WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN SANDY CONDITIONS ??

[Kinkao]

Hello

imagine that you have a 150m2 outdoor place , and all the water you need , but the place wich is given is all sandy under tropical conditions.

would you do ???

i was thinking about carying lots of organic soil , and do some like 300 pots sticked in sand to the "neck" and all sticked to a hose and driper, via a 500l water tank where i could do my nutrients mixes.

than i heard that it would be difficult to gather all this amount of organic soil ....
i thought maybe i could mix , this sand , with soil amendments, and maybe something like coco husks , because lots of coconut trees around, so the husk could hold the nuts and the humidity.

i'am in favor of one watering per day , because , it will need human presence to do it , i don't think i 'll have the material to make an automated continous, drip system into the sand wit salts to waste , using lots of water ... and salt losts

so i am still thinking , and i would be happy if u guys have any advice ...

it's most of a plan B , because i don't think they'll be lots of nursery around the location.

anyone like chess ?? héhé ... let's go on , and see what u guys would do !!

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

yea just buy some air pots and dirts..

 

[Kinkao]

I think the AIR POTS will dry too fast ... place is hot bro !
i don't think they have any airpots yet ther too !
it's kindda third world ! IOI
thank you

let's keep on going ..

 

[Kinkao]

and this is way too expensive bro !

thx for advice anyway

 

[HighDesertJoe]

Living in the desert which is 95% sand I just add some sorta of mulch right at the root system, I don't go crazy with it just enough to get the plants sending down good deep roots which I have put a good slow timed released fertilizer I used Osmocote 18-6-12 and also Super Phosphate then maybe every 3-4 times I water I use a weak water soluble fertilizer later in the long growing season of the Calif desert. The key in IMHO is DEEP watering.
Good Luck

 

[Kinkao]

HDJ !

interesting things that you said ...... so basicly a good amount of coco husk at the bottom , with a slow release fert etc .... hum ! hum !
that means , you don't use any dirts bro ! ... sand and husk + salts that's it !?

so is you husk covered directly with the sand ?? !
and you just stick your plant in it .. ! ?

that sound simple ... deep watering because sand drains fast ... make sence !

out of the bacteries life system , just salts and water , ... no choice , in theses conditions .. i see

thanks

 

[dmt]

when i lived in the bahamas i saw people connecting drip lines on timers and growing hydroponically drain to waste. super tea of chicken, cow and goat, bat and bird guana. no pics sorry, d

 

[Kinkao]

HDJ ! i tried to visit ur galery to see some pictures of the plants u'v grown this way .. i didn't find anything

do you any thread wit pics , so i can have a idea , of how they thrive in ur conditions ..

THX

 

[Tropic]

Manure works great, it adds structure and organic matter to sandy soils, provided you can let it work some time. Coco fiber is great too but shredding enough of it for 150m2 is a lot of work.
HighDesertJoe has some good advice regarding mulch and deep waterings, you gotta make the roots search for water in the early stages.
Best of luck

 

[HighDesertJoe]

HDJ ! i tried to visit ur galery to see some pictures of the plants u'v grown this way .. i didn't find anything

do you any thread wit pics , so i can have a idea , of how they thrive in ur conditions ..

THX

Hi Kinkao last time I grew outdoors was 25 yrs ago this season well be my first in that many years back in that time I was very paranoid about any evidence so I never kept any pictures around. But I'm going to be growing for my brother who has a rec so it's going to be nice knowing I'm doing it legal this time and I'll still do it just like I did before, the sky's the limit.
Tom Hill has some real good threads on growing big plants outdoors give it a read might help you out. HDJ

 

[HighDesertJoe]

HDJ !

interesting things that you said ...... so basicly a good amount of coco husk at the bottom , with a slow release fert etc .... hum ! hum !
that means , you don't use any dirts bro ! ... sand and husk + salts that's it !?

so is you husk covered directly with the sand ?? !
and you just stick your plant in it .. ! ?

that sound simple ... deep watering because sand drains fast ... make sence !

out of the bacteries life system , just salts and water , ... no choice , in theses conditions .. i see

thanks

I don't know anything about coco husk yet I can't say one way or another, I used a soil amendment called Kellogg Grow mulch

 

[Magic Man]

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN SANDY CONDITIONS ??

