Trying no-till living soil grow

[Berniemac]

I always like the idea of using a predator to kill the pest. Natures good guys website has a control by pest section. Tells you what bugs eat which bug. I like to add a predator mite to my tents a couple times a year.

I like the way you think! My only problem would be like it not having any food cause it eats all the pests or it multiplying faster than I want. Although with companion planting and putting things like basil and marigold next to my cannabis I never have any problems of any pests!

 

[7munkee]

I like the way you think! My only problem would be like it not having any food cause it eats all the pests or it multiplying faster than I want. Although with companion planting and putting things like basil and marigold next to my cannabis I never have any problems of any pests!

Basil is EXTREMLEY effective. I plant it all over my veggie garden and it deters most everything but slugs.

 

[Berniemac]

Basil is EXTREMLEY effective. I plant it all over my veggie garden and it deters most everything but slugs.

You get it friend
I’ve heard planting some tobacco plants around also helps deter off a lot of pests. I use tobacco in my little diy pest spray with garlic and a dash of of vinegar! Works great at the sign of any trouble!!

 

[Halloweed]

I'm on day 77 from sprout. They look like they're finishing up. Have not seen any amber yet but trichomes are cloudy. Smells loud.

It says avg time 67-75 days from sprout. I can't wait to chop it. Humidity scares me. Now I'm just waiting. I figure another week or so...unless they look ripe now.

 

[Halloweed]

I'm on day 92. The leaves have been dying in spots. I'm guessing it's probably ready or close to it. I think I may chop them this weekend.

Fungus gnats exploded somehow. I'm using the earthbox and top watering on the non resivior days. I started to notice some here and there after they went into flower.

Now they are everywhere. Been filling up the yellow stickies. I top watered with mosquito bits Saturday than covered the top soil with DE.

I keep finding them getting stuck to the trichomes. I've been picking them off. I'll need to pay attention trimming...or smoke some gnats lol.

 

[Halloweed]

Started trimming on Saturday. Finished Monday. I forgot how much I hate cutting trim. I end up getting in a rush and not making the buds pretty.

I bought a Cannabrush hoping it would help. It does some for the bigger leaves, but it also breaks buds apart. My big buds became a lot smaller.

I think I overdried. I wanted to go 14 days but by day 11 it was dry. Got the buds in grove bags but the humidity is between 56% and 58%.

Tried taking a decent pic of finished buds. Atm I'm not sure total weight. I only have a little scale for ounces. I tried some of the Sour Stomper and it tasted pretty good.

I'll update once it cures some with a better description.

 

[7munkee]

Started trimming on Saturday. Finished Monday. I forgot how much I hate cutting trim. I end up getting in a rush and not making the buds pretty.

Heck, I don't even trim my sugar leaves until I'm ready to smoke. I remove fan leaves and plop them into the jar. It only takes half a second to pull them off before grinding.

Of course if your gonna sift the trim or make butter from it then you may want to trim before hand.

 

[Halloweed]

Greetings. Gonna start another grow here shortly. I got another Earthbox. Now one plant won't overtake the other.

Got the soil together. Doing a 2nd run in my first e.b. BAS 3.0. Just added some craft blend and castings. Sprinkled cover crop and covered with rice hulls.

For my new e.b I'm using BAS lite. Gonna try to see if there's a difference in growth. Also used a small amount of craft blend, planted cover crop with rice hulls.

 

[Halloweed]

The cover crop is moving along. The one on the right is good. The one on the left is still pretty bare. I may need to break up the top soil some. I basically just used some craft blend and sprinkled on seeds.

I'm top watering them plain tap water usually everyday. I don't ph for the clover. I think I'll wait another 2 weeks before I chop and drop it unless they get too out of hand.

I'm not sure if I should be using root wise for these though, or just wait until I plant my next round. I'm probably gonna grow Mephisto Apolo fog and CDLC, or one of the free samples.

Oh I forgot, I'd still like to get some I'm not sure if it is worth it because aside from coffee and egg shells and dead leaves I don't use alot of scraps.

 

[Halloweed]

Small update. I got some bakashi. First time using it. I just rubbed some into top soil and gave a nice watering.

Dunno if it will do much, it didn't really specify the amount. I'm interested in finding out.

