Is no till worth it?

[MindSoup]

Oh right that's what I thought but didn't realise the pots where so much cheaper. That's a crazy difference in price, I wonder what's the reason is behind it? 

[Wooden Monkey]

No till is totally the way to go and go as big as you can on pot size as it makes a real difference on ease of growing and size of plants

 

 

 

I grow 2 plants in each bay and pull 10 to 15oz per plant, the beds are 90 x 90 x 50cm deep, these beds have been going for 18 months and all I add now is trim and kitchen scraps 

 

good luck 

 

Monkey 

 

[Hazeytones]

12 hours ago, Wooden Monkey said:

No till is totally the way to go and go as big as you can on pot size as it makes a real difference on ease of growing and size of plants

 

I grow 2 plants in each bay and pull 10 to 15oz per plant, the beds are 90 x 90 x 50cm deep, these beds have been going for 18 months and all I add now is trim and kitchen scraps 

 

good luck 

 

Monkey 

 

Looks class mate, looks like your beds are nearly touching the side walls do you not think you need to leave much space? Or is it better just to go as close as possible? 

[MindSoup]

Hey monkey! Long time no see mate, I see your still smashing it. 

[Hazeytones]

14 hours ago, MindSoup said:

Oh right that's what I thought but didn't realise the pots where so much cheaper. That's a crazy difference in price, I wonder what's the reason is behind it? 

The reason I believe is because there is no frame work involved.... The beds use plastic pipes for supporting the weight of the soil I guess. But you can go fairly big with the pots giving you a large volume of soil. 

[MindSoup]

Oh ok that makes sense. I thought you had to supply the frame work yourself. 

[Hazeytones]

6 minutes ago, MindSoup said:

Oh ok that makes sense. I thought you had to supply the frame work yourself. 

Well they do an option on the beds without the frames but think it's prob worth while when you get to that volume... Just to take a bit if pressure off the fabric. 

 

I'm really tempted to pull the trigger on an 80x80 and give the no till a go. Do you think a 61cm 115l pot in an 80cm tent would be OK? or go the size smaller at 51cm 76l pot? 

[MindSoup]

 

[MindSoup]

I reckon the 155L would be alright, still just enough space for a tube heater on either side. Or you could use underfloor heating/a heated blanket. 

[Flamedodger]

@Hazeytones if you want to dip your toes in, you could try using 50l pots, I use fabrics and my next grow will be number 4 in the same soil in them. I tried using Ecothrive in 16l pots, but was a ballache getting feed right. My whole garden is no-till organic, it can look a bit scruffy, but I get no problems with pests or disease. If you’ve done a bit of hydro and have an airstone make some compost tea, you’ll have most of the ingredients. Make a good compost heap too 

[Hazeytones]

1 hour ago, MindSoup said:

I reckon the 155L would be alright, still just enough space for a tube heater on either side. Or you could use underfloor heating/a heated blanket. 

I dunno I think with my liner in the bottom of my 80x80cm it's closer to 75cm getting tight again for a heater. 

9 minutes ago, Flamedodger said:

@Hazeytones if you want to dip your toes in, you could try using 50l pots, I use fabrics and my next grow will be number 4 in the same soil in them. 

I think I'd rather a bit more soil to avoid having to use teas. Maybe it would be OK though. 

[Exhale]

Regarding the watering you can do by hand it's no problem, in my 90L I water no more than 2L a time, a mulch layer is usefull as it keeps your soil moist on the top where the fans blowing would dry it out.

 

There's no peat in the ecolife soil it's coco.

[Hazeytones]

15 minutes ago, Exhale said:

Regarding the watering you can do by hand it's no problem, in my 90L I water no more than 2L a time, a mulch layer is usefull as it keeps your soil moist on the top where the fans blowing would dry it out.

 

There's no peat in the ecolife soil it's coco.

Thanks for the info on the watering 

 

I was on the website there and it says irish peat and coco in the eco life and the soil for life is coco.... Maybe they have changed. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Hazeytones

[Exhale]

@Hazeytones My mistake you were right, they changed the perlite for pumice and I thought I'd read something else

[Exhale]

Everything under the mulch stays moist, I don't like to put too much in as the water table (layer at the bottom) holds a fair bit and once you've got it correctly moist it doesn't take much to get run off it drains well. Once the plants roots hit the water table that's it the growth kicks in and you can just work on keeping the bed moist just look after the bed and the plant will take care of itself.