swamp growing

[weedandfishing]

I was wondering how to grow in a swamp. I have some swamp lands around, but I'm not sure how to do it. I've heard or swamp tubes, but I don't know how they work or what they are.

 

[wishbone420]

well the swamps im around kinda look dead during flowering time which make them stand out to helicopter. u really have to match a strain by its color so it blends in. i would use store bought soil. but it can be done. check the ground/water there. some place the ground is perfect for mj . i had to dig holes line with black plastic. soil was off the charts in that spot. do some scouting and such. hope my babble helped alittle. peace

 

[boroboro]

I've grown in marshes. The water level is ankle-shin deep in the spring, and a few inches under the ground through summer and fall. Raised beds or containers with holes in the bottom lift up the soil and roots a bit.

This past summer my plants were a little too low, and were almost flooded by higher than normal water levels in early summer. Plant growth was very stunted, and plenty of plants died. Next time I'll be real careful with the level of the rootball, and use some containers also so I can move some plants if the water level changes too much.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Check out posts by Bob Dole, That Guy, Two Heads, Oldster One and of course the Swamp-Tube Budfather himself, Breeder Brad, for they are the current undisputed swamp-meisters at ICmag, who have mastered the watery elements to procuce buds so tasty you can just about smell them over the internet.

Oh yeah, also check out my gallery to view my humble maritime offerings from few moons ago

 

[weedandfishing]

ill check them out swamp thang.

and that looks very similar to the woods around me boroboro.

 

[weedandfishing]

i cant find any directions on how to make a swamp tube. i can find grows that use them, but not that tell how to make them. please help me with a link if you know one or can find one.

 

[phate]

this is from breederbrad. one of the swamp tube pioneers...

Here is MY Article about growing in the swamps,it has been reposted on many sites and was re-printed in CannabisCulture#60
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4723.html
Funny marc emery takes credit for it though...anyways here is the original

Alright here's a great method of growing,designed especially for swamp/bog growing.this tube system was developed in the gulf islands region,basically the problem out there is that the soil is very rocky and not very fertile,as a result they needed to figure out a way to grow in swamps which they have a lot of.They go out to a swampy area,chop the vegetation off the top of the soil,then they chop it up a little.Then they take hog wire fence(this is a special wire that is about 5 feet high with small holes at the bottom and larger holes at the top.)First cut the top 2 feet off the wire(the part with the biggest holes)Then with the remaining 3 feet of fence,make a circle(tube,hoop)about 2,2.5feet in diameter,and stick it 6 inches down into the swamp,and firmly secure it in this shape with a pair of plyers.Then take heavy duty black polyethelene available at most hardware stores,and line the inside of the tube with it,go around the perimeter like 1.5 to 2 times folding the extra plastic over the top of the wire to keep it in place.NOTE:you are only lining the perimeter,and leaving the bottom open.next you fill the tube with about 2/3 of a 3.8 cubic foot bale of peat moss.This stuff has great capillary action,and holds water well.this is the base of your soil,it's really up to you what you use for nutrient value.these guys grow organic,and use blood meal,bone meal,fresh seaweed,sunflower seeds hulls,composted chicken/turky manure,bat guano,kelp meal, compost and pretty much anything else organic they can get there hands on.They water with organic teas ebery couple of weeks as well.Now out where i live i have to make substitutions,and you can use chemilcal ferts too,just use something designed for hydroponic use ie.. not mirical grow! so the salts build up slower.you can add perlite and vermiculite as well,but not requiered.KEEP IN MIND...that this mix is quite acidic as is the swamp water/ground,so you will need to add between 5 to 10 pounds of dolimitc lime,depending on the exact soil recipe you used.make sure you mix the soil very well and your pretty much set.you should end up with a 2.5foot diameter X2.5 foot high planter full of nutrient soil.the concept is that the small roots derive most of the nutrients from the contents of the tube,while the plant will put a tap root down into the swamp,and be supplied with unlimited water.The result is an extremly large plant,once it starts to grow you can re-attatch the top 2 feet of the hog wire around the top of the tube and stick the lower branches out the holes,this keeps the plant upright and also causes the lower branches to get lots of light,and produce same size buds as the middle of the plant.This method will produce extremely large plants,which will yeild an excess of a pound per plant,making the work well worthwhile.these guys plant 12 plant gardens that often yeild in the range of 10lbs.Any ways i hope i did'nt forget anything,so get out in those swamps and over grow the goverment .i hope every one enjoys this

 

[Swamp Thang]

For sure Breeder Brad is first person to coin the term "Swamp Tubes", and the above account of how to construct them, published in the Cannabis Culture website, is probably the most detailed how-to manual on the subject, BUT, there are far simpler ways of creating swamp planters without following the above instructions to the letter.

