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Advice - Island grow

Pumpkin

Pumpkin

Well-known member
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I have access to an uninhabited island about 2.5km by 3.5km.

It has some air traffic and no fresh water supply, so I don't want things to look too strange from above. Access is via boat only.

It's fairly flat but I am yet to do a complete survey. Salt water and wind is an obvious problem.

If anyone has some links to people who have had successful gardens in similar places can you please post me some links so I can see how they got on.

I imagine i'll be collecting rainwater and doing a container grow depending on the soil quality. (would be more ideal if i could plant directly in the soil). My boat is tiny and not that great for transporting much besides a person and some basics. Certainly transporting fresh water is not on the cards.

Haven't seen many coastal grows. So links or general advice would be helpful.

I've also always been on fresh water rivers. So it's a big environmental change. Although I do have experience in collecting fresh water. As long as i can find a decent incline I should be able to sort that one.

Thanks.
 
G

grahamwelington

New member
I'd look for low wet spots with fresh water plants growing. then put 30 gal smart pots on the damp ground. Water will wick from the ground to the medium and keep the pots moist. General "swamp tube" principle.
because coir bales are so easy to transport I'd use them as the base of your mix. I tried this method last year and had great results.
 
G

guest845704

WOW. Always wanted to have a hidden island. Colecting rain water is a great idea for you especialy when u have tiny boat. Post some pics and say something more about island, soil and plans if it possible.:thank you:
 
Hazeo

Hazeo

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Hey Pumpkin,

i am totally with Quattro thats totally amazing!!!
i want to share that island with you... may i??? ;)

man! you have all time of the world... you can build up a monster plantage by the years...

i am just imagine what thousands of possibilities would be just open in your situation...


I would search for tree´s or other natural "buildings" that drain much water during a rain. there you can connect some kind of hose into a reservoir. i would try to find as many of these spots, cause of course you get more water, AND because you dont wont to be exposed from the air you should do many many of small plots with 2-4 plants each...
...perhaps you find planting-spots where you can put the plants a little bit beshaded from a middle big tree or something...

as well you should hold your eyes open for water-marking-plants, perhaps with a little diggin you get there a small source....

after you have installed several things on your island i would just give it a try-fly with a small airplane over your island, i think in your locations such small planes should´t cost so much for a small flight...then you can be sure that it is unvisible...

of course you can go "swamp-like" - but remember your water should be salty like hell, thats different from swamp-water...

let´s see how it works...
...what are your other plans...it is not done with water only...???

definitely tagged, takin a seat in first row for sure :)

seeing forward for that show, yummy :D


regards
Hazeo
 
Wascally Wabbit

Wascally Wabbit

Member
still

still

rainwater collection & passive water distillation would be the way to go. something like this..
 

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Hazeo

Hazeo

Well-known member
Veteran
Yes, the system Wascaly shows aas would be suitable! i think the people in ver dry places like africa use this method to gain water as well...

this method collects the evaporated water from the soil, sholdn´t be so less in you case i think - definitely an idea for your issue to think about imho!

regards
Hazeo
 
LiLWaynE

LiLWaynE

I Feel Good
ICMag Donor
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Pumpkin said:
If anyone has some links to people who have had successful gardens in similar places can you please post me some links so I can see how they got on.
Click to expand...


lol, when you find these pictures, please be sure to let me and (most likely) the rest of the grow community see them, because chances are high that not many of us at all have ever had the opportunity to ever land ashore a deserted island, let alone grow on one!

That would honestly be a dream come true for me if I were ever in the situation to grow on a deserted island...

go watch the movies "Cast Away," or "lord of the flies," or "the blue lagoon" to get you in the ISLAND mood!

(brooke shields is sexy as can be in the blue lagoon!)
 
G

guest845704

Some time ago i have found island, not really island but flooded riverside area. I know that in early spring there is enough water to swim with pontoon. In summer its partly flooded and swamp a lot. To deep to walk, and to shallow to swim...So there will be probably no way to get there easly in a some period of time. Sourounded a little by trees, makes it perfect. I have to move out before autumn, and now it about 8-9 hours to drive from here. And never found any other.:cry:

Island have 150x250m and that is enough spase which definitely worked you to deth :biggrin:. With your size, you can easly move there and leave like Robinson Crusoe:laughing: loving your plants all day long :cathug:
 
S

snaggle

New member
whoa, super cool, never heard of anyone growing on an island like this before. not having fresh water will be a real bitch. guess if you make a good still it'll solve the problem

good luck!
 
supermanlives

supermanlives

Active member
Veteran
ooh please boiling salt water . sure how about a few solar stills too . aint happening. i did a grow like your talking about in the keys . your gonna have to bring in water. and its a bitch. you can set up tarps and barrels and pray for rain. get a bigger boat and a good sized water tank. . then pull up to island and pump away.
 
