Bradspasojevic

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Hello All!

I am Brad, 24, from Sydney, Aus and living in a ground floor unit with hopes to move out of the city soon as im not sure how much longer I can handle growing in pots and losing the soil at the of each season!

Ive spent 4 years working on a hydroponic / acreage farm and have a great base of knowledge across herbs and growing methods, from seedlings to harvest, though now I just need the land to blemish!

First Question, What is everyones favourite organic sprays for pests and diseases? I personally do not spray besides home-made mixes and that is rare as a last resort, though my tomatos, sunflowers have suffered from leaf curl and something undiagnosed.

Good to be here
B
 

Rickyelwey

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Hey Brad welcome dude, I'm new here aswell.
Ricky from the US.
Are you planning on doing a mix of both Hydroponics and growing in soil, compost, mulch, cococoir...etc...
I'm curious because I just started "farming" and was thinking about doing most things in the ground but for cabbage, lettuce, broccoli maybe, so on and so forth, plants like that in hydroponics.
What do you think considering your background?
 

Rickyelwey

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Sorry. Just to clarify.
Are you doing some plants hydroponically and maybe some traditionally(in the ground).
 

Bradspasojevic

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Hi Brad,

I noticed this and I'm curious. Why do you lose the soil each season? I've been growing in containers for years and I recycle my potting mix :)

T
Hi T,

Im not sure about you but the roots from the plants I grow become so dense and with the soil that slowly washes away theres not a great deal of salvageable soil, definitely not enough to re fill the pot, so im always having to buy more as I unfortunately dont have any access any other soils.

Obviously in ground you would just pull the plant and main roots, letting the rest break down with help from the bugs and worms that will come through the soil, helping to eventually create great rich soil longterm.

How do you recycle your potted soil to a point where you dont need to purchase soil?
** The pots I am talking about are 10-30cm in diameter**

Cheers
B
 

Bradspasojevic

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Hey Brad welcome dude, I'm new here aswell.
Ricky from the US.
Are you planning on doing a mix of both Hydroponics and growing in soil, compost, mulch, cococoir...etc...
I'm curious because I just started "farming" and was thinking about doing most things in the ground but for cabbage, lettuce, broccoli maybe, so on and so forth, plants like that in hydroponics.
What do you think considering your background?


Hey Man,

Good to hear, Yes I have experience in traditional and hydroponic farming. Hydroponic I have not much experience in flowering plants (broccoli) , Ive mainly grown loose leaf herb varieties (lettuces, sorrels) and a few branching varieties (watercress, amaranth, basil, fennel etc).

Ideally I would only be growing in ground traditional with a modern twist, and once im more settled Id consider a small aqua/hydroponics system.

I have only grown broccoli in ground but she’ll be right in hydro as long as you keep the pests away! Let me know how it goes!

B
 

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t4ms

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Hi T,

Obviously in ground you would just pull the plant and main roots, letting the rest break down with help from the bugs and worms that will come through the soil, helping to eventually create great rich soil longterm.

How do you recycle your potted soil to a point where you dont need to purchase soil?
** The pots I am talking about are 10-30cm in diameter**

Cheers
B

Hi B,

I have developed a container composting system out of necessity. I imagine it will be really contentious amongst veteran gardeners (worms in pots!!) but it does work for me:
https://sustainablepain.com/painhack-container-composting/

I place the residual soil in next season's pot. Rinse and repeat.

I can usually get away with buying a premium potting mix for my seeds and seedlings and nothing else. This year I've been expanding my garden (and will be doing so for the next couple of years with any luck) so I have been purchasing very cheap potting mix. I use the cheap stuff as it will be mixed with compost eventually.

If you're using the residual potting mix with this method in a small pot make sure it doesn't contain any worms. I find they burrow down when you start trowelling the mix out so it's not too hard to separate them. Small pots and worms definitely don't mix as you'll find the soil becomes very wet.
 

Mark

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What is everyones favourite organic sprays for pests and diseases?
Probably pest oil as it smothers most common pests (as a direct contact spray) and doesn't affect bees etc.

