CDF20 Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) After some more reading and researching I came up with my final BASE for living soil 30% home made leaf mold 15% premium worm casts 15% premium compost 30% pumice 10% treated biochar After watching BAS videos grows in autopots and earth boxes I came up with sick idea to make a hybrid between these two using aquavalve5. In this way I can use all tent perimeter and fit stackable totes to ha e access to aquavalve in case it get blocked. No till dwc project Might worth to have a word with Jason himself as he has access to manufacturing and he might be able to make it for me ... Exciting Edited January 25, 2023 by CDF20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDF20 Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) Aquavalve5 is working in 40l tote ... Used bricks and some rubbers to keep aquavalve in place. Also, I can adjust level of water in tote by moving aquavalve up or down ... I can't upload pics from phone or desktop to show you guys BUT it's working perfectly fine. (Google, Internet Explorer, Brave all failed) error -200. My file size is 900kb ... Anyway, now need find perfect tote for my tent and then pot and my hybrid is ready. I am thinking about bottomless fabric pot sitting just right on mesh where roots will be dangling in water. I have 60l/min pump with stones and might fit them right into the soil but will wrap stones before as roots can 'eat' them... Seems like no till with gravity bottom watering will work well. Pity I can't upload pics Edited January 25, 2023 by CDF20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Sounds complicated? Don't really follow TBH, no need to reinvent the wheel though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDF20 Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, MindSoup said: Sounds complicated? Don't really follow TBH, no need to reinvent the wheel though. Just looking for easy options to keep soil moist and be less involved with waterings. Beds like 50-60l (i think i will manage to fit in my tent) probably consuming a lot of water and i rather fill tank and forget for a week about watering. Edited January 25, 2023 by CDF20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) Oh right, so basically a sub irrigated planter which gets topped up automatically? Sounds pretty slick. I use Blumats myself, with the odd hand watering to keep the mulch layer moist enough it makes life a lot easier having it automated although be wary of pythium, I think @FarmerPalmersNT had some issues with it recently. Think my beds about 45-50L Res is about 12 L and that lasts a good 5 days or so if you water the bed before you leave, I only fully fill it when I'm going away though, normally I don't like the water sitting it there for more than a few days at a time. Edited January 25, 2023 by MindSoup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Hotdogs Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Fwiw a big bed doesn't need watering more often - it's less needed if anything as you can get it saturated and it'll be fine for several days in my limited experience Getting the amount of water right for a large pot/bed is the tricky bit imo but I find mine can be happy for best part of a week if I get it nice and moist first 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerPalmersNT Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) Living soil and puddles of water are not good bedfellows. I used blumat and loved it for years but has binned it off after my fusarium (positive microscope ID)/HPLVD (lab tested) combo from that shitty Durban cut. Probably an over reaction but I couldn't face risking it. Nasties like pythium have a free swimming water phase that once it's established is a bitch to eliminate. A tub of water at 25c with soil runoff in it will be asking for a root rot shit show at some point IMO. I think that your idea is a solution to a non existent problem tbh. I know folks have had success with bottom watering, and I'm sure it's fine if you don't have water sat around. Look up sub irrigated planters/SIPS. Think about how often you do a water change or h2o2 shot in DWC. Want to be doing that in notill? I wouldn't. Just keep the pot off the floor and water it like a normal person or go drippers/blumats if you want low maintenance. Edited January 25, 2023 by FarmerPalmersNT 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDF20 Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 2 hours ago, MindSoup said: Oh right, so basically a sub irrigated planter which gets topped up automatically? Sounds pretty slick. yes, mate. I have to be away up to 4-5 days sometimes and need to be sure plant is watered ... just thought i could diy gravity feed earthbox using aqua valve. Had a play with 40L tote today and it's working pretty well actually. 2 hours ago, Ronnie Hotdogs said: Getting the amount of water right for a large pot/bed is the tricky bit imo but I find mine can be happy for best part of a week if I get it nice and moist first Will check your diaries mate. I think you have two of them back to 2022. 54 minutes ago, FarmerPalmersNT said: I used blumat and loved it for years I have blumats BUT be honest they are a bit PITA to compare to autopots . Just watched BAS videos to grow in earthboxes and thought to diy one similar in that video. 56 minutes ago, FarmerPalmersNT said: Nasties like pythium have a free swimming water phase that once it's established is a bitch to eliminate. A tub of water at 25c with soil runoff in it will be asking for a root rot shit show at some point IMO. I did few DWC grows and did my homework pretty well about water temps (thanks to DWC gurus here). But I did hew hempy buckets last summer and all went well despite +35C in tent. But I tota;;y agree that everything is possible and there is no guarantee that these nasties will stay away ... 59 minutes ago, FarmerPalmersNT said: drippers/blumats if you want low maintenance. this only the option then ... as I am away 4-5 days sometimes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Hotdogs Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Cool I was using blumats back then but my res has a slight leak that I cba to fix so it's just watered with a can now Went away for 5 days over Xmas with 6 plants in veg they were fine when I got back Blumats were sweet though, I had a couple of minor floods for some reason but was mostly great 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDF20 Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) 15 hours ago, Ronnie Hotdogs said: Blumats were sweet though, I had a couple of minor floods for some reason but was mostly great I've managed with them without flooding the floor BUT I was struggling to adjust the drippers and my soil went from dry to very wet and vice versa ... It might sounds silly BUT are there any ways to make a peat moss from sphagnum moss? I've seen videos where people grow sphagnum for their ornamental or garden needs ... What if it can be done same way as leaf mold or maybe even faster (sure we have technologies these days like bokashi, NFK or some kind of inoculants) and then used as a peat moss? Edited January 26, 2023 by CDF20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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