MotherLode Gardens 2016

[Good ol boy]

Schrews I finally got my irrigation in place and plumbed all up but when I fired up the Honda pump a few of the emitters had water coming out like 3 feet. I cut one of the emitters out of the tube to see if it was clogged and it was just an open hole. Did you come across this at all ? I put in a barbed coupler in place of the faulty emitter but there's a few more that are doing it.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

Do they water away from the stalk? I think the same effect can be had if one waters nearer the edge of the hole/pot/mound. The water is available, but the roots need to grow out in order to get to it.

This is how I coax my roots to the edge of my smart pots faster. That and gh rapid start. Lol. I use coco though. It's different.

I learned from growing in deep water culture that roots love oxygen, and water. Its a balance though. The closer you keep it to the ideal balance the happier your plants will be. Going super wet to too dry causes issues too. Just like temp range. Just making sure the medium is loose and the roots get air makes a huge difference in nutrient uptake. I don't allow them to get dry enough to cause drooping though.

 

[Good ol boy]

Also do you turn the pump all the way up ?

 

[FoothillFarming]

I have native soil samples, and they are not that far off. Good calcium, but high K.

 

[cbcool]

Hey, Shcrews, are you alright out there on the frame, we haven't seen an update in awhile? Hope all is well and safe!

 

[Ilikesade]

issues...

found some twisted gnarly looking growth on the top of a smaller plant.
and a couple other plants have some funny looking slightly-twisted growth tips

Schrews, I'm having the same issue

If you find out what that is please let me know thanks. Otherwise your grow looks all around awesome!

 

[EastBayGrower]

his and prob yours as well is calcium def.

 

[mattolothepolo]

Broad mites is the issue for curling, I believe. Many growers have been experiencing it throughout the Sierras. Inspect under a scope.

 

[jidoka]

I disagree on ca. Stupid high ca and p are blocking k and mg and tying up micros, in particular zn.

If you don't believe it check the cec of 1/3 oly, peat and pumice. It is around 9. Then check the cec of the amended shit...20+. How the fuck does that happen.

And then some genius said lets chuck in a fuck ton of gypsum. That allows ca to bump k and mg off cec sites and leach them away

I love ca but too much is the worst idea ever

 

[Shcrews]

Schrews I finally got my irrigation in place and plumbed all up but when I fired up the Honda pump a few of the emitters had water coming out like 3 feet. I cut one of the emitters out of the tube to see if it was clogged and it was just an open hole. Did you come across this at all ? I put in a barbed coupler in place of the faulty emitter but there's a few more that are doing it.

sorry to hear that, i got 2500 feet of tubing from dripworks and there were no problems. If it's only a few emitters then you can definitely cut them out and put barbed couplers with hoseclamps. also tell the company, and they might send you more dripline...

Also do you turn the pump all the way up ?

no i turn the throttle up about 75%. that is still a ton of pressure, especially because the tank/pump are uphill from the plants. those honda pumps are sweet.

Broad mites is the issue for curling, I believe. Many growers have been experiencing it throughout the Sierras. Inspect under a scope.

we went over that in the 2015 thread.

 

[Shcrews]

Schrews, I'm having the same issue

If you find out what that is please let me know thanks. Otherwise your grow looks all around awesome!

i dont think that's the same problem. your leaves are tacoed, mine were just totally warped but no tacoing. get a soil test if possible

I have native soil samples, and they are not that far off. Good calcium, but high K.

your native soil is probably very similar to mine.. The plant that i put in the ground a month ago is growing wonderfully.

 

[Shcrews]

so I cut back on watering for a couple weeks... they've been getting about 20-25gal per plant now, once a day, and they are doing very well. i think i was overwatering for a while. of course now they are getting bigger and drinking more so it's always hard to find the balance betw over and underwatering.

i got the Reotemp 18-inch moisture probe, but i'm not exactly sure how to calibrate it. the instructions it came with didn't sound very scientific, they basically said to just put the probe in soil that i think is a good moisture level, and set that as the baseline....

but if i knew my soil was a good moisture level then why would i need the probe in the first place?



sometimes i wonder whether i'm just really slow, or if other folks are just not good at explaining things.

Hey, Shcrews, are you alright out there on the frame, we haven't seen an update in awhile? Hope all is well and safe!

i took a long weekend off, went to the beach.

 

[BrainSellz]

so I cut back on watering for a couple weeks... they've been getting about 20-25gal per plant now, once a day, and they are doing very well. i think i was overwatering for a while. of course now they are getting bigger and drinking more so it's always hard to find the balance betw over and underwatering.

i got the Reotemp 18-inch moisture probe, but i'm not exactly sure how to calibrate it. the instructions it came with didn't sound very scientific, they basically said to just put the probe in soil that i think is a good moisture level, and set that as the baseline....

but if i knew my soil was a good moisture level then why would i need the probe in the first place?



sometimes i wonder whether i'm just really slow, or if other folks are just not good at explaining things.

i took a long weekend off, went to the beach.
View Image

Good to hear the plants are doing great. Life is good.

