starting an orgainc plot with minimal effort

[gr0wer]

Start your seedlings in plastic or foam cups filled ¾ with good poting soil, and no ferts. Filling the cup only ¾ full is key, it allows more space for a larger plant when you put the lid on. Plan to veg for 1-2 weeks from seed 1 week from rooted clone. When your ready bring them to the plot, Tape another cup on top of the cup with the seedling (or clone) around the lip and stack them into a backpack. Normaly you can fit anywhere from 20-35 per hiking backpack depending on the cup size. You may need to tape all the cups together so they don’t tip and roll around loosely.

I found coco coir is a great substrate because it’s so compact then expands in water. One small 3x4x8” brick will expand to 2 gal. Here’s some info on it, http://www.greeneem.com/cococoirpeat.htm . Get it from your local petstore its sold as reptile bedding. It might not say its coir but that’s all reptile bedding is. Or you can get it at hydro shop for cheaper I heard but im not sure if its a brick cuz ive never gone to a hydro shop. The only downside to using coir is it needs to be expanded in warm water or cold but it akes longer. Breaking the coir up with a knife by spliting the layers makes it expand much quicker. You’ll need a good waterproof garbage bag doubled or even trippled up to expand it in. After its all expanded bunch up the coir and squeze out the excess water.

Other amendments like verm, peat, pearlite work well but they take up allot of space in your bag. One brick of coir can fit into a backpack pouch, while to have the same amount of peat it would take up ½ backpack alone.

For soil additives try to not use blood and bone meal unless you'r carefull not to get any on the surface. Make your soil mix, fill the hole leaving about 3”, then fill the remaining with amended soil with no bone or blood meal. Animals think bone and blood meal is a carcass so they are atracted and dig. They'll dig into your soil and the most harmful thing for your sake is It may attract bears, if you live in bear country.

You could pre-compost your bone and blood meal for a month or to to get rid of the smell. Mix it with some composted manure, compost, or just topsoil in a bucket with lots of holes drilled in it for air. Keep wet and warm for 2 months. Then youll have a single bag of goodies and just mix that in.

(Note: N-P-K is nutrient values standing for Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium. Its labled on ferts as #-#-#)

Instead of using bone or blood a much safer way is using bat guano's as an additive and later as a tea. Desert bat guano or any other even N-P-K or high N and K but a medium-low P is great for starting your plots and making teas durring veg because of the high N. Once in flower (around august) switch to high P low N teas for more flower production. Or similar NPK guanos, whatevers avalible.

To make tea's put 1-2 tsp of desert guano per gal of water or 2-3 tsp of fossilized seabird guano. Shake well and let it sit a bit if you can. The higher N of dessert guano will limit the amount per gal because you may burn the plants from too much N while the low N of the seabird guano allows you to give a stronger dose of P without burning from the N. A general rule of thumb is indicas are more sensitive to too much N and sativas are the oposite, so if you have multiple strains you may want to make a mix for each type.

You should try and get all the trace minerals into the soil. Greensand and/or kelp are great for this. Lime, or better rock phosphate for slow release over 5 years should be added in to bring the acidity down from the guano. You can pick up rock phosphate from hydro shops sold as "peace of mind" company rock phosphate 4lbs for $7. A bit of wood ash can help but use sparingly, one pinch per plant is good since it can cause toxicity even in low concentrations but it still is beneficial in small amounts.

A good pitchfork, hatchet (roots), and a spade is all you should need toolwise.

Here is a good link for the nutrient values of most additives and amendments, http://plenty.150m.com/My_Links_Page..._manure01.html

[billybong101]

hey, i like ur way u do it,its a prettier way of doin it

[froggy]

part of the organic way is to not only worry bout year 1, but really its about having your soil become mothers milk. the truth is, this cannot be acheved in 1 or 2 years, but takes many many years of full season designing work. i will give a few examples of what i think is one of the biggest concepts in organic gardening, the nurse crop.

a cover crop is used to allow the soil to rest and rejuvenate. red clover is a great example of this. the red clover will add most of the nut's one would need in a typical growing season, especially the micro nut's that can be gardened out year after year of the same plants growing on the same spots. this so called 'green manure' will; airate ur soil, give some cover for off season so other weeds cannot get a strong hold, give nut's in a completely organic way, increase ur micro fauna and flora in the soil so one has less problems with bugs and other pathogens.

a typical time line for a nurse crop in my part of the world (zone 5) would be;

after first frost, one coats the entire area 2.5 cm. thick with compost that we have been making from yard scraps all summer long.

that is then rototilled into the soil along with all the greens and others that are inside the garden area. after fall rototilled, try not to walk on it cuz that causes something called 'pedding' and trust me, u dont like pedding. u want fluffy soil.

after the rototill comes the seeding of red clover. i use 'mamoth' or Bersime' varieties. one can get this stuff at a local farmer store, like a co-op or rural feed store. 5-8 lbs per/acre is more than enough to do what one wants to do.

if one has time and access, i would gently water it to get excellent growth in as little time as poss. i happen to have a large area so watering isnt an option, so i use slightly heaver seeding and dance to the rain gods.

dont touch til 1 week before growing season.

roto till the nurse crop in, and again dont walk too much on it.

plant.

cultivate. i primarily use a hoe.

