How to Setup Organic Living Soil Earth Box (Indoor/Outdoor Growing for Fruiting & Flowering Plants)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 чер 2021
- In this video we setup up the earth box system. This is a bottom up watering system with organic living soil that will use microbes (soil bacteria & soil fungi) to create the best living organic environment for your plants. We will cover what is included in the basic kit, what kinds of accessories you can purchase to accommodate for many different kinds of fruits, vegetables and flowering plants. As well as my soil recipe for successful organic plants growth for healthy plants and better yields.
Earth Box Kit
amzn.to/3wCrWhC
Earth Box Trellis
amzn.to/3zAHzrF
Earth Box Stand
amzn.to/3iX003M
Roots Organics 707
amzn.to/3gyG6uo
Garden Kneeler
amzn.to/2SyLmoV
1 Gallon Pump Sprayer
amzn.to/2SKenOA
Colorado Worm Co (Castings)
buildasoil.com/products/color...
Oly Mountain Fish Compost
buildasoil.com/products/compo...
Craft Blend
buildasoil.com/products/build...
Bokashi
buildasoil.com/products/kashi...
Top Dressing
buildasoil.com/products/build...
Earth box Auto Watering System
earthbox.com/earthbox-accesso...
Support our channel by checking out our Patreon and clothing at Teespring
/ ktheguy
teespring.com/id/stores/k-the...
Audio Video Equipment
Sony A6400 amzn.to/3zIjmQt
Tameron Lens 17-28mm amzn.to/3qmfvUH
Sigma 16mm Emount Lens 1.4F amzn.to/3zIslRH
DJI Ronin Gimbal amzn.to/3hak94f
Mactrem Camera Tripod amzn.to/3iYyqDv
Polar Pro Variable ND Filter (Peter McKinnon Edition) amzn.to/3qpHp2k
Comica XD-D2 Wireless Mic and Reciever amzn.to/3xHU8jf
MEKE Macro Lens Extender amzn.to/2SkguID
Samsung SSD Storage 1TB amzn.to/3wTkEpO
Takstar Shotgun Mic amzn.to/3vU5Mq4
Lighting Port Hub amzn.to/2SMCKv3 - Навчання та стиль
So glad I found your site! I have growing in the Earth Boxes for 20 years and now want to go organic. I like your explanation of how to add the natural fertilizes instead of the store bought. Also gives more growing space without just the fertilizer strip down the middle. I am planning on switching to this method. I have 20 of the boxes in my green house from last year's planting. This is a year-round greenhouse so heated in the winter. Would you recommend just taking out the old fertilizer strip portion and reusing the potting soil or starting from fresh soil? Any other suggestions you can offer?
I’ve been very successful with the organic layering process. Starting fresh should help avoid any unforeseen variables.
@@KTheGuy thanks
Looks great. Hope your ladies do well, if that’s what your planting haha
Check out the seed to harvest Fruity pebbles videos, it was a really good yield for flower!
You video is really detailed but could you give an estimate of how thick each layer of potting mix is in between each layer of fertilizer?
Just curious about why the Earthbox User Guide says to use a soilless potting mix, and not soil? Is there a problem with the way real soil wicks up and across the box? I've been thinking about using living soil in the Earthbox, but I'm hesitant to do it because the Earthbox inventor, who tried it all, I'm thinking, recommends using soilless mix instead. Did you experience any trouble that season with dry spots in your living soil Earthboxes?
I actually learned about earth boxes from build a soil and use a modified version of their box setup. I personally have had no issue with living soil in those system with multiple types of plants (annuals) and have had some pepper plants in them for a few years with no issues. I don’t constantly keep water filled in the reservoir but allow it to dry out occasionally between watering. With newer seedling I won’t use the reservoir at all until it’s has well established roots from top watering like an ordinary pot.
I thought these were only 10 gallons? Are they really 15? Did they change them maybe? I see two sizes only a jr earthbox and a regular earthbox. I just thought it was only 10 gallons but I’m not sure?
