The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

Little Hill · May 16, 2014

I had nothing but problems with enviro tech last year. I would not recommend them. They are clueless as how to operate a business up here. Thyre not set up to ship to remote areas, they constantly screw up orders, short you parts, etc. I would look elsewhere for a greenhouse or gh equipment. Just saying from experience.

Madrus Rose · May 17, 2014

TomHill said:
Hi Jenn,

I've played with a lot of different soil recipes over the years, 1rst year new soil mixes, as well as yearly additives. Here's a very simple mix that is well proven and I am comfortable recommending for those large outdoor containers. It gives about 50 cubic feet or just over 300 gallons (dry U.S), and fills a 6ft diameter container to a depth of about 18inches - perfectly.

25 bags black gold potting soil (1.5cf ea)

4 bags stutzman farms chicken manure (1 cf ea)

1 bag perlite (4 cf ea)

1 bag (50 lbs) bonemeal (steamed, not precipitated)

1/2 bag gypsum (aprox 1/2 cf) - Edit -> 1/2 of a 40 lb bag (20lbs).

Mix well, water thoroughly, let rest for 2-3 weeks minimum, transplant, and stand back

Best Regards,

Tom

View Image

So who here is going with Tom's simple basic "Chicky Poo" formula and let it good & ripen in for 2-3wks first? When Tom says plant them and "stand back" , I bet he's right. Like to hear some good stories later on near harvest, taste, flavor & growth. Good growing everyone, have fun and always take care of your backs. ( you have only one spinal column per lifetime & its non replaceable)
Keep your lives sane, sensible and ------> :kiss:

(don't be stupid)

Stank J.P. · May 17, 2014

grow nerd said:
Spent the last several hours picking up as much straw as I could. Still a ton scattered everywhere in between / under the wire mesh on the ground. After a little more reading seems like folks have tried straw (not to be confused with hay) and for the most part, didn't like it. So even though it looks cool, and even though it was a huge pain in the ass, I picked up a lot of it that I laid down just the other day. Sigh, should have read & researched more first.

All did up:

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/thumbnails/1253/58351ad3cd3a295bebddf09998c2590b_1253263.jpg?dl=1400275032]View Image[/url]

Undid: :-(

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/thumbnails/1253/d6a67fae33fdc65251d4613386646954_1253264.jpg?dl=1400275032]View Image[/url]

Scratches all over my arms and legs.

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/userimages/thumbnails/1253/0c3b79ef6c02c0a1bafc089cb1998b2d_1253265.jpg?dl=1400275032]View Image[/url]

I cheaped out and doubled up (tried to make the holes 3/4" where possible) on 1.5" stucco netting (looks exactly like chicken wire, with 1.5" opening instead of 1"). In hindsight I should have just spent the extra money on 1/4" mesh, but it was quite expensive and came in 3'x25' rolls max (for about $50!) at the Home Depot I was shopping at.

Live and learn.

I laid a bunch out today. I have used it for the past couple seasons with no ill effects. Not saying there isn't a better mulch option but, I noticed a significant difference in water retention through the day with the straw vs. not. Off topic--- how long do you guys give a transplant to bounce back from the initial shock of said transplant before you replace a busted ass bitch? Btw I'm from seed and the starts are between two and three feet in five and 15 gallon containers.
MMMkayy...
peace.

hup234 · May 17, 2014

TheFlyinHaWyn! said:
can anybody give me a breakdown on Macadamia Nut compost? a yard is $90 where I live. thinking of incorporating that in my mix. if I get one monster where I live I will be a happy camper. aloha and good luck with all you guys' grows.

There's mac nut in the 1/3 mix from soilplus if you live on big island. 1/3 cinder,1/3 soil,1/3 compost. real quick mix(doesn't hold water for long,but great if you want to fertigate) not organic $53 yard

grow nerd · May 17, 2014

What, if anything, are you light dep guys doing for dark time ventilation? Assuming you're not using an expensive breathable cover...

Backyard Farmer · May 17, 2014

Highly recommend a tempurpedic cool breeze luxe mattress and massage base...

The mix on the first page is off the hook for a show up and get started mix...

36" motorized shutter intakes and 24" shutter exhaust fans with Dandy light traps

Bulldog420 · May 17, 2014

Little Hill said:
I had nothing but problems with enviro tech last year. I would not recommend them. They are clueless as how to operate a business up here. Thyre not set up to ship to remote areas, they constantly screw up orders, short you parts, etc. I would look elsewhere for a greenhouse or gh equipment. Just saying from experience.

Really????? Where were you when I was asking about this, lol, jk. What company would you go with, or did you just not like Envirotec.?

Arminius · May 17, 2014

Speaking of greenhouses... What about FarmTek? They have some sweet looking units, at a decent price. Everything from the hobbyist, to commercial, with all the bells and whistles...
After the early plants are done this September, I will be either framing in a DIY GH, or ordering one. Would love to see more feedback without having to divert my precious time to another sub forum...

Bo Hasset · May 17, 2014

COconnect said:
Haha it's crazy I guess I'm making the right moves then. I'm in lawless norcal and planning on coming back to CO after the ship sinks. Re arrange the city name on my profile, you're probably close enough to get it.