I would spend my time reading more on ICM so i knew what to do in sandy conditions. That way no one would see my join date of "Jun 2006" and think i am lazy or even stupid for not finding the answer on my own after all these years. That's what I would do.

LINK

LINK

LINK

LINK

I like chess as well

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Thats not very nice Magic Man

I grew for 1 year in Ft. Myers florida and its all sand there. Ii bought a bag of the densest potting soil i could buy and mixed it in to the sand. It was hyponex potting soil. Its good soil, just no perlite or anything and still today, its the same,nothing in it and its dense, it packs and needs sand or perlite added to it. Just the order. 1 -40lb bag per hole and theyll grow great.! $1.99 perbag/plant

 

[Kinkao]

Dear friendly growers !!

It's always a pleasure to open a topic , even if many links provided many infos by the past , i beleive , it's always a joy to have nice feelings , ideas , and love and peace to share around us !!

what was done in the past can be improved today ! wit new technics , enlightened
thoughts ...

thanks to share ur beautifull experiences !

 

[Kinkao]

D.S. Toker. MD: that is a great info ther and cheap too , hope i will find this kindda of reach soil , thank u bro !

TROPIC : I agree with you , build up a bacterie life in this poor conditions , would be just a benefit for this place, coco husk will be dropped on every hole , so w'll save on the shredding .. and we'll protect the top wit some mulch so water doesn't evaporate too fast ..

DMT : i liked the idea of the connected drip lines on timers and growing hydroponically drain to waste .
now i have to check out how to build up suficientes quantitie of compost tea , for this much space ... plants won't be too high ... 'cause place is a constant 12/24 ... so maybe 200 plants ...

HDJ: Good thing that u can grow legal ! bro ... i wish this could be done in many parts of the world

 

[mosstrooper]

Someone mentioned in a post about using various kinds of animal dung to make a tea that you can use in drip lines to feed your plants in a run to waste way.

If you dont have access to a lot of dung, but you do have access to plant materiel you could use vegetative materiel to make a nutrient tea.

In the UK we have a plant (comfrey) that roots up to 5m down and deeper, it grows a fleshy wet growth on top and drags nutrients up far far below, so maybe you have a plant like that near you that you can make nutrients from.

I also note that you dont think a run to waste system is practical, for whatever reason.
Could you make long trestles/benches and black and white polythene to make a rudmentry NFT system?

If you need to grow in the sand itself.

Then are you near the sea, can you get seaweed, not only good for potash, but probably the best organic soil amendment there is, full of micronutrients and alginates to help create a nice texture of soil, it would help with the moisture holding qualitys of your soil/sand.

Could you mulch your plants using large flat stones to dramiticaly reduce the evaporation from the soil around your plants, or would burrowing insects and ants be a problem?

If you have to use the sand, abd run to waste is not an option then you must make the soil hold as much moisture as it can, anything other than sand and perlite will probably help.
Vermiculite, coir, peat, composts of every kind, seaweeds, et al.

My somehwat disjonted thoughts on the topic, i also have quite sandy soil and lots of water, but im not in the tropics. Mores the pity

 

[mosstrooper]

Out of interest, is your place flat, or on a slope?

Is your water, piped, in a stream, or from a well?

Do you need to carry the water by hand, ie in buckets?

Also, purely out of interest, are you in a place that has only recnetly got affordable net access?
Dont answer if you give too much away.

 

[Kinkao]

Mosstroper ..

the trestles/benches won't fit our needs , to much work at start , and the plants should finish at 6 ft so wider root space would be needed .

seaweed if very nice , will have to leave them in fresh water sometime , .... perfect yes ! .. i will mulch using coco fiber wich is abundant in this location.

have no idea of what the insects are over ther yet ! ...

i think at the deepest part in the soil , i will put coco fiber too to keep water..

place is flat ... i think i will put hoses side to the plants and water like every 3 times a day , to maintain moister at deeper level , ...

it's water from a under ground lake, pumped into a well ... where i'll do my mixes

we'll have energy , ther should be internet not too far ...

about the strain , i was thinking of TGA AGENT ORANGE, because is low odor and only smell orange peel , produces super well , nice high , no pests or mold.
i was thinking do doing a hybrid wit C99 , to shorten the flower time , increase bag appeal , stay lite on odor ... will see

now i have to get use to compost tea etc ...

thank you