New Grow, No-Till Organic Living Soil

Whats up all - starting my 4th auto-flower grow - a few details (posted a little late - in week 3 from germination):

  • Germinated in peat pellets and just planted into 50 gallon living soil
  • Recipe:
    • Local bought organic compost, w/ home ingredients as coffee grinds, banana peel, citrus and others.
    • Peat Moss
    • Large pumice
    • Worm Casting from local farm
    • Biochar
    • Neem Seed Meal, Kelp Meal, Fish Bone meal, Crab Meal
    • Hay on top layer as a mulch
  • Feeding uncoordinated water and compost tea once every 1.5 weeks.
  • Mixture of different Autoflower Strains:
    • 1x Northern Lights Auto’s
    • 1x Gorilla Glue Auto
    • 1x Amnesia Haze Auto (Smaller as planted 2 weeks later)
    • 1x Alaskan Purple Auto (Still seedling as just planted)
  • 630 w. LED (3 fixtures) - running 20/4 for now

Any comments? Suggestions?





Still early - will update in a few weeks…

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Lookin’ pretty good so far! I think @TT has something similar growing on.

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Like @Graysin said, it looks good so far! I do have one question; why put hay on top? I would imagine the seeds in the hay will start sprouting and you’ll be fighting grass and weeds indoors. Happy growing! :grin:

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@Chip73 He or she is an outdoor grower going indoor, can’t ya tell! Lol :laughing:

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Kinda lol, but small pots, cant wait to do the outdoor pots. My friends tell me, it will be pretty challenging here in michigan to make it thru to harvest… but im gonna give it my best shot

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Plants look great, but awfully large pots for indoor autos. You can probably save yourself some money and work and use something like 3 gallon pot.

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Sort of an experiment - never used it before but never grew in such large port. The top few inches medium was drying quickly in the 20 hrs light so was going to add mulch to slow the drying down. My local nursery said to try hay as I am using a living soil and the hay provides some nutrient to the soil once it starts to compost. It also soaks water and stays moist. The weeds, if they start growing, will be a product of the living soil.

Than again, its the first time doing so - will be interesting to see the results.

First - to clear, they are 20 gallon pots - I tried to edit the 50 gallon when I saw the mistake and was unable to but I get your point - my last auto grow was indeed 3-5 gallon pots although trying to create a no-till living soil that I can reuse for future grows (autos and photos). My understanding when growing living soil, the min size should be 20gal and especially when reusing the living soil as the microbes are growing in the whole pot and sold nutrients are retained. The more rounds of grow, the better the soil gets.

I am no expert on this type of grow, first attempt.

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Quick update. They are growing nicely. One thing I noticed, not sure if it’s the pot size or the hay mulch, but I am watering them a lot less. Every 4+ Days compared to every 1-2 in smaller pots.




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Quick update - growing nicely - the Haze started flowering much earlier than the others, hopefully will harvest as similar times. Starting to get some yellowing at end of leaves, will adjust the feeding.





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The Gorilla Glue is close to harvest, the remaining have several weeks left.





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Have you come to find out the effectiveness of those bags? seems to be a tossup on efficacy or not with a tent and its air exchange rate.

Fabric bags are used because they allow air exchange in the root zone. Roots need oxygen to thrive.

Sorry I didn’t specify, was in regards to the exhale bags

Supplemental does no good for the average hobby grower. A plant won’t use exrra CO2 without specialized environmental controls like intense lighting.

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Yeah that’s where I saw application of c02 was to be applied. I think it said plants can withstand over 85 with c02 supplementation.

To be clear: Exhale bags are a waste of time and money.

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You’re not kidding with the money, I was taken back by the price

Nor are they of any benefit

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