The Ranch

[RanchoDeluxe]

Before I go on about my soil mix, I want to throw this out there. I simply call things the way I see them. I don't put a cherry on top of everything. I don't Photoshop my pics. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I don't bow down to group think. My first no tills were in 20g fabric pots and I hated it.

Now that I got that out of the way....

Rancho why do you run 50/25/25 with your soil mix when everyone does 1/3's?
For two reasons. First, it gives my mix more "meat" for the worms. I use the soil I dug out from the last transplant and add perlite to it for veg. I also like to get a 1/2"-1 layer almost as a mulch after the 5 or 6th run to keep the top layer well aerated. May use pumice for this now that it's available locally.

I mixed up 40 yards of soil by hand. That's 8,000 gallons. It took over 100 hours. I need this soil to last. It doesn't get fixed with a 12-pack of beer and a phone call to Bubba. By last I'm talking 10 years...at least that's my goal.

If you are making 100, 500, or even 1,000 gallons of soil the game is different. Your soil can be replaced easily. Cost shouldn't be an issue for a setup this size. The easiest path to success is to use a 50/50 mix of compost/vermicompost like Organiks.... quality compost like I've already mentioned.
RD

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Yup, I'm right with you.
We don't water til run off in these do we? So a bottom with a drain is unnecessary?
Having two rooms does seem like a benefit. If I end up with a total of four raised beds ( with casters so I can move them ) and keep a separate veg room I could be cloning and vegging in one and wheel them out into the flower room when ready to flip. The three in the flower room would end up on a perpetual harvest program. I assume that rooted clones would be planted directly into the beds too?

Nope, we don't want runoff. A small wet/dry shopvac may come in handy though. I really dislike perpetual harvest systems because they can be difficult to manage if a pest problem arises. Wheeling beds around is extra labor. The casters will also shave off 2-4" of flowering height. In my mind there shouldn't be enough room to wheel them around anyways. The flowering spaces should be packed with beds and have just enough room for aisles. Kinda like this.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

I just added a bag of Malibu and a bag of Stutzman Farms chicken manure to each bed. This didn't leave much room for a mulch layer. The pine bark mulch that was there was getting things and I was finding roots 1/2" down. So I went right over the top of it with the compost. I also topdressed 1 1/2 cups of a karanja, kelp, and alfalfa mix into each bed. Since I'm out of room till the worms arrive and work the beds I'll be using a green mulch of clover, fenugreek, and a lil barley.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Been rocking the rosin press too. Really getting the hang of it recently.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Got Barley?

I put about 20 cups of barley in this bucket a couple days ago. Quite a bit of chaff in there. I filled the bucket 2/3 w water and let it soak for 4hrs rinsed and refilled. Repeated this after another 4hrs and again in the morning. Before I left at night I drained the water and placed an empty 5g bucket inside to keep the moisture up. Now this morning I gave them a quick hour soak and drained. Empty bucket is back inside. I should be applying it tomorrow and I'll describe my process with some blender pics! Lol

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Got tea?

I've got 60l total of air going to this 55g drum. Eyeballed fish hydrolyslate, chicken manure, Bu's and perhaps a splash of Protekt.

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

I'm growing some barley in standard 10x20 propagation trays. This tray is for my chickens. Flopping one of these upside down into a worm bin is a great way to feed those hungry worms!

 

[Tejashidrow]

I never transplant a root bound plant into the beds either...it can take weeks for them to recover from the shock. I try to time the transplant within a week from the veg plant needing water daily. For some reason smaller plants always seem to do better with no transplant shock.

Got my small farm, I do let my veg plants get a little root bound.
I veg in 4x4x8 squares.
Veg for about 3-8 weeks depending.
When time I “loosen” up the rootball,
I make a vertical slice down the root ball if the roots are circleing bad.
Toss some kelp into the notill hole
In goes the plant.
No stress no mess.
A factor could be I use leds to bloom not hps.

Farm with fun

 

[Freshone]

Thanks RD for sharing with us,i can tell you have been at this awhile.Some peeps doing no till(or whatever you want to call it)are almost Nazi like in their beleifs of how it should be done and are not open to learn because they think they know already.People worship coot as some kind of genius but he would laugh at them,what he is is someone who has put in the time to develop his way(like RD) but there are lots of ways to skin this cat.
Also if you have never had pests you just told me you have not been growing very long at all,lol,especially with organics,you should refrain from giving advice and get a little more time under your belt!

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Thanks RD for sharing with us,i can tell you have been at this awhile.Some peeps doing no till(or whatever you want to call it)are almost Nazi like in their beleifs of how it should be done and are not open to learn because they think they know already.People worship coot as some kind of genius but he would laugh at them,what he is is someone who has put in the time to develop his way(like RD) but there are lots of ways to skin this cat.
Also if you have never had pests you just told me you have not been growing very long at all,lol,especially with organics,you should refrain from giving advice and get a little more time under your belt!

Afaik, Blue or Bluejay or Mountain Organics brought the no-till revolution indoors. For all I know, it may have been me that began to popularize large raised beds. 4 or 5 years ago I built a small 150g bed. Seemed like a beast at the time.
I had been growing with the Revs soil mix until 2008-9. I was a one and done soil grower. I ran into Coot online and realized where I went wrong whenever I would try to recycle my soil. (I was adding dolomite lime when I recycled and it was turning my soil to cement!)
What really impressed me was the anti-grow store, back-to-nature, real science based horticulture approach to cannabis. It was a breath of fresh air.
There are many ways to skin this cat. I completely agree. I'm here to share my methods and so I'll be able to look back a year from now and see what was going on.

