# No-till space



## High (Jun 12, 2016)

With the no-till method how much space do I have to leave between the top of the soil and the top of the container? I'd imagine that if you don't leave enough space eventually you'd reach the top of the bucket after years of top dressing. I was planning on using a 20 gallon smart pot that has a 20" diameter and a 15.5" height.


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## Rosebud (Jun 12, 2016)

I usually leave about 6 inches and top dress through out  the grow. Love those big smart pots. I have a couple myself... Mojo for your grow.


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## High (Jun 12, 2016)

Rosebud said:


> I usually leave about 6 inches and top dress through out  the grow. Love those big smart pots. I have a couple myself... Mojo for your grow.



Awesome! 6 inches was what I was thinking and now that you said that's what it'll be.

How do you top dress? I've been reading to put about an inch to two inches of EWC down after I plant; does that sound good? I also read to amend with crab, neem, and kelp, but just a very little bit. How often do I need to amend?

What tea recipes do you use and how often do you water with the tea?

Thanks Rosebud!


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## Rosebud (Jun 12, 2016)

I have my own worm bin so i make tea out of the casting when the plants look hungry. I try to spray with EM1 and worm tea once a week but it doesn't always happen. If I don't have time for teas then I put about an inch of worm castings on top.. then when they want to flower I do the same with bat guano that is high in P. I don't use neem in my grows. What kind of soil are you using in the no till smart pot? That depends on what is needed for amendments, but crab and kelp and lovely add ons.


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## High (Jun 13, 2016)

Well I heard about the moonshine mix and bought everything for that before I heard about this no till so it's what I'm going to use.  

I'm sure you know, but just in case you don't the moonshine mix is just a bag of FFOF, bag of FF Light Warrior, and a bag of FF Planting Mix. It calls for perlite, but once I realized I was doing the no till I decided to leave it out. I might use rice hulls though. I'm using just those three for veg and then for flower I was going to mix in FF Happy Frog Flower. This mix is supposed to be good for a couple rounds, but then it's supposedly all used up and then your told to buy more soil.Seemed like a big waste to me which is when I found the no-till method. Makes no sense to throw away perfectly good soil that you can make better and better as it goes.

What's EM1? Do you use spread guano once a week during flower?


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## Rosebud (Jun 13, 2016)

I reuse all my ffof. I just add amendments. It works great. I wish i was organized like spreading guano once a week. No, i wait til the plant are a bit hungry then hit them. Last year my husband did em1 for me once a week. We did worm tea today..  EM1 is a microbial feast and my out door plants last year got no bugs and it is the most awesome thing in the world.:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BY8L92/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

High, when the plants are just starting to flower is when I add the guano that is 0-7-0..


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 14, 2016)

So you are not using guano during veg?  And you are foliar feeding EM1?


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## Rosebud (Jun 14, 2016)

Yes we foliar feed the EM1.. I use guano bat, during and starting flower, but it needs to be the high in P 0-7-0.  I use worm castings in veg.N


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## mrcane (Jun 15, 2016)

Nice thread...will be using two 20gal and one 30gal pot.for soil using .FFOF & extra perlite...will also be top dressing with EWC. & Bat guano ...
Kind of worried about the 20gals not being big enough???
   Rose I am using the Em1 also have been using it on everything around the place...Guess that I should have bought the gallon my local soil guy does a mineral tea.and a great compost tea that I also use.....Fun


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jun 16, 2016)

High, can you tell us more about the No Till Method?  It sounds kind of like The Rev's method in Total Living Organics.


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## High (Jun 16, 2016)

The no till method has been around for a long time. I think the Rev just found about it and decided to use some fancy names and marketed it to sell his book. How I understand it is leaving the soil untouched except for added compost, top dressing, different teas, and cover crops. This allows for the soils microbes to flourish as well as other things. Some people use worms in their pots and others don't. I'm an extreme rookie at this myself and just starting to learn. I know there's other people that are lot more educated and experienced in this than me so hopefully they can tell me if my understanding of no till is wrong. 

I believe the first person that talked about this type of growing was Edward Faulkner. He wrote about in Plowman's Folly which was published in 1943.


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