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The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

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FarmerBoy

New member
Guys, any one where to buy Smart Pots in Europe....it made me crazy already!
I found one web but offer are 34L biggest, I would try couple plants but in 30 gallons each / 122L .

thx
 

Butte

Active member
Veteran
mister c and T2U - I'll say more about tea in the future as it gets brewed and used, but one tip I have is to add Bt to your foliar teas as you brew. You can do this with Serenade, too. Both Bacillus can be grown very effectively in actively aerated compost teas. This not only saves you money (you use a fraction of the amount), but provides a great shield against a variety of problems. Regarding "recipes", I tell people to get the following:

good compost
worm castings
a kelp source
a humate source
quality fish hydrolysate

and, most importantly, a microscope

Mix up your sources for variety (we wouldn't want to eat the same thing every meal...would your plants?) and test every batch under the scope. You can then adjust the tea to suit your current needs as well as ensure that it is at optimum conditions to apply. You are correct about UV being damaging to biology, however, there is some evidence that large enough droplet sizes buffer against this degredative ability of the sun. Still, I try to apply in the mornings.

I feed and foliar full strength almost every time the containers needed water. This year probably not so much. Biology established will be there as long as some event (heavy salting for instance) doesn't come along to disrupt the system.

I pursue a no till strategy and planted cover crops to keep everything active. The beds were planted with crimson clover, the aisles with alsiki clover, the entry/ exit ways with a roadway mix of fescues and the perimeter was planted with a beneficial bug blend. As an experiment this year I plan to let the clover continue to grow throughout the summer as a green "mulch". The deer are doing a great job keeping it to about 12" tall. :D

Planty - last year's losses were a result of fusarium brought on by bad cultural practices on my part. Pilot error pure and simple. Easy enough to fix, but the important thing is to always keep learning. Last year's lessons happen to be in expectations and attachment (again!), but lessons well received. This year I will be growing large, but not monstrous plants. I believe the increased vigor will more than make up for the smaller size. I've consistently seen huge plants empty on the inside due to lack of light; you could put a 5-6 pound plant inside of the canopy. I plan to keep things more compact and still yield high. We'll see.

Well, even in this crappy weather there is work to do. Last day of a good planting moon means some up-potting and trying to find more room under the lights!

Happy gardening everyone - Butte
 

localhero

Member
whats up Butte,

I got a bunch of new zealand white clover for cover on my pots, and noticed the california burclover in the back of my property was riddled with pm. so this now has me second guessing the clover cover, has ur clover ever been infested with pm?

Tottally my fault for allowing the garden to get overgrown in the off season, the idea was to keep insects in the area to help balance out the predator/prey relationship. that rather than all the bad bugs coming in first, then having to wait for their predators. It worked to an extent. there were literally thousands of ladybug larvea all over my yard. if it wasnt for the damn burclover id be stoked. after pulling the burclover all i have left in this yard are spiders.
 

nomaad

Active member
Veteran
I missed the question about bamboo snapping. I have never had this problem... Do you mean it snapped at the ground level where it rotted in the dirt? I used A LOT of bamboo last year... my trellises were these crazy structures of vertical and horizontal bamboo and some long curved pieces of heavy galvanized wire- all held together by little zip ties... They were in constant need of expansion. I will NOT be doing this again.

trellis09.jpg

This is the trellising done for a 4.5lb Clueberry plant. It was fun, having been a bamboo builder by trade, but not advised.

This year I am going to put 4 or 5 pieces of rebar tilting out, each sheathed in pvc pipe. Around that I will be using hortinova netting. I'm also going to do multiple layers of horizontal hortinova. No metal cages. I have never liked that idea.
 

localhero

Member
another tip on bamboo:

dont use your own. theres a reason some of them come from the stores dyed green, i believe its a copper stain thats used to prevent disease or mold. if u do use your own; cure it fresh cut green over coals or a bbq or something first. the oils will bubble out, rub that in and it should act as like a natural sealer. I thought using the dead culms off my hedge would be smart, but ended up transfering this black sooty mold to some of the plants i used to stake them with. This year is all about garden fence caging.

heres some of my large plants...indoor :p barrels cut in half with tons of holes drilled in them as pots. now if i can do this larger outdoors :D
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Tom Hill

Active member
Veteran
Hello folks,

Hi Yankee, I guess it (CEC) would depend on what type of clay. I do feel a lot better about adding things that will eventually break down into humus. IE, good manzanita compost is prolly a better addition than perlite. I have used liquidized leonardite when it was first available but pass on it lately.

