Ep 029: How The EarthBox Works — Liquid Feeds and No-Till Recycling

0:00 — 0:37

Intro and Quadrant 4 preview

Jeremy opens on day 34 of flower and previews that Quadrant 4 will be the focus later in the episode — he has seeds to plant, sprouted seed tea to make, a tomato plant to discuss, and a red pepper ready to harvest. He says he will take a lap around the tent starting from Quadrant 1 and knock out frequently asked questions along the way.

0:37 — 4:00

FAQ — how to liquid-feed an EarthBox

The first FAQ is how to deliver liquid feeds (compost tea, fish hydrolysate, water-soluble organics) in an EarthBox when the rule is only clean water goes in the reservoir. Jeremy picks Coot's gnarly barley, kashi blend and liquid fish hydrolysate as his example. He lifts the cover and confirms both reservoirs are bone dry because these big plants are drinking the full reservoir every day. He teaches the window: while the reservoir is dry you can safely top-water a small amount of food without over-watering, because when you then refill the bottom it will balance from both sides. For small plants he says wait 24 hours between top-feed and bottom-refill. He explains why he would not dump fish straight down the fill tube — it could stagnate and ferment in the reservoir and go bacterially weird.

1. 1. Wait for the EarthBox reservoir to go completely dry
2. 2. Lift the plastic cover back to expose the soil surface
3. 3. Top-dress with gnarly barley (ground up) over the mounded area
4. 4. Top-dress with kashi blend on top of the gnarly barley
5. 5. Mix liquid fish hydrolysate at about one fluid ounce per gallon of water
6. 6. Pour roughly half a gallon of the fish-feed solution evenly across the top per plant
7. 7. For big plants, immediately refill the reservoir with clean water using a 1 gpm fan-spray nozzle
8. 8. For small plants, wait 24 hours before refilling the reservoir to avoid over-watering
9. 9. Replace the plastic cover

4:00 — 5:45

Why grind the gnarly barley

Jeremy explains why today's gnarly barley is ground up in a bullet blender before top-dressing. Gnarly barley is sprouted hemp, sprouted barley and sprouted corn — but hemp is so gnarly that a fraction of the seed will still germinate even after being sprouted and dried at the food-grade lab. Hemp seeds can germinate anywhere from a couple of days to 30 days after planting. A hemp seedling can drop pollen at one or two inches tall while hidden in the mulch and wreck a flowering room. He grinds it so nothing can germinate, and confirms BuildASoil is changing the recipe (talked to Coot) to swap sprouted hemp for sprouted lentil, while keeping the hemp product available because customers love it.

1. 1. Grab a handful of gnarly barley and confirm the hemp fraction
2. 2. Pour into a bullet blender
3. 3. Grind fine enough that no whole seed remains
4. 4. Use the ground material as a top dress across the EarthBox mounds
5. 5. Moisten the top dress so it glues to the surface layer

5:45 — 9:30

Kashi blend top dress and fish application

Jeremy adds kashi blend on top of the gnarly barley — a product from AJ of Growing Organic (who guest-hosted last episode) that contains biology, sprouted malted barley, biochar inoculated with Rootwise, and calcium. He measures out roughly a gallon of water with liquid fish hydrolysate at about one ounce per gallon (noting the label says 1 oz/gal houseplants, 1 tbsp/gal outdoor or 3 tbsp = 1 fl oz — a lot of different measurements) and top-waters about half a gallon per plant to feed the feeder roots directly. He then grabs the fan-spray 1 gpm nozzle and refills both EarthBox reservoirs with plain clean water — he wants fan spray so the water does not splash dust and compost everywhere on the tent floor. Reinforces the message: wait for dry, add food to top, recover, wait 24 hours if small plant.

