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organic Organics 101

Peppergator said:
Loving this thread so far. What's everyone's opinion on tilling? I till in my compost and any additives the first few inches and call it a day. What do you think?
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     It depends on what I'll be using the garden space for. Areas where I plan on planting starts I leave untilled and just dump compost on top. The less I do to break down soil structure the better. But I till areas where I will be planting seeds. My compost usually ends up pretty coarse-textured and seeds tend to have a harder time germinating in it than in tilled soil.
     I should clarify that by "tilling" I mean "forking". Just enough to turn it over, incorporate added compost/nutrients and even out the surface. Forking leaves intact a lot of the porous, spongy soil texture that my worms work so hard to build. Rototilling obliterates that texture, leaving soil susceptible to compaction.
 
Peppergator said:
Loving this thread so far. What's everyone's opinion on tilling? I till in my compost and any additives the first few inches and call it a day. What do you think?
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I am into the no-till method myself.
Tillers kill soil life and actually compact the soil more underneath.
The best way I think is double digging while standing on a sheet of wood so as not to compact the soil but that depends on how big of a garden you have.
 
I have huge pile of bagged grass cuttings building up at the edge of my pepper grow. I till every year to aire ate the soil and break up the compaction from the previous year. My dirt has a high % of clay that turns the garden to brick during the hot months. Can't really afford to augment 1000 Sq ft with what it needs, so I do what I can to get by. May play winter rye this fall to see if that will add any benefit.
 
No way you can get compost from anywhere cheap or maybe even free Jeff?
Any manures? The more compost you get into that clay the better. I know all about clay as that is all we have here as well.
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
No way you can get compost from anywhere cheap or maybe even free Jeff?
Any manures? The more compost you get into that clay the better. I know all about clay as that is all we have here as well.
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I am looking, but only limited right now. this is the first year I have gone to the ground with the peppers. So far, they seem to be doing really good. I am hoping that will change to spectacular in the nest 30 days.
 
SumOfMyBits said:
Moving on. I can grow year round in my zone (Zone 10). I'm also forced to grow only in containers. Potting up obviously gives the roots more nutrient rich soil to grow into, but at some point the plants are potted in their final containers. Eventually, all the nutrients in that container will be consumed and depleted if I'm not adding something that has some sort of nutritional value for the plant. Will regular feedings with AACT be enough to keep my plants in containers healthy? If there are other things I should be adding, what are they?
 
I'm talking about keeping a plant healthy for several YEARS and staying organic in it's original soil. Can this be done short of ripping it out of the container, doing extensive pruning to both the roots and branches, and re-potting in fresh soil? 
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     I have several OWs this year (a bhut "not yellow", a TS CARDI and a bhut brown) that are all still living in the same pot/soil that they were planted in last spring. I've stumbled upon an easy, effective way to keep the soil going strong and keep the plants happy.
     Until recently, I had been just amending the soil by dumping about a cup of TomatoTone on the surface of the soil (~7 gallon pots) and just letting it leach down into the soil. It seems to work OK at first, but then after the soil dries out, the fertilizer hardens into an impenetrable crust. To prevent that, I used my thumb to poke a half dozen or so holes through the surface of the soil (which has turned into a very hard, dense mat of roots) when it is dry. Then I pour the fertilizer into the holes and water. 
     I think having the fertilizer down in the soil does two things. It keeps it moist longer so that it's easier for soil microbes to break it down and make it available to plant roots faster. Also it prevents the formation of the aforementioned crust. Win, win.
     I have noticed that my plants seem to green up faster when I apply this way and without that crust on top, watering is much easier. I just pour the water on and it soaks in right away.
     I'll get some pics of those plans up in a minute...
 
filmost said:
as with all things, it's an on going cycle. 2in of compost plus additional amendments each season sounds pretty straight forward to me. wouldn't even need to be strictly compost.

on the other hand, there is the back to Eden group that promotes wood chips only as an amendment.
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nah that dude uses chicken poop too
 
     Here are two of the plants.
 
Bhut brown on left, bhut "not yellow" on right.
IMG_0444_zpsuwvehsre.jpg

 
 
 
 
And here's my pride and joy. Yellow TS CARDI.
IMG_0445_zpsabwwngoi.jpg

 
     That CARDI was only about the size of the plant on the left at the end of last season. By far, the majority of its growth has been this season - in the same soil and pot it was in all last season and winter.
     Notice the color of it's leaves compared to the other plant, too. I've been careful to keep up on fertilizing the CARDI since it is in old soil, but the plant on the right just received a recharge yesterday. Not only is it green, but it has had zero BER in a year when some of my plants have been losing ~25% of their pods. It has also only aborted ONE pod all year! This plant wants for nothing and is producing so many pods I'm having to sell them! All that in 2nd year soil!
 
my bottom tray is mostly castings....any worms left over traverse down after I give them some light. I then just use the unfiltered material. It works great. 
 
Reason I considered this was I am looking to separate my vericompost. Got a ton in containers very little actually in the dirt. Had a problem last year with worms overproducing in my containers and plants died off. I'm assuming to many worm castings. So this year I'm making sure to separate them and any visible eggs.
 
ajdrew said:
Proud Marine Dad, ye but it has that extra twang.  Sometimes I feel out of place in these conversations.  If that stuff is my compost pile, then I flip my compost with the bucket on my tractor.  Most folk around here turn the handle on their barrel.  In another conversation, people were comparing prices on manure.  I know folk who make good money to haul it off.  
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Craigslist can be a marvelous place to find manures. Some even have a backhoe to load your pickup with. I've even seen one who would pay for you to take it.
 
CAPCOM said:
I have huge pile of bagged grass cuttings building up at the edge of my pepper grow. I till every year to aire ate the soil and break up the compaction from the previous year. My dirt has a high % of clay that turns the garden to brick during the hot months. Can't really afford to augment 1000 Sq ft with what it needs, so I do what I can to get by. May play winter rye this fall to see if that will add any benefit.
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Biochar will help aerate your clay. It's cost effective, if you can make your own.
 
Myxlplyk said:
 
Biochar will help aerate your clay. It's cost effective, if you can make your own.
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It wont matter past this year. I will not grow 300+ plants again and will be going to a container grow from now on. I was just at the grow shop yesterday and price out 15 gal growers pots. I could probably get the price down to about $5.00 a pot with a quantity purchase.
next years grow will be 100 plants.
 
CAPCOM said:
It wont matter past this year. I will not grow 300+ plants again and will be going to a container grow from now on. I was just at the grow shop yesterday and price out 15 gal growers pots. I could probably get the price down to about $5.00 a pot with a quantity purchase.
next years grow will be 100 plants.
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Depending if I come off the road or not, I'll be doing a couple hundred plants in pots. I'll be using biochar, just for its water retention/biology housing/aeration properties, not to mention its ability to counteract leeching of nutes. Organic fertilizers are way too expensive to be allowing them to go out of the drain holes.
 
CAPCOM, consider the various kinds of grow bags available.  I use white plastic ones that are thick like a good contractor bag.  They're pretty sturdy, I have some that are still in good shape on their third season.  Available in any size you want and probably 50 cents a bag.
 
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