An open discussion on bare bones site prep

[Easy7]

The biggest pain and cost in my experience is prepping a site for plants. Local plants I can deal with, digging holes and filling them is hard work.

When I started tinkering with plants outside, it was just plant and feed. After hearing all the good talk about prepping holes, I incorporated that more or less.

I'm looking for thoughts, ideas, general attitudes on not digging holes. Not tilling, not building raised beds, no smart pots. Just working with native soil. Seems to me that money could be spent on more seed that perhaps gets less love (reality is $, wtf does a plant care about $). The soil in these parts varies. Some clay in spots but over all not terrible.

It's almost impossible to sneak around with bales of peat moss. There are so many things to add to soil and that's fine. Just wanting to tips and thoughts on not digging the earth more than for planting.

If I were growing multiple acres of cannabis as cheap as possible or just going dirt cheap guerilla. How would I get the most out of the least?

-top dressings in the fall to work into the soil depth
-cover crops
-irrigation & nutrient delivery
-biodiversity via not messing with the ecosystem

Thoughts?

 

[metsäkana]

Yeah bones work it just takes forever if its not grinded=) organic slow release look at your agriculturemarket and ask for organic if they dont sell buy from internet. i guerilla grow in north here is some pictures i only bring big packpack full of soil for transplanting thats not hot and turn the soil already there properly sometimes its pain in ass if you dont find good spot take ph tester with you so you know soil ph and add lime or dolomitelime to boost ph up here its all like 5ph soil i dont know where you live. i add organic fertilizers like batguano bonemeal bloodmeal and stuff they sell some have bacteria in them too i find it good i think myco is everywhere and trichoderma too mostly do those you dont even need. i add mineral magic too and epsomsalt. you can topdress every month if you like. empty the peatmoss pale in your backpack if you dont use own soil so its like normal person walking. my english is little shitty but here is some pictures of my plants. north61 latitude or something like that
two months now old.. hope i get some bud in september-october there could be only mold.. those are danish-finnish strains mostly for cold climate.. not so good summer ok but not the best.

 

[Easy7]

Thanks for the input

Bare bones means basic kit

I'm more interested in no till. Just plant and foster.

 

[metsäkana]

ok lol well just use 10x want you think of seeds you are fine

 

[Easy7]

ok lol well just use 10x want you think of seeds you are fine

Is that scientific or are you just pulling a figure out of a hat?

Not everyone dumps 16 cubic feet per plant. That's just impracticable for humping in soil through miles of trail. I'm doubting yield is 10x with a prepped site.

Be of no help or be of some assistance. It's your choice.

 

[CoastalKind]

Smart pots and raised beds are unnecessary if you are planting into the earth. Amending the soil will give you better results than not. Soil composition is important. If you are going to grow a field or that isn't practical your plants will still grow without amending the soil. They need food to have a good yield and grow healthy. Lawn fertilizers, cheap chemical slow release lawn fertilizers. Some 16-16-16 shit from home depot will do the trick. 25 lbs is like 16$ I'm sure if you looked for a wholesale website you could find it even cheaper. It's not optimal to grow the best single plant but it work just fine and is probably the most efficient in terms of yield to $$ ratio. No the plants don't care how much money you spend on them but they do care about soil composition and nutrients. If you give them everything they want then they will grow the best they can but you do what you can do. It is better than not growing at all right? I like organic but I'm not a zealot i think there is nothing wrong with chemical fertilizers if they aren't over used, they are like anything else, too much is bad. Plant your field in the ground spread your 16-16-16 lawn fertilizer around and watch them grow.

 

[metsäkana]

Is that scientific or are you just pulling a figure out of a hat?

Not everyone dumps 16 cubic feet per plant. That's just impracticable for humping in soil through miles of trail. I'm doubting yield is 10x with a prepped site.