TripleDraw27

TripleDraw27

Active member
Veteran
Hey Pumpkin, very cool what you are trying to do.

I know there will be some Hatorade, but if you google Strainhunters Caribean trip, or something similar. You can find the full length of this docu. What I'm getting at is, they go from small island, to small island, these guys grow in damn near sand...But I know there must be something in that flick that talks about water collection on their little islands, may or may not. But regardless of how one stands on those guy, its pretty fricken cool.

I will search for the dudes name on here, but he also has a small island grow. Let me look around for it.
 
Nonphixion

Nonphixion

Active member
Pumpkin

Pumpkin

Well-known member
Veteran
I wrote a really long reply and deleted it by mistake :( I don't get to the interent often at the moment so sorry for the late replies.

The plan for water is to use something like this http://www.reln.com.au/storm-drain-p-1.html. to collect the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_runoff off a slope. Like a mini aqueduct I guess. Pond liner and a natural depression with some additional spade work should give a decent sized reservoir/stormwater pond. And have flood irrigation to the scattered plants controlled with a watering computer with moisture sensors. Gravity aided or a small battery/solar pump if the land doesn't allow this.

If my water supply is picking up surface salt. It's going to exacerbate the problem. As there will be salt build up over time where the plants are watered.

Anyone know of any home salinity soil tests? Something not too expensive. I just need a general idea if it's worth a try. If at all possible I want to plant directly in the existing soil. It's going to save a lot of work and boating in large amounts of soil is out of the question. Just packing amendments would be much easier and allow for a larger scale experiment. In general I'm soil and organic because that's what I know. Although other solutions might suit better the circumstances.

Still winter here so I have a long time to prepare. But I will update with some photos of the site as soon as possible and as I make progress. Will be slow going for now. I have plenty of time to get organised still.

Thanks for all your replies. Will read and reread them all to make sure I don't miss anything important.
 
FirstTracks

FirstTracks

natural medicator
Veteran
Not sure at all what kind of climate this island will be in. It seems like the assumption is going with a sandy island in a hot climate.

If this is the case, you'll want some sort of wind shielding for the plants. without this, the wind will just suck all the moisture out of them from the top and your plants will be dead in a week.

You'll want to bury the containers in the ground most likely. I know the idea of using a smart pot was mentioned. However, if water is a scarce resource, I think this is the complete wrong way to go. You want a solid sided container buried all the way in the ground. This will prevent water loss to the ground outside the container as well as insulate the root mass from heat swings and keep the water you put into the rootzone right there until the plant uses it.

Don't forget to mulch really well.
 
LiLWaynE

LiLWaynE

I Feel Good
ICMag Donor
Veteran
supermanlives said:
ooh please boiling salt water . sure how about a few solar stills too . aint happening. i did a grow like your talking about in the keys . your gonna have to bring in water. and its a bitch. you can set up tarps and barrels and pray for rain. get a bigger boat and a good sized water tank. . then pull up to island and pump away.
Click to expand...


apparently you don't understand how a "still" works.... it collects the water vapor (steam) and it travels into another container.... salt does not steam off into the vapor, and therefore making the "stilld" water perfectly viable....

yeah it will be a lot of work, but growing will always be a lot of work no matter what the situation...
 
Hazeo

Hazeo

Well-known member
Veteran
I am totally with LiLWaynE,

it will be hard work, for sure...
...but it should be worth after all!



Pumpkin you asked about a method to measure the ph of the soil....
... you can go into a garden-center and ask for a soil-test for ph. they are quite comon: you have to collect a piece of soil, and add a special amount of destilled-water to it; then you have to drop a few drops of a liquid given with the product to it; then shake well (or like on the description), the liquid should chance it´s colour and you can compare the value of colur to a pg on a scale... - this test ist quite cheap and lasts for several tests...
...but u can also take a sample from your soil and send it into a laboratory, they will test your soil more exactly. -i am not sure if you have this kind of possibility near around your island, but i would do it in a laboratory...



TripleDraw27 i am very interested in this "frickin guy" as well, please post if you know more...


FirstTracks´s thoughts are rather good as well. you should definitely use a container to avoid evaoration and water losses...
A very good idea imho is the wind-shiled, i didn´t thought on this, cause i never grew in such an environment, but of course, you should fix the wind issue like FirstTrack said; seems to be quite important...




High regards
Hazeo
 
S

SeaMaiden

Not pH, salinity. Pumpkin, you should be able to measure soil EC if salinity is the issue.
 
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