Anyone used growbags outdoors

[Guest]

Hi, can anyone help i have a nice little secluded spot in the uk that is ideal for putting some plants. The trouble is the ground is way to hard and rocky to dig(and belive me i have tried!), So i thought about using Growbags the type you get from garden centres you plant tomatoes,herbs,chillis. There are 33 litres in each growbag. Has anyone used these to grow in? if so would one per plant be suficicient? if one was not i was thinking of maybe stacking one growbag on another per plant.
I'm planting out Great white shark,Misty,The Doctor,Lemon widow.
well hope you guys have some usefull info..
Many thx.

 

[Guest]

33 liters will be more than suficicient. Problem will be that they are easy to spot and the temperatures will get very high in the daytime and colder than the enviroment at night. This might stress the plant. And stress means more males/hermies poorer growth etc. Well thats atleast what the writing says, personnaly i think you will be very ok. 33 liters is overboard tough. Just get some regular pot's 5-7 gallons is for monster plants. If you are worried about wind and sutch tipping them over just place some rocks around them. This will help with stealth and temperature changes. The rocks will heat up in the day and slowly release the heat in the night.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Hey there! I used grow bags once upon a time in a couple Greenhouse grows.

33 Liters is about 8 US Gallons(by my rough conversion), which should be enough space for a med size plant, since you don't seem to be getting started to early, I think it should be sufficent space.

 

[Guest]

Its roughly 8,7. I would think thats alot more than he would need for 1 plant. It seems that he isnt able to dig wich means he will have to carry all that soil. He might also have to buy the soil and it isnt exactly cheap.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Yep, 8.7 US gallons, good job.

When you are growing outdoors in containers, more space gives your roots more protection, and more forgiveness concerning watering. More is better!

I doubt the extra couple gallons of soil will break his bank account, I don't believe the extra Euro or two will mean much compared to the money savings accomplished by growing your own.

 

[Guest]

Nice feed bk guys.
The growbags are £1.49 over here not to much i have 11 plants to accomadate! The spot i have selected is in the middle of a small wood near a disused rail track but still on british rail property(so no dog walkers or kids!), in the middle of the wood is a small clearing overgrown with stinging nettles.
I have cleared a small patch so i think the nettles would hide the bags, also it is very hard to get into this clearing as many thorny bushes and the wise around parimeter!
Getting soil there is no problem as i can drop over bridge on disused track and run them down at night!

 

[Heady NUGs]

Sounds like you have picked out the perfect site. Noone likes climbing through waist-high nettles. Might want to think about some deer control though, they cleaned me out last summer. Maybe add some water retaining crystals to your soil bags too. Good luck.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Are Deer common in the United Kingdom(Great Britain)?

 

[Guest]

Yea we have a small non-native deer (munt jak) i belive?
but there thin on the ground.. we also have normal deer in our country parks but they aint gona affect me..

 

[Fast_Pine]

if yer wading through waist high nettles to get to yer spot, the native soil must be pretty dern good.....

 

[Bennythejet]

Yes the native soil must be good, but i guess urs isn't. all my spots are gonna be on stuff like you said. I have talked to and older and experienced grower and he said burlap sacks work perfect. Fill with your amount of soil (according to desire pant size), tie it up, lay in an ideal position, cut reasonable stalk size hole thru bag, plant seed or cutting, water till it is saturated. The morning dew will nicely soak into the burlap sack material, holds moisture well, natural looking color(s) sacks, stays put against wind. I would put the soil filled burlap sack well undeneath the brush and nettles to prevent the sun from heating and or drying the soil better and leave the planting hole in the sack exposed to the sun. This might also help against animals or humans sighting your soil container and animals digging in your soil. It also sounds pretty easy to fertilize the soil with these burlap sacks because of the nice nitting size. roots can grow thru the sack also. They work great for growing on tree tops also.

 

[cdc]

ive used grow bags they worked really well for me ...the other thing is ....you can push on the bag ...and give it a little space in there

 

[Guest]

Some real cool feed bk guys.. Many thx..
what is a burlap sack? is it like a hesian sack?(large sand bag type thing).
Yea the nettles love it there thought it would be easy to dig but ground is like full off stones dumped off the rail tracks over the years i guess! I have been able to dig two holes which i put a Doctor plant from gh seeds in a few weeks back and she be coming along nicley, doubled in size since she been out.

 

[Guest]

Just been up to water the plants i have waiting up there in pots and something has ate two of my lemon widow plants. I dont think its deer of any kind, maybe rabbits or badgers? I dont no, i'm taking the growbags up tonight so i thought about garden wire between canes to keep um off! Any ideas?

 

[Trichome.Kid]

Yeah, the garden wire should help. Try pissing around the plants. How big were they? Could've been slugs or snails if they were small enough. Or you could take out some bars of soap and cut chunks nearby. I've also tried predator urine (fox, coyote, wolf) with decent success.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Thanks Trichome.kid, I have put slug pellets out, most are around 1ft high.
although i have a doc plant thats been there a few weeks thats about 3ft and nothings been near that. I only took these others up in pots two days ago! and they have munched the two youngest lemon widows..

 

[glock23]

How bout a pic of the damage? Good luck mate! I've used growbags slightly bigger than the ones you're using (about 38 liters) and I have some 47 liter ones too.

 

[Bennythejet]

Is it possible to pur salt around your plants in a wide circle. Maybe this work ward off slugs and other bugs but i dont if it would effect the plant and its nutrient consumption. What do you guys think

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Salt-Bad idea, it would only work until the next rain, if that, and then it gets washed down in the soil around your plants, poisioning your plants.

 

[SmokeAnother]

Salt is a very bad idea, 'round these parts the critters love salt, not much available naturally. I think if you used it, the critters 'round might want to dig it. As far as grow bags go, they work, but can also have negitives. They attract heat, and the roots will not grow near the outside of the bags, limiting the root space available for plants. I will also comment I have seen rootbound plants planted july1 in 30 gallon bags as clones harvested end of oct. in the full sun...FWIW