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Topsoil

S

Sask_organics

Member
Going to be doing a light dep legal outdoor grow. Planning 72 x 100 gallon Geopots on a drip system. The site has sandy loan soil that hasn't been grazed in over a decade. Mostly alfalfa growing and dying back year after year. Also have access to fully composted organic cow manure and can get any gardening amendments pretty cheap through work. Was wondering if anyone has ever done a topsoil mix in fabric pots and if so any tips?
 
Pangea

Pangea

Active member
Veteran
High Sask_organics,

Careful with the cold spring nights in SK, stunted growth is common if your soil gets cold! Night temps often drop to near freezing up to the start of june, and can really fuck things up if you get a few cold nights and days in a row. I put a batch or two out early in hopes of a warm may, but have back up batches ready to replace them if things get to cold, more often than not Im better off waiting till June.

Dont tarp too late, the closer to the solstice the better, we lose sun power and angle quickly, each week delayed is noticeable in bag appeal and yield!

I havent utilized much topsoil in containers but know that a lot of SK has awesome chernozem soil, if you want to get into it Id suggest getting it and the manure compost analysed for some sort of metric baseline. Ive grown good full season plants on a similarly described field with little to no amendment.

Also, I'd start to ask around about local hemp farms, the pollen starts to fly during prime tarp time. I would be prepared for a partially seeded crop, better to be prepared than not in case you get dusted, mentally and processing wise, fucking hemp pollen....

I havent found many organic amendment sources in SK, are you more south or northern based? Any line on bulk and/or dry molasses for compost tea?
 
S

Sask_organics

Member
Thanks for the reply Pangea. Plan is to have em out for start of June and flip July 7th. They will be well vegged ahead of time. Didn't even think of the hemp pollen flying. I Have grown close to the location before with no pollination so fingers crossed. I do know hemp farmers but they are all 150km or so away. No source for bulk molasses unfortunately. I'm in south part of the province and work in the gardening industry so I get a good price on amendments like kelp and guano. planning on getting the soil tested also.
 
Pangea

Pangea

Active member
Veteran
Good timing! Indoor preveg is always nice, be sure to temper their transition outside to avoid light shock.

Tens of billions of males start to really pop off july 1st'ish, smiles from the wind gods and luck with distance from the closest farmer is all one can hope for.
 
wasgedn

wasgedn

Active member
hi,
IMHO raised beds can be a lot of work but are surly better then pots outdoors...
when u use good bokashi the soil is bit warmer then around...everything which bring or feed microbes makes soil warmer in cold phase
 
T

/Tron

New member
Hey Sask,
GL this year.

IM in MB, sitting on black gold, sandy.. I dug a hole and amended with what I could and added some fullharvest. could have used all sorts of amendments last year. peat/coco/perlite, to fluff it up. The soil began hard-panning around the plant from the rains and my watering. watering was slow, I tried gently breaking up the soil, drainage was uncertain and the plant never looked like it needed water.
Near the cold season I wanted to keep moisture to a minimum, the neighbouring tomatoes all blighting earlier in the year. Left me concerned the soil had enough moisture, so i left it.

Plant went full term. I poly'd a canopy after august.
FruitJuice (zambezaseeds [bbxww]xpowerplant) cross. I was satisfied,
covered as the year got cold. Think this is what i will try again with better soil.


PM if you got Q's
 
plantingplants

plantingplants

Active member
Get your native soil tested, and check how well it drains. If your native is good, why go in pots?? I'd amend your native and let them stretch. Unless you have gophers.
 
S

Sask_organics

Member
Tron sounds like you might need some more calcium. Also a nice heavy mulch will stop the soil from crusting up. And ya we have a rediculous amount of gophers around.
 
wasgedn

wasgedn

Active member
when it rains a lot in youre area , take raised beds.....when in dry climate , no raised beds...
 
wasgedn

wasgedn

Active member
but also when no raised beds i would make my soillayer thicker...kind of grounded raised beds but without heavy drainage...
 
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