1. 1. Sprinkle kashi blend over the ground gnarly barley layer
2. 2. Pour roughly 1 oz of liquid fish hydrolysate into 1 gal of water
3. 3. Slowly top-water about half a gallon per plant, back and forth, to moisten fully
4. 4. Swap to a 1 gpm fan-spray nozzle to avoid splash
5. 5. Refill both EarthBox reservoirs with plain clean water (2.5-3 gal each)
6. 6. Replace the plastic cover on the EarthBox

7:00 — 8:15

Wetability rescue and EarthBox color

Jeremy zooms in on the top of the plant and shows slight yellowing/lighter green on the new growth. He explains the EarthBox normally runs a slightly lighter colour than the big beds, but the top tip beyond that is a sign the soil was ripping through water so fast it broke the wetability for nutrient cycling. The fish feed plus top-water rescue should rebuild that. He expects the plant to ride all the way to flower with phenomenal health now that it has been rebalanced.

9:30 — 11:15

EarthBox philosophy and community methods

Jeremy calls EarthBoxes 'a powerhouse' — they eliminate the fear of learning how to water organics. He notes Alan from GrowKashi brews akashi tea with molasses and puts that down the reservoir, and also uses a lot of EM1 — a different style that still works. He specifically says he will not use Alan's practice of dolomite lime on the top of an EarthBox. He asks viewers with multi-cycle EarthBox experience to drop their methods in the comments. Praises the three-by-three as 'just beautiful, producing more with less effort.'

11:15 — 12:45

Quadrant 2 take-and-bake vs smaller beds

Jeremy switches to Quadrant 2 and praises the take-and-bake recipe. He does the volume math: a 7.5-gallon bag of soil in the smaller containers gives about 30 gallons of soil, while the take-and-bake quadrant is almost 70 gallons — roughly double the soil, which typically gives about 60% more yield (not one-for-one with soil volume). He explains that with more soil he can slow-drip amendments to the top and never drop below 50-60% available nutrients, which is the whole point of no-till — keep the reserve full. Smaller containers risk depletion.

12:45 — 16:30

FAQ — how to recycle a big no-till bed

The second FAQ: how do you recycle the soil in a big no-till bed. Jeremy first covers terminology. The original ICMag recycled living organic soil thread used 'recycled' to mean dumping buckets out onto a tarp, re-amending, then putting it back — starting from square one every cycle. Community members asked what would happen if, like nature, you never dumped or tilled. 30-year organic field trials (look up side-by-side conventional vs organic vs no-till) show no-till does best back-to-back, especially in drought years. No-till means not ripping the soil and destroying the fungal network. Jeremy recycles a big bed by harvesting the plant, leaving the stalk in place, and planting the next plant right next to the old stalk. He prefers cuttings/rooted clones in beer-cup containers for minimum disturbance — some people call this low-till because you still dig a hole for the cup. He warns that if you take crops out and don't add anything back, even perfect soil will drift out of balance after the first harvest.

1. 1. Harvest the plant by cutting the top growth
2. 2. Leave the existing stalk and root ball undisturbed in the soil
3. 3. Take a rooted cutting out of a beer cup container
4. 4. Dig a small hole right next to the old stalk
5. 5. Plant the new rooted clone into that hole with minimum disturbance
6. 6. Do not remove the stalk or till the root zone

16:30 — 20:30

How to add food back to a no-till bed

Jeremy lays out the rebuild protocol. Option 1: throw cover crop seeds in the bed during the last week of flower so germination starts before harvest — one-straw-revolution style — then chop-and-drop the cover crop on harvest day, spread craft blend, spread mulch (which terminates the cover crop), and transplant next to the old stalk. Option 2: chop down the whole bed after harvest and then add material to the top. The build-a-soil rule for rebuild: craft blend (a seed meal of camelina and karanja, 15 amendments), plus a mineral for calcium and phosphorus, plus rock dust, plus new compost, plus worm castings (he recommends Koko from Colorado Worm Company), and then mulch on top. He emphasises balance — the Vegas buffet analogy — if the bacon or lobster runs out, the buffet has 'done.' Do not add only calcium or only nitrogen because of one leaf symptom — if you want to geek out, get a soil test done and talk to the Soil Doctor. For hobby growers, broad spectrum craft blend, Koko castings, plant back and go.

