Guerrilla Growing in Sandy Soil?

[DuskrayTroubador]

I'm going to start growing in Florida next year and was wondering if I'll have to haul soil out in the bush to grow in because the soil there is sandy.

Is the only problem with sandy soil that it doesn't retain water well? If that's the case I wouldn't think that would be much of a problem because it rains like no other in Florida.

 

[Manstien]

as mad_lib would say...

HEAD OVER TO THE ORGANIC SOIL SECTION!! they'll straighten you out and you can construct a good mix.

 

[Sad But True]

Some of the biggest plants i have ever grown have been in re-vegetated sand dunes... no added soil... just mixed in the organic matter that was on the surface.

Sandy soils actually old water well, pretty much any sand you dig will be damp under the surface... but still need to water a lot (may sound confusing).
Great drainage, water heaps... will need to fert quite a lot as sand is naturally pretty infertile.

If it is near the sea and you are worried about salty soil or salt spray, dont, it had no affect on my spots next to the sea.

Just lucky we are growing a weed

Good luck

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Yeah, sad but true has it. Sandy soil holds more water than you think. Many sandy soils are nutritious - if you go to certain places in the western desert states and start watering the sand, life abounds in no time flat.

Mix in small bag of garden soil to each hole.

I grow in a sandy river bank and the plants get massive.

 

[kamyo]

There are a lot of benefits to sandy soil that I'd take over clay/rocky soil any day. One being the ease of digging a huge hole. There's the good drainage and - like mentioned above - the way sandy soil seems to always stay moist about an inch below the surface. Being light in color (I'm assuming your is, but I could be wrong), I think it helps reflect the sun as opposed to absorbing it, but that's just some straight up guessing. Are you talking beach sand (usually more coarse...coral and shit) or just regular sandy soil? I would still advise mixing at least some garden soil to it, though. If it isn't an option, you should be okay with hand watering.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Alright, the surrounding vegetation looks pretty good from what I can tell. So mix in a bag of garden soil and a cup of lime and I'll be good? Will I need perlite at all since sandy soil is naturally loose?

And in terms of needing to fert alot, should I still go with the weekly/weakly method (half recommended dose on a weekly basis)?

 

[MajLeeStoned]

I would hold off in the lime until you are certain you have acidic soil. Sandy soils are often alkaline.


PPp

Alright, the surrounding vegetation looks pretty good from what I can tell. So mix in a bag of garden soil and a cup of lime and I'll be good? Will I need perlite at all since sandy soil is naturally loose?

And in terms of needing to fert alot, should I still go with the weekly/weakly method (half recommended dose on a weekly basis)?

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

I would hold off in the lime until you are certain you have acidic soil. Sandy soils are often alkaline.


PPp

Solid point. I'm actually rather surprised that simply mixing in garden soil will make it good growing quality. Then again I guess it isn't as important to enrich the soil because I'll be using chemical fertilizers.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

I just did some further research and found out the sandy soil I will be growing in is known as entisol soil. So far I've heard bad things about entisol soil such as not very fertile and only being able to dig about 8 inches before hitting a layer of rock. Can anyone offer some knowledge about entisol soil or will the garden soil mixed in still solve all the problems?

 

[bozga]

Growing is very sandy soil is tricky; although plants will survive but they will not yield much.
You need to add some organic stuff in there.......

 

[Strainhunter]

Dig holes 2' wide and 3' deep.

Mix the native dug out with 2 bags of Black Kow manure (Walmart, about $2/bag) and 3 handfuls dolomite lime ($5 Home Depot for 50lbs).

You're good to go during vegging.

For flowering add a 10-30-20 fertilizer.

I have grown a lot in Florida for many years and that's what I used to do depending on strain up to 25' bushes.

Do anything else and you will be wasting your time and money.

Use Sativa strains only, the rest likely will rot away.

Look especially for those yellow and green butterflies, they will lay their eggs on your plants and the caterpillars will eat your buds inside out and their droppings will cause mold.

Be smart about your choice of spot(s).
People are EVERYWHERE whether that be hikers, 4wheelers, berry pickers, homeless camps name it they are there.

And remember many plants smell a lot.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

How was your watering schedule?

 

[Strainhunter]

How was your watering schedule?

Depended on the time of the year, the available rains and the size of the plants.

During vegging sometimes none for 2 weeks, sometimes 5 gallons/plant every 3rd day.

By the time they are flowering you will have to water twice a week (every 3 days) to administer fertilizer.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Depended on the time of the year, the available rains and the size of the plants.

During vegging sometimes none for 2 weeks, sometimes 5 gallons/plant every 3rd day.

By the time they are flowering you will have to water twice a week (every 3 days) to administer fertilizer.

What was your dosage on the ferts if you don't mind me asking? Did you do 1/4 recommended dose every three days instead of 1/2 the recommended dose every 7?