I may be wrong, but all the swamp growers I've read from here at IC simply cut the bottoms out of plastic garbage cans, place them on swampy ground, and then fill the LOWER half of the containers with coconut fiber or moss to "wick" up water, before adding a topping of rich soil mix to nurture the budzilla trees that will be planted.

The beauty of the system is that it can be ENTIRELY self-watering, thus cutting out one of the most labor-intensive and potentially risky aspects of growing weed


This bud's for you.

 

[Greens]

Yes, indeed. After finding out about the swamp method from Breederbrad, I've been doing it ever since. If you check out that thread at CC, you'll find a lot more info about setting them up, including some other methods like cutting the bottoms off large containers or garbage cans (which I do).

Check out my gallery to see lots of stuff grown using the swamp method. Not having to water just makes the job so much easier.

Greens

 

[zapatoloco]

Swamp growing is nice....

...a couple of blueberry crosses in a rubbermaid on the horizon...with beast.



Eater of Pests hanging out in a bushy Chemo...



...grown in a classic swamp tube design.

Although we've had great success using handmade wire mesh swamp tubes i think many original swamp tubers have switched to lightweight options such as plastic tubs and garbage containers.

That pig wire stuff is heavy and nasty on the hands when constructing the plastic lined wire-meshed tubes. Plastic containers are light and cheap and work just as good without much of the hassle.

 

[Swamp Thang]

.

That pig wire stuff is heavy and nasty on the hands when constructing the plastic lined wire-meshed tubes. Plastic containers are light and cheap and work just as good without much of the hassle.

True words.

Hey Zap that picture of mist rising off the river behind your plants is very mystical looking. Reminds me of my river in the early mornings, when the water is still a bit warmer than the air above it, forest birds are in full song, and I am guiding my dugout canoe slowly downstream through the haze, to go fire up a morning J that will set the tone for the day.

 

[weedandfishing]

thanks for all the great info. i hope to get this project started in spring.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Great thread people, this year I did a "swamp grow" that did not go so well..... problem being the "swamp" goes up and down, so we ended up getting rotten roots, then saw the few lolipops we had nurtured all Summer getting drowned by rising water, nice chunky buds totally covered with silt.....

So, for 2009 I am trying to develop a floating platform for them to sit on, so when levels rise, the platform and pot rises too. Plan A] is to test out some prototypes during the mad winter floods, if they survive that, they will survive ..... I will post pictures and news....

Any further info and experiences with floating platforms and rising/lowering water levels greatly appreciated

 

[zapatoloco]

maybe you could cut a hole out of a thick slab of styrofoam and stick a plastic container in the hole. Then just run floatation tests to see how much styrofoam you need to hold up a container filled with wet medium. I don't know how stable this kind of setup would be if you had a big plant growing out of it.

Lucky us in North America, we have beavers and their dams to keep our swamps at steady levels.

 

[weedandfishing]

ya, plenty of beavers near me. Rain still fills the swaps though. i know where there is a shallow swamp or two that will be ideal. it seems that the shallow ones that contain mostly wet muck, and water right below the surface do well. ill probably try a couple of different ones.

 

[weedandfishing]

i meant swamps**
not swaps

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

maybe you could cut a hole out of a thick slab of styrofoam and stick a plastic container in the hole. Then just run floatation tests to see how much styrofoam you need to hold up a container filled with wet medium. I don't know how stable this kind of setup would be if you had a big plant growing out of it.

Lucky us in North America, we have beavers and their dams to keep our swamps at steady levels.

Hola zapatoloco,

Tes, this is along the lines of what I was thinking.... looking at cheap, available flotation aids that will not stick out and will work season long .... I do not want to waste a season growing some floating beauties only to see them topple over or just sink halfway through flowering.

Sadly, here in Spain, Franco had all the Beavers shot as Communist sympathisers years ago, so the dams are few and far between. ;-)

The ones we do have are controlled by local councils who all play insane political games screwing each other over, opening and shutting the water flow to suit themselves, or just to fuck over their great rivals downstream, it really does go up and down by a meter or two, sometimes 3x daily....