Thanks for joining SSC :)
 

DTK

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Hi Brad, and welcome. I have not had experience with hydroponics but I agree with Mark - Pest Oil is good. I use that, and Pyrethrum sometimes.
 

Bradspasojevic

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Hi B,

I have developed a container composting system out of necessity. I imagine it will be really contentious amongst veteran gardeners (worms in pots!!) but it does work for me:
https://sustainablepain.com/painhack-container-composting/

I place the residual soil in next season's pot. Rinse and repeat.

I can usually get away with buying a premium potting mix for my seeds and seedlings and nothing else. This year I've been expanding my garden (and will be doing so for the next couple of years with any luck) so I have been purchasing very cheap potting mix. I use the cheap stuff as it will be mixed with compost eventually.

If you're using the residual potting mix with this method in a small pot make sure it doesn't contain any worms. I find they burrow down when you start trowelling the mix out so it's not too hard to separate them. Small pots and worms definitely don't mix as you'll find the soil becomes very wet.


Hi,

I read that you get $3 25L bags? Surely those are not organic? If so where do I get my hands on some?

I use Osmocote Plus Organics Premium, and generally dont add much besides food scraps and organic compost and plants do fine. My largest pot is 30cm/w & 40cm/d so I dont have the luxury of developing great soil over the years in garden beds.

Its at the end of the season when some of the plants die back that I replace for a more seasonal variety and at best may only salvage 1/2 of the soil, with a small garden (3m x 3m) and a GF that cant handle mess, Im unable to compost besides a home made wormfarm that we filled with scraps in a week.

Thanks,
B
 

t4ms

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Hi,

I read that you get $3 25L bags? Surely those are not organic? If so where do I get my hands on some?

They are definitely not organic! My 'local' (25 km away) Bunnings had some on special the other day. I shop around at a variety of locations and grab bags when they are on special.

I use Osmocote Plus Organics Premium, and generally dont add much besides food scraps and organic compost and plants do fine. My largest pot is 30cm/w & 40cm/d so I dont have the luxury of developing great soil over the years in garden beds.

I buy these pots from Bunnings for my composting:
https://www.bunnings.com.au/reko-510mm-black-round-plastic-growers-pot_p2941408
They are cheap and stackable and I've moved them between rental properties when necessary. I've been adding to my collection gradually over the years but I've stopped buying them now as I'm in a property with some dirt I can play with. This is my first rental where I've been able to commit to planting in the ground. Up until now it's been pots only. I currently have seven large pots which I rotate (as it's just me that's generating waste). As I fill the current compost pot I'm eyeing which pots are approaching either harvest time or re-potting time. I use very little new potting mix in these pots as it's mainly recycled potting mix (from failed seedlings or leftovers from small pots) or the product from a previous composting container.

Its at the end of the season when some of the plants die back that I replace for a more seasonal variety and at best may only salvage 1/2 of the soil, with a small garden (3m x 3m) and a GF that cant handle mess, Im unable to compost besides a home made wormfarm that we filled with scraps in a week.

Completely understand the mess factor with traditional composting systems. My container composting system creates no mess at all and is zero work. I always have a bag of sugar cane mulch handy and I have a garbage bag full of shredded paper when I went on a shredding spree last year. When I have something 'festy' to add to the compost container I cover it with a layer of either mulch or paper. This keeps the critters away.

My current back garden is probably the same size as yours and almost all of my plants are out there as my front yard is unsecured and our street is having a huge problem with anti-social behaviour at the moment. Once I've harvested my current crop I'll take the opportunity to scrub out quite a few of these containers so that I have a stockpile of pots to create plenty of compost over the winter. I don't grow a lot of stuff over winter as we get significant frosts and occasional sleet.

Anyway, hope this makes sense! All the best.
 

Tombr

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Welcome Brad, I don't use any kind of spray anymore. most don't work to well and kill other good insects. Tried Mark's Vaseline around the bottom of the tree, well that was a fail, sorry Mark. I tried the soap and water mix, again killed the fruit not the bugs, shrug. Now I just live with it. Did notice a giant huntsman in the lemon tree the other night, didn't see to may ants after a couple of days.

For the green ants I find the nest and get rid of that.

cheers tom
 
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