Mephisto Genetics KiS Bio Char Mix Meets Mephisto

[Roasty McToasty]

damn @Roasty McToasty serious in here as usual !! looking forward to following along with more regularity again I got myself back in the swing just last week with the cooler weather as well

always a pleasure checking into your garden you are a true master keep it up brother !!

You are too kind Mr. Waterfarm. Glad to see you back in the game. Tag me in if you start a thread my bro. Always enjoy your grows.

I've seen some pretty awesome autos in 5 or 7 gal. I don't know what the minimum is for autos but it probably also depends on genetics. Some autos are getting huge! I'm not a huge fan of adding worms in small pots. I find there's not enough soil for them to really thrive. In beds however, we find that worms will show up over time if you add good quality worm castings or they are part of your soil mix. If using blumats, you'll typically see a bunch of castings right along the soaker hoses or drip spots. I have some photos of it on my phone. It's pretty cool!

Was hoping you'd chime in on the nutrient cycling and reamending after each cycle.

 

[MrOldBoy]

How bigs the tote OB? I keep telling myself to harvest my castings. they have lots of food from the garden, rotten toms ect. When I do harvest I'm going to keep the clean castings in a separate bin, wait for them babies to hatch then clean those castings again. I don't want babies hatching in the tent until I know that I can provide a good home for them. Im eager to start a LOS project but my environment is not totally suitable, I.E. need more space. Be well Roasty & OB

Container holds 60 dry quarts or 2 cubic feet of soil.

 

[Organic Sinse]

I'm not sure what kind of bins you guys are running. But if they aren't tray units, and you want to start moving some worms out of the main bin try this trick. Get a bucket or similar container (doesn't have to be big) and drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in the bottom.
Place this on top of the bedding in your bin. Inside the bucket place a few inches of damp bedding and some food the worms really like. I use melon rinds, pumpkin or banana peels. Place a piece of cardboard or newsprint over on top of the melon or what ever to keep it moist and dark (this will keep the gnats at bay as well). Leave the cover off the main bin if you have to due to the bucket being there. Don't feed the main bin anymore. The worms will start to migrate to the bucket, prime for transfer to another bin. Often it takes a week or so for the melon or what ever to get just right for the worms to get attracted to it.
That's my go to method for catching worms with out work, in totes, it also works great for catching worms in a compost pile (just set the loaded bucket on top of the pile). You never catch em all, but you can get the bulk of them.
cheers
os

 

[Organic Sinse]

Interesting - castings must of had eggs in them so it makes sense they would reproduce in the larger pots so long as there was food and the moisture was right with the Blumats ...

EarthBox I used had 2 cubic foot of BioChar / Original mixed and I mulched heavily and often and the worms thrived but in the smaller 7 gallon pots, worms did not do as well but they were still there at end of cycle but less than originally installed whereas in the EarthBox seemed there where more than originally installed.

Sams container

Worms still doing fine - Five months after harvest

View attachment 1103073 View attachment 1103074

It almost impossible to make casting without transferring some cocoons (eggs), even if you try to screen them out. I never try and screen them out.
If you don't have gnat issues, topdressing mulch will keep the worms working in even small containers. Adding compost as a top dressing is always a win to keep the worms working as well.
In my soil mixes, I try to always add some compost and leafmold that hasn't really been processed by worms (except what happens naturally in a pile) so I can keep the worms working. Pine bark nuggets are great long term worm food that works good as additional drainage and helps hold some water.
cheers
os

 

[MrOldBoy]

It almost impossible to make casting without transferring some cocoons (eggs), even if you try to screen them out. I never try and screen them out.
If you don't have gnat issues, topdressing mulch will keep the worms working in even small containers. Adding compost as a top dressing is always a win to keep the worms working as well.
In my soil mixes, I try to always add some compost and leafmold that hasn't really been processed by worms (except what happens naturally in a pile) so I can keep the worms working. Pine bark nuggets are great long term worm food that works good as additional drainage and helps hold some water.
cheers
os

Some good info OS ..... Until Tad at KIS mentioned I never thought about eggs in the castings hatching .....