1. 1. During the final week of flower, scatter cover crop seeds across the bed surface
2. 2. Water lightly to start germination before harvest
3. 3. Harvest the top growth, leaving stalks
4. 4. Chop and drop the cover crop on the surface
5. 5. Sprinkle craft blend across the top like salt and pepper
6. 6. Add a half-inch layer of worm castings and compost (build-a-flower)
7. 7. Lay a new mulch layer over everything to terminate the cover crop
8. 8. Transplant the next round of clones right next to the old stalks
9. 9. Water in and let the surface biology rebuild fertility

20:30 — 22:00

Dosing craft blend by surface area

Jeremy walks through the historical dosing rule: one cup per cubic foot for initial mix amendments. For top-dressing a no-till bed where you're not digging in, you cannot think in cubic feet — you only have surface area. He uses the farm's empirical rate: 18 pounds of craft blend for 150 square feet, just enough to cover the surface in a zigzag down the bed. If you miss the rate it doesn't matter — watch the plants and add more later. The fire analogy: you don't burn all the wood on day one, you add one log at a time. Kevin (from Rootwise) taught him this — don't dump all the nutrients in as immediately-available or your plants will boom and bust.

1. 1. Measure surface area of the bed in square feet
2. 2. Apply craft blend at roughly 18 lb per 150 sq ft surface area
3. 3. Spread in a zigzag pattern down the bed like salt and pepper
4. 4. Water in or let rain carry it down
5. 5. Observe plant response over the next cycle
6. 6. Add more later if needed — do not front-load all nutrients

22:00 — 24:30

Quadrant 3 Branson's Royal Revenge update

Jeremy puts on glasses (the lights are super bright) and checks the small-container Branson's Royal Revenge bed. Even though the mulch layer has been completely eaten by worms and feeder roots, he wants to keep the lasagna stacking going — so more gnarly barley, more kashi blend, and worm castings go on as a fresh top dress. He explains he's not worried about overdoing the mulch layer as long as it is not mixed into the soil. Notes the plants smell really good, he has not found any nanners on any nugs despite the earlier pollen scare, and the plants are still a seed run to find phenos — not optimised for maximum yield. He takes a shot at the dispensary obsession with THC potency — 'people buy potency like everclear at the liquor store' — and makes the case for entourage effect, flavour, taste and burn quality over numbers.

1. 1. Check mulch layer state — confirm worms and feeder roots have eaten it down
2. 2. Apply fresh gnarly barley top dress
3. 3. Apply fresh kashi blend on top
4. 4. Add worm castings layer
5. 5. Water in to reactivate the top

24:30 — 28:30

Quadrant 4 tomato triage

Jeremy re-addresses the heirloom tomato in the 3-gallon container. He admits a full-size heirloom in a 3-gallon was ambitious and that inconsistent watering (because he was behind on orders) has given it bottom end rot. Rather than up-pot (too busy, would mess with the roller height), he's going to feed it liquid fish and be more diligent about watering, hoping to finish out the existing tomatoes. He'll also manually strip off some of the flowers to let the plant focus energy on fewer fruits — the plant is already self-selecting and terminating some flowers because it checked its savings account and realised it can only fill five out of a thousand. Meanwhile he pops cherry tomato seeds (Sakura F1 OG, organic pack, a popular greenhouse variety) into cups with two seeds per cup for the next cycle. Cherry tomatoes will be ready when the flower tent flips back to 18 hours of light (better for veg), and a small container can produce lots of edible cherry tomatoes fast.

1. 1. Top-feed the existing tomato with liquid fish hydrolysate
2. 2. Be more diligent about consistent watering to prevent more bottom end rot
3. 3. Prune some flower clusters off by hand to concentrate energy
4. 4. Pop Sakura F1 OG cherry tomato seeds two per beer cup
5. 5. Plan the transplant for when the tent flips back to 18 hr light
6. 6. Keep trellising the existing tomato to the top of the cage

28:30 — 30:30

Radish plant-out next to the kale

Jeremy grabs scissors, cuts back the kale, and chop-and-drops the cover crop onto the soil surface. He sprinkles radish seeds in a circle around the kale, not spread everywhere, so they germinate in a defined zone, and plants a few extra expecting to thin them out. His worry is that the kale is so big the radishes will be shaded. The radishes are Johnny's Easter Egg II round radishes — red on the outside, white on the inside — labeled 30 days to maturity, but with only 12 hours of light in here they'll likely take longer.

