Again this puts pay to the myth that you need to plant in a small pot first and then grow on in ever increasing pot sizes. Again nice work for pot makers right.
What is critical to long term plant well being, is the secure delivery of a young seedling, with its radical root structure in place.

Go outside, take a look at where you see plants growing today? Honestly, ask yourself a question after you all do this, how is it possible that plants can grow in some of the locations we find then? here i find plants breaking asphalt, concrete, granite, growing out of the side of mountains and so on? Ask your local nursery how they maintain radical roots in seedlings? Question the balls of ultra fine hairy roots you see filling the trays, some of us have been led to believe this is perfect and whats needed right?.

Cannabis is a tap root plant, this means it has a powerful radical root system, more often than not i see people with plants that are living on secondary fine roots, and these plants are the ones that we must be careful not to over feed, under feed, over water, under water. The reason you see less drama in the real world when you look at plants, is the difference between intact radical roots and those planted by us with a damaged structure and a network of fine root hairs. These being unable to produce sufficient energy to penetrate deep in to the soil layers and so plants with this structure are the ones suffering drought, burn, drowning and so on, simply by rhe nature that most of the root system is in the upper, drier layers of the profile, where 99% of the pathogens also reside.

If you can, use as deep a soil profile as you might build. its less about width, more about depth for tap toot plants. Plants with strong intact tap roots, will seek the humid layers in the soil profile and rarely suffer from drought and so on. in turn this limits the amount of labor overhead to produce cannabis, and as with most farming, its labor where the bills stack up.

Peace

That’s really cool information

And 100% I’ll be looking for a deeper pot, thanks for sharing man!

 

[FutureGrower]

Omg dude you want a good you tube channel.

Thank you man! I remember passing through this guys videos too, can’t believe I over looked this channel!

 

[Organikz]

That’s really cool information

And 100% I’ll be looking for a deeper pot, thanks for sharing man!

@Ecompost knows his shit. We always argue about the ability to achieve the nitrogen cycle :p

Guy knows 10x what I do

 

[BudBogart]

Also it's referred to as no till which is short for no tillage. When you harvest you cut the crown and ground level. Do not disturb the rootball as this is food for the next plant in. All fan leaf and stalk trims are returned to the soil. This will be your mulch feom here on.

85% of beneficial soil life live in the humus layer. When i have time I can put together some good reading that won't get your head spinning. When the humus layer is disturbed by tillage the microbiology is sent to the rapture...lol

Throw the idea of feeding nutrients out because the soil build has everything you need,very nutrient dense and we concentrate on feeding soil life to make it more efficient because we start with no humus....only 5-10% of high quality ewc is humus...but with that compost your soil will already be swarming with microherds.

You covered the most important part...high quality compost.

"Get a good humus source and you won't have many questions that need an answer." Coot

Thank you for explaining no till concept on an indoor grow. As an outdoor grower interested in no till gardening, Ive been confused as to how the term is applied indoors.

 

[FutureGrower]

Got my lights in a little bit ago, little dinged up but just looks like external damage, gets bright as hell

Seeds are supposed to show up tomorrow

 

[Ecompost]

Thank you man! I remember passing through this guys videos too, can’t believe I over looked this channel!

I suggest you also look at the real world of no till and not just some selected cannabis growers. All of this information comes from the general farming community and has been assimilated in to the cannabis community. If you want good data, check out Ray Archeluta, Gabe Brown, Rick Haney, Will Brenton, Buzz Kloots (see not Clack Coots).
The NCRS has some excellent resources for no till farming. Also look at Secrets in the Soil on the tube etc.

Soil is a massive subject with ever so many components that interact in ways that really bend the mind. For me the base is always biological. it is my expressed opinion that the micro biology dictates the soil, this in turn dictates the higher biology, plants and so on.
I dont waste my time with dodgy tests for NPK, preferring to test CO2 respiration, since it is this in fact, CO2 in the soil interacting with humus, that enables mineral extraction, which can then be taken up by plants.
So where I see a def of XYZ, I typically find this correlates with a downturn in levels on soil CO2 concentrations. Plants and Microbes makes pockets of CO2 and it is this which is used to extract valuable minerals from the matter surrounding.
As we might see here, this is not fixable with a bottle of NPK in most instances. if you dont have mineralization, then you wont have adequate uptake, the only way to check for adequate mineralization, check the soil CO2 burst rate.

Peace
Eco

 

[Ecompost]

Got my lights in a little bit ago, little dinged up but just looks like external damage, gets bright as hell

Seeds are supposed to show up tomorrow

the plants wont worry about a few dents on a ballast, only that the light is true. ;-) may be the box will run cooler with no paint LOL :-)
You should see the state of my van :-)

Good luck buddy and I hope the beans turn up and germinate in to winners

 

[Ecompost]

 

[Ecompost]

 

[FutureGrower]

I suggest you also look at the real world of no till and not just some selected cannabis growers. All of this information comes from the general farming community and has been assimilated in to the cannabis community. If you want good data, check out Ray Archeluta, Gabe Brown, Rick Haney, Will Brenton, Buzz Kloots (see not Clack Coots).
The NCRS has some excellent resources for no till farming. Also look at Secrets in the Soil on the tube etc.

Soil is a massive subject with ever so many components that interact in ways that really bend the mind. For me the base is always biological. it is my expressed opinion that the micro biology dictates the soil, this in turn dictates the higher biology, plants and so on.
I dont waste my time with dodgy tests for NPK, preferring to test CO2 respiration, since it is this in fact, CO2 in the soil interacting with humus, that enables mineral extraction, which can then be taken up by plants.
So where I see a def of XYZ, I typically find this correlates with a downturn in levels on soil CO2 concentrations. Plants and Microbes makes pockets of CO2 and it is this which is used to extract valuable minerals from the matter surrounding.
As we might see here, this is not fixable with a bottle of NPK in most instances. if you dont have mineralization, then you wont have adequate uptake, the only way to check for adequate mineralization, check the soil CO2 burst rate.

Peace
Eco

Thank you! I’ve done very minimum amounts of checking into the farming community but it does make sense, especially with the limited no til cannabis that I’m able to find online.

I’ll look into co2 burst rates but I really want to start simple and work my way into growing and perfecting things otherwise my head 100% will be spinning lol

As for all of the people you told me to check out I’m definitely going to be doing that after work tomorrow!

Also thank you for taking the time to post this stuff I’m sure it took you a little while to write, and it’s apprciated!