Be of no help or be of some assistance. It's your choice.

lol i mean no till wikipedia when i turn it to my language mean put seeds strait to ground with out 2week-month indoor grow first.. i mean you need to use more seeds outdoor conditions are so ruff in here.. i had 40 seeds and 3 got up one year so if i had 400 seeds i would be happy

i hate chemical fertilizer give bad taste to plant, you can go more easily over, with organics its hard as hell. chemical fertilizer are also what ive heard plant really cant regulate how it takes them in if you put too much its instant burn overdose... and they are bad for nature too. cheap maybe but fuck that shit with all spray poisons too.
organics give bether yield too dont belive that hydrostore seller

 

[Easy7]

Cannabis doesn't do well just planting seed in the ground. Using a machine called a transplanter you could plant just like tobacco fields. Would be great with known producers if you have barns to hang or a hash operation.

I find the biggest hurdle in prepping soil. I wish I could experiment and that is why I am asking just how you suppose improvements.

Would love to start clones and roll out a transplanter and just lay down irrigation. But that is a ways away legally. Just looking for thoughts.

I figure that the roots break through most ground easily. Soft ground doesn't mean much to me. Organic material matters for CEC. Time it takes for nutrients to reach a depth can be solved by top dressing in the end of season prepping for the next. But what do I really care?

 

[metsäkana]

like that?

i think finegrinded organic powder will find its way to plant fast pretty fast 1month-2month max with lots of rain faster if topdressed i dont have any science data just what i see happening to plants

 

[gorilla ganja]

I'm all about bare bones soil prep. It's just is not practical for my guerrilla grows to bring in soil or heavy amendments of any kind.The hr long hike through the worst terrains mother nature has makes bringing in soil and such just plan crazy.
But the bare minimum is a handful of slow release fertilizer and lime, as metsäkana already mentioned.

The difference speaks for itself. The following pic shows plants that are the same strain and same age, transplanted same day. I ran out of time and a few were put into the ground with zero prep the others were put into a prepared pot with half/half coco and native soil with slow release ferts and lime. 2 weeks later

These plants got the bare minimum treatment mentioned above and dug just deep enough to get the transplants in the ground.

Could they be better, of course. With some imported this and some exotic that. But good enough for me for now.

Peace GG

 

[Capitan Crunch]

Cannabis seeds do fine for me planted right in the ground. But I do care about soft soil. I mix a couple gallons of planting mix from walmart into the native soil and throw down a couple seeds. They are pretty resilient and they also show it if you give them attention.

 

[metsäkana]

yeah here we need to plant so early that its cold as fuck still outside north 61 in california you got warm warm warm

 

[Easy7]

yeah here we need to plant so early that its cold as fuck still outside north 61 in california you got warm warm warm

What can you grow/harvest 61 north?

At about 40 north here and the growing season is barely enough. Been dry as heck this year. Not sure how me fall will be.

 

[metsäkana]

well here you need autoflowers or semiautoflowers that flower under 16-18hour daylight and little luck you got nice harvest in september-october you can look it up yourself here is finnish forum
https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=65564
ulkokasvatus means outdoor growing

 

[Easy7]

Germination is the most vulnerable time and at 10 bucks a seed it cost time and money. I like he idea of a seedhouse with a New York screen for a bottom modification. Just requires small pots, a bag of starter soil and I trust a grow plug. Germinate in there on site. My belief is that 25% biochar with amendments mixed in and a cover crop make fine soil. Living in a glacier dump there are a great deal of minerals. The soil is sweet and what I've tested high in potassium. Very low in nitrogen and phosphorous, the easiest to add. So much easier hauling in admendment than filler like peat moss.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

As far as minimal guerrilla prep goes, I think something along these lines may be the answer:

Hugelkulture beds, so dig the hole, cut down some tree branches and put the dirt back on top. Dig/scape up top soil from somewhere nearby in the forest and add that. Throw some lime, gypsum (if needed) rock dusts, and insect frass in. If you wanna go crazy, kelp meal and shit as well.

You're still gonna have to dig, at least once. No getting around that if you want any sort of return. BUT, all the amendments I mentioned are very light, so can easily be hauled in as opposed to hauling in soil or compost. Top soil and tree branches can be found on or near the site, so not really much hauling involved there either.