FoothillFarming
Active member
Biggest pumpkin I ever grew was 900 lbs. Nice work!
Screws, go to Logan Labs. They are heads and shoulders above the rest.
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MotherLode Gardens 2016
- Thread starter Shcrews
- Start date
Biggest pumpkin I ever grew was 900 lbs. Nice work!
Screws, go to Logan Labs. They are heads and shoulders above the rest.
Just adding another vote for amending now. Trying to correct problems with a foliar spray can be a pain in the ass. And it does not look like you have much amending to do.
leadsled
Member
Excellent thanks for sharing.
Yes, Send into logan labs.
The FGL soil test shows exchangeable nutrients and soluble nutrients. (Test states: exch, sol)
With logan labs, you do the base test and than can get a saturated paste for available nutrients. Best to do this once plants are growing in the soil.
If you budget allows ideally will also do a biological test to during the season to make sure things are on track as far as chemistry and biology in the soil.
Can also do sap analysis to make sure the nutrients are getting into the plant.
Nitrogen. The plants start yellow at bottom of plant and will start dropping leaves off.
I ask because the N levels are low in the FGL test. DO not want to overdose the N. Excess N will not give the plants the disease and pest resistance that is ideal.
The yellowing form nitrogen is in a V shape and goes up the leaf. See third leaf in illustration.
The coots mix usually has enough Nitrogen to last for 2-3 rounds.
Keep an eye on them visually. Watch for yellowing and than top dress, drench and foliar a N source. fertinitro, fish etc.
Or can monitor the EC of the soil and sap ph and brix to monitor the plants and keep fed with enough nutrition.
No to borax twice.
Add it once. Grow plants harvest. Test soil.
Than you can add again if the boron rates in the soil are NOT YET at the levels you need.
Yes, without the logan labs test.
You can apply boron by spraying 11 grams per yard onto the soil.
Ideally you get the logan lab test and weigh one gallon of your soil.
I then give you exact recommendations for a yard of soil.
Logan labs base plus test will also give us, silicon, cobalt, molybdenum, and EC.
Download and print logan labs worksheet.
http://www.loganlabs.com/doc/submissionworksheet.pdf
Bottom of test are lines for comments:
Write AEA Base Test Plus EC, Mo, Co, Se, Si @$30.00 each.
Trace minerals are critical for the microbiology in the soil. Enzyme co-factors and nitrogen fixation.
Hope that helps and makes sense, if not please ask.
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plantingplants
Active member
Shcrews sorry if you already explained this but why is your 40 yard formula only 36 yards plus amendments, so not quite 37 yards?
I'm surprised all those amendments are less than 1 cu yd. 1000lb of rock dust is probably at least a yard by itself, so you might want to re-check your math. but whatever. Anyway the reason i used 12yds of each of the main base ingredients (peat, compost aeration), is because you can only fit 40 yards on a truck and to make it exactly that much i would need to start using fractions.
plantingplants
Active member
I did some quick math with
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/11485089-how-much-does-each-amendment-weigh
and came out with a little over a yard for the amendments. Glacial rock dust is dense so 1000 lbs according to BAS is 0.55 yard if it's 9oz a cup. 3231.6 cups in a yard.
Then something like crab meal at 7 oz(I think) a cup, for 250 lbs is only like 0.17 yard or something.
Anyway, was just wondering. I'm going to add one of each aeration and peat to make it 38 plus amendments. Thanks
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/11485089-how-much-does-each-amendment-weigh
and came out with a little over a yard for the amendments. Glacial rock dust is dense so 1000 lbs according to BAS is 0.55 yard if it's 9oz a cup. 3231.6 cups in a yard.
Then something like crab meal at 7 oz(I think) a cup, for 250 lbs is only like 0.17 yard or something.
Anyway, was just wondering. I'm going to add one of each aeration and peat to make it 38 plus amendments. Thanks
there you go.
just curious, why add more peat and aeration but not more compost?Anyway, was just wondering. I'm going to add one of each aeration and peat to make it 38 plus amendments. Thanks
plantingplants
Active member
I figured they couldn't do fractions of each so I had to pick two. Maybe compost and more aeration would be better. Makes sense to add more humus.
Oh yea and I was concerned about throwing the mix off somehow so I chose the two most inert materials.
Edit: they are able to do 1/2s and 3/4s.
Oh yea and I was concerned about throwing the mix off somehow so I chose the two most inert materials.
Edit: they are able to do 1/2s and 3/4s.
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yes , very helpful, thank you!
just a few more questions
-looking at my tests, it appears there is too much P, and not enough K. thoughts on this? what do you recommend i do about it?
-what about the low Ca and Mg? and the sulfates?
-what is the procedure/method for spraying borax? I have an atomiser and a regular sprayer.
wow leadsled......I wish I could just follow you around and listen to you talk lol..man I need to go back and do a shit ton of reading....jumping from primarily indoor to outdoor full-time and I still have a lot to learn...great thread Schrews (Tess and your's are my favorites ol)
Good ol boy
New member
Hey schrews love all you work. All your grows are full of good info. I used build a soil for my recommendations this year after getting results back from Logan labs. Build a s was pretty slow but very helpful just have to stay on them as they are swamped. I was wondering how you hooked up your Honda wx15 pump up to your water tank ?
quick release coupling on the pump attaches to a suction hose which attaches to a ball valve on the tank
Good ol boy
New member
Thanks shcrews. I also use the home depot clamps for my plastic.
_tessarecting
ஓ
Nice work Shcrews! Some misc thoughts:
Look up which way the wind blows the most where youre at and position them in that direction. N-S is ideal for R factor (light intensity/growth increase) but unless youre running a fan it helps to take this natural windflow into account.
Clips are good if you dont have to worry about wind. I staple and roll my plastic on 2x4s or 2x2s but I feel like this would get too hot for your area. I would say try to get away with clips, or clips and gorilla tape, so you can roll up your sides when it starts getting hot. You will be able to lower the temps by like 20 degrees by doing so.
Fuck yeah hoop house!
Look up which way the wind blows the most where youre at and position them in that direction. N-S is ideal for R factor (light intensity/growth increase) but unless youre running a fan it helps to take this natural windflow into account.
Clips are good if you dont have to worry about wind. I staple and roll my plastic on 2x4s or 2x2s but I feel like this would get too hot for your area. I would say try to get away with clips, or clips and gorilla tape, so you can roll up your sides when it starts getting hot. You will be able to lower the temps by like 20 degrees by doing so.
Fuck yeah hoop house!
they make 1" pvc snap clamps that are super handy and secure.
i also screw them in upside down to the wood skirt or rim joist so if you roll up your sides use 1" pvc snap clamped to your plastic and roll it up during the day holding it open with spring clamps- then roll down at night and the 1" pvc with plastic secured to it just snaps into the snap clamp for windy nights.
