Question for the water gurus

[Creeperpark]

, This thread is very interesting to me Dave, thank you for sharing all your hard work with us. One thing I learned is you can't keep too much water on hand in a horticulture setting. It's best to always keep every storage tank as full as you can and keep them full on every rainfall. That creek can and will dry up so be ready if it does. The biggest and hardest mistake to swallow is running out of water before the Season is over. I've done it plenty of times being lazy and in panic watching the weatherman every day. Moving water is hell my friend and you don't want to ever have to do that. On the other hand it's a good feeling after the year's harvest to release any water that was stored with a relief. Keeps your tanks full.

 

[@peace]

Growing straight in the ground. Here is how my dirt tested filedata/fetch?id=18060844&d=1643806675

Hey Dave, how are you planning on getting the P & K in the ground, or are you just adding it to your water? Cool setup.

 

[Daves_not_here]

Hey Dave, how are you planning on getting the P & K in the ground, or are you just adding it to your water? Cool setup.

after doing some more research and looking at different things I am now planning on removing the top 15-18 inches of dirt and adding in a custom soil mix.

not much has been able to happen due to the weather here. (Been raining for two straight weeks ugh). I did have one pretty day and was able to get the hip boards on. Hopefully I can get the plastic pulled on and end walls up soon.

 

[Creeperpark]

That looks like good loam to me and with a soil pH of 6.4 I don't think you can beat it for good growing. Removing the top soil will destroy the soil life and cause a disruption in the ecosystem. If it were me I would use amended raised beds with pathways. The very first thing to know in any agriculture growing system is soil pH. If one has an alkaline pH it would be a bad choice and a waste of time growing apples, and so the location would be aborted. In your case, the soil pH is perfect for growing cannabis, and with a few amendments, you could kick ass. If you are going to add super soil then just put on top of the old soil and marry the two. As long as you have good drainage the two should work together and that's all that's left. Soil drainage and soil pH. The rest you can supplement.

 

[exploziv]

Sounds like a dream, man! Good luck!

 

[f-e]

In the UK, when we get soil sampling done, we also get given advice on what to do with it. They ask us what crop and what yield expectation we have, then using our department of agriculture publications, offer guidance. That part of the service is free.

While the scale is very much different, I found this advice priceless. I moved from digging it out to exchange it, to just broadcast spreading what the ground actually needs.
Every year people get soil samples done, and correct again. Eventually you can sample every few years, as you can guess the results. It's intensive at first though. You divide your plot into grids for regularly spaced sampling. With something that looks more like a golf course full of flags if you can physically see some areas are different.

 

[@peace]

We have the same sampling setup in Canada. The style of soil sampling that you are referring to is called grid sampling here, a person can also do zone, or just composite sampling.

His soil sample above has the rec's included, they are at the bottom of the sample. They are telling him to put 100 lb of N, as I am guessing he is going for flower and not hemp considering the greenhouse. They also want 150 lb of P which is about 290 lb/ac of MAP (11-52-0) and 120 lb of K which is 200 lb of Muriate (0-60-0), these are all per acre. They also want sulfur, copper, boron, and zinc. For sulfur we generally use ammonium sulfate, but there will likely be some vegetable fertilizer that is better, the guerillas that grow weed in our corn fields seem to like the free AS though. Zinc sulfate is what we use for a plant available form of zinc in row crop. The boron and copper are applied at very small amounts, in his case they want 1.5 lb of B and 1 lb of Cu per acre (43 560 ft squared is 1 acre), so it can be easy to over apply if these are applied on their own and not part of a blend.

I am not sure who you are using for fertilizer, and I wouldn't say online, but a good local ag company can read that report no problem and set you up with a blend. P is not very mobile in the soil so generally it has to be "knifed" into the soil somehow so that roots can contact it, or surface apply it, then work it into the soil a couple of inches. Not sure about your weed control program but anytime that soil is worked, it will bring about a weed flush, and not the type your after haha. Good luck brother, that site looks really hidden and relaxing.

I would not dig that soil up though. I personally wouldn't have an issue growing direct in the ground there, but Creeperpark also has a good option with the raised beds.

 

[@peace]

That looks like good loam to me and with a soil pH of 6.4 I don't think you can beat it for good growing. Removing the top soil will destroy the soil life and cause a disruption in the ecosystem. If it were me I would use amended raised beds with pathways. The very first thing to know in any agriculture growing system is soil pH. If one has an alkaline pH it would be a bad choice and a waste of time growing apples, and so the location would be aborted. In your case, the soil pH is perfect for growing cannabis, and with a few amendments, you could kick ass. If you are going to add super soil then just put on top of the old soil and marry the two. As long as you have good drainage the two should work together and that's all that's left. Soil drainage and soil pH. The rest you can supplement.

Hey man. What kind of amendments do you usually like in raised beds? I have never used them but I am considering using some where my dad wants to grow a few, his soil is mainly fill. Was going to just use corn starter and top soil but I am interested in other ideas.

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

how many sunny days there are each month? will you need some supplemental lights?

 

[Creeperpark]

Hey man. What kind of amendments do you usually like in raised beds? I have never used them but I am considering using some where my dad wants to grow a few, his soil is mainly fill. Was going to just use corn starter and top soil but I am interested in other ideas.

Cotton seed bur compost. Cotton seed bur compost has a high nitrogen content and aerates the soil for most of the growing season. On almost every soil test I had done, (100s) nitrogen was always lacking in the soil test and the lab would recommend adding a 1/2 lb. of nitrogen per 1000 sq ft.. When I used cottonseed bur, I would raise the nitrogen in the soil during veg and the bur would burn out by flowering time. You could see the nitrogen enrichment by looking at the dark green leaves during veg cycle. It won't burn the plants like manures will, but one can use too much. . You never want to add it to pre-flowering plants because it will stop resin production during flowering because of nitrogen exposure. . That's one super amendment for starters, .