Nomaad, and then today the forecast is sunny again through May, lol, I tell you they're flipping a coin in an office somewhere and making chumps out of us :D Here's the forecast - Sooner or later, these storms will push north as a high moves in,,,, but they're not sure when. No snow on those plants I plugged. They are along a river valley in sunset western climate zone 14, and it is quite mild there.

Dr. P, Depending on the clay, and how much gypsum already added to how much compost etc, etc. I would say that 1 part perlite to one part clay, to one part composted material maybe. Then, 1/2 to 1 cup of lime per cubic foot of said material. 200 gallons (dry-U.S.) is about 31 cf - so 15-30 cups of lime I would add/turn-in.

Hehee Butte, going for large but not monstrous plants this year eh? LOL, that's purdy funny, I'll do you a favor then and trade you your larger starts for my smaller ones to help you out bro? :D I agree though with the premise of a shorter season producing higher quality - on average.

I like the idea of growing daikon radish around the outside of holes to let rot and loosen/expand our holes/beds to include more native soil options around the outskirts.

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A lil sun/glory hole here and there this afternoon as the view from my office shows. Tomorrow, it will be sun sun sun baby for weeks, and after a few days of that we will all feel like nitrous-huffing grasshoppers. So back to work I go.;)
 

ROOTWISE

Member
Veteran
Why's everybody so worried about snow? Just throw one of these things up real quick...
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Finished the new 30X40 yesterday, just in time for today's 60mph gusts. I'm like a nervous father watching the plastic today. Start building planters tomorrow, bought all my supplemental lighting today. Hoping to have all my seed starts in by May 10. Cuts go in as fast as possible after that....

Stay tuned, will get my thread going soon, gotta get some more work done first....a few more pics in my album "Ranching With Rootwise" FYI

Thanks for all the input and info here Tom, Butte, Humboldtlocal, etc....

Keep your nose on that grindstone fellas, busy times ahead...
:blowbubbles:
 

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Dr. Purpur

Custom Haze crosses
Veteran
Lime

Lime

Tom: Should I just use Lime at 1/2-1 cup per cf and not any Ground Oyster shell? , Or should I use both? I have 100 lbs of the oyster shells already. DP
 

Tom Hill

Active member
Veteran
I'd use 1/2 to 1 cup of oyster shell per 1cf Dr, no other lime. Then store the leftovers in a dry place for next year if need be. -T
 

Dr. Purpur

Custom Haze crosses
Veteran
Oh Thanks Bro! I got You.

I have a cutting of this one going in the big hole out back,Salmon Creek/ Orange Crush, (next to the haze plant) . This one is at day 24.
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Y

Yankee Grower

I have used liquidized leonardite when it was first available but pass on it lately.
What were you expecting and what did you see? Part of the issue with liquid leonardite, or dry micronized you hydrate, products is particle size for them to be effective.
 
T

theJointedOne

Hey Yankee good to see ya! I was wondering when youd be in here

So butte or Tom or anybody else i also had a quick question going back to supplemental lighting and genetics. II was wondering if plants from seed are sensitive to going outside and flowering early like some clones are?
 

Tom Hill

Active member
Veteran
Hi again Yankee, I suppose I expected to see a difference in perhaps Na levels but didn't see anything at all with field meters in comparison to the controls. I don't know man, I'm much more inclined to go to available native sources of "almost" humus. Manzanita compost has worked outstanding for me for decades - and does show a more measurable activity/ties-up/complexes sodium more.
 

osoloco69

Member
Hey Yankee good to see ya! I was wondering when youd be in here

So butte or Tom or anybody else i also had a quick question going back to supplemental lighting and genetics. II was wondering if plants from seed are sensitive to going outside and flowering early like some clones are?

Usually the seeds are better at overlooking the days that are shorter getting longer, but that has a lot to do with genetics as well. I also think that a clone will flower a bit faster indoors than the seed mom did.
 
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