The moisture probe, maybe you could mix up a small container of soil and wet it to your liking and set the probe with that. On another note, that beach wouldn't happen to be near Greyhound Rock would it? Looks exclusive.

 

[plantingplants]

Yea the reotemp just tells you soil moisture relative to what you set it at. It won't tell you what the best moisture level is. You want a tensiometer to get actual numbers you can compare with other people. To compare it with N, it's like knowing what a good color green is and noting if it gets to dark or too light versus having an N meter that gives you a number (but I guess N meters aren't all that good anyway).

So I got a gopher yesterday with those Victor black box traps. If you're still dealing with them, find a fresh gopher mound that's not on your mound ( you'll have to dig too much of it). Might be best to find one on the edge of your mound. Wipe away the dirt, and clear out the hole. You should eventually find a fork in the hole. You'll probably have to rip up the ground a little. Follow both trails. You gotta poke around with sticks and your fingers. Sometimes they dead end or lead to another mound but keep following until you find a hole that angles downward into the earth. That should also fork so keep digging if you don't feel the fork. Once you get there, dig out enough dirt to set both traps, each leading out of one of the two holes. I covered the little holes on top of the trap where the spring comes out with dirt and grass and left the back circular hole open so that light can seep in and they'll come to plug it up and well, snap, broken back. Shit I feel bad but I need my roots.

 

[mako44]

Plantingplants, I like thouse victor traps also ,my yard ,is 1 acre & i used to have huge gopher problem,, It took yrs ,,but i very rarely ever see a gopher now ! maybe 1-2 a yr - Some yrs none, I never go to that much trouble to get them though, Ok yes find new mound--& just dig down enough to set up trap, angle the 1 inch hole end upwards ,cover any light around wires & edges with dirt, O & the thing that i believe helps is put a sliced carrot just under end , 75-85% rate on first set ,, Occasionally one smarter gopher beats trap 1 st set Or maybe even 2,, but never once been beat over 3 times (sets),,, USUALLY first set !!! IT TAKES 2--3 minutes to set on average.

 

[TheOutlawTree]

The 12" control wizards work good... 50$ a piece. My only complaint is that there cheap and not meant to last- or maybe it's because I break shit easy. I broke 3/8 already. The tops just snapped off. If your gentle with them I'm sure they can last though. I actually prefer these over the expensive 180$ ones below.

Those 18" irrometers from irrometer.com are heavy duty farm grade and will last for years but they require a perfect install every time and readings can take up to an hour. I've also had at least 1 or 2 occasions when they read 0 (wettest) but the soil was literally bone dry. That happened because I didn't follow instructions on install, I just put them in the soil without wetting the area it went in, at least I think.

After monitoring soil moisture for the first time this year, I've come to the realization that many of the plants will vary at all times despite same amount of water and even strain. It's hard when you have a garden going and your working solo.... There's so much other work involved at all times and i know at least in my case, giving each plant exactly the right amount of water by hand watering is not really an option- neither is monitoring every single plants moisture every day. I've lost 1 plant to fusarium, and 2 more are infected / may not end up making harvest.

 

[jidoka]

Reotemp measures EC...change your salt build up change your moisture???

 

[slownickel]

This is what we use in commercial agriculture. Get the long ends. Has a gps and bluetooth so you can download to your computer the data.

http://www.campbellsci.com/hs2

 

[Good ol boy]

Awesome thanks schrews I threw coupler on there all good. Yea I have 24 I ordered same amount of emitter tubing. Only had two I had to cut out. This system delivers so much water in an hour it's crazy! Been feeding with it for almost 2 weeks all looks good but I did have to let dry out extra day due to how wet they got via the irrigation. Thanks so much for your help you have saved me hours on the hoses. Looks like everything is starting to beast out on your hill. Keep up he hard work buddy.

 

[Shcrews]

Reotemp measures EC...change your salt build up change your moisture???

that doesnt make sense to me...

After monitoring soil moisture for the first time this year, I've come to the realization that many of the plants will vary at all times despite same amount of water and even strain. It's hard when you have a garden going and your working solo.... There's so much other work involved at all times and i know at least in my case, giving each plant exactly the right amount of water by hand watering is not really an option- neither is monitoring every single plants moisture every day. I've lost 1 plant to fusarium, and 2 more are infected / may not end up making harvest.

i dont really worry about it too much but it becomes obvious when the garden has been overwatered for a while. i've never lost a plant, i just want to be on top of things proactively...