I do dwc but soil is just better but got too expensive to keep dumping expensive soul in my yard. It was reused but not really, just for trees and bushes
I want living soil i only have to ammend with top dressings.
Can simeone say what the best beginner living soils are or can i by roots dirt and add living soil mix to that?
I've only seen the packets of living soul you mix into regular soil but they never say how much to use but i can google that
Making your own recipe will be the best particularly in your area’s ecosystem. But recommendations would be 1/4 peat moss, 1/4 compost (from your local environment) 1/4 rice hulls, pumice, or lava rock (for aeration) and 1/4 of native dirt/soil from your location. This is similar to how a coots recipe is made, but I like the addition of native dirt and native compost to the recipe. This ensures that your organisms in your mix are native to the environment and already acclimated. If your not sure about what compost method to use vermicompost is by far the easiest but I would recommend making it in a hungry bin, (previous video) this will allow you to have a large quantity to get started and doesn’t require as much maintenance long term because of the large capacity.
Out of curiosity, how long do you think it takes roots to break down in the soil after harvest? I am wondering if you could do an outdoor grow and then bring the box inside and do another grow indoor immediately? Do you think there could be any issues bringing the box with soil from outdoor to do an indoor grow during winter?
If your aim is to keep things fully organic, as long as you have plenty of diverse kinds of organic matter that microorganisms can continue to consume and make nutrition from the matter and your moisture levels are still consistent with their ability to repopulate 40% you should be able to directly replant into the box again immediately. Overtime I will typically notice (in earth boxes and outdoor planter boxes) that depending on the size of the plant during the season the soil levels will drop each time a plants has cycled out. Cover cropping can help retain moisture levels and micro populations. And the mulch from trimming those smaller cover, typically nitrogen fixaters, will help keep the soil rich with nutrients.
@@KTheGuy Thanks so much for your reply! Your channel is awesome.
I'd rather not use a fish product, is there something else from Build a Soil that's fairly comparable? Also, how often on average do you refill the reservoir? Do you wait until it's nearly depleted? Thanks for all your videos and keep up the great work.
Reservoir refills depend on the plant consumption. But at full vegetative growth stage I could add 3000-5000ml and last 5-7 days with an additional day or so buffer before needing more. I do like to wait till I see no water in the tube, which encourages roots to reach as far as possible throughout the medium.
Buildasoil also has malbu compost if you’re not interested in the fish. I run every Buildasoil product, damn near. Insect frass is my new love. Bokashi is a must in an earthbox! Fluffy matts.
Seabird guano high in phosphorus.
Hi just wondering how much water the earth box holds in the reservoir?
Thanks
Around 3 gallons of water.
@@KTheGuy thanks for the reply ✌️
You mention the way your have the small container white you are setting up your grow box, the roots will grow out sideways. How many plants do you pant in one grow box? And what type of plant are your transplanting? I am setting up my new garden and needing more info. Thanks.
Based on the size of the top growth (branches and stalk without leaves) is approximately the size of the roots. So smaller plants overall I can fit more, carrots, radish, lettuce. But if I’m growing larger plants like peppers, typically one plant per box.
@@KTheGuy Thanks, I have planted beans, peas, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, melons. All plants are taking off and looking great! I am very excited to see the end results. How often do you fertilize?
Typically I’ll amend once a year either spring or fall depending on when I can get to it. Fall amending is best for outside boxes or beds, spring is good for indoor/outdoor.
What happens if the cannabis roots grow down into the water through the holes
For any plant, because they will most likely have some roots in the reservoir and some in the medium above, to allow the reservoir to empty before filling and not constantly have it full. Earth boxes act like a pot or raised bed and should cycle the amount of water through the plant otherwise the root could develop issues or the soil could have a pest issue as a cause of over soaking the soil. And I’ve found even with a dry reservoir the plant will still be fine for a couple of days before showing signs of dehydration.