1. 1. Cut back the kale leaves to open up light
2. 2. Chop and drop the cover crop onto the soil surface
3. 3. Sprinkle radish seeds around the kale in a defined ring
4. 4. Plant a few extras to allow thinning later
5. 5. Plan to thin when seedlings emerge

30:30 — 31:30

Tulsi holy basil and Carolina Reaper plant-out

Jeremy plants two cups of tulsi holy basil (a couple seeds per cup) and talks about why — tulsi has been cultivated for 4,000 years in India, is highly revered as medicine, makes a soothing tea with hints of vanilla, anise and bubble gum. Every home in India has one. His philosophy is 'we copy what's good for humans for our plants' — you can chop and drop it, make plant extract teas with it, and use it as a companion. He then plants a Carolina Reaper Red pepper (two seeds per cup to guarantee germination), acknowledging they take forever to grow so he wishes he had started earlier. Expects the Reapers might not fruit until the next cycle.

1. 1. Fill two cups with soil for the tulsi
2. 2. Place a couple of holy basil seeds in each cup
3. 3. Fill one cup for Carolina Reaper Red
4. 4. Drop two reaper seeds in to guarantee germination
5. 5. Label the cups and set them under light

31:30 — 33:30

Sprouted seed tea theory and Coot origin

Jeremy plans to plant organic blue corn in his favourite Easy Sprouter and will film a dedicated episode on rinsing technique and making sprouted seed tea. He explains the theory — you take a fresh seed, sprout it until the white tail emerges, then blend it in water to steal all the enzymes from what would have become a living plant. That enzymatic water pours into the plants and makes them rage, cycling nutrients and breaking down amendments in the soil. He credits Clackamas Coot as the inventor of sprouted seed tea and explains that the gnarly barley product came out of working with Coot — BuildASoil donates money from every sale to plant trees and support Coot. The original Coot method was to buy organic popcorn at the grocery store. Corn is favoured because it's fat and juicy and because zeatin — the first plant cytokinin ever isolated — was discovered in corn (zmas, short for Zea mays).

1. 1. Buy a fresh organic seed (corn, barley, any whole seed)
2. 2. Put the seed in an Easy Sprouter or mason jar
3. 3. Rinse the seed on a regular cycle
4. 4. Wait for a small white tail to emerge
5. 5. Immediately blend the sprouted seed in water
6. 6. Pour the frothy enzyme water onto the plants and soil

33:30 — 35:30

First red pepper harvest

Jeremy harvests the first red peppers of the 10x10 by twisting them off the plant. He has never eaten these peppers and forgot what they're called — he'll look it up and taste them. Smells like a bell pepper, not like it will be hot. He uses the pepper harvest to launch into a mini-lecture about enzymatic fresh-picked food: grocery store produce is picked unripe and ripened with ethylene gas, while picking moments before eating preserves enzymes. He draws a direct analogy between soil biology and human gut biology — both work off cation exchange and nutrient absorption, both need the right microbes to prevent disease. He references GMO Roundup crops and their effect on gut biology as a reason to care about the whole ecosystem.

1. 1. Grab the ripe red pepper and twist the stem
2. 2. Pull it free of the plant
3. 3. Inspect and smell for heat
4. 4. Set aside for fresh eating

35:30 — 37:30

Closing top-dress and sign-off

Jeremy finishes by putting about one cup of gnarly barley and one cup of kashi blend into the Quadrant 4 beds, plus worm castings, and waters it in — sticking to his one-log-at-a-time fire analogy even though it doesn't strictly need the food. He says he could just use craft blend every time but nature doesn't do the same thing every time, so he likes to switch it up as long as the ingredients are good and broad. Wraps with the big pitch: he's heard from many viewers saying they're throwing in the towel on bottled nutrients and switching to no-till. Says first-timers may not get the biggest yield ever, but they will get the best quality they've ever experienced, and with practice the yield will catch up. Last call for questions on Quadrant 4, reminder to like and subscribe.

1. 1. Spread about 1 cup gnarly barley across the bed
2. 2. Spread about 1 cup kashi blend across the bed
3. 3. Sprinkle worm castings on top
4. 4. Water it all in