Most of the chop n drop cover crop has been diced and used as a mulch layer now. Consisting of large borage leaves, some of the thai basil that, most of the clover and alfalfa, and trim from the girls. Also planted some new alfalfa and clover around the base of the plants to keep a healthy root system and microbiome; also added some Nettles to the back mulch area that are just starting to come up now. Most of the Thai Basil, 3 Borage plants per Earthbox and the Yarrow are going to stay and get trimmed as needed.
Really pleased with what I'm seeing under the microscope in the top inch of soil under the mulch; loads of springtails, worms, mites and pot worms in the mulch itself.
Trying some new carbon based nutrient additives after doing some research on them. I waited until the reservoirs were dry for at least a full day, then watered in 1 gallon over the top soil. Some of this finds it way into the reservoirs so I waited until these dried out again before the next standard filling. Also added 1/4 cup of gypsum and mineralized phosphate around the base of the plants since there's a bit of purpling on the petioles and stalks.
Flipping to flower next week most likely if they get to 18-20 inches.
Hey man I'm about to switch to an earth box soon as I harvest my OG kush. I was curious what your base soil is, I was planning on using Promix BX+ with Gaia Green then top dressing with worms and wormcastings. I also wanted to use the plastic mulch cover and bokashi to essentially compost any trimmings I take off the plant. Does this sound like a good plan to you? I'm familiar with BuildASoil but I was curious if you had any other good sources of information on this specific topic?
@PhunkyPhallus,
Sorry for the late reply.
My soil base is 1/2 Happy Frog, 1/2 Ocean forest, mixed with worm castings, rice hulls, and seaweed compost. I moved away from Promix when I started the Earthboxes because I wanted to maximize the microbiology. This is actually my first grow without the mulch cover, they work great though and you get nice mycelium growth if you put Bokashi and ground barley on top of your top dress nutes. Things tend to break down pretty quickly under the mulch cover since it's always dark and worms/fungi love that.
I have a 1 inch mulch layer from chop and drop stuff on my current grow. A bit late posting it actually=/
Everything I learned about Earthboxes came from the BuildaSoil 10*10 grow series.
I learned soil microbiology from several books and vids, mostly Dr Elaine Ingam