Fireknot farm 2016

[Shcrews]

yah they suck to assemble but the baskets worked great, they just got bigger every year. Was shown how to make them by an oldschool grower from Big Sur. check my thread last yr i was making 800gal baskets which i still have, but this year i'm just goin to pile dirt on top of them and turn them into mounds.

gophers will definitely chew through smarpots thats why i use the hardware cloth, although Tesseracting obviously went with the chicken wire option i think hardware cloth is better for gophers

 

[_tessarecting]

The mugs are hardware cloth the surface is chicken wire.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

yah they suck to assemble but the baskets worked great, they just got bigger every year. Was shown how to make them by an oldschool grower from Big Sur. check my thread last yr i was making 800gal baskets which i still have, but this year i'm just goin to pile dirt on top of them and turn them into mounds.

gophers will definitely chew through smarpots thats why i use the hardware cloth, although Tesseracting obviously went with the chicken wire option i think hardware cloth is better for gophers

Cool, I just searched your old thread for baskets and saw your old posts. I always thought you just had smart pots... What kind of material do you have wrapped around the cages?

The native soil slices like butter where I'm at and its super rich so I'm burying my cages. I figure I'll have about 600 gallons of soil per hole. They are about 2 feet deep and my hardware cloth is 3ft. Tall.

 

[_tessarecting]

The cootz is currently needing to be hosed down 2x a day.

I cant say I really mind...its gorgeous up there. But depending on how this cover crop thing pans out I see mulching very near on the horizon. I think I see 1 clover...!

I got some booch to bottle.

 

[Shcrews]

are you just supposed to throw the cover crop seed blend on top of the dirt and water it, or do you put more dirt on top of it?

what will you mulch with if the clover doesnt grow?

 

[HillMizer]

are you just supposed to throw the cover crop seed blend on top of the dirt and water it, or do you put more dirt on top of it?

what will you mulch with if the clover doesnt grow?

I press the seeds into loose soil with the backside of a steel rake, and I mulched with rice straw.

Without mulch you def need to cover them with dirt. The bigger beans won't pop if they don't stay wet. I planted some just before harvest last year and let the microsprinklers get it. But even with 1x per day watering most of the cover crop did not grow. Just vetch and wheatgrass grew.

 

[_tessarecting]

I tossed then watered. I can see some seeds still in the same spots. I bet some got washed down too though. I wouldnt be surprised if I killed it already the soil dries up so fast. I dont know proper methods thats just what I felt like doing.

Oak leaves for now.

 

[20sackzack]

Im using the buildasoil 12 seed blend. I first lightly raked the soil to loosen it. Then I sprinkled the seed as evenly as I could across the pots. Then lightly raked the seeds in and watered

It got pretty cold the couple days after that and I definitely didn't keep the top layer moist the whole time so I wasn't sure how well they would do

A couple weeks later, bam. All sorts of shit coming up. Some pots have a lot more coverage than others for some reason. Although there are little sprouts coming up everywhere now

Hope you dont mind if I post a pic. I will take it down if you want

 

[Stone House]

Just throw the seeds on top, then make sure about a 1/2" to 1" of soil on top.
You can add soil or just stir the seeds into the soil you have.
With the heat were having you need to keep the soil damp until seed germinates, after that water as needed.

 

[who dat is]

I have just scattered the seed mix on top and I've also laid it on top and sprinkled some soil over top prior to watering in. Looking forward I will probably continue to just sprinkle the seed mix on top and water it in. It's true only the smaller seeds will germinate but once they get established the keep the soil moist enough for the bigger seeds to germinate and take off. KISS in my opinion

 

[_tessarecting]

I think I'm just going to throw 2" of rice straw over it later and call it a day.

Where do you guys get your compost extract?

 

[FoothillFarming]

Where do you guys get your compost extract?

From Compost?

 

[Bradley_Danks]

I think I'm just going to throw 2" of rice straw over it later and call it a day.

Where do you guys get your compost extract?

Watcha mean by compost extract?

 

[_tessarecting]

Check leadsleds thread in organic soil. I want to get on this so bad! I was too busy today to try to source all that stuff.

The plants are the greenest they've ever been today. Fuck yeah. Rice straw FTW.

 

[who dat is]

Check leadsleds thread in organic soil. I want to get on this so bad! I was too busy today to try to source all that stuff.

The plants are the greenest they've ever been today. Fuck yeah. Rice straw FTW.

View Image

You didn't want to use concrete remesh instead of the 2x4 welded wire?

 

[_tessarecting]

I'll use remesh for drying for sure. I already had the roll of 2"x4" and despite not being able to get my hands in there I think it should work out just fine. I saw you used the stuff too.

Another layer of support will go up when they outgrow this. T posts and trellis a la Motherlode stylee.

 

[who dat is]

I'll use remesh for drying for sure. I already had the roll of 2"x4" and despite not being able to get my hands in there I think it should work out just fine. I saw you used the stuff too.

I did but mine were put in the ground middle of July. Yours will be monsters and will need that extra support. It's spendier but I'm sure you can reuse it next year and also for drying. I would say if you intend to use it for drying then go ahead and spring for the material now if you can and use it. If nothing else you'll have 4x4 squares to work with instead of 2x4.

Looking good 'round here

 

[Stone House]

I'm starting to think about mounds next year instead of smartpots.

The rice straw mulch really blends well with surroundings, way less obvious than smartpots. Great job!

 

[jbarsk8]

Youre working your butt off sir!

 

[HillMizer]

They're looking good! Nice work! Mine are quite a bit smaller.