1/2 way into the growing season, another light layer of very old compost. new compost is called hot because its full of N. in the middle of summer, too much N can cook ur plants. that is why some people use animal compost in the fall and green compost in the summer.

after growing season and after first frost, start it all over again.

walla, after a few years, u have mothers milk and ur plants will be happier for it!

[tetrahydrocanna]

HI froggy

thats a very good read........i dont see any blood and bone in there......out side grower here use dead animals for there blood and bone i even know a farmer who kills a motten and puts it in his patch.......he grows good grass with yields up to a pound per plant....

nice to see your still around froggy.....keep sharing those good ideas you have...please.....laters

[885LGT]

whats a motten?

[deft]

Thats the way to do it! Too bad I didnt get a chance to prep the soil of my spot at all last year.

[tetrahydrocanna]

Originally Posted by 885LGT

whats a motten?

sorry my mad typos..I think its spelt mutton.

Its an old sheep..

[tetrahydrocanna]

i just read this post which i found intresting..

I grow organic outdoor UK and use nettle tea as my feed during veg , i cant find the link that showed all the benificial elements of it but has been used by gardeners that know for generations . As you say good in iron value but also has a lot of other trace elements , it`s around 10-12 on the N , not that high but with the other trace minerals it gives great results and it`s free ! With a pair of strong garden gloves strip the leaves of the growing nettles (bits of stalk are fine) fill up your container and just cover to top of nettles with water . It will help if its in a sunny spot , stir every day or so with a stick and in 2wks you`ll have a stinking green sludge , dilute 10-1 avoiding foilage .This year i`m doing a trial with nettle spray as it`s reputed to contain something that will act as a anti fungal spray to prevent bud rot , i wish i could find that link! as the details were in it .

[noamgrown]

i just want to know how to grow a plant out side......i dont know where to start should i put the seed in the ground like with regular dirt or what if somone could give me good directions how to grow a plant outside with out barely doing anything i would really appricate it.....step by step like first thing to do cuz i dont know how to do any of it this is the first time im gonig to try to grow! thanks dudes

[claytonallen420]

First off i just started my first crop a month ago and these are a few things i found easy to do and cost little..


get seeds. any kind will do if ur growing out doors you don't need good seed.

germinate them by placing the seed in a wet paper towel and placing them in a plastic bag somewhere that gets good sun

while this is going on go get some potting soil. any kind will do and you can get a lot of soil for cheap many places

wherever you are growing dig as many holes as you want or need. dig em about the size of a 1 gallon milk jug. place in half the soil you dug up and half potting soil and mix

when your seed show signs of life, take them out of the bag and plant them about 1/4 inch down in the soil. give the plants a good watering to start off with.

if you live where there is good rain they will never need water. if not then give them lots of water once a week or every other week.

remember you can do as much or as little as you want but just sticking a seed in the ground wont work very well. happy growing.

[KillerGenius]

I buy that coco nut stuff all the time but never used it for growing thanx!

[azybaby]

can anyone explain how 2 post pics ?

[cravingchronic]

ok my plant is growing outdoors it about 3 weeks old and today two leaves got chewed off by something 1 was 1 of the original round leaves and the other was the first jagged leaf of the opposite side. other than that it has two more blades that are starting 2 grow will it survive?is there anything i can do 2 help or prevent this from happening again?should i just start over or will it recover? anyhelp or advice is greatly apreciated. thanks

[smokeyred]

ok dude, first things first, to stop animals form consuming your precious palnts invest in either wiooden fencing with barbed wire on the bottom, or use tight netting around 4 posts around your growing area. If your growing area is not in a decent area, i.e it will be discovered then you may wish to move your plot somewhere else, but moving at such a young age can cause severe distress to the plant. Feed your plant a well ph balanced plant food. This, in due course, should help your plant regain unlost nutrients and help it gorw more leaves to photosynthesise. If any more info is needed give me a buzz..........

[donzi2]

what is the best nutrients for giving plants early in the buddin stage.