pipeman goes outside

[wade ounce]

growin in 4 inches of sludge. yum! must taste beautiful. no wonder the hippies are now referred to as ferals

 

yeah, i dont know about spending 7 bucks per hole for spag moss. i'd rather pay under 50 cents per hole for crystals. it's definately better to grow 1 plant per hole, so it would work out pretty expensive. i don't imagine pipeman will be growing 1 plant

fert costs less than 1 dollar per hole.for the whole season.

7 bucks for spag just seems a little excessive don't ya think.

[Luke Skywalker]

Cleaned that up for ya WB...

 

Oh, btw, do you find any problems with spagnum being highly acidic in the holes/pots? And any root drainage issues? I use the stuff for my orchids and it's a hard media to manage perfectly, takes a while... but still, it's a bloody great water retainer... I'll give ya that. But it's also very acidic and tends to break down quickly into a rotting sludge when fertilised with salts... (as opposed to organic based nutrients, which need breaking down by biota in the soil/media before they become available to plants... How'd ya get around this WB?

[Guest Wilderbud]

Luke, I havent used it much but then again I havent had problems with it after using it to grow a few plants. I used it ages ago in sandy soil and it worked nicely - anything else I planted in the spot over the years died from lack of regular water. Ive always put it at the bottom of the hole and water daily until a foot high - the roots should be a foot deep by then and the sphagnum and cool dirt keeps the peat/compost wet between watering. I read about sphagnum & peat about 10 years ago and have liked them both since then [because of their water retention qualities - theyre great for bush weed].

 

You can buy a bigger pack but I forget where I bought it from when I first used it - it was probably a garden shop though as I used to get everything from them but now know theres cheaper options [unless you buy bulk].

[pipeman]

thanks heaps everyone for all your replies, have given me a few things to think about. today I went scouting for locations, damn, its gonna be harder than I thought. As I was huffing and puffing up and down hills I just kept thinking how hard is this gonna be with a backpack full of water.

 

And for an area with so much bush, its hard to find a spot where I can slip into it out of view from anyone. In terms of stealth, I'm not sure what to do, except for picking a spot not easily seen and not leaving anything lying around. And nothing with reflective surfaces I suppose.

 

I got an inline battery operated water timer today. (pic attached) Its designed to work for sprinkler systems connected to a tap. but I'm hoping if I have a res high on the hill with this thing on the outlet and branching off into dripper lines it will work. Its seven day programmable, runs on batteries and is waterproof.

 

I also picked up a new digi cam. Kodak DX4900. 2xoptical zoom, 3 x digital zoom, 4.0 megapixel - $393 brand new. not a bad deal I thought. It was the last of the old model so they were selling it cheap. it takes the old compact flash cards of which I have a few, so the old model suited me better anyway.

 

anyway, on one hand I'm kinda dreading all the hard work of trekking through the bush, but on the other hand its a challenge and will help me get in shape I guess.

[Spurious]

I don't know whether this is going to be of any use to anyone at this stage of the season, but, I try to get outdoor plants in the ground before the ground dries hard. If they can be put into the 'end of the rains' kind of wet ground, then that gives the plant's roots a chance to follow the water down thru the soil. Any subsequent late season rains are a bonus. Once well established, then watering interrvals can be as long as 2 weeks apart. Of course keeping an eye on the local weather conditions can help determine when a trek may become more necessary, depending on relevent factors, such as prolonged heat spells, and mm of rain in the area.

 

If planting late, into hard dry ground, then the initial watering needs to be substantial, and then ongoing care is a must. A tip then, is to forego spots with continuous sunlight, and choose sites that have semi-shaded times during the hours around noon. They'll still get enough sun, but have a chance not to transpire so profusely, when moisture attaining is at a premium.

[Spurious]

Above all, experience in your local conditions is probably worth more than advice however.

[pipeman]

hey wade (and anyone else who has grown outside) could you give me a run down of what nutes you use and in what strength & how often? or do you rely on your pre prepared soil for most of your nutes?

[wade ounce]

yeah mate, no worries. you do get most of your nutes with your soil without a doubt. but i still like to give a bit extra.

you can get away with adding nutes to soil a week or so before planting.

are you gonna keep them in pots until sexed. it's a shame you're not using clones. would save a bit of time.

in the first week of life i just give water with spray bottle. may have to spray a few times. so hot and muggy lately.

week 2- repot into 6 inch pot. just lightly tap bottom of pot and plant should plop out without disturbing root ball too much. water in with half strength miracle grow,thrive or some other cheap high n fert. water every day. half nute every 2nd. keep this up until ready to repot or plant out.

4th to 6th week-(use own descression) apply urea tea at recommended rate. only water soil. will burn foliage.repeat at fortnightly rates until signs of sex.

when sexed- apply n and p teas.

when fully into head stage(you'll know)cut out n and just use potash tea.

finish nutes altogether 2 weeks prior to harvest to leach out chems.

 

if your base fert doesn't have trace elements it might pay to grab a box of manutec trace elements.

 

as far as stealth goes(and it's something you really should consider seriously)as i've said i've spent hours if not days in regard to stealth you really need to spend time finding a few ideal spots.

 

i strongly recommend growing on someones private property(not some pissy little 40 acre block, but something with a few hundred acres or so,rather than forrestry. you are just gonna lose too much weed. it really just depends on how hard core you are. also depends on how many plants your willing to water properly(it's fuckin hard work but yeah you will be very fit by the end of it. i probably walk up to 6 k's a day.

oh yeah, even though it's probably unnessessary, i also use some fish emoltion for my own piece of mind, from 4th week til 2 weeks prior to harvest.

think about your site and then we can go from there with stealth.

[pipeman]

cheers wade, very helpful. I think I'm gonna plant out pretty early, like a week after they pop up. Just cause its difficult for me to keep plants around the house at the moment. So just seedlings with fluoros and then straight out in the bush. With my timer I'll be able to water then 3 times a day as seedlings and plan to setup shade cloth until they get established.

 

the key thing is to find a good site as you said. I will have to dedicate some time to exploring in the coming week.

[wade ounce]

mate those battery operated timers are great. you just have to watch out for ants.

when i was landscaping i put about a dozen of them around a shopping centre for the gardens.within a week, each one of them were buggered from ants.

might pay to spray with surface spray every so often.