Limoges Farmer
Member
I was told last winter about this cheap solution for large plant outdoor growing.
Typically, I buy 30 gallon grow bags but they are a bit small for my liking.
My friend told me of his experience growing with these really large bags he got from farmers. Farmers typically buy their seed and feed in these 1 ton bags. They are huge bags that are open at each end, but tied shut with a draw string. They have 2 fabric hoops that they use to pick them up with a forklift and suspend the bag one a feed/seed grate in the floor: the farmer pulls the draw string and all the contents fall through the grate into the storage compartment.
If you take an empty one and your off both ends, you can cut them in half and end up with very large grow bags.
Sooooo, you can take one of two avenues: used or new bags. The buoy feathers that plant a hundred acres of corn will most likely be using these bags. They aren't supposed to return them to the supplier because they want to control the transmission of crap (pathogens, whatever) from one farm to another. So these farmers end up with a surplus of these bags. They may even give you them for free.
Your other avenue is to buy a new one from the supplier. This is typically a farm supply co-op, where the farmers buy their feed and seed from. I chose that avenue, and 20 bucks Canadian (sales taxes included) later, I had enough for 2 plants.
What I'm doing: in my province, we are allowed 4 plants for recreational growing. 2 of them are in the 30 gallon grow bags that are 1/3 submerged into the ground. They have large holes in the bottom and the soil under the bags has been tilted to a loose constituency (this is important for ALL your outdoor growing: rain and the weight of the soil compact the soil and it needs to be loosened up so roots can easily penetrate it. Happy roots, happy plant). These large holes will allow any disregard growing roots to tap into the moist soil beneath the bag (we have a very high water table).
The other two are in these large farm bags, and they have enough soil mixture to supply enough water to the plant all year long. They don't need root holes in the bottom.
What I put inside my bags:
I use a professional growing media that is mostly peat moss and pearlite, and no nutrients whatever. These come in those large compressed balls that all the pro growers use.
To that I add 4 bags of 3 different top soils (with various goodies in them), and then a bit of local soil. I miss the crap out of it to ensure an even mixture and no clumps. This is where it pays off to do a good job. Don't rush this part. You should be able to run you hands through this mixture all the way to the bottom of the bag.
I will be adding microbial life to them from My Good Green, called Bokashi Pro Grow. This stuff is mana for your roots. You can mix it into the soil, apply as a top dressing, or my favourite make a tea with it and add to the regular feed.
What I feed:
I feed every time I water, even tough I have top soil in the mixture. I will be feeding then RX Technologies veg and bloom systems. These are great because you don't need to adjust the Ph, which makes my life easier. I'll be doing this every 4 days, rain our shine, as I will be preventing rain from entering the bags: I want to control all aspects of watering and feeding.
This is what the smaller of the two looks like:
This last one is how I will be irrigating them:
I will use a 60 gallon reservoir, and gravity feed using hoses to each plant. Each plant will have a loop with holes perforated in it. Here is the 30 gallon bag.
I will be covering these plants with tarps from September on till harvest to preserve the trichomes and terps, and protect against frost.
More pics to follow!
Typically, I buy 30 gallon grow bags but they are a bit small for my liking.
My friend told me of his experience growing with these really large bags he got from farmers. Farmers typically buy their seed and feed in these 1 ton bags. They are huge bags that are open at each end, but tied shut with a draw string. They have 2 fabric hoops that they use to pick them up with a forklift and suspend the bag one a feed/seed grate in the floor: the farmer pulls the draw string and all the contents fall through the grate into the storage compartment.
If you take an empty one and your off both ends, you can cut them in half and end up with very large grow bags.
Sooooo, you can take one of two avenues: used or new bags. The buoy feathers that plant a hundred acres of corn will most likely be using these bags. They aren't supposed to return them to the supplier because they want to control the transmission of crap (pathogens, whatever) from one farm to another. So these farmers end up with a surplus of these bags. They may even give you them for free.
Your other avenue is to buy a new one from the supplier. This is typically a farm supply co-op, where the farmers buy their feed and seed from. I chose that avenue, and 20 bucks Canadian (sales taxes included) later, I had enough for 2 plants.
What I'm doing: in my province, we are allowed 4 plants for recreational growing. 2 of them are in the 30 gallon grow bags that are 1/3 submerged into the ground. They have large holes in the bottom and the soil under the bags has been tilted to a loose constituency (this is important for ALL your outdoor growing: rain and the weight of the soil compact the soil and it needs to be loosened up so roots can easily penetrate it. Happy roots, happy plant). These large holes will allow any disregard growing roots to tap into the moist soil beneath the bag (we have a very high water table).
The other two are in these large farm bags, and they have enough soil mixture to supply enough water to the plant all year long. They don't need root holes in the bottom.
What I put inside my bags:
I use a professional growing media that is mostly peat moss and pearlite, and no nutrients whatever. These come in those large compressed balls that all the pro growers use.
To that I add 4 bags of 3 different top soils (with various goodies in them), and then a bit of local soil. I miss the crap out of it to ensure an even mixture and no clumps. This is where it pays off to do a good job. Don't rush this part. You should be able to run you hands through this mixture all the way to the bottom of the bag.
I will be adding microbial life to them from My Good Green, called Bokashi Pro Grow. This stuff is mana for your roots. You can mix it into the soil, apply as a top dressing, or my favourite make a tea with it and add to the regular feed.
What I feed:
I feed every time I water, even tough I have top soil in the mixture. I will be feeding then RX Technologies veg and bloom systems. These are great because you don't need to adjust the Ph, which makes my life easier. I'll be doing this every 4 days, rain our shine, as I will be preventing rain from entering the bags: I want to control all aspects of watering and feeding.
This is what the smaller of the two looks like:
This last one is how I will be irrigating them:
I will use a 60 gallon reservoir, and gravity feed using hoses to each plant. Each plant will have a loop with holes perforated in it. Here is the 30 gallon bag.
I will be covering these plants with tarps from September on till harvest to preserve the trichomes and terps, and protect against frost.
More pics to follow!
