Improving soil with low weight?

[Old Toker]

I need to improve/amend the soil at my N FL grow spots.
I will only plant one plant per hole and the width/depth of the hole will be determined by how much soil I can improve.
The problem is that the grow locations are not easy to access, and I'm getting too old to haul a lot of soil/amendment weight. I have this plan to use either 10 or 20 gallon totes (depending on weight) with a strap system that will keep it closed and allow me to carry it on my back. I would like to keep the weight down to about 60-70 lbs (27-31 Kgs) max. I do not have a soil analysis and hope to have to carry just one of these totes per hole. Already have a tarp and digging tools on location which I would move from hole to hole as I dig them and amend them. Will be growing sativas and will not be able to water them after they are in the ground. Fortunately we get plenty of rain where I live.

My question is what would you recommend I put in this one tote to get the most "bang" for my poundage/kilos? If my grow survives this year without being ripped or busted.....I can make a further investment next season. Thanks in advance for any help, suggestions, links or guidance.

 

[gorilla ganja]

Hi Old Toker,
Would need to know about your native soil. What is it composed of?
A cheap kit can be bought to test for N-P-K and PH.
Also look to the native plants in the area they can tell you a lot.Are they lush and green.
Provide a little more info on your native soil and we can make a few recommendations for you.

Peace GG

 

[Easy7]

A lot of soil weight is moisture. You could let it dry out. I had a lazy grow that I brought in coco and vermiculite. This was amended with rotten tree humus.

 

[Jhhnn]

Hi Old Toker,
Would need to know about your native soil. What is it composed of?
A cheap kit can be bought to test for N-P-K and PH.
Also look to the native plants in the area they can tell you a lot.Are they lush and green.
Provide a little more info on your native soil and we can make a few recommendations for you.

Peace GG

Yep. different kinds of soil require different amendments. One thing that never hurts is local humus. Gently rake away loose leaves to expose a layer of decomposed stuff, gather it up & work it in to the soil where you'll grow. The one caveat is that pine humus can be too acidic.

A travois can be very useful. The best designs use 2 bicycle wheels & let you almost balance the load.

 

[Old Toker]

My grows will be primarily in a pine forest.
Makes sense to carry mostly dry ingredients and let mother nature supply the rain.
What about mixing something like Happy Frog Soil Conditioner? Is it any good? Is there something better....yet still relatively simple?
Thanks for all the help!

 

[Old Toker]

Maybe use 50 lbs or so of the Happy Frog Soil Conditioner as a base and then add some other amendments like more perlite, Marine Cuisine, neem, rock dust....? ? ? to get it where it needs to be. Am I completely off track with this whole approach?

 

[Gizmo]

first i will test the pH of the soil in a pine forest, i have no experience with happy frog and i dont know what is the NPK content but i have read it neutralises acidic soil and contains beneficial microbes, it looks expenssive, i prefer to add amendment one by one.

if the pH of your native soil is not too acidic i will use it as a soil base and correct the pH after some amendments. amendment like 10% high quality worm casting or some ground horn for vegetative, an organic tomatoes/strawberries/flowers fertilizer in pellet like we find at the garden store with an NPK close to a balance/equilibrium of 7-6-12+4Mgo , some bat guano high in P for flowering, maybe some water retainning cristal (but you said you have plenty of rain so it will depends how often you will come to water your plants). and adjust the pH of your soil mix, give your plants the right pH. if your native soil is too acidic maybe you will have to add some dolomite lime. buy a cheap pH kit.

all the amendments i wrote are not bulky except worm castings bags. an easier way with less investment will be to just add the organic fertilizer mix in pellet with a right NPK and adjust the pH of the soil. im not a specialist but this is how i will do. good luck man and stay safe.

 

[Jhhnn]

It takes years to build good soil starting from something very lean. About the best one can do is to start by adding nutrients & humus. Packing it in, humus is the hard part. The single season work/benefit ratio probably isn't as good as emphasizing nutrients.

I'd lean towards something like this to start

http://www.acmehydroponics.net/tga-fertilizer-pack.aspx

It has a broad range of slow release organic nutrients, minerals, bacteria, mycos & so forth making chances of any deficiency pretty small. There's probably other stuff like it available.

Then supplement it with as much of something like happy frog soil conditioner you can stand to pack in. I'd dry the stuff out before packing it anywhere.

 

[stoned-trout]

perlite makes holes stand out bigtime if growing guerilla ..make sure an cover it and don't use too much...after a hard rain when plants are young it will float to the top and you got white circles...yeehaw

 

[chronosync]

Organic time release

http://www.botanicare.com/Pure-Granular-Bloom-1-5-46-Ca-P55C2.aspx

 

[blue_tick]

old toker

1 bag (3.8 cf) promix bx
2 bags ffof 1.5 cf
1 30# bag ewc
1 cup dolomite lime
then go from there with your amendments. this should make around 65 gallon.i use this as my basic mix. if interested i can send my recipe. if you are in the pines i would dig holes and use smart pots. if you don't plan on watering use some water crystals to help out

peace

 

[Old Toker]

Gizmo, Jhhnn, stoned-trout, chronosync and everyone else......THANKS big time!
flboy......once again thanks and thank you for keeping it simple for me. Exactly what I needed. I'd really appreciate your recipe. Considering the size of the plants in your last grow.....there are probably lots of people interested.

