Best guerilla soil approach (for low soil quality sites)

[F2F]

Hello all,

Whenever I make the effort to prep holes with fantastic soil structure and nutrients I am rewarded immensely.

Im struggling here - contemplating sneaking 3 Promix bales into my suburbia guerilla location this fall for next year grow. We have very hot (38C/100f) and dry summers and rainy springs so I'm a little worried about which PM type (moisture too dry/too wet), and then pH drift.

I want compressed media so I can get maximum ROI each "sneak". Would I be better off using coco bales? Love to hear your thoughts!!

Best
F2F

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Promix for the win. Drop off a small pail of pre mixed nutes to sprinkle in your holes at planting time.

I use chicken manure pellets, dolomitic lime, sea weed meal, alfalfa, potash, compost.... Anything organic i can lay my hands on. Stay away from time released fertilizer or you'll risk a foxtailed harvest. That happened to me once. Note that the promix and nutes WILL attract raccoons and shit to dig up your plants so cages are a good investment. And one other thing.... use a string trimmer or manual hand trimmers/shears or weeds will eat them up.

The fucking list of to dos is endless. Lol

And one one more thing...
Use an atv or snowmobile to dropbshit off. My hauling shit on my back days are over.

 

[F2F]

Promix for the win. Drop off a small pail of pre mixed nutes to sprinkle in your holes at planting time.

I use chicken manure pellets, dolomitic lime, sea weed meal, alfalfa, potash, compost.... Anything organic i can lay my hands on. Stay away from time released fertilizer or you'll risk a foxtailed harvest. That happened to me once. Note that the promix and nutes WILL attract raccoons and shit to dig up your plants so cages are a good investment. And one other thing.... use a string trimmer or manual hand trimmers/shears or weeds will eat them up.

The fucking list of to dos is endless. Lol

And one one more thing...
Use an atv or snowmobile to dropbshit off. My hauling shit on my back days are over.

Thanks Tycho.

The hauling shit part is my problem. It will be difficult to "sneak" in. Let alone with bales of PM. Hence my looking for alternatives.

I've tried coco with amendments and didn't feel like I quite got there.

What do u think about moisture and consequently which PM version is suited best for guerilla in Midwest US?

Cheers
F2F

 

['Boogieman']

By PM are you referring to powderly mildew? Is the soil sandy or clay? I'm in the midwest and we have a range of different soil types. I often use compost, sphagnum peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. I really recommend adding gypsum if your dealing with clay.

 

[NoSativaction]

Compost on site. Pre-dig planting holes for next season. Lay down some cardboard to hold in some moisture in the bottom of the hole. Start layering brown/green matter like in any compost pile. Come back in the spring and most of the prep is done. It's like planting right in a compost heap if you do things right.

Getting organic matter into the soil is key, more you get in there, the better the moisture retention. 2 of my outdoor plants aren't using peat at all this year and are my tallest and most vigorous.

 

[troutman]

I haul my Pro-Mix, manure, limestone, tools, etc at night so nobody sees me. Once they are hidden
100 meters from any road you can deal with them later in daylight if your not in view of any vehicles,
etc. I'll be planting 3 types of clover as cover crops soon and those help build soils.

 

[F2F]

By PM are you referring to powderly mildew? Is the soil sandy or clay? I'm in the midwest and we have a range of different soil types. I often use compost, sphagnum peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. I really recommend adding gypsum if your dealing with clay.

Heya Boogie - "PM" = pro-mix. Just a little lazy.

I've done things like your mix before that worked well- especially when I could haul easily with no safety concerns. For this one, I'd like to do a one n done with a predawn entry.

Found the compressed wonder soil bales. Hmmmm...

Cheers
F2F

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Try bringing in a few coco bricks and let them re-hydrate over the winter. It'll rinse them at the same time. But you need to get some biology working in there too. A bag of compost on top should do the trick.

Make some IMO 1 & 2. But make it now while you still have time. At the very least, make some LAB and spread the liquid and rice on your coco. It's goes far. 1 cup in your hole should do it. But I'd just pour it on your the coco and find something to cover it with (leaves?). Let it work for you so you don't have to carry anything in when you need to plant.

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['Boogieman']

When is your first frost? I'm a big believer in cover crops but this takes years. Still though planting some cereal rye and crimson clover now would help and offer free nitrogen, some potassium, and free mulch for the next year, the roots will be decomposed come spring improving drainage. All you would have to do is break up the top two inches of soil and sprinkle seed then wait for rain to do the rest.

I understand if that is too much shit to go through.
Depending on your soil, I would add bags of fox farm ocean forest, would be fine in sandy and sandy loam but with clay drainage could be an issue (that's where I'm a believer in cover crops).

