Organic growers! GMO needs you!

[GMO]

Hello my loverlies

im gonna keep the intro fairly brief;

I am looking at progressing toward no till but have a few questions i wonder if yall might be able to help with;

1) Where do you start with fauna and flora? do you look to add the whole ecosystem once your medium is in place or do we start adding bacteria and fungi then encourage the stage 2 predators like nematode and then finally a generation of earth worms?

2) When building your medium are there any bases to avoid? i am planning to use coco coir as a base then add 18 month old compost and then a cover crop (to be covered in question 3) but as coco is rich in trichoderma is it worth inoculating with mycorrhizal fungi earlier to allow the correct colony balance

3) whats your go to cover crop? as we are aware mycorrhizal fungi only associate in medium with the presents of living plants so to get a good head start getting the food factory (food web) started nice and early do you go with clove of alfalfa to meal and top dress before planting?

im sure i will have lots more questions to go through as we progress but a massive thanks in advance for all your help and ideas as we move forward

[Josh]

Hello my loverlies

im gonna keep the intro fairly brief;

I am looking at progressing toward no till but have a few questions i wonder if yall might be able to help with;

1) Where do you start with fauna and flora? do you look to add the whole ecosystem once your medium is in place or do we start adding bacteria and fungi then encourage the stage 2 predators like nematode and then finally a generation of earth worms?

2) When building your medium are there any bases to avoid? i am planning to use coco coir as a base then add 18 month old compost and then a cover crop (to be covered in question 3) but as coco is rich in trichoderma is it worth inoculating with mycorrhizal fungi earlier to allow the correct colony balance

3) whats your go to cover crop? as we are aware mycorrhizal fungi only associate in medium with the presents of living plants so to get a good head start getting the food factory (food web) started nice and early do you go with clove of alfalfa to meal and top dress before planting?

im sure i will have lots more questions to go through as we progress but a massive thanks in advance for all your help and ideas as we move forward

Hey man, check out buildasoil.com
They have loads of info and instructionals that helped me a lot to get started

*the following is information that I've picked up along the way through my no-till journey, I am by no means an expert whatsoever

Ideally you'll want to amend your soil mix with stuff besides compost.
Your basic mix should be one part compost, one part coco, one part aeration (perlite, rice hulls, lava rock, etc)

I'll attach a pic of the amendments I used. I mixed in 2 cubic foot batches which is 15 US gallons
If you wamt to mix one cubic foot at a time, just cut the amounts in half.

So I would mix your base soil, add amendments, mix again, make sure it's moist not wet, and then fill your bed

Add worms at this point and sprinkle cover crop all over (I went with dutch white clover) you could get a mixed crop though, doesn't really matter too much
I went with clover because over time it actually releases nitrogen back into the soil

After adding the cover crop, cut up a bunch of hay or alfalfa (same thing, hay is just dried) and layer it over the top until you can't see the dirt. Don't worry, cover crop will grow through

Then just mist it daily until the cover crop sprouts and plant your seedlings/clones

After harvest- remove hay/clover layer, top dress (amounts and things to add are on an article at the website I mentioned)
Then just sprinkle more cover crop, add back your hay and go again

Over a few years your bed will be self sustaining (no more top dressing) at least that's what I've read

As far as innoculating, I've heard it's not necessary until roots are present. The michorizae have nothing to attach to and live off of until then.
The decomposing cover crop and hay will take care of the fungi for you

Other than thst, just be careful not to overwater, it's really easy in beds and is a mistake I made. Lol
Just read the plants and don't let the top layer dry out. Buildasoil.com guys recommend every other day with small amounts after plants are established.
5% of your container volume is a good place to start

So 20 US gallon container would be a gallon of water every 2 days (read plants, might need more or less because of environment, plant size, etc.)

Good luck bruv


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[GMO]

thanks josh. just when my brain is cooked, you give me maths to do

hahahahaahaha really appreciate the input brother. ill jump on the link shortly. but do you think there is a minimum size to creating a no till ecosystem? like 1.2x1.2 is about the smallest ive seen but that doesnt really consider the depth of the bed

i could in theory go up to a 1.2x2.4 bed which will be the longterm goal if i take to the method. but could it be tested in say 40x80x20 cm tub and then scaled up?

[GMO]

Hi GMO.

There's a whole reddit about no till... https://www.reddit.com/r/NoTillGrowery/

(hope the link's allowed)

links are all gravy baby

So im getting the impression, ive opened up a can of worms (pun intended, yes the whole thread was for that pun)

[Josh]

thanks josh. just when my brain is cooked, you give me maths to do

hahahahaahaha really appreciate the input brother. ill jump on the link shortly. but do you think there is a minimum size to creating a no till ecosystem? like 1.2x1.2 is about the smallest ive seen but that doesnt really consider the depth of the bed

i could in theory go up to a 1.2x2.4 bed which will be the longterm goal if i take to the method. but could it be tested in say 40x80x20 cm tub and then scaled up?

I'm also doing a 1.2x1.2
I think any smaller might not be ideal



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[GMO]

thanks josh. just when my brain is cooked, you give me maths to do

hahahahaahaha really appreciate the input brother. ill jump on the link shortly. but do you think there is a minimum size to creating a no till ecosystem? like 1.2x1.2 is about the smallest ive seen but that doesnt really consider the depth of the bed

i could in theory go up to a 1.2x2.4 bed which will be the longterm goal if i take to the method. but could it be tested in say 40x80x20 cm tub and then scaled up?

I'm also doing a 1.2x1.2
I think any smaller might not be ideal



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Wicked, i had kinda thought if going in that i should really dive in to a decent size. does it have to be deep? im just thinking about total weight in my loft

[Josh]

thanks josh. just when my brain is cooked, you give me maths to do

hahahahaahaha really appreciate the input brother. ill jump on the link shortly. but do you think there is a minimum size to creating a no till ecosystem? like 1.2x1.2 is about the smallest ive seen but that doesnt really consider the depth of the bed

i could in theory go up to a 1.2x2.4 bed which will be the longterm goal if i take to the method. but could it be tested in say 40x80x20 cm tub and then scaled up?

I'm also doing a 1.2x1.2
I think any smaller might not be ideal



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Wicked, i had kinda thought if going in that i should really dive in to a decent size. does it have to be deep? im just thinking about total weight in my loft

No, 12 inches should be sufficient

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[GMO]

No, 12 inches should be sufficient

thats what she said, but i aint losing 3 inches for anyone!

[Josh]

No, 12 inches should be sufficient

thats what she said, but i aint losing 3 inches for anyone!

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[GMO]

Okay, ive run into more of a moral dilemma rather than a logistical one. probably gonna end up making more work for myself in the process but let me explain

So its quickly come to my attention that alot of these products has a considerable carbon footprint before i even order then to be delivered to my address. Like ive done my fair share of miles but surely there are going to be more local sources for the essential building blocks which are being added with some of these amendments?

Now this may as i say be more ball ache than its worth in financial or logistical sense but im going to try and break each of the list down into the logical reason for adding ie aeration of fertilization and try to reverse engineer a LOCALLY source-able variation :D

shit, what have i got myself into