Is anyone there???

[CrushnYuba]

Thedeffzip: plants look good! U are in socal right?

I didn't do well in the ground.
We did great in the summer and then had real issues off season up here where it's colder. Not being able to really get supplemental heat to roots and keeping moisture in check when it was cold out. You probably don't have That problem where u are at. The last run we did in the ground was just failure. The plants were weak and everything just started rotting. Never had botritus on stems before. Probably could have figured a way to get it dialed in.

Is it just warmer there or do u only grow in season? Your plants look great

Its also nice to have all plastic surfaces that can be scrubbed though.

 

[TheDeafZip]

Thedeffzip: plants look good! U are in socal right?

I didn't do well in the ground.
We did great in the summer and then had real issues off season up here where it's colder. Not being able to really get supplemental heat to roots and keeping moisture in check when it was cold out. You probably don't have That problem where u are at. The last run we did in the ground was just failure. The plants were weak and everything just started rotting. Never had botritus on stems before. Probably could have figured a way to get it dialed in.

Is it just warmer there or do u only grow in season? Your plants look great

Its also nice to have all plastic surfaces that can be scrubbed though.

Yuba! ive read a lot of your posts and appreciate the work you do! So with that being said, seeing your reply and nice words, was a surprise, and is truly appreciated! So thank you for that.

Growing in the ground can be iffy and unpredictable....but I LOVE it for many reasons, but hate it for a few...the main issue for me has been "pests". Im talking nasty, rodents...and not just 1 kind. Gophers, voles, rats, ground squirrels, rabbits, field mice. They all do their own type of damage and at different times of the year....They are fucking brutal man, ive lost so many plants, so much time and you know the rest, lol. I've even seen plants start wiggling in a weird way, stop what im doing, and it starts twitching, and i shit you not it will start slowly getting pulled down into the ground, where the gopher came from...The only way to avoid this 100% is to take wire mesh and create like a bucket shape, and transplant into that....then used wire mesh and wrap around the stalk, and after that, obviously your layers of chicken wire for protection and support/trellising. Its pretty bad down here with varmints. Id appreciate any accept all advice or tips regarding that...

I start off with digging massive holes, as big as i can by hand basically, using pick axe, shovel, gas auger and some beers and good smoke...then fill those with a lot of peat and soil that holds water nicely...doing this allows the plants to grow unrestricted, as big as they want, as fast as they want, you will see the results in the yields. Growing in containers for example, your root systems will only get so big, granted some will bust out into the ground, but not your main root system...another thing i love, they dont quite as much water, i love to stress them out, go multiple days without watering before the season really kicks off...so by that time they have dug their roots so deep, the stalks are huge, and they are ready to do their thing the rest of the way.

Off season runs is a different story, growing in the ground is rough, wouldnt normally recommend it. I grow year round...no days off...socal provides damn near the perfect climate for that with some minor infrastructure. How are you guys doing it up there in the winter?

 

[CrushnYuba]

Haha. O man.i can visualise the plant twitching. U gotta just have a sense of humor about that stuff. I always imagine critters to be like the gopher in caddy shack.One year i had the biggest flock of wild turkeys destroying my mounds. Digging at my roots and stuff. I don't really have any advice you don't know.

I have grown every which way. In the ground, beds, small pots, big pots. Beds.

A plant grown in a small pot should have just as much root mass as a plant grown in a big pot or the ground. It's just more compact instead of spread out. It's a little harder to do but they should grow just as fast if they get the same amount of food and water. you also don't get the natural structure. An unrestricted plant grows nice and wide without any manipulation. I like smaller pots in my greenhouses Watering/feeding more frequently.

I'm completely off the ground for my greenhouses. I don't have any roots growing through. The ground is plastic. I heat the air and it keeps my roots warm this time of year. I have tinkered with hydronic heating soil in beds. Didn't do as well.

For my outdoor i like giving more unlimited root space, but i like doing mounds or beds. The benefits of being in the ground without the draw backs. For my greenhouse, i like the control i have in smart pots no larger then 20 gal.

 

[CrushnYuba]

 

[TheDeafZip]

Haha. O man.i can visualise the plant twitching. U gotta just have a sense of humor about that stuff. I always imagine critters to be like the gopher in caddy shack.One year i had the biggest flock of wild turkeys destroying my mounds. Digging at my roots and stuff. I don't really have any advice you don't know.

I have grown every which way. In the ground, beds, small pots, big pots. Beds.

A plant grown in a small pot should have just as much root mass as a plant grown in a big pot or the ground. It's just more compact instead of spread out. It's a little harder to do but they should grow just as fast if they get the same amount of food and water. you also don't get the natural structure. An unrestricted plant grows nice and wide without any manipulation. I like smaller pots in my greenhouses Watering/feeding more frequently.

I'm completely off the ground for my greenhouses. I don't have any roots growing through. The ground is plastic. I heat the air and it keeps my roots warm this time of year. I have tinkered with hydronic heating soil in beds. Didn't do as well.

For my outdoor i like giving more unlimited root space, but i like doing mounds or beds. The benefits of being in the ground without the draw backs. For my greenhouse, i like the control i have in smart pots no larger then 20 gal.

Yea...its not funny...but its kind of funny lol. I just plant numbers and budget for loss on the outdoors the last few years. turkeys sounds like a new one lol! plants look amazing too

 

[TheDeafZip]

Yuba, are you rocking soil or coco?

 

[CrushnYuba]

I got holes in the ground everywhere but my plants don't get eaten. They much prefer to eat my water lines! I don't know how to stop it. I just fix it. What kind of satanic creature eats PVC and thick poly! There are just so many tunnels by the water lines. I think ground squirles are actually demons that dig their way up from Hell.

The pictures above were soil. I don't usually grow plants that big in my depps. Kind of just an experiment.

I use soil mostly. Or soiless mixes. I use coco sometimes or mixes with coco in them. I do stuff differently all the time. But i mostly do potting mixes that are heavy on the fluffy stuff. Peat, coco, fir bark. Perlite, lava rock. Small amount of compost. Dry organic amendments.

I like salts in coco or soiless mixes, but i don't do it as frequently. Organic is easier.

 

[TheDeafZip]

Idk how I didnt see your reply, my bad for late response.

i swear theyll eat anything, they even eat the wires for my cctv cameras if i leave them exposed. Rodents are no joke. How come you stay away form bigger plants, convenience, fast cycles? or both?

How does coco do for you?? I did an experiment a few years back vegging in coco in a greenhouse, they grow INSANELY fast, like 6 ft tall in a couple weeks in april - so weather was nice too. I didnt flower them in that location though...transplanted into smart pots with soil. How did they do on water? I bet they drank like a mfer. I like soil because it doesnt dry out as fast and require massive amounts of water. ..I cant lie im itching to do a coco/salt run at my new spot though...been years since i was growing fire in coco, and i really miss it.