I encourage everyone to always do their own research and fact checking. Join your local Master Gardener program.
RD

 

[brazel]

He is simply pointing out the obvious.
When faced with a new pest, what to do?
Until you go through it, the first response is to thrash about a bit.
You can look forward to that.

It makes me aggravated when you blame the farmer for having pests.
Pests are a persistent threat.
They want our flowers more that we do.

I was just having fun, but without a doubt you gotta understand they don't magically appear! Who's fault would it be in a grow room that's controlled by you!?
You manage everything indoors, correct?

What do outdoor growers when pest are are persistent threat even know it's different pest

 

[brazel]

Got my small farm, I do let my veg plants get a little root bound.
I veg in 4x4x8 squares.
Veg for about 3-8 weeks depending.
When time I “loosen” up the rootball,
I make a vertical slice down the root ball if the roots are circleing bad.
Toss some kelp into the notill hole
In goes the plant.
No stress no mess.
A factor could be I use leds to bloom not hps.

Farm with fun

Try it skipping the veg outside of the final container. No stress, to you but there is... no way around this, look at your process.. how could that not stress... just something to think about

 

[brazel]

I started reading TWM, but now I am going to back up and start with TWF. TW nutrients sound like the one that might kick my ass. Chemistry absolutely confuses the shit out of me. Hated it scholastically, I was a reader and writer!
But I'll try to stumble through...:)

You got this, things will come to you from the time you spent growing! Get on TWN!
And read twice and reference with Google with what sounds confusing

 

[Dunge]

I was just having fun, but without a doubt you gotta understand they don't magically appear! Who's fault would it be in a grow room that's controlled by you!?
You manage everything indoors, correct?

What do outdoor growers when pest are are persistent threat even know it's different pest

I find it exhausting how you constantly choose to blame the growers ignorance in all your advise.
It's almost as bad as telling a struggling farmer to "use the search button".
Just think on this before "going there" next time.
You must think it makes you sound informed.
It does not.

 

[brazel]

I find it exhausting how you constantly choose to blame the growers ignorance in all your advise.
It's almost as bad as telling a struggling farmer to "use the search button".
Just think on this before "going there" next time.
You must think it makes you sound informed.
It does not.

Ok answer this, no pest in grow room and now there is.. why?

Answer this.. why do we grow inside? To control?

 

[brazel]

How could you fault anyone but you in a room YOU control?

 

[brazel]

Next subject!

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Ok answer this, no pest in grow room and now there is.. why?

Answer this.. why do we grow inside? To control?

There are any number of reasons that brings a pest into a grow room. Since most of use negative pressure, drafts are a very common point of entry. I used 3 cases of caulk to try to prevent this. Whenever I open my grow room door unfiltered air rushes in, possibly containing pests. I'm sure this happens in your room too... there is lil anyone can do to "control" this.
It's a completely false and rather arrogant stance to believe that you can control every facet of your grow room. Mother nature is the driving force in all of our grows. If she wants to bring pests into your grow you will not stop her. A wise grower will simply use the tools she gave us to drive them away.

We grow cannabis indoors because the federal government began flying helicopters in the early 1980's. This took place after an armed shootout where agents were trapped by growers that dropped trees across the road. It took place on the Trinity/Humboldt line near Mad River, CA. I worked on that very same road a few years back. Gnarly place. Other than that cannabis would be grown outside where it belongs, just like every other crop.
RD

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

Man did I rock some tea today. I used two 55g barrels and put 6 cups into each barrel w an alfalfa/karanja/kelp mix. I also added barley SST, aloe and 7tbs of BioAg fulvic acid.

^^^^^
This is the barley "milk" shot! Delicious!

Hard to see...pretty milky even in the 55.

So I took those 20 cups of barley and split them up among (2) 5 gallon buckets. Remember I lose a bunch to chaff. I then start working on one bucket blending the barley w water from the 55g drum. This gets placed into a third bucket which gets filled 3/4 w water from the 55g drum too.
This will get poured into the 55g barrel slowly through some window screen. I then fill that bucket 3/4 full from the same 55g barrel and pour it right back in using the screen again. At this point I topdress with the SST leftovers.

 

[brazel]

There are any number of reasons that brings a pest into a grow room. Since most of use negative pressure, drafts are a very common point of entry. I used 3 cases of caulk to try to prevent this. Whenever I open my grow room door unfiltered air rushes in, possibly containing pests. I'm sure this happens in your room too... there is lil anyone can do to "control" this.
It's a completely false and rather arrogant stance to believe that you can control every facet of your grow room. Mother nature is the driving force in all of our grows. If she wants to bring pests into your grow you will not stop her. A wise grower will simply use the tools she gave us to drive them away.

We grow cannabis indoors because the federal government began flying helicopters in the early 1980's. This took place after an armed shootout where agents were trapped by growers that dropped trees across the road. It took place on the Trinity/Humboldt line near Mad River, CA. I worked on that very same road a few years back. Gnarly place. Other than that cannabis would be grown outside where it belongs, just like every other crop.
RD

Trust me bro, I'd hate to go back and forth... but I'll lay it out and no more from me about this.

Intake? Use Filter!

Don't go from outside to inside in the same clothes!

Don't invite other growers over!

I used to build clean rooms for Intel...I know how minimal thru maximum shit works!

Go happy