EDIT:I tried digging some holes at a spot I had in mind today. Fail. After going about a foot down, I hit an inpenetrable layer of rock. Looks like I cant plant there after all. On a lighter note, I scoped a bunch of soil n stuff of that sort at Home Depot and Lowes. Among the products they have for sale, I found Miracle Grow brand Organic Choice Bone meal and blood meal. Do you all think this will be decent quality to use for stage 1? Also, I found many types of mulch;composted mulch, cypress mulch, and red mulch. What would be best to use for my purpose? There were many types of moss also, spanish moss, sheet moss, spaghum moss, spaghum peat moss. I dont really know whats best for my purposes and would appreciate if you all could help me. Thanks. Hey everyone. This year Im taking the plunge and starting my own grow. Seeing as I dont want to fail, I've been researching the shit out of it. After countless hours of research I've put this plan together that I think will work best for my goal(guerilla grow of 3-4 LST'd plants in a desert/dry environment). What do you guys think? Most of this has come from various posts on these forums; the amount of knowledge on this message board is immense and for that I thank you all. Oh and btw, the seeds Im planning on using are these. Manadala Seeds 8 Miles High _________________________________________________________________ ___________________________KEY___________________________________ Stage1=Setup Stage2=Germination Stage3=Veg Stage4=Flowering Stage5=Harvest/Processing Stage420=Tea making _________________________________________________________________ ________________________TIME-FRAME_______________________________________________ January-Planning February-Start purchasing supplies/seeds March-Begin Stage1 April-Begin Stage2, Plant seedlings,Begin Stage3 May-Stage3 June-Stage3 July-Stage3 end possibly,Start stage4 August-Stage 3 end possibly, Start stage4 September-Stage4 October-Stage 4, Possibly Stage 5 November-Stage 4 Possibly, Stage 5 December-Enjoy _________________________________________________________________ ________________________SUPPLIES_________________________________ _Stage1__________________________________________________________ Gardening Gloves Foldable shovel pH tester Tape measure Bone meal Blood meal Composted Manure Rock dust Mulch _Stage2__________________________________________________________ Styrofoam cups Miracle Grow Organic Choice/Basic Organic Soil (Earth)Worm Castings Vermiculite Spray bottle Seeds _Stage3__________________________________________________________ Brown paper bags Folding shovel Worm castings Compost Vermiculite Peat('Lakeland' brand) Mix from Stage1 Dolomite Lime(powdered) Mulch 3" nails Hemp Twine Garlic Mothballs Organic Tea _Stage4__________________________________________________________ Fiskars gardening scissors Hand microscope Organic Tea _Stage5__________________________________________________________ Fiskars scissors Rubber gloves Container to hold harvested plant parts Mason Jars _Stage420________________________________________________________ Canned sardines Sea weed Saw dust Unsulphured molasses Epsom salts Pot Stirrer Screen Fiskars gardening scissors _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ ________________________PROCEDURE_______________________________ _Stage1__________________________________________________________ This is the setup. What you have to do here is put in the meals and manure to allow for microorganisms to start living in the soil. Will dig the holes 2'X2'X2'. The recipe for this soil mix is: \t1.5 cups blood meal, \t1.0 cups bone meal \t1.5 shovel composted manure \tsome rock dust \t20% of hole native soil \tDolomite lime if pH is too low Mix all of the above together and then cover with mulch. Leave it for a month or two. Good stuff is gonna grow in there. _Stage2__________________________________________________________ Mix the organic soil, worm castings, and vermiculite in this ratio: \t3 parts soil \t3 parts worm castings \t1 part vermiculite Poke holes in bottom of cups(for drainage) and fill with soil. Run water through the soil and make sure it drains well. Let it drain. Then put seed about 1/2" deep into soil with the pointy side down.Mist the soil after putting the seed in. THe soil shold be moist but not soaking. Gently water it every few days as it dries out. Keep doing this until theyre about 2 weeks old. Then its time to move em! _Stage3__________________________________________________________ At this point the plants go outside. Cut the cups to get the plants out. We're going to have to go back to those holes we dug a month or so back. Remove