And what I did for watering this year was cut the bottom off of a plastic bottle and bury it up to the mouth. Then I poured all the water when I fed/watered into the bottle so it went straight to the roots instead of evaporating from the surface of the soil. Is this a good method?

Also did you train your sativas at all? I was thinking of supercropping .

 

[Strainhunter]

What was your dosage on the ferts if you don't mind me asking? Did you do 1/4 recommended dose every three days instead of 1/2 the recommended dose every 7?

And what I did for watering this year was cut the bottom off of a plastic bottle and bury it up to the mouth. Then I poured all the water when I fed/watered into the bottle so it went straight to the roots instead of evaporating from the surface of the soil. Is this a good method?

Also did you train your sativas at all? I was thinking of supercropping .

I fed full strength every watering (twice a week).
That's 10 to 12 grams per gallon of water, then PH'd to 6.5.

The bottle thing is a good method but won't work large scale, 1/2 dozen smaller plants yes but not full grown plants and many of them.

Never cropped any of them.
On a large scale basis that just won't work. It would take you endless hours every day and you will have other things to worry about instead.
Just imagine how long it takes to pick dead leafs from a few dozen plants every day so they won't catch mold.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Was that a constant dosage from the beginning of flowering through the end?

With sativa strains, since they'll begin to flower relatively soon after sprouting, how many weeks post sprout would you begin feeding? In other words, how many weeks after they sprout until they begin to flower and did you commence feeding as soon as they began flowering?

Is the high amount of ferts because sativa strains stretch so much during flowering?

 

[Strainhunter]

Was that a constant dosage from the beginning of flowering through the end?

With sativa strains, since they'll begin to flower relatively soon after sprouting, how many weeks post sprout would you begin feeding? In other words, how many weeks after they sprout until they begin to flower and did you commence feeding as soon as they began flowering?

Is the high amount of ferts because sativa strains stretch so much during flowering?

The G13 Power Skunk we are talking about here showed sex @ around 6' tall & when everything else was well in to flowering so no that one does not start to flower soon after sprouting.
Our plants start flowering when they reach sexual maturity, @ many strains that's the case when they reach a certain height and is not necessarily depending only on the photo period..

As a matter of fact most of the 100% Sativas I remember growing started flowering real late, later than any hybrids or Indica heavy strains.

The amount of ferts used wasn't particularly high.
You have to read your plants and see how far you can go w/o overferting them.
That's why I told you earlier stick with one strain or it will drive you nuts on a large scale grow mixing stuff for every different strain you would have going.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

The G13 Power Skunk we are talking about here showed sex @ around 6' tall & when everything else was well in to flowering so no that one does not start to flower soon after sprouting.
Our plants start flowering when they reach sexual maturity, @ many strains that's the case when they reach a certain height and is not necessarily depending only on the photo period..

As a matter of fact most of the 100% Sativas I remember growing started flowering real late, later than any hybrids or Indica heavy strains.

The amount of ferts used wasn't particularly high.
You have to read your plants and see how far you can go w/o overferting them.
That's why I told you earlier stick with one strain or it will drive you nuts on a large scale grow mixing stuff for every different strain you would have going.

The 100% Sativas should theoretically be able to be planted on any day of the year and finish roughly 6 months later correct? So if planted in May, harvest in November, planted in July harvest in January (assuming there is no frost)? The reason I ask is just for clarification, but in theory since being photoresponsive is a dominant trait carried by indicas, any hybrid even if 90% sativa would still be photoperiod responsive. Would those hybrids not begin to flower very soon after sprouting but still stretch to be very tall and (strain dependent) have a high yield?

 

[Strainhunter]

......

It really is totally strain dependent...but since especially Indica heavy strains are (should be) out of question for you I wouldn't even worry about that if I were you.
You're probably not gonna listen regarding using Sativa strains only but when your plants are going to be eaten by Botrytis within 10 days you're gonna remember my words...

I generally started my grows by sprouting on 4/20 and the G14 were done late October, some years well in to November.

Yeah you can do winter grows...but since you wrote you are heading to central Fla that ain't gonna work for you. The temps there have been in the mid 20's during a few nights in January in the past few years.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

It really is totally strain dependent...but since especially Indica heavy strains are (should be) out of question for you I wouldn't even worry about that if I were you.
You're probably not gonna listen regarding using Sativa strains only but when your plants are going to be eaten by Botrytis within 10 days you're gonna remember my words...

I generally started my grows by sprouting on 4/20 and the G14 were done late October, some years well in to November.

Yeah you can do winter grows...but since you wrote you are heading to central Fla that ain't gonna work for you. The temps there have been in the mid 20's during a few nights in January in the past few years.

All the strains I had picked were sativas. Either 100% or very sativa dominant.

I'm (hoping) that a winter grow would not be a repeating occurrence. My only concern was if sprouting in late June, the plants may push into december/january which could potentially be a bad thing. Do you have to be as far south as Miami to grow year round?