sonar's 2012 outdoor
- Thread starter sonar
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HippySmoke
Active Member
Been considering polymer crystals, glad to hear they are working well. And thank you for the insight and sharing the plot with us!
sonar
Well-Known Member
I always try to get my holes dug and filled with promix about a week before I put the plants out. This serves several purposes. I have had problems in the past with squirrels or some other small rodent digging around the base of the plant. When the soil is in early, I feel like it gives them some time to get used to the newly overturned soil in their area and poke around ahead of time. Might just be luck or coincedence, but I haven't had any major problems with them uprooting my young plants since. It also gives some time for rain. For those of you familiar with promix or any other peat based mix, it takes A LOT of water to initially saturate it. It saves a lot of time and energy come transplant day. Simply scoop some soil back and drop the plants in. I don't even water them on transplant day anymore. With the polymer crystal and the American Pride, sufficient moisture and nutrients are already waiting there. It's the little things like that which you generally only learn through trial and error that reduce labor and make life a little easier. Anything you can do to reduce labor means, in theory, you can put out more plants. Or at the very least make the plants you do put out a bit healthier. Even a small grow like this one takes a hell of a lot of work. I put out about 6 autos early on too, so between them and the big plants, I was dead some days. I can only get so far in my vehicle, so the soil had to be humped in on foot a good ways. That was probably the worst. Not sure if I am going to use this spot again next year, but if I do, I am going to try to get a few bags out at the end of the season.
HippySmoke
Active Member
I have been considering pro-mix for it's aeration and water retention property's but I must admit I avoid peat based soils like the plague, very eco conscious gardener and hate using peat moss because it is not a very renewable resource. But things are getting tough out here don't have a property for a legal grow anymore and watching some of the shit my old lady goes through without Cannabis.... well ecology be damned compared to seeing that shit.
Thank you very much for telling me about your plot preparation method, I appreciate it! And it does give me something to consider for the plot's that aren't going to have easy water access.
Oh and the tip on putting them out after the soil sets seems like a smart move to me, I think critter's note the fresh earth and think something is stashed down there. And it gives me more reason to pre-prepare the plot before I put anything out because when I get a plant actually out there I want as little time near it as I can. Less I see it less chance of being found with it, or it being found period.
P.s.: Even though it is more expensive how do you feel about making a coir mix on site? Considering it as dehydrated coir is tiny and very very light. Also coco coir is a renewable resource, and peat is not so much. But coir has some issues such as needing a damn good rinse. That and my PH is never stable for the first week or two with coir I gotta flush with ph'ed water typically. But if I just set up the plot 2-3 weeks before I put the plants in I am sure with local weather the coir will be well rinsed. But basically considering trucking in a few bricks of coir, perlite, advanced nutrients time release or organic blend depends on how my compost heap does this year. (Well dehydrated compost seems lighter than premade soil too.) Polymer crystal's also of course. Still undecided though.
Thank you very much for telling me about your plot preparation method, I appreciate it! And it does give me something to consider for the plot's that aren't going to have easy water access.
Oh and the tip on putting them out after the soil sets seems like a smart move to me, I think critter's note the fresh earth and think something is stashed down there. And it gives me more reason to pre-prepare the plot before I put anything out because when I get a plant actually out there I want as little time near it as I can. Less I see it less chance of being found with it, or it being found period.
P.s.: Even though it is more expensive how do you feel about making a coir mix on site? Considering it as dehydrated coir is tiny and very very light. Also coco coir is a renewable resource, and peat is not so much. But coir has some issues such as needing a damn good rinse. That and my PH is never stable for the first week or two with coir I gotta flush with ph'ed water typically. But if I just set up the plot 2-3 weeks before I put the plants in I am sure with local weather the coir will be well rinsed. But basically considering trucking in a few bricks of coir, perlite, advanced nutrients time release or organic blend depends on how my compost heap does this year. (Well dehydrated compost seems lighter than premade soil too.) Polymer crystal's also of course. Still undecided though.
apotsmokinsniper
Active Member
those turtles look like eastern box turtles they are pretty rare
HippySmoke
Active Member
I thought there were considered extinct for like 15-20 years then rediscovered so rare is a understatement if so.
sonar
Well-Known Member
I've thought about using coir. Either straight up or mixed like 50/50 with promix. It seems like it would be so much easier just to haul a bunch of compressed bricks out and let the rain do its thing. I've never worked with it for growing plants, so I would need to try it out indoors first just to get a feel for it. One brick when hydrated makes about about 2 gallons of substrate. A pack of 3 bricks runs around $8, but that is for the animal bedding kind at the pet store. I buy the 1 cu ft bags of promix and they run about $7 and I believe are around 7 gallons. But yeah man that would be awesome to just be able to break up some of those bricks and just throw them in the hole. Ideally I would like to find a couple patches that I can get close to in my vehicle where I can drop off the big bales of promix. I'd save some money buying bales over those small bags. I'd also be more inclined to dig bigger holes. But that's the beauty of this hobby there is always next year.
I know the eastern box turtle is gone from a lot of areas, but it certainly isn't extinct.
HippySmoke
Active Member
Busy just popping in but glad to see I am not the first guy to consider outdoor coir. I've worked with it indoors and I must admit it has a learning curve, but serious potential. And the more I think about it 50/50 coir and pro mix would probably be a fantastic combo! Good idea dude!
And I know they are not extinct but they were considered extinct from the mid 70's to something like 1988 I thought... lemme look it up... ok folks I was confused. The eastern box turtle is not the one they thought went extinct then was rediscovered, it was a variety of box turtle but apparently there are over 100 varieties.