 

[f-e]

I carry a 50-60L bag in a trekking bag. One with a decent belt is a must, to get the weight on your hips, and not at all on your shoulders. The bag should have a frame, and internal straps. Keeping the compost like a large party sausage. If there is no frame/bars and no straps, the compost slumps to the bottom of the bag, which isn't manageable. You need it to stay in the shape of the trekking bag. close to your back, with it's weight on your hips. The shoulder straps just there to keep it from tipping back, away from your shoulders. Correctly fitted (see a video at dailymotion) you can carry double. Or just carry the same, and make it look like nothing.

A Geezer poking about off the beaten track, is probably looking to bed down for the night. Most people aren't going to talk to him, and will happily let him move on if stopped.

 

[St. Phatty]

I think Micro-Explosives have some utility for soil mixing.

You just plant a 1/10 stick of dynamite every square foot.

After detonation, it's mixed.

Just cover the explosives with a foot of mud, bury them deep, and use a leaf-blower or something to make noise, to hide the noise from the explosives.

Simple !

 

[F2F]

Make some IMO 1 & 2. But make it now while you still have time. At the very least, make some LAB and spread the liquid and rice on your coco. It's goes far. 1 cup in your hole should do it. But I'd just pour it on your the coco and find something to cover it with (leaves?). Let it work for you so you don't have to carry anything in when you need to plant.

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Tycho - this is cool. I'm going to do it. For MJ, Is there a particular type of "forest" I should look to source from?

Boogie - i also believe in cover crops. However, this spot may only be a one-season deal. It gets frequented by mushroom hunters every spring. I will get my holes prepped this fall, cover with leaf litter, then after mushroom season next spring I'll wack the heck out of a large patch of honey suckle to let the light in. The resulting clearing is likely to be found the following spring. We shall see.

Cheers
F2F

 

[aridbud]

Poor soil = poor outcome.
Mix in manure, compost to enrich soil.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Tycho - this is cool. I'm going to do it. For MJ, Is there a particular type of "forest" I should look to source from?

...

Cheers
F2F

Any. It might be hard to find the white mycelium at this time of year, but i haven't tried. Just look for heavy leaf fall/cover and decomposing wood. Put out your rice now. If theres some, it'll populate your rice. Even if it doesn't, put it out with your LAB poured on a couple coco bricks in a mulch hole for recovery next spring. Just keep your rice in the box or you'll be feeding the mice this winter. Lol

 

[troutman]

Soil under maple trees is usually nice and dark.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Soil under maple trees is usually nice and dark.

If there are wild apple trees nearby, the soil under the drip line rocks. Think of the years of compost. Gypsy just posted something about it a while ago.

 

[F2F]

Thanks for all the help folks. Starting to feel better about all this.

I ordered 3 bales of Promix with a plan to mix with the native soil plus perlite and maybe add the 15kg of coco I've got. Then amend the heck out of it with EWCs, on site compost materials, and lime.

I've got some marine cuisine on hand but need to research how far ahead I can add that in without losing the benefits.

Best
F2F

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Don't forget chicken wire cages. Lol


It keeps getting bigger and bigger. Lol

 

[romanoweed]

Ok thats something i know Abit:


The question is how good is the soil you having at site already..? There are two things regarding this:


1: ph shouldnt be to high, but you dont have to measure if not possible. You just can following the rule that there shouldnt stand no Evergreens near to your site. Their needels can heighten ph . As soon there are no neeles at ground youre ok. Also other needletrees not good.


2: your soil should look ok. You can determine that trough just looking at her: it shouldnt be too clayey, nor shouldnt it be too sandy! Remember that : a good soil looks ever fluffy, and grainy (has a certain size of this socalled soilgrains wich nearly stick together when putting light pressure on it) just trust your honest feel when looking for this faetures!.. fluffy and grainy, no needles, and your soil is quiet good! (just compare with other soils that per example a farmer accepts as comercial accre-soil, wich by the way often isnt perfect, or better with normal grassland-soil, and Commercial soil and you get a feel for it)


So, if your soil isnt that perfect wich is very likely, you just can mix fresh soil or Longterm/shorttermfertelizer , wich you bought into.. Also you can dig her up , to just allow her to breath Abit more.


Also consider, when digging around, breaking roots can attract wild pigs. atleast i guess, after i did that, one week later pigs digged around aswell. So i thought, dont prepare earth and plant right after it. Pigs didnt show again later...


This techniques will help you determine how much you have to prepare the soil!
I once planted in nearly pure clay, added 35 percent soil, bit fertelizer like horndust(sorry english) and chickenpoo, and i nearly couldnt believe that there grow atleast Little plants, in pure clay! just Abit improved..


Also, when giving longthermfertelizer , they say you should place it a half year earlier, cause when mixed in fresh, it can burn roots.. i did actually see no Problems when i mixed it fresh, but probably i lost Abit plantmatter, cant know for shure.. Also, when mixing watch that no fresh plantmatter like leafes fall into the soil. Cause same Problem: when they fall into soil too much, you can burn your roots.. roots dont like that..


So that are the my tipps to determine what to doo.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

On what's growing there now, I'm sure you can search and find the ph it likes. I found Raspberries grow best in PH 6.5 which is perfect.