 

[blue_tick]

old toker
last season i used this for my mix

1 bail promix (3.8 cf) opened up = 6 cf
1 cup lime per cf
1/2 cup blood meal per cf
1 cup bone meal per cf
1/2 cup kelp meal per cf
1/2 cup green sand per cf this is burn one's recipe in the organic grower thread. water with liquid karma and let cook 2 weeks minimum.
i veg them a little to long so i think i fell short in the end of the longer flowering plants and i had to add ferts in water to finish them. if you have 10 wk type sativa's you should be fine with 2 month veg.

this year i am going with dank franks recipe it is as follows
1 bail promix (3.8 cf)
2 1.5 bags of ffof
1 30 # bag ewc
10 gallon chuncky perlite
1 cup alfalfa meal
1 dry cup molasses
2 cup kealp meal
2 cup blood meal
2 cup fish bone meal
1 cup seabird guano (pellet)
1/4 cup sul-po-mag
1 cup azomite
2/3 cup lime
2/3 cup gypsum
4/3 cup oyster shell flour
1/2 tbsp bio vam from t&j interprise
1/2 tbsp bio ag vam endo

mix and let cook. i will wait 30 days to plant in

hope it helps
peace

 

[Old Toker]

i veg them a little to long so i think i fell short in the end of the longer flowering plants and i had to add ferts in water to finish them. if you have 10 wk type sativa's you should be fine with 2 month veg.

this year i am going with dank franks recipe it is as follows
1 bail promix (3.8 cf)
2 1.5 bags of ffof
1 30 # bag ewc
10 gallon chuncky perlite
1 cup alfalfa meal
1 dry cup molasses
2 cup kealp meal
2 cup blood meal
2 cup fish bone meal
1 cup seabird guano (pellet)
1/4 cup sul-po-mag
1 cup azomite
2/3 cup lime
2/3 cup gypsum
4/3 cup oyster shell flour
1/2 tbsp bio vam from t&j interprise
1/2 tbsp bio ag vam endo

mix and let cook. i will wait 30 days to plant in

Outstanding.....thank you very much!
You think this will make about 65 gallons? Should be potent.
How do you plan on shortening the veg period outside? Pop the seeds later?
Regards.

 

[Old Toker]

Anyone know the formula for figuring out how much this 65 gallons might weigh? I'd like to figure out how many trips to my grow site will be required and what I will need to transport it. Can't imagine putting enough of this mix in a backpack to fill eight 100 gallon air pots. Depending on weight and the number of trips required....I may need to either use smaller pots or stick with just amending as much of the planting sites as possible.
Thanks everyone for your patience with my newbie questions and advice/help. It is REALLY appreciated!

 

[gorilla ganja]

I do not know the formula, But I would guess 800 gallons is a F@#king heavy.

There is no arguing with flboys results. OR anybody that uses a nice organic mix.
But it is up to each guerrilla to figure what is best for his or her situation.
Bringing in that sort of weight is not only a nightmare on your back, but the more trips to the site the the worse your security.
Which is a guerrillas FIRST and most important priority.

Trying to recreate the California growers huge smart pot farms is maybe not the best idea for all guerrillas.

Spend your time checking out the native soil, at various locations.
Some times a little blending of local soil, and a handful of chemical fertilizer, some lime, may be all you need.

Cannabis is a weed and can out grow a lot of plants given decent conditions. Now will it yield as much as a perfect mix and daily watering, of course not.

But a ripped or busted patch will produce Zero.

To each their own. I am not knocking any method. It's just us guerrillas have to take a lot of things into consideration besides the perfect plant.

But having said that. Everyone's soil is different. And sometimes some weight has to be brought in. I just look at things different as I get older.

Any way best of luck and may all your buds be Huge.

Cheers GG

 

[blue_tick]

GG

i agree 100% on what you are saying. the soil (sand ) down here i wouldn't waste my time on. when i haul my goods in i never take the same rout twice. 1 bail of promix is around 60#. i will break the bail in half and tote it that way with a few of the amendments with it to take less trips as possible along with a jug or two of water each time to wet it down for the soil to cook. i just read old tokers post and i see 800 gallon damn that's more than i do even i plan on only doing 5 100 gallon this time.

peace

 

[Old Toker]

But a ripped or busted patch will produce Zero.

Thank you GG for the sage and common sense advice.
As I mentioned in an earlier post......I've never grown at these locations and while I want to produce as much weight as possible......I would like to minimize the initial "sweat equity" in these holes until I'm sure they'll survive a harvest. That and I'm getting too old to carry that much weight.....PLUS of course there is the security issue. That's why initially I thought I would just mix about 50lbs of a bagged amendment like Happy Frog Soil Conditioner along with what ever is missing from that mix and limit myself to one trip per hole for the initial prep. As an alternative I could use 60-70 lbs of flboy's mix and use a smaller smart pot.
I know.....we all have to do what's best for our individual situations. Thanks again GG....I appreciate all the advice.

 

[Old Toker]

flboy: I thought I'd plant 4 plants a hundred yards or so apart at one location and then do the same at a second location a mile or so away. Minimize the footprint and hopefully maximizing my chances of a couple or more surviving until harvest.
The soil seems to be a little bit richer up here than where you are.....but I agree that it probably isn't the best. Thanks again for sharing your experience and wisdom.

 

[blue_tick]

old toker

it will take a few trips to get enough to make 800 gallons.i would start now to get it packed in. get a pack that a tent comes in and break the bails in half and carry half a bail and some of the nutrients in each trip. 800 will work the shit outta you for sure hand mixing like i do. the second recipe i gave you is going to be around 65 gallons. you might want to think about 65 gallon pots and only put the plants in them in beginning of june to mid june. what i do is start the seeds in cups then put them in 2 gallon pots with just promix and ewc for about 30 days or they sex then put them in final pots to finish up in was thinking 100 gallon might last for close to 5 months before the nutrients run out so adjust accordingly


hope it helps

peace