Earth holes: A experiment in Guerrilla irrigation

[Bass Akwards]

Thanks for stepping in, Cerb & Tex ...

Maybe we're just a little edgy since it's Springtime.

Imagine how cranky & paranoid we'll be in the Fall!

Haven't had a buzz all day ... guess it's time.

 

[Cascadia]

Good luck with this BC! I hope to do something similar this year, and believe me, after a summer in this climate, I understand what you are saying about the dry summers, rainfall defiantly won't suffice.

Anyone who is interested or doubtful of this concept should check out Earthboxes, here are a few pics of Earthboxes in action-





Check out my Earthbox thread for tons more info!!

 

[BigTex]

Backcountry I always enjoy finding one of your threads. You seem to be a pretty informed dude. You are in Oregon? I've never been there, heck I've never been anywhere much, but I thought it rained quite a bit there. Guess not though. I'm amazed sometimes at folks pics when I see stuff like a desert in the background! It's really amazing how some people seem to tame the most hospitable climates. Fastpine is one that comes to mind. You ever see any of his pics? That guy GROWS and from what I can tell in a damn desert! If I was in a dry climate I'd keep my eye on that dude. That is if the big-timer aint been busted yet. I hope not.
About the only problems I encounter are critters and rippers. Check out my lush lil spot I have this year. Nice pond in the background too....

I got a feeling the rain might be sparse this summer, but it won't be a problem with my nice spring fed pond and my new WX10.

Here's one of Fastpine's pics. Looks like a dry climate to me...

 

[lunatick]

sorry in advance for my bad english

"What is pitcher irrigation?" it is just a different name to your d.i.y wet pot system.

try to google it,i found some interesting articles on the way.

when i said before that i used the wet pots i meant that i made a similar design to yours,last summer,using a single round terra cota pot and it did just great,ill try it again soon hopefully.(tnx btw)

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Big tex- Actually, I helped Fast Pine along when he was trying to set up his first big grow here, I was a mentor of sorts for him concerning irrigation, if you read the Gasoline powered pump thread in the sticky section you will find me trying to direct him to buy the correct Gasoline powered pump, the WX-10.

I would never try to grow as large as Fast Pine in my neighborhood, especially with as little cover as he has, he must have bowling balls for testes!

My climate is very dry in summer, believe it or not I'm sure I get less summer rainfall than Fast pine, astonishing but true.

Anyways, I hope I can have a nice summer season, without trolls............

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Where's this season-long water supply coming from?

Did I miss something? Will it be hauled in a backpack?

Using a small camo tarp and a container to catch rain water would be seem to be the essential missing element.

There's a lot to be said for thinking through a growing scheme, and every grower has to make his own decisions, but ... the amount of effort expended to build this thing, haul it into place, dig the hole, and then bury the contraption, would be much better spent finding other spots to plant.

If you're going to dig a hole that big, for crying out loud, just mix in some crushed limestone, several cups of Milorganite, and perhaps some kelp meal and dried leaves & grass from the ground. That's all you really need.

With just an ordinary Spring/Summer rain pattern, that deep, loose, soil will let the plant go deep enough to survive with minimal watering.

I never invest more time, effort, supplies, or equipment in any particular patch than I can afford to walk away from and never see again.

Growing one big, monster, plant can boost your ego, but I'd much rather have 10 smaller plants that took a lot less effort for the same yield.

Good luck.

Well I guess to each his own.........we don't all have moist summer climates to grow in. Watch my summer grow this year for more info........

 

[Cascadia]

Hey BC! My wife and I had a talk, and we agreed that since we don't live in the city anymore(not by a long shot), that it should be safe for me to grow here on my remote property.

I'm kinda thinking I'll build a bunch of Earthboxes, stick them in a Greenhouse, and start them kinda late, maybe in late May or June, so they stay small. So no Earth hole tests from me this year, maybe I'll try them down the road after you prove them out.

Anyways, I'll start a thread in the Greenhouse growers section once I'm ready to go. Good luck this season, just in case I miss the start of yours, the hills are getting very free of snow, and its time to go to work again.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Sounds like a good plan on the Green house, I wish my family would allow me to do that. Would make a great test bed for Earth boxes. I'm finding that as I work on redesigning the layout of my Earth holes, that they resemble Earth boxes more and more, LOL!

At any rate, planting time for my non-Earth hole plots is right around the corner, and then I'll start my '09 grow thread, which should be tons more satisfying than last years thread.......

