Dry summer guerillas! How do you provide irrigation?

I live in a climate that turns into a psudo-drought during summer(July-Sept), after July 4th there is little to no rain until mid September, during that time highs are usually in the 90s if not over 100F.

If my plants are not provided with water artificially(by hand or machine), or if it is not provided naturally(from a natural wet spot in the ground), chances are I will harvest little(if the plant survives at all).

So basicly I have 2 choices as a wildland guerilla grower, I can either find the natural wetspots(which can be rare here, epecially with sufficent sunlight), or I can provide it myself. Several summers I hauled water to the plants, which can be done with low numbers in the rough, but with larger numbers it gets kinda crazy. This prompted me to find a mechanical way.

Hence my notorious "Auto-irrigation system", which itself was inspired by the "Guerilla Irrigation" thread on OG. Basiclly water is stored on the site in makeshift resivours, and doled out through a basic "drip" system(I still hope to get a couple of these working next summer). Water can be piped from a source above the grow, or pumped from a site below, or it can be collected from rain water using a tarp.

For those that don't want to get involved in building a irrigation system, water could still be stored onsite(or nearby), so that you can trully get a distance into the wilderness, and not have to rely on planting near a attention catching stream, or hauling it on your back. In the past I have collected more than 150 gallons in several garbage cans using a simple 4'x8'black plastic tarp(in about 2 months time).

Basicly by planning ahead, you could plant virtually anywhere, you are not limited by anything except how far you are willing to walk for watering. The trick to collecting rainwater is to start months ahead of the end of your rainy season(s). If there is a sunny, deserted spot you have always wanted to grow in, but its isolated location has made the idea of getting water to the location a difficult prospect, this is your answer. Collect the free stuff falling from the sky and save your back!

I like to use heavy ammounts of "water crystals", as well as adding moisture retaining organic materials to the soil (Peat, Coco coir, very mild composted manure, etc). I also like to mulch the ground ontop of the plots, to help keep the soil cool while the sun beats on it, slowing evaporation.

Anyways, I just wanted to give a condensed version of my experience growing in a dry summer climate, what I am more interested in is the experiences of growers in similar climates out there. How do you cope? How do you prepare your plots? How much water do you provide, and how often? How do the various methods you use affect you yields?

Basicly, if you grow in a dry(hot?) summer climate(in a Guerilla style), please post and share your knowlege with us, lets start a discussion

The ingredient of Wilt Pruf, Pineolene, is essentially pine resin treated to mix easily with water. It forms a protective coating on leaves & stems that helps the plant maintain moisture. When applied it dries to a clear, glossy, colorless flexible film that does not interfere with growth or respiration.

Use low rates.

Welcome to the thread sproutco! Have you used this outdoors? I have to admit I have not heard of such a thing, very curious!

Here is a link to the manufacturers website- Wiltpruf website

After looking around, it seems this is mostly used on trees, although they claim it is safe to use on all plants.

It does not seem to impead the passage of gasses(Co2, O2), but prevents moisture from passing out of the leaves. Hmm, very interesting, I wonder if it could be useful for outdoor, and possibly indoor growing?

I have noticed in the search engines that it is sold by several indoor growing suppliers

Yeah i didnt even know that was possible??

Horta-Sorb® water management gel polymers are substances that absorb hundreds of times their weight in water. The water absorbed is nearly all available to the plants. There use results in managing watering in the root zone of the plant significantly reducing watering maintenance and providing for a more constant supply of water to the roots.

Thanks for your imput sproutco, as i mentioned, water crystals are a great thing to use and many brands exist on the shelves out there.
But what I am looking for here are your experiences, do you have any stories or pics to share about your outdoor grows? And the use of these products?

About 15 years ago, I was stuck being the horticulturalist for acres and acres of plants. (100's) It did not rain that summer for 4 months. The wilt pruf company sent me a sample so I sprayed it. I don't know how well it works. Use low rates. They may send you a sample if you tell them you want to try it out before buying a 55 gallon drum. That should get their attention. That's what I did. Send them a email. That summer we bought firehoses and hooked up to water from the firehydrants.

I remember a guy who was trying to do a solar still last year as a active irrigation system, kinda interesting, seemed to a flop for that purpose.

My main problem with a solar still would be its attention attracting properties, it would have be out in the full sunshine to work, and would be a natural eyecatcher for aircraft, epecially if glass or sheet plastic were used, but any solar still that would be affective for collecting the amount of water you need would be quite large and visable no matter what it was made from.

Cloudcover is another brand of antitranspirant.

Plants should be well supplied with potassium and a little chlorine (small pinch of table salt per gallon of water) going into a drought. Both of these elements are responsible for stomate regulation. (opening and closing of plant pores). Potassium deficient plants don't have good control over their stomates and lose water easily.

If the drought carries into flowering, you should consider a supplemental boron drench of the soil or a foliar spray. Cotton growers typically spray their drought striken crops at flowering with solubor (soluble boron). Boron moves in the water stream of the plant. If the plant is drought striken then little water is moving from the roots to the tops. Little water movement = boron deficiency.




Tip: Boron can be toxic. You can water with up to 8 ppm but I found that burns lower foliage. 2 ppm is safe. Using solubor, you would use .2 grams per 5 gallons of water. If you got borax from the grocery store, you would use .3 grams per 5 gallons. Do this only once!



