Dank Mountain

[Bradley_Danks]

I'm up here on this mountain trying to grow some early dank buds in northern Oregon so rain is an issue. I'm growing clones of last years keepers of my cross mkob kush #7,#2, and some Mick Jagger. I'll be doing my pheno hunting elsewhere this year.

Currently, I have 4 plots prepared from last years 4 plant rec grow. This year I'm going to try and add 24 more plots. I'm currently building an 8 ft tall deer fence and building 24 gopher baskets. I plan on renting an excavator to fill the baskets.

I just got a new well pump, tank, and valve installed. I'm working on getting a 3000 gallon tank delivered and more irrigation supplies.

We grow in native Jory soil here. There is about 2ft of top soil so its fairly easy to dig. I got my organicalc recs and lab tests. I'll amend each plot and till in the amendments.

We'll see if I can pull this all off.

Well water lab test:

Soil lab test:

Last years plant:

 

[BAKED_BEANZ]

down for the show ...

 

[Top_shelf_farms]

Nice! Good luck this season! When did those strains finish for ya?

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Pullin' up a chair.

Oregon is one of those places I've always admired from afar.

 

[Bear Jew]

subbed for nice outdoor grow , goodluck

 

[plantingplants]

was that plant grown in straight soil? no amendments? what did you feed?

i just bought a 4000 gallon 14' ft wide swimming pool for $300


ps your soil pH is in the danger zone for Al+++. you have high Al, but the pH is low enough to make it soluble. you didnt test for Si but i would guess its lower than you want so you could lime it with vansil w-10.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

Buckle up folks

Nice! Good luck this season! When did those strains finish for ya?

I pull em near the end of September

was that plant grown in straight soil? no amendments? what did you feed?

i just bought a 4000 gallon 14' ft wide swimming pool for $300


ps your soil pH is in the danger zone for Al+++. you have high Al, but the pH is low enough to make it soluble. you didnt test for Si but i would guess its lower than you want so you could lime it with vansil w-10.

I amended the soil last year with organics and limed it real good and fed compost teas but I did have to bottle feed some medi-one too because I made some mistakes.

Over the last few years I was getting lab tests from a&l western and recs from concentrates northwest but I was getting mixed results at a variety of locations. This is my first year using a new lab and source for recs. I hope the results are more consistent.

This year I'm going to amend the soil after I fill the baskets...and I think the plants will like that better like they usually do.

That soil lab test is for the virgin native soil. I'm about to send in a lab test of last years amended soil. I didn't realize there wasn't any results for silica. I'll try to ask for that on the next test. If it really is low it may be worth at least testing on a few plots to see if it makes a difference. You think it really helps?

The aluminum is high aye... What should I consider when dealing with high al?

 

[plantingplants]

That soil lab test is for the virgin native soil. I'm about to send in a lab test of last years amended soil. I didn't realize there wasn't any results for silica. I'll try to ask for that on the next test. If it really is low it may be worth at least testing on a few plots to see if it makes a difference. You think it really helps?

The aluminum is high aye... What should I consider when dealing with high al?

I can't tell you from experience and trials and such but from what I've gleaned here, Si and B are important to get right, as they help get Ca into the plant, so if your B or Si is low, you're limiting Ca. Do a search here and read what folks have said about Si. I wouldn't ignore your micros.

For your Al, you just have to raise your pH so it's unavailable. At that pH you have available Al and your roots would be affected. But your amendments probably raised it plenty to get out of that red zone. http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Soil_Aluminum_and_test_interpretation.htm

 

[Bradley_Danks]

Lets have a look around the mountain side.


This is the willamette valley looking south west.

Looking up at the pad and the mountain peak.

Here you can see the big trees on the property.

We have a couple neighbors and wild dear but its no problem. I'm putting the fence up and we have the high ground anyway. Its pretty mello around here.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

I can't tell you from experience and trials and such but from what I've gleaned here, Si and B are important to get right, as they help get Ca into the plant, so if your B or Si is low, you're limiting Ca. Do a search here and read what folks have said about Si. I wouldn't ignore your micros.

