Swamp tubes

[Swamp Thang]

Hey Bob Dole, I thought I'd do a touch-and-go here to show my appreciation for your fine swamp horticulture project. Swamps have no equal when it comes to low-maintenance, plant-and-forget stealth. I had to quit growing for a while while I savor last years's bumper harvest that just gets better with age and cure, like a good wine.

Silver Surfer, that is one of my favourite snapshots of Hendrix, trying his hand on the piano. Right now I have the intro to "Castles made of Sand" sailing through my mind.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yeah Jimi Hendrix was the ultimate!

I got that pic from the classic albums dvd - electric ladyland.

 

[wisco61]

What are the thoughts on using 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms cut out for the tubes? Just too small?

I definitely am growing in the swamp next year, but am having a hard time deciding on which containers to use.

 

[North]

wisco, I think they would work, but it might cut yeild down on bigger plants like the ones you ran this year.

I was thinking the same thing, but now I'm looking for 15-20 gallon garbage cans to do that with.

 

[wisco61]

Hmm, ya I was thinking about the yield thing after I posted that.

Those garbage cans would really make the plant stick up high. Maybe a 18 gallon rubbermaid instead. Same soil capacity but a foot plus shorter.

You planning on coco-coir for the fill? I'm leaning that way as some of the plants are gonna be a couple miles back in the swamp and hauling promix that far sounds like not fun.

 

[North]

Yea, I'm not sure how to do this.still just toying with the idea.

I'll most likely use peat, was thinking of adding leaf mulch also in the base, then soil mix. LOTS of lime.

area I'm lookin at is right next to a road so easy carry ,easy access, no foot traffic.
I will need a machete to get in a bit though, i dunno, still thinking.

I guess my plan is to try doing 6-10 this way, see how it goes and go from there for the next year.

my area is near huntin camp, I know the traffic patterns, and I got about 2 sq. miles of this stuff to use... I REALLY want this to work, but I'm not throwing all my eggs in an experimental basket.

where can we get good coco up here? big boxes carry it? landscaping places? greenhouses?

 

[FRANKENBLUNT420]

that spot looks so perfect for cannabis plants specifically color wise

 

[wisco61]

If you have a Menards by you, they had Peat Eliminator last year which is coco basically. Their site lists where u can buy it.

Hopefully they get it again next year, I think it was like $10 for a block that expanded to 2.3 cu feet.

 

[North]

Right on Wisco, got a menards and fleet farm right up the road!
never saw the stuff at fleet and seldom go to menards, I'll have my eyes open this spring. thanks man!you just added a couple more square miles<G>

 

[wisco61]

The Fleet I checked only had the soil sponge stuff in a bag, and it was overpriced.

Along those lines, a bunch of us ought to send emails to Home Depot telling them to get it. They have it at their Canadian stores, so they should be able to stock it in the US. Everyone send off those emails, and be sure to use words like "eco-friendly" and "gardening club"

 

[wisco61]

Now is a good time of year to buy your Rubbermaid totes. Lots of places have them on sale for storing Xmas decorations, and the ones on sale are usually green for seasonal cheeriness and guerilla stealthiness.

 

[Hindu Killer]

Going to be doing some tubes this year...for sure.

 

[TheSoulStealer]

How did you do in the end with the tubes? Any advice you could pass onto people thinking about trying a swamp tube grow this year?

 

[Fox-26]

Those are nice but how can they not see that from the air those are bait.Good idea tho if i put them here i would lose them forsure to many rippers around here.

 

[wisco61]

Took advantage of the frozen creek and dropped 8 rubbermaid tubs off in the woods adjacent to the swamp I am gonna grow in this year. After coming up with an elaborate plan to use a sled, it failed miserably. I ended up using a couple pieces of rope and made a makeshift backpack out of the tubs. It was still quite a workout walking 2 miles in the snow, but bearable with that setup.

Now I just have to haul the coco out there, though I think I will wait till spring for that. The creek is barely frozen so its pretty freaky, especially since I fell through a couple weeks ago lol. I walk up on the bank and through the woods where the ice looked or sounded questionable, but that is a major pain.

Regardless, I'm happy to have gotten this out of the way, comeon spring!

 

[basilfarmer]

hey i was out for a walk yesterday and saw those lol just joking

looking good tho - all camo'd up & ready to go

if it were no so time consuming, a gillie suit on each container with rock

acidity in the swamp is a problem, so many throw dolamite lime down the hole because their peat is already to acidic

instead of all this, coco, which is easier to pack in and preforms better (if you get the good stuff with no salt) actually does better in lower ph water

just a thought

 

[querkle]

never thaught a... creative

 

[Hold Your Fire]

Cool idea.

 

[thunderbunny]

swamp tube memories...and disaster

swamp tube memories...and disaster

Hi guys:

Just to give you an idea of the massive potential of the swamp tube setup. This setup will give you results like you have never seen before...massive massive plants!

Four years ago me and a buddy (he has a swamp directly behind his 40 or so acres that goes on for a large distance and gets pretty deep) built our own swamp tubes using appx 4 ft tall animal fencing, folded into a circle, with the inside lined with a double layer of heavy duty tarp material to hold the grow mix.

The tubes were just under 3.5 ft tall and 18 inches in diameter and were filled with Heco #2 peat moss based grow mix purchased at a wholesale landscape supplier. As the grow mix was scooped in a handful of polymers was thrown in about every 6 inches and mixed in by hand.

The tubes were a little more than three feet tall and the bottom 8 inches or so was standing in swamp water.

Five swamp tubes were placed out in the cattails and seven sexed seedlings (say that ten times fast)appx 12 inches tall were planted in early June in Chicago. The two strains that were planted were Papaya and Mendocino Madness.

By the end of July they had been fertilized twice and, I kid you not, the tallest of the Mendo Madness at this time was 12 feet tall and was drooping almost horizontally into the cattails due to the weight of the plant. The Papayas were ten feet tall and cranking. This was after only 6 weeks of veg time. The stem bottoms looked like small tree trunks.

OK here's the disaster...to make a long story short...one of the Medocino Madness that I had "presexed" turned out to be a male and he/she popped and spread pollen everywhere--I hadn't visited the plants in two weeks and by that time everyone of the other 6 giant females was pollinated and the nicely filled out half done buds on the Papaya were completely filled with seeds.

Ended up tearing them all down and planning for another grow out there this year after spotting this thread.

 

[reddy1]

6 weeks of veg and 12 foot tall monsters!! those are amazing results. much bigger than i would be comfortable with.

i'm going to experiment with a swamptube using coco and time release ferts this season. i like the idea of carrying compressed bales of it vs. heavy bags of peat. expand it on site with swamp water. curious what my local swamp pH is.