The only constant is change....
Ditched the half-organic/half-hydro idea, decided to go all in organic. Why wait? 3 seedlings are in their starter fabric cups. The CDLC freebie want's to go go go. First to germ with a long tail < 24h, stretching to the light already. Going to run all 7g pots.
Was going to try and run with a dry(ish) plain top -- but fuck it. All in. Clover seeds that I can till in for the next run, straw top, MBP. Going to skip predators for now and inoculate with some beauveria bassiana, coupled with 2x week BTi. Open tops and fans should mitigate some of the top moisture, while a midweek light top water with aloe/bti should keep it just moist enough. One/week I'll hit it with microbes and food down the road. I think I'll toss some red wigglers in there too. All in baby.
This weekend I'll fill the buckets, spin up the room and get everything up to temp. Drop the clover seeds and get 'em goin.
Short term goal with organics is plain automated well water, no ph'ing, no 2-3-27 part mixes. That part is done. The ultimate goal would be to create your own soils/composts.
Things I have to think about/decide now.
- Composting. Not sure I want a full composting bin. Indoor worm composting is an option. Looking at bokashi, both as a food source and as composting rocket fuel. If I do end up composting via bokashi, it would most likely be to feed the worms. I guess I could bury it indoors, but dunno. Seems almost too simple.
- Teas -vs- Top dressing. I'm thinking that I might not be top watering enough to get the full benefit of top dressed feeds. Perhaps some alfalfa/kelp pre-brewed before adding AACT components. Not sure yet. The thought of banana tea or melon teas are... appealing
Going to see if I have enough PVC laying around to make a 5g airlift brewer instead of the crappy airstones I have now.
- Intermediate pot -vs- direct plant. I have 3 already in intermediate fabric pots, but after I get the room running I may just skip that part and plant the rapid rooter directly. Next run, I might try skipping the rapid rooter all together. Soak overnight or so, then direct into living soil. Or move germ to big tent. Small tent is too environmentally swingy in the winter once they leave the germ dome.
Anybody have any experience growing vegetables in the same tent (not the same container)? Something that responds well to 20/4 light and does not attract pests? The signal/noise ratio when searching that is quite high. Thinking about maybe growing some spinach or something in the EB Jr's along side the canna. That can also be worm/bokashi food.