For your Al, you just have to raise your pH so it's unavailable. At that pH you have available Al and your roots would be affected. But your amendments probably raised it plenty to get out of that red zone. http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Soil_Aluminum_and_test_interpretation.htm

Ok good call Ill read up on si and make sure the plants are getting enough of it.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

I just sent in another lab test and added silica. Also I called spectrum and they still have my other sample on hand and can give me the silica levels on it. I should have the info soon

Other than that I finally completed all the gopher baskets! Whew, that took a lot of work... They are about 6.5' in diameter. Biggins!

Also, I finished half of the fence. Ga damn it been fun. Now time to get the excavator up here to fill these baskets....and get the other half of fence built.

I'm gonna pick up the rest of the organic amendments soon. I'm thinking of using some sort of tiller to mix em inside the baskets. I don't want to catch the metal sides and mess the baskets up though. So, I'm still figuring out the best solution. Have any suggestions leave em here and wish me luck

 

[plantingplants]

I think jidoka said this:

We look at it like si is the highway, ca is the truck and b is the fuel

 

[packerfan79]

Looks like a great property.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

I think jidoka said this:

Thanks for sharing that! Sounds like a great analogy

Looks like a great property.

Thanks, I'm trying to make the most of it.


Here are some photos of my progress:

The fence and privacy barrier 8' tall. Got it half way done.

24 freshly made gopher baskets

Last year's plot has top cover coming in strong all natural. I didn't plant it

 

[Bradley_Danks]

The lab tests are in. I got last years soils results with silica now as well. I tested 1 out of 4 of last years plots to get a general idea of the state of the soil. They all got the same regimen last year.... But I should of tested them all to be sure. Hopefully luck is on my side this year. Next year I'm gonna test each plot individually I'm thinking.


I notice that last years plots pH has risen up into the sixes and my calcium seems much higher than last year.

@plantingplants What's your thoughts on the silica? My source doesn't carry the w-10 yet but they have potassium silicate. I'm going to load up on amendments soon.

Here is the virgin native lab test results with silica added.

 

[lightuptheherb]

Looks like an good start mr. Danks. Are you digging? or when you getting the soil to mound up?

 

[Bradley_Danks]

Looks like an good start mr. Danks. Are you digging? or when you getting the soil to mound up?

Yeah, sometime this month. I reserved an excavator from the rental yard. I'm going to dig some 18" deep holes and submerge the 3 ft. tall baskets half way in the ground. Then I mound the soil up about a foot or so inside the baskets.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Looks promising, man!

 

[Bradley_Danks]

60 mph winds came through Friday and stress tested the privacy barrier. Lol... It held up well. The center binding on the barrier helped a lot! That cost extra and I'm thankful I got it. The wind blew up the mountain and bent the posts good on the north side. The west side (and most important side) had minimal damage. Looks like things will be alright.

I took all the privacy barrier down temporarily and am only going to use it on the west side now on. I just need to make a few adjustments first. We don't really need it on the rest of the fence anyways. If the 5-0 come up here and say shit I'll get some buck a foot barrier with wind slits cut into it and put it up. But since were near the top of the mountain one neighbor can see our grow even with a privacy barrier from parts of their property but not from their pad. So, I'm guessing things will be alright as long as its fenced and not visible to any public accesses.

Time to fill some baskets with dirt already!

I never made it to nw concentrates to buy amendments on Friday because that wind storm knocked trees down all over and power was out all over town. I'll grab em soon. Still getting more advice from folks on here too so maybe its a sign.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

It trips me out how the pH of our well water is 6.1 compared to 8.0 ph for most of the wells on the valley floor. I think they are drilled into limestone below sea level. Up here on the mountain at near 500ft elevation our well is drilled 190ft deep so were still over 300ft above sea level.

The well water guys told us were 90% full right now when they replaced the pump last week. Were going to try and have it tested again if possible during late summer to see how full it is then so we can see if we have enough to expand the grow next year.

I'm guessing the water is plentiful around here seeing that our neighbors have over 50 acres of vineyards growing around us. I'm curious about what kind of geology causes the water to be at 6.1 pH and if there is some sort of upwelling of water from below.