Crop cover for outdoor plants?

[757Botanist]

Hello again! I have 4 plants (2xGG4 and 2xCherryGelato) in 5 and 7 gal pots: 1/2 floor and 1/2 Happy . Im not planning to plant them in the ground. So because of this I’m thinking of adding earthworms and clovers for crop cover. Has anyone done either of these techniques for healthy soil? I’ve read the benefits but has anyone experienced any negative effects?

 

[Eledin]

For some reason I dont see many people do it. Ive seen people do it with meh results but I have not seen enough people doing it. Clovers are a good cover crop but you have to think that they release nitrogen, not only they decompose the nitrogen in the soil faster so its absorved quicker but they also release nitrogen when they die. I have experienced nitrogen toxicity problems with reused soil with too many roots. I have seen plants with clovers with nitrogen toxicity once. Thats all I know which is not much to be honest.

 

[757Botanist]

thanks!

 

[Eledin]

Okay this is just my opinion and based on what the little Ive seen. When youre creating such an intricated ecosystem youre gonna have to addapt to its needs, also you will need to feed the worms when they run out of food. I think its just overcomplicating things. Nutrients are very cheap, there's no need to create a rainforest inside your pot (just a saying). If you want pest control just add Bacillus Thuringiensis, they feed from organic nutrients and will protect you all grow. You can also use nematodes but you need to add more every 3 weeks because they die without prey. That said, if you wanna experiment with it please let us know how it goes as we dont have many examples of people doing it in the forum, if any as of now.
Thats for the soil pests, as for the bud rot and such, its gonna be the same. And with red spider mites or thrips.