I love my Colorado and I will to death!

The name and location swap we have going is kinda funny huh?

If I said I initially made my way west from a heavy Brahlorado town that likes to get weird at tree line (where non-autos have been known to go "naked" at 10,000+) it wouldn't confuse anyone keeping the official record, would it? I'm not, though I may used to have been, but most folks just call me Eskimo Joe b/c that's where I'm "from".

nomaad · May 17, 2014

I cover all my gardens end to end with the heavy duty weed mat with the green lines in it. Straw is a favorite nesting material for all kinds of rodents and insects. Plus it makes for a lot of general schmutz flying around the garden.

Stucco mesh is similar to chicken wire, but chicken wire is galvanized. That stucco mesh will rust fast and harshly as it is made to be coated in concrete and never exposed to the elements.

Farmtek professional greenhouses are great. I would stay away from anything marketed to "hobbyists". At that level of play, you're probably better off building your own structure... a simple ridgeline beam (2x6), end frames (2x4) and PVC hoops will beat anything they are selling to hobbyists. That said, a few years back Tom put me onto these 650$ 12x20 greenhouses... I picked them up at Weathertop nursery in laytonville. The coverings only lasted 2 years, but the frames are still in use, still kinda cheap-o but show no signs that we wont be using them for years to come. Dollar for dollar value is high. The entire greenhouse comes apart and stacks on a single 4x4 pallete. Originally I worried that they would be one-year structures and would not stand up to disassembly/reassembly, but we have broken them down and reassembled numerous times and the fuckers still go together with relative ease. The carriage bolts are crap, though and have to be replaced with better ones as they sheer or bend.

grow nerd · May 17, 2014

e

nomaad said:
I cover all my gardens end to end with the heavy duty weed mat with the green lines in it. Straw is a favorite nesting material for all kinds of rodents.

Stucco mesh is similar to chicken wire, but chicken wire is galvanized. That stucco mesh will rust fast and harshly as it is made to be coated in concrete and never exposed to the elements.

Damn, I looked at that stuff but someone said the weed stop fabric wouldn't work...

On stucco netting: thanks, hopefully no one else repeats this mistake. I had a bad feeling I made a mistake going cheap.

Live and learn...

nomaad · May 17, 2014

grow nerd said:
What, if anything, are you light dep guys doing for dark time ventilation? Assuming you're not using an expensive breathable cover...

12" vortex on one end at the ridge... use non reflective ducting and snake it from the ridge, to the ground and out under the tarps, cover the open end with some kind of filter material... Passive in on the other end, snaked the same way.... putting the fan at the end of the line, outside the structure works too.

BUT... this will create a wind tunnel effect inside the box, so you want to cover the ground with material or it will be a dust storm in there every night. Keeping the ducting high will minimize this, but not eradicate it altogether.

Another tactic is to time everything so that you can uncover the boxes late at night once its dark... at this point, using shade cloth to be sure moon and stars don't fuck up your photoperiods might be a good idea, but also might be overkill.

nomaad · May 17, 2014

grow nerd said:
e

Damn, I looked at that stuff but someone said the weed stop fabric wouldn't work...

"wouldn't work" for what purpose?

Backyard Farmer · May 17, 2014

Wait...

Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds?

Say that five times fast, would ya!

grow nerd · May 17, 2014

nomaad said:
"wouldn't work" for what purpose?

Gophers

nomaad · May 17, 2014

out of about 1000 smartpots deployed, i have only seen em go through 2 and the tunnels that were under those two were unreal and the pots were in their 3rd and 4th seasons and had taken on that "fuzzy" texture... I would bet that your cheap mesh under smarties is impervious to gophers. And if it gets rusty under the pots, who cares?

A previous poster talked about dogs being effective... I have seen evidence of this too. The dogs are pits with very high mousing tenacity... they will stick their snouts in hole in the ground and keep at it until ordered off the hole... but left to their own they will root for hours after a glimpse and a sniff of a rodent.

Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds
Some one said weed stop won't stop weeds

nomaad · May 17, 2014

ponobegone · May 17, 2014

just got some 3x50 rolls of 1/2 mesh @ big r for 46$ apiece

grow nerd · May 17, 2014

nomaad said:
out of about 1000 smartpots deployed, i have only seen em go through 2 and the tunnels that were under those two were unreal and the pots were in their 3rd and 4th seasons and had taken on that "fuzzy" texture... I would bet that your cheap mesh under smarties is impervious to gophers. And if it gets rusty under the pots, who cares?

I had to look up impervious in the dictionary. LOL. I hope you're right. Weed stop fabric would have been MUCH easier to lay though and probably provides other benefits.

This light dep GH's purpose was to get in a "practice run" before the full-term plants, to get a feel for what to expect from the outdoors, and so far I'm learning lots.

anonymousgrow · May 17, 2014

We finally got a spot. It's cheap but we can only grow 12 so we are looking for a second patch. Regardless I'm excited to do something again after two months of sitting still. Now just build a garden and get genetics. Cheers!

The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

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