 

[coralreefer]

so i put your tub and bucket earth hole to the test bc and am surprised by how wet the soil is. if i dig a small hole a puddle of water will form. the soil in the tub is essentially swamp like and im afraid this going to drown my babies.
gantz had said something along the lines of, "if some roots can breathe it doesnt matter if the lower ones cannot". gantz if youre around id love to know if you know this as 100% fact.
the one pro i have noticed is that when the soil has reached a certain saturation point the extra water in the 5 gallon bucket will stop leeching out into the soil like you had hoped bc. so far i have around 8 gallons in the soil and 5 in the bucket.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

coralreefer- Hey man! Slap up a picture so I can see if you did it right. Three out of four people who comment in this thread seem to have trouble understanding the concept and my drawings, so nothing personal........

Yes, Gantz is speaking the truth as far as the roots go there, be assured! If you have doubts, please go visit some swamp growing threads, those guys do the same exact thing without the need for the water basin underneath, because the swamp itself serves the same exact purpose! All I have done here is create a artificial swamp, does that make the idea clearer???

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Check out the thread link below, swamp tubes are very similar in how they work-

Swamp tubes-by Bob Dole

 

[coralreefer]

im almost positive ive set it up the right way. heres a pic either way. oh yea i havent put the fill tube in yet because i was just testing the design out.


just got 6 super widow bushes and im excited as hell.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Yeah, looks like my original tub and bucket idea

Since you have only built the emitter so far, it is totally on track for the soil inside it to be totally soaked and saturated. Once the emitter is placed in the bottom of the hole, you would place the actual growing soil on top of it, and the moisture will transfer from the soaked peat in the tub to the growing soil containing the plants roots, do not plant the plant directly in the tub this would defiantly lead to waterlogged roots. Instead, the idea is to use the emitter to keep the planting soil above it at a optimum moisture level, this is crucial to understanding how the idea works.
Keep in mind that if you decide to experiment with Earth holes this season to know it is at your own risk, I am in no way endorsing the idea that this idea be used to depend on until myself(and anyone else brave enough) complete a full season and prove out the theory completely.

On a related note, I have narrowed down the basic design for all my Earth holes this year, it resembles the Tub and Bucket mostly. But instead of using the bucket to contain the water, and the tub to contain the peat, the roles are reversed, with the tub containing free water and the bucket used to contain the peat for wicking.

I was nervous before that the tubs and their lids would not handle the weight of the 30-50 gallons of soil I would place on top of them for the plants to grow in, but now I have changed the amount of planting soil to only 15 gallons, which should be plenty for the 3-5oz plants I envision.

This is the final design, two types, the basic and the super, the only difference is that the super uses 2 18 gallon tubs, and should last twice as long between fillings.

The dark green represents the peat filled buckets, the red represents the area filled with rich potting soil. My guestimation is that the basic will last 2-4 weeks in my hottest weather, and the super should last 4-7 weeks.

 

[coralreefer]

ok good. i feel much more relaxed now that ive got some input from you. thanks for the design idea and good luck this season. ill have my eye on your grow when you get that journal up.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

It is a pretty rich mix!

This morning while running errands in town, I stopped off at the local hardware store for some various items. When passing through the gardening section I noticed some really nice looking Tomato starts for a reasonable price. Its a bit early yet to plant Tomatoes outdoors here with out frost protection, but I have a makeshift Greenhouse to hold them so I figured what the hell.
I selected 3 plants of different varieties, and on the way home I was thinking I should transplant them to larger pots, and then I started thinking about what potting soil I should use? Then inspiration hit me, and I decided I should use the soil I just mixed for the Earthholes, if the plants start going unhealthy on me between now and Earthhole planting time(a few more weeks off), it would help indicate the soil may be too strong or unbalanced in some way before more valuable cannabis plants are committed to it.

We will watch these buggers for a few weeks, and see if they like the soil...........they were bought in pint size containers, and are now transplanted to gallon size pots.

And here are the test plants, 2 weeks later:

I decided to go ahead and plant these guys in the garden(they were kept in a warm greenhouse), so I took a picture to compare them to 2 weeks ago. No apparent signs of problems, but its probably too early to show signs of excess Nitrogen. At any rate, my potting soil isn't outright toxic........

Planting of Earth holes should commence around May 15-25, then this thread will end, and transfer to my grow thread for the experiment.

 

[hazy]

Ha! We're at the end of tomato growing season here. 100+ from now on for the most part and the earth boxes might be a possibility for desert growing, but not in the summer. Maybe in our fall growing season it'd work.
good luck with it. I was thinking something like a big aquaglobe.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

You must be in a tropical desert?

 

[MrDanky]

bump!

 

[coralreefer]

aye bc what happens if it rains? are the plants going to drown?

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Nope, at best it would fill the rez, and the rest would continue to drain from the hole, this is why it is important to not completely seal the soil containing part of the hole ever.

I've been away with personal business for the last couple weeks, I have managed to get a handful of plants out, including one Earth hole. I have more plants to get out, and I'll be starting a grow thread here in a day or two.