Worm bins I’m using are actually cloth bags with with zipper openings on the bottom ...... in my case I fix up some aged bananas, melons, wet shredded leaves and the like and mix in some karanja / kelp and alfalfa and lay on top of bedding and then cover with a wet cotton rag - Worms come up to eat and I just scoop handful and top dress the worms and open the zipper and get handful of castings from the bottom .....

Haven’t used pine nuggets but often times I see broken bags at the big box stores, so that will be on shopping list .....

I’m a BIG Believer of Worms in the soil mix and as @KIS stated they don’t seem to do well in smaller cloth pots ...... but in SIP Containers, which are basically worm tubs, they work well ....... soil in the SIP Container is always in the 100 millibar range and I suspect that has a lot to do with the high survival rate!

 

[FishWizard]

I'm not sure what kind of bins you guys are running. But if they aren't tray units, and you want to start moving some worms out of the main bin try this trick. Get a bucket or similar container (doesn't have to be big) and drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in the bottom.
Place this on top of the bedding in your bin. Inside the bucket place a few inches of damp bedding and some food the worms really like. I use melon rinds, pumpkin or banana peels. Place a piece of cardboard or newsprint over on top of the melon or what ever to keep it moist and dark (this will keep the gnats at bay as well). Leave the cover off the main bin if you have to due to the bucket being there. Don't feed the main bin anymore. The worms will start to migrate to the bucket, prime for transfer to another bin. Often it takes a week or so for the melon or what ever to get just right for the worms to get attracted to it.
That's my go to method for catching worms with out work, in totes, it also works great for catching worms in a compost pile (just set the loaded bucket on top of the pile). You never catch em all, but you can get the bulk of them.
cheers
os

Thanks Sinse

 

[Organic Sinse]

Thanks Sinse

Gladly.
Its nice to get a chance to shoot the shit with you (Fish), MOB, and Roasty. I kind of got away from the forum here when it was down for a while this summer, and am now just getting back in the swing of things.
cheers
os

 

[slowandeasy]

@Roasty McToasty , I got my buddy to get yellow sticky cards and Mosquito dunks for his Coco plants. He said he crushed some up into each container and put the yellow cards up and some by each pot. So far, he said nothing has stuck to the cards. He caught them fast. Says the plants are doing well. I will be helping him once his bugs are gone.

I started 10 seeds into cups of Coco with crushed Biotabs and Startex. 9/10 are up. I will call it Day 1 today! Between your results and chatting with @MrOldBoy about it, I am gonna bite the bullet and buy a few bags of Kis Organic Soil. I am also buying 4 of the Junior Earthboxes. They hold 1 cubic foot of medium each. So 2 bags of Kis Organic water only and 1 bag of Kis Biochar soil will do all 4 Earthboxes. I will be doing 1 immediately in a 32"x32" tent. Then the other 3 in my 4x4 a couple weeks after I start the 32x32 going. I hope all is well with you. Peace, slow

 

[Roasty McToasty]

@Roasty McToasty , I got my buddy to get yellow sticky cards and Mosquito dunks for his Coco plants. He said he crushed some up into each container and put the yellow cards up and some by each pot. So far, he said nothing has stuck to the cards. He caught them fast. Says the plants are doing well. I will be helping him once his bugs are gone.

I started 10 seeds into cups of Coco with crushed Biotabs and Startex. 9/10 are up. I will call it Day 1 today! Between your results and chatting with @MrOldBoy about it, I am gonna bite the bullet and buy a few bags of Kis Organic Soil. I am also buying 4 of the Junior Earthboxes. They hold 1 cubic foot of medium each. So 2 bags of Kis Organic water only and 1 bag of Kis Biochar soil will do all 4 Earthboxes. I will be doing 1 immediately in a 32"x32" tent. Then the other 3 in my 4x4 a couple weeks after I start the 32x32 going. I hope all is well with you. Peace, slow

Glad your giving it a go, hope you get a nice easy run with some super tasty buds. Good luck my bro.

 

[MrOldBoy]

Glad your giving it a go, hope you get a nice easy run with some super tasty buds. Good luck my bro.

Ditto @slowandeasy saw your success as well as the Master @Organic Sinse and mine as well .... Hope he crushes his first real LOS Grow ..... I’m now dipping into 3 Bears and Gold Glue and wow this fully cured bud is KILLER .... Can’t wait until I relocate to fire up again ....

How’s your away time working out my GroBro Roasty?