Want to pop some seeds soon so I will probably chop some of the cover crop in a week or 2.

 

[Halloweed]

Chopped some clover down. I added about 7 worms to each E.B. Don't know how long they will survive. I wasn't sure how much bedding to use or where to put it so it's about 1/2 to 1" below surface.

Also watered in some bokoshi and rootwise. Added wiggler worm castings. They look better than the cheap castings I had. Also added some small pieces of banana.

Got my seeds germinated and planted. Left one is ASTRO fog, the right one is Gorum Stomper x sour crack.

 

[7munkee]

Chopped some clover down. I added about 7 worms to each E.B. Don't know how long they will survive. I wasn't sure how much bedding to use or where to put it so it's about 1/2 to 1" below surface.

Also watered in some bokoshi and rootwise. Added wiggler worm castings. They look better than the cheap castings I had. Also added some small pieces of banana.

Got my seeds germinated and planted. Left one is ASTRO fog, the right one is Gorum Stomper x sour crack.

The worms will dig deep while that kashi is active. They are mot fans of it. But they should be fine if there is only 7. Looking good. I just started another EB tonight. I had two going but there is something wrong with one and its getting dumped and rebuilt in 2 weeks when my Querkle is finished. It is not cycleing water right. It can be bone dry but overflow after putting one gallon of water in it. It holds 3.

 

[HighDesertScott]

I've been looking at those Earth boxes and think I would like to give them a try. Question have any of you folks used the soil the EB's come with? I want to run it once then convert them over to BAS 3.0 next fall. Thanks for any input!

 

[Halloweed]

I've been looking at those Earth boxes and think I would like to give them a try. Question have any of you folks used the soil the EB's come with? I want to run it once then convert them over to BAS 3.0 next fall. Thanks for any input!

I have not. I've only gotten the earth box itself. I didn't get the soil or thier amendments. Went straight to BAS.

 

[7munkee]

I've been looking at those Earth boxes and think I would like to give them a try. Question have any of you folks used the soil the EB's come with? I want to run it once then convert them over to BAS 3.0 next fall. Thanks for any input!

I tossed the soil and fert away. I follow the BuildASoil recipe but I source everything locally (PA) from the Mennonites. I imagine it's fine to use though I cant see balanced fertilizer would grow the best cannabis.

 

[HighDesertScott]

Thanks for the replies. I'll be watching for some holiday sales on Earth boxes and BAS, main reason for wanting to try their soil is I am cheap and the bundle provides free shipping - not the best excuse

 

[7munkee]

Coast of Maine is as good as FoxFarm IMO, if ya wanna go that route.

I use it for my outside Earthboxes. It does need a bit of P and K halfway through flower though if your grower cannabis.

 

[HighDesertScott]

I recently tried to get Coast of Maine, however Bezos is the only source for me and that wasn't economical. I'll commit to BAS I just need to put it in the budget for the next run.

Another question for you guys, do you pH your water? I know there is plenty of discussion regarding not pH'ing with living soil but 2 cubic feet is a relatively small volume. I use well water, it comes out at 7.8. I've been using citric acid crystals to bring it to 7, or I have been buying spring water that is 6.8 pH. I have been thinking a better option is to dilute my tap a bit with RO to get it to 7.0? Opinions on that? Thanks again for any feedback.

 

[Halloweed]

I recently tried to get Coast of Maine, however Bezos is the only source for me and that wasn't economical. I'll commit to BAS I just need to put it in the budget for the next run.

Another question for you guys, do you pH your water? I know there is plenty of discussion regarding not pH'ing with living soil but 2 cubic feet is a relatively small volume. I use well water, it comes out at 7.8. I've been using citric acid crystals to bring it to 7, or I have been buying spring water that is 6.8 pH. I have been thinking a better option is to dilute my tap a bit with RO to get it to 7.0? Opinions on that? Thanks again for any feedback.

They say you don't have to ph water. I do though because out of the tap it's high 8's. I'll ph it down to 7. Never used RO water but I believe it has no minerals in it.

 

[Halloweed]

@BearWater

Here's a little video clip of the bugs I was talking about. Tried to get them best I could. Sorry if it's shaky.