Would you put red wigglers in after the grow season to eat the left over roots in the soil?
Worms are looking for organisms in the soil, typically in decomposition that they consume for nutrition. I typically don’t feel the need to add worms necessarily but probably vermicompost or compost as an organism replenishment. What I typically will notice as I add diverse kinds of organic materials to a box indoors or out, the bed level will naturally decrease in volume as the plants and microorganisms are consuming and breaking down the materials in the container. Sometimes I may add some minerals components that help fill gaps in the micronutrients but mostly it’s just adding more bedding materials and or rotational cover crops to reintroduce nitrogen fixing and additional organic material.
@@KTheGuy Thanks! Do you ever worry about salt buildups from the fertilizer if its reused year after year? I've seen some people just put their fert on the top layer so they can scrape it off each season. Cheers!
@@MisterDogg I don’t use salt based fertilizers at all anymore. I typically only add small amounts of trace minerals. If there is a high EC concentration in the soil matter due to over feeding from salt based feeds then the plants were given more than they could consume, but as a system becomes more self sustaining and biology takes over, the foods that become present in the soil are a by product of nutrient cycling in the predator prey interactions between organisms and no longer necessary by human fertilizer inputs. I explain this in some of the microscope videos I’ve done a little while back.
@@KTheGuy Thanks for replying! You could be a spokeman for buildsoil because I just bought most of what you used here haha. Cheers.
@@KTheGuy Thanks mate!
I thought you were not supposed to use compost in the earthbox?
Have had no issue using compost. The boxes setup are no till similar to build a soil recipe.
Compost alone doesn’t wick the moisture properly. 🙏🔑✌️
@@doktorhunggari4415 that makes sense, but can a portion (like 1/3) be compost (vermicompost)? Earthbox site mentions using almost pure peat moss which seems odd.
Keep in mind Earthbox is having to speak in generalities since they have no idea what kind of compost you would be using. Hyper-expensive compost like the kind used in this video has a better consistency than say Black Kow at $3.67 a bag from Lowe’s. A peat based potting mix seems to be the most consistent readily available mix to use.
Why would you top dress if you are bottom watering? The whole idea of top dressing is that when you water from the top, the nutrients and organisms leach down into the soil.
I’m assuming you haven’t used an earth box but that’s ok. Nutrient are fed from above and watering wicks from below. After the first month feeder roots form above the top soil reaching for more nutrients and organic matter to breakdown. You can’t add organic feed in the form of compost or worm castings to the feeder tube because that would congest the ability to add water. So conceptually this system is working like plant ecology near a stream or body of water, breaking down organic matter from top soil litter and pulling water from underneath like a nearby water table.
@@KTheGuy You would be correct in assuming I have never used an earth box. I have only done conventional container gardening. But, I guess your explanation seems sound. My line of thought is a plant growing by a stream would get rain too, thus some leeching of nutrients. I may be wrong.
The goal to replicate nature is to minimize leaching. Which is the major cause of downstream water contamination. Infiltration is the name of the game with organic matter teeming with microorganisms grabbing water and breaking down organic matter and mineral contents. That process slows the movement of water retaining more moisture in the root zone and allowing microbes to breakdown potentially harmful metals or chemical organic and inorganic components. That process is how water is filtered and rain is deposited for times of drought. If no top watering becomes available.
@@KTheGuy Yes, I understand that we feed the soil and not the plant. We encourage micro organisms which inturn feed the plants. Thats the whole premise of organic gardening. I also understand that a cover crop or mulch will retain the moisture in the soil. Where the mulch meets the natural soil, it breaks down as bacteria and worms eat on them. I also understand that nature waters from the top down unless an underground source is available. I do like the idea of bottom watering to prevent pest that bed in the top inch of the soil. I just never knew how to feed and stay organic. Thanks for your input.
Most people will top water when applying a top dress to get it wet initially. But after that the mulch layer keeps it moist and feeder roots take it up as they please.
Which was demonstrated in the vid..