New Grower Mephisto and Night Owl in Living Organic Coco

[Overboard]

Thanks for tagging along, I'll have some more pictures up tomorrow. You don't have a journal or anything going on here? Feel free to post some pictures of your grow on this thread, would like to check them out!

I just found this forum, and I'll start posting more regularly.

 

[MrOldBoy]

I cringe when most indoor growers talk about "Living Organic Soil" it is a matter of definition. Yes adding microbes and fungi to an inert media with nutrients and roots will establish colonies of microbes and in that sense it is alive. It is in no way "Organic Living soil. I think there are many definitions but In my Organic farming and gardening experiences here in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, the farmers talked about how many worms lived in a shovel full of soil as the best indicator of how "alive" your soil was. Not very scientific but it works. When you get ten worms in a shovel you have good soil. By golly the plants do well in it too. Getting soil to the point of happily suporting lots of earth worms takes time and a lot of inputs. Mulch, compost, all sorts of minerals and manure, crop rotation, cover crops, and the main component TIME. Since my back went out on me my soil is not as healthy as it could be but I know why.

Totally agree .......

LOS is often misunderstood ..... Here is a visual of LOS - This container holds more than than 10 worms per shovel load and soil at my home does as well ..... I practice Ruth Stout method of easy No Till - Mulch the heck out of the soil gardening

 

[MOB]

Most of the life comes from organic fertilizers and things like worm castings. It can be as simple as mixing in some dry amendments or you can start from scratch one component at a time, Build-a-Soil has a whole website just for making medium. Bugs and worms are often used but they are not necessary. There are many sources out there that can explain it better than I can but feel free to ask if you have any more questions. I'll answer if I can but maybe one of the wiser guys will chime in.

What did you add to your coco?

 

[Overboard]

Sorry about the cross-post link, didn't realize it wasn't allowed. Here's a pic of my tent at end of week 7, perlite/coco Dr. Earth Veg/Bloom dry amendments:

 

[MrOldBoy]

Sorry about the cross-post link, didn't realize it wasn't allowed. Here's a pic of my tent at end of week 7, perlite/coco Dr. Earth Veg/Bloom dry amendments:

Just start a thread and put me down - I’ll follow ya - Tag @MrOldBoy .... and anyone else that you may think would have an interest .....

some nice looking girls you have ..... So you have coco and dirt combined, right? Maybe this is what is meant by living organic coco as @SpaceCowboy asked .... I do LOS so I understand Living Organic Soil but wasn't sure about living organic coco?

BTW love those oversized trays you have - where did you get them bad boys at?

Peace,
MOB

 

[Overboard]

Just start a thread and put me down - I’ll follow ya - Tag @MrOldBoy .... and anyone else that you may think would have an interest .....

some nice looking girls you have ..... So you have coco and dirt combined, right? Maybe this is what is meant by living organic coco as @SpaceCowboy asked .... I do LOS so I understand Living Organic Soil but wasn't sure about living organic coco?

BTW love those oversized trays you have - where did you get them bad boys at?

Peace,
MOB

No soil there, just coco and perlite with organic dry amendments like the original poster is using. I use the Dr Earth stuff, as it's locally available and has mycorrhizae included. The drip trays are nothing special, just picked them up at the local hardware store, but I'd really like a little something to elevate the fabric pots off the bottom just for a little air circulation.

I'm going to be setting up a new vegetable garden next year and will be trying my first living soil with composting, and I'm really excited about that. Grabbing up all of the info I can.

 

[MrOldBoy]

No soil there, just coco and perlite with organic dry amendments like the original poster is using. I use the Dr Earth stuff, as it's locally available and has mycorrhizae included. The drip trays are nothing special, just picked them up at the local hardware store, but I'd really like a little something to elevate the fabric pots off the bottom just for a little air circulation.

I'm going to be setting up a new vegetable garden next year and will be trying my first living soil with composting, and I'm really excited about that. Grabbing up all of the info I can.

Wonderful news on garden and thanks for saucer info, it’s just like they look heavy duty compare to most I’ve seen ....

Start working garden soil now .... I would start by putting down a layer of brown cardboard over Area first, I get all the boxes I need at Dollar Store or Walmart ..... Next comes leaves and lawn clippings, be careful not to pile up clippings but the leaves can go as thick as you want - if ambitious enoug go to a feed store and get a few bales of straw and alfalfa- alfalfa bails will cost more and be heavy but when composted they feed the soil and the worms love alfalfa- if money is issue just put alfalfa where you plan on having special plants ...... Over the winter the soil and newly mulched materials will start composting and by next spring you will have a ready to plant plot .... Avoid tilling at all costs unless just top couple inches and I even discourage that practice ..... if you wanna do what is called a double dig - look up - that is ok but a lot of work ..... In spring simply pull back mulch and spread seeds and recover with mulch - in areas you wanna transplant some starts like tomatoes or cucumbers- simple pull back mulch and dig and reapply mulch around plant but keep mulch back a few inches to avoid stem rot ..... DO NOT wait until spring and till - this kills you’re soil as it disturbs and all the life ......

Circulation Fabric Pots - Milk Crates Work Wonders and elevate plants at same time!

Peace,
MOB

PS - Shed leaves first if you want them to compost sooner, I use my lawnmower and get all I want this time of year! Leaves are VERY VERY Valuable as the tree roots bring up minerals from deep down and those minerals are in the leave compost ..... Added bonus start putting coffee grounds, vegetable waste, egg shells etc into the garden - I just dig a hole and bury otherwise animal as may get at and it helps eliminate bug activity but not much in winter ..... If ground is frozen I just bury under mulch!

NO WORK GARDEN SYSTEM

The Ruth Stout No-Work Gardening Method

Learning how to grow your own vegetables is one of the smartest choices you can make. Not only is it

www.askaprepper.com

 

[IDontExist]

What did you add to your coco?

The coco I used already had some stuff in it and I add some dry amendments, everything I used is listed in the first post of this thread. I just did a top dressing today with a 50/50 mix of the two fertilizers. I'm going to post some pictures and updates tomorrow, been a long day and I don't feel like messing with it right now.

 

[MOB]

The coco I used already had some stuff in it and I add some dry amendments, everything I used is listed in the first post of this thread. I just did a top dressing today with a 50/50 mix of the two fertilizers. I'm going to post some pictures and updates tomorrow, been a long day and I don't feel like messing with it right now.

After reading first post I understand now. Thanks

 

[IDontExist]

Here’s the update from 10-19, 24 days old now. We decided to put strips of yellow cards in all the pots to monitor and realized the bugs were worse than I thought, I know, you can’t believe it. In just a few days the strips caught 10-20 gnats. Some were clean, a few had 1-2 bugs, and a couple had 3-4. There were also some more on the large yellow card you saw in the previous photos. I crushed mosquito dunks and sprinkled them over the top of the coco and watered in the top dressing with water mixed with neem oil. I also bought some sand to put on top but was advised last minute by my caregiver not to use it so I shyed off.

Each plant was given a top dressing of ¼ cup 50/50 mix of the 4-6-3 and 3-9-4. The dunks and neem oil came after. Then I did some light LST to best of almost non-existent ability, have some before and after shots.

On 10 of the 11 plants I saw pistils starting to shoot out, I tried getting pictures but didn’t realize my camera wasn’t focusing. A couple of the plants on the left side of the tent were getting wind burn so I moved the fans. 1-2 of the plants had some leaf issues as well, one side looked good but the other side looked gnarly, they’re the last pictures.