Water retention tricks

[Nicol Bolas]

I'm doing a fire-and-forget grow and won't be able to water my babies much at all this summer. I'm growing at 42 N in an area with somewhat unpredictable summers in respect to rainfall - there will likely be a drought at some point this summer. What tricks/amendments do you use when preparing your plot to help your soil retain moisture, yet not rot when it does rain?

 

[Dignan]

Mulch is your friend. 3-4" of it all around the dripline and beyond even.

Line the bottoms of your holes with 15-20 sheets of newspaper, if possible. Holds moisture very well, and yet will drain so the roots aren't smothered in the case of ample rainfall.

Lots of organic material in your soil mix. I am fond of compost and coco coir.

And the ever-controversial water polymer crystals. I am going without them this year as an experiment but have used them for a few years in a row now.

Best of luck!

Dig

 

[Guest]

Hi NB,
Everything Dignan said and after that, Backcountry is an expert on dry growing conditions. Anything I could add I learned from his threads so you may as well read them for yourself. Search his threads man.
sb

 

[Dignan]

Agree... BC is the man. he and I share an almost identical climate, topography and geology, even though we're 750 miles apart. Our conditions are about as rough as they get for a guerrilla grower and without his advice and the fieldwork he did before I ever came along, I would've thrown in the towel long ago.

 

[Mr Celsius]

Agree... BC is the man. he and I share an almost identical climate, topography and geology, even though we're 750 miles apart. Our conditions are about as rough as they get for a guerrilla grower and without his advice and the fieldwork he did before I ever came along, I would've thrown in the towel long ago.

How often are you watering with all these techniques?

 

[Dignan]

For the past 2 seasons, I've been growing in tubs and I was hauling a gallon of water per plant, probably an average of twice a week.

It hurt.

This year, I finally bit the bullet, busted out the picks and forks and made holes in this god-forsaken granite bedrock sandy nightmare. How often I end up hauling water this year remains to be seen.

I plan to have fun doing it though, as always.

 

[Gantz]

guys, guys, guys...wouldn't it be easier to make something like a self watering container?

 

[Mr Celsius]

guys, guys, guys...wouldn't it be easier to make something like a self watering container?

I love the idea of those and I'm sure they work, but how long does it take for the water to be used up? I'm sure you can scale the self-watering container and go with a larger rubbermaids.

 

[Gantz]

i really have no clue, but let's say you make it so that it could hold 3-5 liters of water. the plant would start needing more and more water since it will get bigger and bigger. by visiting once a week, you'll be able to tell after a few weeks if you need to make more than one visit...but the plant would have to be pretty big IMHO, and since root space is limited, it will stop growing in size by the time it starts flowering and focus on growing buds...
of course the containers can't hold as much water as the ground can...

anyone considering sheet mulching?

 

[Hindu Killer]

The idea is to visit as little as possible, every 10 to 14 days. Once a week is to much for a covert location. Ups the chances of things going wrong/being spotted.

 

[bagseed77]

a french well, i saw it on pbs, cut the bottom out of a milk jug or 3 liter, bury next to plant with the hole above the soil, then when you water into the hole of the jug it goes straight to the roots and none is wasted.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

The self-watering pots are going to be a hit I think, we just need to develope designs specificly for roughneck Guerrilla aplications.

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

I'm doing a fire-and-forget grow and won't be able to water my babies much at all this summer. I'm growing at 42 N in an area with somewhat unpredictable summers in respect to rainfall - there will likely be a drought at some point this summer. What tricks/amendments do you use when preparing your plot to help your soil retain moisture, yet not rot when it does rain?

On the first page of my 2007 grow thread you will find a basic instruction on how I put together my holes.

Since overwatering is not a problem in my nearly rainless summer, I lined my holes with sheet plastic to help keep the water I gave from wetting the soil outside of my plants root range, and also to keep neighboring plants from robbing this moisture. I left a large hole in the bottom of the liner so excess water could escape.
If you have more than 2" of rainfall per month average in your summer, I would not use the plastic since it would keep your plants from foraging for natural rainfall outside of its hole. Also it may hold too much water in the hole and cause root rot problems.

Here is a repost of that post-

I decided to dig holes in the 30 gallon range, because I am looking for a large plant here-


To dig a hole of the correct capacity, I used some math:

1 cubic foot contains 7.48 US Gallons

1 cubic foot is a cube that measures 12" in depth, width, and length. To find cubic footage of a hole, measure its width, length, and depth, and then multipy each number like this for example- 2'x2'x3'=12

I want a 30 gallon hole, so I divide 30 gallons by 7.48, and get 4 cubic feet- 30/7.48=4.

