root rot question

[Guest]

Try this....

5 gallon buckets are kinda tall and thats good!
Place one or 2 in the swamp water like you said,about
2 inches into the water maybe with holes in the bottoms!
THis will wick water as you said,now place the other ones higher
and see who does the best by observing the amount of moister wicked?

Also plant roots may go down untill they find enuff water and stop before rot!
Thats what i would do,find out for myself by trying things!
Good luck....make shure the plants are big and hard too when potted..

 

[Guest]

WOW that never happened here,im on top??????

WOW that never happened here,im on top??????

WHAT IS WRONG?

He asked the question and it looks like i posted first?
YEEEEEEEikes IC????

Lets see what happenes this reply?

 

[Phish Dude]

root rot question

im goinng to grow in 5 gal buckets in a swamp, the landscape is basicly standing water with overgrown islands in it.
i am confused on whether i should burry the buckets on the islands. drilling holes in the bottom to wick water so i never have to water my plants, but risk root rot.
or just to leave the buckets above ground and and go out to water every now and then.
i would like to never have to water but i am worried the the soil will be too wet and rot my plants. exactly how wet is too wet? i have read about people planting in swampy soil with great sucsess, and searched this question to no avail.
its kind of a loaded question but you guys seem to know what youre talking about.
peace

 

[Phish Dude]

wtf this is a fucked up thread, anyways the water in the swamp is like 1-2 ft deep so ill just dig into the islands until i hit water and try it.
the plants i dont burry i will have to water, im going to add perilite to my soil wihich will be probably 25% worm castings, 25% perilite, 25% cow manure, 25% topsoil if that sounds good. i am pretty new with my soil mix so if anyone has any suggestions they would be appriciated.
how often would i need to water that mix?
thanks

 

[Guest]

Hey phish Dude,

It sounds to me like you have lots of water. I would bury the buckets only to the depth where you observe ground water in your hole. No deeper. This will let you utilize the water thats there, so you don't have to water, but still enough to wick som moisture. If it were me, I would fill one of my buckets with my prospective grow medium, including a little extra sand and perlite, and I would get out there this weekend and bury my bucket to moisture level. Check back and see what you have .. Too wet, raise the bucket. Too dry, dig a little deeper. Do you some test now rather than trying to figure it out when your precious plants are in the bucket.

Of course it's not me, this is just me talkin,

Later Phish Dude, sb

ps, to answer your other question, of course you can grow there, you just have to figure out how, but that will come. Any grower that moves to a new area has to go what your'e going through.. You'll get through it.

Be careful with the manure. It will burn the plants

 

[Phish Dude]

ok when the ground thaws i will head out and see exactly how wet the soil will be. if its just mucky a few inches down i might cut the bottoms off the buckets and let the roots grow rigt down into the soil, but if it is standing water i will take your advice.
do you think 25% is too much manure or should i just use somthing else all together?
thanks for the help!

 

[Guest]

HI PD,

That would be too much for my liking PD. Let me share my basic soil belief and you can decide if there is something relevant for your world.

I always assume that my basic grow medium will grow the plants even without any modification. Certainly any store bought soil should fall into this category. If that is true, then the soil only needs slight ammendments to adjust nutrient levels. I never exceed 20% of the total volume with all of the ammendments such as manure or worm castings combined. For example, if I was growing in a 5 gallon bucket, the most ammendments I would ever add would be 3/4 of a gallon of ammendments.

Something else that I would recommend would be to try and mix any ingredients a week or two at least in advance, so that the different substances can gather a common PH and a blend as one, as opposed to a concentration of ingredients. I discovered a delay in growth when I didn't mix all ingredients so that they had time to meld.

Hope theres something here that helps.

sb

 

[two heads]

Swamp water levels change dramatically over the first two months of the growing season. That's why containers are a good idea, especially if you don't know your swamp intimately. As you are planning on visiting your site several times, try to move the containers each time so they are never in more than a few inches of water. Water retaining crystals like Aquasorb help because they will keep the plant alive during a drought when the swamps dry down but also help absorb excess water after a heavy rain.

I have a couple of swamp site pics in my gallery. We have had the best success with larger containers. Like Rubbermaid storage totes.