No Till: Top dressing over cover crop

rkmcdon

Well-Known Member
Hey all, I've been transitioning to no-till and i've got cover crop seed on the way. My question is, once i have a cover crop, how do i top dress? Can i just drop it on top of the cover crop and the crop will grow through? Just wondering if the top dress will kill the cover crop

Thanks!
 

Gimiik

Active Member
Hey Rkmcdon!

I'm starting a no-till flower pot and I was wondering the same thing. I don't think you need to worry about killing the cover crop because once the plant gets big enough it will cast a shadow over it and it will likely die off. No worries though because it will act as a sort of mulch which will help retain soil moisture.

I believe you can simply work the dry amendments as best as you can and when you water it'll work its way down into the root system.

Looking forward to seeing other people's inputs here.
 

guhman2002

Well-Known Member
Yeah just throw them on top of your mulch and water in, it’ll get in there.

just a note when you topdress casting or compost you’re going to get fungus gnats, it’s just part of the game... water with neem once a week or so and it’ll keep the larve at bay.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Yeah just throw them on top of your mulch and water in, it’ll get in there.

just a note when you topdress casting or compost you’re going to get fungus gnats, it’s just part of the game... water with neem once a week or so and it’ll keep the larve at bay.
Wrong. I can top dress whatever I want and I don't get any fungus gnats. I haven't even seen one in almost 2 years now in my no-till.

If you're using compost with a bunch of gnats in it already, of course you're gonna see them until things stabilize and you develop a healthy soil web.

Neem oil will harm a lot of my beneficial microbes and predators, so I'd be careful with it if you want to use it.
 

Northwood

Well-Known Member
Wrong. I can top dress whatever I want and I don't get any fungus gnats. I haven't even seen one in almost 2 years now in my no-till.

If you're using compost with a bunch of gnats in it already, of course you're gonna see them until things stabilize and you develop a healthy soil web.

Neem oil will harm a lot of my beneficial microbes and predators, so I'd be careful with it if you want to use it.
This has exactly been my experience as well, apart from the very first grow cycle. Now I don't even bother with yellow sticky cards for monitoring gnats anymore. I don't think a fungus gnat larvae would last long with all the mites in my soil, not to mention there's not much for them to eat given the zillions of springtails who enjoy feasting on anything fungal growing near the surface. Sometimes I'll throw a handful of alfalfa feed pellets on top of my mulch, and when wet they'll mold up good and it drives those guys crazy. Heck, even a watering brings them out:
All that life is introduced simply by adding your fresh worm castings during your initial cycle. Ever see fungas gnats in a proper worm bin?

I have a procedure I follow cycle-after-cycle for mulches and cover cropping. I seed my cover crop in late flower after enough defoliation allows some light to the soil surface. Once I harvest a week or two later, that cover crop is already established. I save all the biomass I will not be drying (stems/stalks/leaves) and dry them out for later mulch. I let my soil rest for a week to let the cover crop grow a bit more, then clear enough area just to fit my new tiny plants in there. Within a few weeks, the cannabis will have overtaken the cover crop and once shaded completely the cover crop begins to decline from lack of light. That's when I take all the cut up stalks and stems (including from what I stripped the buds off later) and throw them over the dying cover crop/soil. Then the dried leaves go over this and also the yukky stuff left over from making bubble hash. I may add an inch or so of chopped straw mulch. When doing any defoliation from that point on, all the leaves or sucker branches I take off go on the soil surface. No soil is ever exposed in that pot, no matter the stage I'm in during the cycle. By the time week 7 or so of flowering comes, I just seed over the organic material with my cover crop, and miraculously it grows sending roots through that material to the humus layer underneath. And a new cycle has begun!

This is what my pot looks like right after I harvest before I cut my stocks at soil level:
Most of my cover crop seeds simply come from Walmart or Bulk Foods. I have clover, but also use lentils, mung beans, rye, and sometimes food legumes such as bush snap beans. Heck, in one cycle we harvested a couple pounds of fresh green beans before the cannabis plants shaded them out. Lol
 
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guhman2002

Well-Known Member
I was just saying you might see fungus gnats starting off, but yes, as stated a good established soil food web will take care of many pests and disease
 

guhman2002

Well-Known Member
This has exactly been my experience as well, apart from the very first grow cycle. Now I don't even bother with yellow sticky cards for monitoring gnats anymore. I don't think a fungus gnat larvae would last long with all the mites in my soil, not to mention there's not much for them to eat given the zillions of springtails who enjoy feasting on anything fungal growing near the surface. Sometimes I'll throw a handful of alfalfa feed pellets on top of my mulch, and when wet they'll mold up good and it drives those guys crazy. Heck, even a watering brings them out:
All that life is introduced simply by adding your fresh worm castings during your initial cycle. Ever see fungas gnats in a proper worm bin?

I have a procedure I follow cycle-after-cycle for mulches and cover cropping. I seed my cover crop in late flower after enough defoliation allows some light to the soil surface. Once I harvest a week or two later, that cover crop is already established. I save all the biomass I will not be drying (stems/stalks/leaves) and dry them out for later mulch. I let my soil rest for a week to let the cover crop grow a bit more, then clear enough area just to fit my new tiny plants in there. Within a few weeks, the cannabis will have overtaken the cover crop and once shaded completely the cover crop begins to decline from lack of light. That's when I take all the cut up stalks and stems (including from what I stripped the buds off later) and throw them over the dying cover crop/soil. Then the dried leaves go over this and also the yukky stuff left over from making bubble hash. I may add an inch or so of chopped straw mulch. When doing any defoliation from that point on, all the leaves or sucker branches I take off go on the soil surface. No soil is ever exposed in that pot, no matter the stage I'm in during the cycle. By the time week 7 or so of flowering comes, I just seed over the organic material with my cover crop, and miraculously it grows sending roots through that material to the humus layer underneath. And a new cycle has begun!

This is what my pot looks like right after I harvest before I cut my stocks at soil level:
Most of my cover crop seeds simply come from Walmart or Bulk Foods. I have clover, but also use lentils, mung beans, rye, and sometimes food legumes such as bush snap beans. Heck, in one cycle we harvested a couple pounds of fresh green beans before the cannabis plants shaded them out. Lol
That’s amazing man. I love it!
 
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