Be sure to disolve the borax in hot water first.

Good info there, optimizing the nutrients is certainly a good place to start, the Chlorine and the Boron are often overlooked by many growers.

For anyone using water from a city water supply, I would not worry about the Chlorine, there is plenty in the water already.

Boron may also not be needed for folks planting in areas with many trees about, as much Boron is released by the decompositions of their waste. In fact for those of you using a form of compost(especially manure compost), Boron will already be present in sufficent quanities. It is easily recovered during composting from the decomposed vegtable matter.
If you decide to suppliment with a artificial source, be careful, it can be harmful to the plants.

Link--Compost and Composting info

Hmmm, there muist be some folks out there with some actual experiences? Anyone with a story to tell, pics?

Peatmoss holds alot of water. Do add dolomite lime because its acidic.

BACKCOUNTRY said:

Hmmm, there muist be some folks out there with some actual experiences? Anyone with a story to tell, pics?

Click to expand...

I learned alotta my shit from you bro.(most of us have)..I cant really help here, would just be a repeat of what you already know..

I think the biggest thing that us dry climate guerillas havent touched on is the gas powered pump thang...I think the res dripsystem combo idea is gettin beat to death..Youve already taught us thatone...

cocopeat holds a lot of water and is great for root developement

It's dry here... desert actually, but the season is different from yours: May and June are scorching hot and very dry, right when you're trying to get seedlings/young clones established... so during May/June you have to be on the ball with watering. Luckily, young plants = not much of a root system so they aren't able to pull much moisture from the soil.

2nd week of July monsoons hit and we get 1" or more of rain about 5 afternoons a week. Sunny... then pours torrentially... then sunny for the rest of the day. Monsoons last until September 15th or later, so they carry me to harvest.

I grow in 5 gallon buckets usually and keep the plants on the small side (they finish 3-4') and had great luck last year with a soil mix consisting of: Black Gold, coco coir (about 20%), perlite (15%) and polymer crystals (1 dry teaspoon per bucket, wetted/expanded before adding).

It was my first year with polymer crystals and I was worried b/c I had heard many people say they lent a very strong plastic taste to your herb. It may be dependent on the brand of crystals you use (mine came from Wally World) but my weed didn't taste of plastic in the slightest.

Peace-

Dig

Thanks Dignan! Posts like that are what I am looking for!!

Fast Pine said:

I learned alotta my shit from you bro.(most of us have)..I cant really help here, would just be a repeat of what you already know..

I think the biggest thing that us dry climate guerillas havent touched on is the gas powered pump thang...I think the res dripsystem combo idea is gettin beat to death..Youve already taught us thatone...

Click to expand...

Yeah, the real purpose of this thread is to get a feeling for how the community deals with the problem, there are lots of folks out there growing under summer conditions that are not freindly to growing because of lack of summer rainfall that many folks enjoy. I'd like to get their imput, irrigating a plot does not have to be so complicated that it employs pipes at all, as of yet I have not used my irrigation system(which itself is coppied from growers before me) to grow a crop, all of my crops have been grown using naturally occuring ground moisture or by hauling jugs of water to the plot.

Basicly I'd like to know how much water folks use, how they get it there, or store it on site, if they do use a irrigation system I'd like to be enlightened about it.

Basicly I'd like to open a dialog with fellow outdoor growers, about how they water their plants, everyone has something to learn.

I do hump water a few times a year and I use one of these. Holds 5 gallons. Costs 10 bucks. Fits the contour of a backpack. And has a handy dandy spray hose.

You guys are surely showing some guts in this guerrilla, I couldn’t make it…

A shower bag is a great idea for hauling water, cheap and lightweight, the efficiency of it had never struck me before! Using the hose as a nozzle is the icing on the cake, good find

Hello all,

BC, How far are your distances you have to travel to get to your plot humping water?

As I recall you had an idea for constructing a resevoir on sight. This makes the most sense to me.

Water bladders are a possiblity but require an initail investment. Then you still have the issue of filling them. The use of rain water collection is again a great idea. Just as an example- a 10' square collection area recieveing an inch of rain would provide nearly 63 gallons of water.

So, getting the volume you will need during the late winter/early spring rains should not present a problem.

How effective did that rez you built by linning it with on sight branches and plastic?

Are animals searching for water a concern?

What about plastic or tin garbage cans- I am thining they stack and have lids.

Do you have sites that you can take advantage of elevation differences- gravity feed?

But you know, it really matters how much money you can invest in your equipment that governs your options.

I got an interesting phone call from a very old friend yesterday asking about the same information. Unfortunately, no computer hookup in the boonies of Montana.

He has a goal of 100 pounds. I think he needs to scale back till he can learn the ropes.

Anyway, I have looked around at water bladders but it seems to me that a plastic barrel would be better.

I seem to recall reading that some folk water with as much as a gallon a day on mid-sized plants outdoors. Of course your milage will vary.

But with a drip system, much less water would be needed I would think. I recall your digital hose timer-perfect in this application I think. I presume you would check your grows periodically so battery issues should not be a problem.

I guess I am asking is schlepping 4 or 5 plastic garbage cans out of the question. This seems to be the readily available container solution.

Dig a hole and bury it, wrap with 1/2"x1/2" hardware cloth on the sides and top and bottom.

Bears/badgers/raccoons keep popping into my mind as possible water bandits.


minds_I