Digging Gorilla Holes

[TychoMonolyth]

Dig them wide and shallow.

Cannabis Sativa Root System (source)

20 cm (8 inches) deep it is then. Any deeper and you'll absolutely have to stake your plants. This also shows why a simple top dressing and mulch can help so much.

The downside to a shallow hole is that you need mighty stakes to keep the plants upright if you experience wind storms. I ran out of bamboo so I had to use a hockey stick here. It had fallen over and the buds hadn't even started to pack on weight.

That said, if your soil is loose enough to easily dig into with your hands, you shouldn't have to worry about digging a wide hole. I tend to look for Raspberry patches to plant my gorilla plants because Raspberry plants keep the soil loose and thrive in 6-6.5 PH soil. Nettles are also good at keeping the soil loose with a great PH. If I have the choice, I go for the Nettles because they're easier to trim back than raspberry plants. Mind you raspberry plants don't produce a lot of shade when they're young, but you still have to cut them back because once they mature, nothing underneath the canopy gets any sun at all.

Nettle Patch

Raspberry Patch

Some roots obviously go a little deeper, but the majority are still at 20cm.

 

[Nordic Stoner]

staking it with a hockey stick is very Canadian of you ahaha

 

[Chi13]

Good thread but I have to point out it is guerrilla, not gorilla, unless you are digging a hole to trap a great ape.

Guerrilla taken from a form of stealthy warfare.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

tomayto tomahto. lol

 

[Chi13]

Fair enough, I always feel a bit of a dick pulling people up for spelling. The gorilla/geurrilla thing I've always found a little funny.

 

[yardgrazer]

No issues with being near canefruit and botrytis?


ETA: Come to think of it I think I asked you this once before and you hadn't noticed anything...

 

[f-e]

Continuing with the pedantic nature of past posts, we are not digging holes. I have had people turn up with spades and start to dig, but their back is broken almost before they have done anything. Why do you need a hole?

The tines of your fork are a good guide to acceptable depth. Though you may find even 8" hitting stone in some places.

 

[star crash]

Damn near destroyed my arms with one of these last season ... never again I’m way too old...

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Modified Ice Auger.

I can drill all day long with it. But I bring an extra battery just in case. I mess up the hole underground by cranking it sideways.

 

[LizardMan]

To bad the one in the kiddie pool was a late show male! (my fault on not sexing properly.) And yes the pool held slightly more soil then the fabric pots but the plants were started and topped and everything the same.... Shows the plant we love is more like a tree with one main tap root (if seed start) with a bunch of lateral roots close to surface.

 

[LizardMan]

The surface roots for the kiddie pool!



Wanted to state those are from mid August, would of loved to see it be a female and finish in the pool, wonder if it would of ran out of nuice or kept growing and stretching.

 

[Big M]

Battery powered weed eater to remove vegetation, small spade shovel to cut away a circle of sod, and one of these to loosen the soil:

Can all be carried in one trip quite easily. Don't cheap out on the weed eater, and bring a spare battery. Clear vegetation around the plot down to a few inches, leaving it look natural and blended. Clear the vegetation to the ground for the actual hole, then cut a sod circle with the small spade. Pop out the sod and till er up nice n loose.

It's practically no-till, with no need to prepare a wide and deep traditional hole. Works really well with well established soil that doesn't need many amendments.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

No issues with being near canefruit and botrytis?


ETA: Come to think of it I think I asked you this once before and you hadn't noticed anything...

Unless your plant gets damaged, rot can only attack via a wound. Seeing as it's planted in the great outdoors, birds and bugs boring into the buds could introduce a wound I guess.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Continuing with the pedantic nature of past posts, we are not digging holes. I have had people turn up with spades and start to dig, but their back is broken almost before they have done anything. Why do you need a hole?

The tines of your fork are a good guide to acceptable depth. Though you may find even 8" hitting stone in some places.

Because I don't have to carry 1000 pots out to the field.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

To bad the one in the kiddie pool was a late show male! (my fault on not sexing properly.) And yes the pool held slightly more soil then the fabric pots but the plants were started and topped and everything the same.... Shows the plant we love is more like a tree with one main tap root (if seed start) with a bunch of lateral roots close to surface.

View attachment 557905

I love that picture. Proves the shallow root theory well.

Btw, how many drain holes in the kiddie pool?