bellumromanum
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Ok negative first. I would get rid of that plastic... it will prevent the soil from breathing and thats gonna mean a low o2 rootzone.Ok so I'm not sure what day we're at. I know they're growing slow and I'm cool with that cause they generally look healthy and I up-potted them to their final home like 3 days after germination. Also looking to my boy @Aqua Man for some inspiration and have barely touched them. Since transplant I have:
- I did a myco root treatment when I transplanted
- A light watering with beneficial bacteria and silica around the root plugs at time of transplant
- About 2 days later I put 1.5 gallons fresh water in each EarthBox reservoir
Other than that I truly didn't do anything other than bump light intensity every few days and try to add humidity. Last night I did a top dress with BAS Craft Blend and some local vermicompost I got from a worm guy nearby. I also added about ~150 live red wigglers to each box, then cut the cover crop and put on the mulch covers.
I do think a couple of them look a little light colored but they're too young for me to get too worked up. I would take suggestions tho
Here we are:
View attachment 1048460View attachment 1048461View attachment 1048462
This guy is a node ahead of the others and looks to be coming in 7 fingers on the next level:
View attachment 1048463
So my next dilemma: I have been really set on the idea of carefully manifolding each of these plants into symmetrical 8-cola structures and flowering them all that way. Cannarado indicates this plant does well as a multi-topped scrog'd bush (for whatever that's worth) and I like the idea of learning how to train them like that.
I'm also impatient and don't want to add too much extra time before flower and harvest. This is where I'm stuck.
BR
Ok negative first. I would get rid of that plastic... it will prevent the soil from breathing and thats gonna mean a low o2 rootzone.
If ya worried about algae or other I wouldn't be. Theybare signs of a moist rich soil when given lots of light.
The plants look great. I forget the soil mix but if its organic give it some time to get up to speed with microbes that will provide the plants with available nutrients. Some will add the microbes and start wetting the soil a few days to a week before to get a head start on it.
If using inorganic salts can bump the ppm to probably 400ish on the feed.
I think they look great man not much but sit back and watch.
@aquanever got your thoughts on using a different mulching material on top of the earthbox. I've heard some decent arguments for using the plastic that I've long since forgotten the contents of.
Is there another organic grower that could chime in? @MIMedGrower if I remember right you grow organic - any input on earthbox mulch cover?
I couldn't speak from experience but I kinda feel it would be better for say a garden where watering is less frequent?
Can you explain the reasoning? Maybe I can better understand. From what I know its used to prevent evaporation and keep the top of the soil moist while also having the ability to hold moisture. Could be seen as a benefit to microbes but I say thats getting a bit rich to me.Interesting, I'm gonna have to mull this one over. I tend to follow the lead of experience (in this case your advice) but everything I've seen/read about these EarthBoxes/SIPs suggests the mulch cover is the right way to go. Appreciate the input, thanks.
Can you explain the reasoning? Maybe I can better understand. From what I know its used to prevent evaporation and keep the top of the soil moist while also having the ability to hold moisture. Could be seen as a benefit to microbes but I say thats getting a bit rich to me.
I would agree with all of that if that's how you want to feed the plants. Imo having to do all that is easily avoided by feeding balanced organic nutrients.I can try but tbh probably not very well - the overarching theme I've gotten (and most of this is from input off of the Priobiotic Farmers Alliance group on FB) is that the plastic cover does a lot better for trapping moisture and facilitating mycelium growth - you can see from the pics I posted that my boxes already have a pretty nice fungal beard going after only 3 days with the cover on. Also I understand that it's supposed to help with composting top dressed nutrients into the soil etc.
Also I think for those growing outdoors it prevents weeds and rain from getting in. As it's sub-irrigated too much top-watering causes problems and the EarthBoxes tend to go nuts with fungus gnats and shit if you're not careful.
I would agree with all of that if that's how you want to feed the plants. Imo having to do all that is easily avoided by feeding balanced organic nutrients.
I guess I need some more detail why I feel this way.
Bacteria produce enzymes that breakdown organic nutrients (as defined by having a carbon molecule) into inorganic salts that are available to the plant for uptake. The bacteria themselves consume waste products.
To artificially inflate these numbers of bacteria i think has 2 reasons of why its negative.
1. The bacteria consume o2 in the rootzone and very high populations can have an impact on o2 in a media with a lower gas exchange such as soil.
2. They are depleting the soil of organics faster. Possibly overfeeding and requiring more be added in order to sustain high populations or the population will just crash.
I do think its a benefit to outdoor gardening to have mulch for the reason you stated.but not certain they translate to indoor as well. Because we can water when we like to keep that soil moisture that benefits them. Much harder in a garden. Where climate is so variable that it provides a kind of shelter layer.
The mulch will typically provide a bit of potassium and maybe some others as it breaks down bit nothing we can't just use from organic derived nutrients.
I think the application your using is best suited to composting as it will speed up the breakdown of organics making compost ready much sooner.
I'm not a real organic guy but just my thoughts. No matter what I think its great to see ppl experiment and draw thier own conclusions as it makes us more knowledgeable and better growers in the end even if it's a failure.
Don't let my post knock it cause it just my views and I'm organically challenged. The one benefit is when you do add organics they will be broken down likely much quicker and that can be used to your advantage
1. The bacteria consume o2 in the rootzone and very high populations can have an impact on o2 in a media with a lower gas exchange such as soil.
2. They are depleting the soil of organics faster. Possibly overfeeding and requiring more be added in order to sustain high populations or the population will just crash.
I do think its a benefit to outdoor gardening to have mulch for the reason you stated.but not certain they translate to indoor as well. Because we can water when we like to keep that soil moisture that benefits them. Much harder in a garden. Where climate is so variable that it provides a kind of shelter layer.
The mulch will typically provide a bit of potassium and maybe some others as it breaks down bit nothing we can't just use from organic derived nutrients.
I think the application your using is best suited to composting as it will speed up the breakdown of organics making compost ready much sooner.
I think you have a good understanding and yes its absolutely to prevent it from becoming anaerobic. So they addressed that and it makes sense.Thanks for taking the time to write all this out brother. So again my limited experience comes into play here but, let me try to address these to the best of my knowledge.
Is this the same thing as 'going anaerobic?' part of the instructions for the probiotic wellness garden are to include EM1 with regular water in the reservoir - I'm told this is to prevent things from becoming anaerobic which I think is what you're addressing with this point. The mechanics of this elude me, I'm still very much learning.
I don't know enough about this point to respond intelligently.
Agreed with all of the above. I can see where the greater benefit may be to outdoor growers and my perceived benefit in this situation is that I can feed more nutrients into the soil more quickly by facilitating the composting process. Kashi is used to promote mycelium growth and EWC/Bu Blend compost on top of that. The plants' feeder roots grow right up into the mycelium and compost where they get nutrients and into the water reservoir below for fresh water.
My hypothesis is that this nutrient & H20 delivery paradigm allows less soil to be utilized for a similar nutrient delivery to given number of plants. In other words I think I would need at least six 10-gallon pots to grown the six plants I'm growing now in my EarthBoxes and achieve similar results for a total of 60 gallons of soil vs the ~15 or so that is in my two boxes.
Again though this is all conjecture based on a very limited scope of anecdotal experience. This being my second crop I've ever grown, and both having been in the EarthBoxes :p
I think you have a good understanding and yes its absolutely to prevent it from becoming anaerobic. So they addressed that and it makes sense.
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