as much of the mulch from the top of the mix from Stage1. Then line the sides with the brown paper bags before adding the following mix: \t20% worm castings \t30% compost \t15% vermiculite \t15% Peat \tThe remaining 20% is the mix from Stage1 After the holes are full, carefully transplant the plants from the cups to the soil-filled hole. Make a dirt perimiter around the plant on the surface to keep water by the stem. Cover the area around the stem with mulch. Put some garlic around the plant, and pee around the area every time you visit.Also, put mothballs in a cup somewhere near the plant, but make sure it's hidden.This is for animals. Outside the dirt perimeter, nail into the normal dirt the 3" nails. These are anchors for the LST. Using the hemp twine, make slip knots around the stem after the 3rd leaf set. Follow basic LST procedure as the plant continues to grow. Water as needed(every day or every other day).To see if it needs watering, put your fingers about 1-2" into the soil. If its wet still, watering isn't needed; let it dry out some more. There's no need to add anything but water until about a month later. Once this period of just watering has ended, you can add teas. To make the tea see stage420. Continue this, trimming any branches/leaves as needed. Watch for males; cut those little shits out before they can ruin everything. _Stage4__________________________________________________________ The buds are coming! Just watch them grow while continueing to water. Take a hand microscope when you go visit to observe the trichromes. Once they turn from clear to a 50/50 combo of cloudy and amber, its ready to harvest. _Stage5__________________________________________________________ Harvest has arrived.. all the hard work is finally going to pay off. First, trim all the fan leaves off so its just the stems and the nugs. Then cut the side branches off, then cut the main stem at the base. Now hang them in a dark, ventilated area to dry. Once they have hung for a week, its ok to cut the nugs from the stems. Then let them dry for another week. If when bent the stems make a snapping sound, its dry enough to smoke. If desired, you can put the nugs (if COMPLETELY dry) in airtight glass jars to cure. Just open them up every now and then to get some air circulation. Enjoy !! _Stage420________________________________________________________ Fill a 5 gallon pot halfway with the following ingredients in the same proportions: \tCanned sardines \tSea weed-(wash it well to remove salt) \tSaw dust \t2tbs unsulphured molasses \t2tbs Epsom salts(dont add until the tea is ready) Let it sit, stirring a little bit every day. Put a screen over the top to keep bugs out.After 1-2 weeks when it smells like yeast and is foamy, add the epsom salts and it is ready. Strain the mixture. Dilute 1l of this liquid to 3-5l of water. To feed the leaves of the plant, dilute the mixture a bit more and add a few drops of lquid soap(the soap makes the solution stick to the leaves) and put it in a spray bottle. Dont use this tea more than once every couple weeks. _________________________________________________________________
Very nice planning. Only thing I would add is check first and last frosts in your area (if u haven't already), travel at night, try not to make trails, try to keep plot as natural looking as possible (no brown circle with green middle)and plan how to get water to your babies. Again very nice planning. When u say desert region...there is other vegetation around your plot?
Yeah there is other mid level vegetation, like waist high to around 7'. Like little mesquite bushes 'n shit like that if you know what those are.
Overall very well thought out plan. You got some good ideas there, sounds like a lot of watering. I have some thoughts and suggestions for you: Stage 1 Will you be watering the hole during that month? If it's desert environment it may be too dry for things to grow in your mix. Stage 2 Put the cups in something or cover their tops after planting, watering, misting. You can put them in ziplock bags or tupperware type container. Cuts your water needs and keeps the air moist. Stage 3 3" nails for LST? These babies are gonna be tuggin on that nail as they grow, might want to consider 12" nails. Stage420 Might want to try some aeration when brewing your tea, here's a link to an article on brewing compost tea and they say the aeration is the key. Don't know yours may be working on a different principle. Brewing Compost Tea - Fine Gardening Article
Its funny you mentioned that for stage 1 and 3.. I. I had questions about the very things you said. I'll definitely take your comments in to mind thanks man