So I need a 4 cubic foot hole, after some figuring I disover that a hole 1.5' wide by 1.5' long, and 2' deep will contain 4 cubic feet(or 33 gallons)- 1.5'x 1.5'x 2'= 4 cubic feet.


I decided to try something different this season, I lined the holes with plastic sheeting, cutting a hole in the bottom for drainage. The idea is to try and reduce loss of moisture and nutrition to the surrounding native soils. I tossed 4 Table spoons of Water holding crystals in the bottom of the hole, to help catch moisture leaving the hole.

OK, here is whats going in the hole:

3 gallons of llama manure, NPK 1-1-1(also to help raise organic content for moisture retention)
2 gallons of Peat moss(to help moisture retention)
2 cups(1TBS per gallon) of Kelp meal for Potassium and trace minerals
2 cups of Azomite(similar to Dolomite, interchangable) for Cal,Mag and PH buffer
2 TBS 12-8-4 Seabird guano
8 TBS of water holding crystals total

First I filled the hole 1/2 way with native soil, then I dumped the llama manure and Peat moss on it, and then mixed it well-


Next I added 4 more TBS of Water holding crystals(front white pile), my Azomite(on left), and my Kelp meal(on right)-


I continued to mix these amendments and fertilizers together, mixing in more native soil to raise the holes surface to natural ground level-


I transplanted the plat to the plot, she is a OR95x C99-


At this point she is about 9 weeks old, and nearly 12" tall, its about 15 weeks to the start of bloom, and 24 weeks to harvest-


I sidedressed around her drip line with 2 TBS of High N Seabird guano, to give her a immediate boost so she can find all the other goodies in the soil-


Here are some pics of the same plant at harvest-

 

[bobblehead]

with pictures! Thanks a lot Backcountry!

 

[jaykush]

mulch plain and simple......3-6 inches in warmer weather. 4-8 in colder. will increase water holding, keep soil temperature steady.

 

[Dignan]

The idea is to visit as little as possible, every 10 to 14 days. Once a week is to much for a covert location. Ups the chances of things going wrong/being spotted.

My first advice to new outdoor growers online is the beware of any advice that someone seems to be universally applying. The situation, methods, goals, limitations, climate, geography, topography, security concerns... they ALL vary greatly from one individual to the next.

I grow in the high desert and spent two seasons trying to figure out why the advice and caveats everyone online kept giving me weren't working in my very unique situation.

There are very basic things that ALL plants need... but the means necessary to provide them vary greatly. As do the security risks and concerns!

Peace-

Dig

 

[Mr Celsius]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Dignan again.

The thing that concerns me about the self-watering pots is the possible buildup of anaerobic bacteria. Stagnant water that possibly gets heated up and sits with organic matter.... maybe not though. People have been using these self-watering pots for other plants for many years... I just don't know what to think... I guess I'll have to try.

 

[Bennythejet]

thers so many ways. just think of your own. you'll have endless ideas. just make sure they work. dont think with such limits on this. I dont have such dry weather here in upstate ny. its a share of both. so rainbarrels tucked in a hole under thorn bushes works for me. why not a DIY bladder, hose, AND a barrel in the bush nearby. set the bladder over the hole cover with mulch run the line an inch under the dirt to your barrel. the bladder size, the hole size in the baldder, amount of holes, and hose gauge will effect however much water pressure u have. which is the barrels water capacity and size. this is pretty self explanatory and ther all sorts of nik nacks everywhere. the options are there for you.

 

[Hindu Killer]

Think big to get / grow big!

 

[green-genes77]

This reminds me of a clever system described and illustrated on OG back in the day.
The basic unit would be a 50 gallon plastic barrel of the kind that chemicals are often stored in (clean of course). This would be cut into two pieces, one twice as large as the other (leaving you with one ~33 gallon unit and one ~17 gallon piece).

The larger acts as a reservoir into which nylon cord or another good wicking substance hangs. The smaller container is flipped so that the concave side is facing up (this is the planter). It is filled with rich soil, the wicks are arranged, and then transplant(s) are added The wicking action supplies the plants for an extended period. Refilling of the reservoir may be necessary depending on one's particular limitations and possibilities.

I am pulling this from memory, but maybe there is a good system to be developed, possibly using smaller initial containers and more frequent (but relatively infrequent), visits to refill. Also, it may not be possible to dig deep enough to house the whole apparatus in some soils.

This year I am experimenting with combinations of cornstarch-based water crystals and perlite at the bottom of holes to see if I can create a worthwhile emergency reservoir.