I'm growing outside for the first time this summer and I have a question about watering. I've grow inside for the past 2 years but now want to use some of the worlds free energy now that it's legal. My problem is now I water with a 5 gallon bucket and hose I have attached to the bottom. How do you water these large outdoor plants without filling a 5 gallon bucket 15 times, adding nutrients and PHing every single time? This is just something I can't wrap my head around. I'm planning on growing 2 plants in 10 gallons smart pots. I would need to fill my 5 gallon buck mulitple times everytime I wanted to water my plants...is this just something you accept and do? Or do you just water from the hose and deal with PH problems? My water comes out of the tap around 7...
I'm of the belief and practice that you do not need to PH when you're growing in soil. Think of it this way, do ANY other gardeners or farmers PH their water? People grow amazing produce without fussing with that sort of thing and the same can be done with a flower. Just make sure you've got great soil then water from the hose. Last summer (eastern Oregon) I grew a plant over 8' tall and 6' wide in the backyard without fertilizer or anything other than hose water. Giant donkey dick buds.
That is actually one thing I never understood. People grow beautiful, huge roses and other flowers all the time with plain tap water. How can a flower named a weed be harder to grow? I might try tap water to start with and see how it goes. You didn't give it any ferts? I saw costco had a big bag of organic fertilizer I might give a go.
If I were you, I'd skip the big costco bag of ferts and buy something that was designed for weed. I've only ever used Aurora products (Buddha Grow and Bloom) but there are a ton of other companies. They are a local product (Eugene) and have great ingredients. I buy mine from Amazon. Aurora Innovations
Though I think it's always best when you can get everything into the correct pH range, especially indoors, it seems that when growing outside, it's not such a big deal. We've grown outside for years and have always used what God sent down from heaven and water straight from the tap...which averages about a 6.9 to 6.0 pH. Our plants have always grown like crazy and have been beautiful. I've never had issues with nutrient lockout or any other problems. I took 4 extra clones I had and grew them off in 5 gallon buckets on the deck last summer and grew some seriously awesome plants. We didn't even put them outside until the middle of June and harvested the second week in October and averaged 2+ pounds per plant. You just can't beat the sun for a light source when it comes to growing these things. Unfortunately, we live where it's still illegal and will probably be illegal until the very last second somebody FORCES them to legalize it (LOL) and since we've got a pretty good size setup going inside, we don't want to do anything to draw attention to ourselves and have backed down on the outdoor growing. But it's my favorite way to do it especially now that I really know how to grow and understand what it's all about. Just remember that these things are weeds and have survived for centuries on their own without any help from man. They will try their hardest to grow under the most awful of conditions so if you give them half a chance, they'll produce something for you. Depending on your location, always be very aware of bugs when growing outside. It seems it's almost impossible to grow plants nowadays and not constantly fight some mite or bug or something. Just keep a hawkeye on them at all times and be ready to treat anything that decides to make your plants their lunch. Hope all goes well. TWW
But how do you measure out the liquid ingredients? Pour it right on of the soil and flush it down with water? Then it goes back to my original question of how do you get so much measured liquid to your plants?
My hose water is 8.5 PH and stinks of chlorine.. Dosen't matter at all to my plants.. A soil high in organic matter is self adjusting and can tolerate a wide range of water PH.. Eventually and I do mean years my grow started to show some signs of PH slippage and some elemental sulfur pulled my soil back in range nicely.. Most of us blend a soil from localy sourced items with enough power to last grow after grow with just minor amending between sets.. If you follow the No-Till guys they don't do shit once the soil is built but stick new plants next to the rotting stump of the last plant.. So many different approaches are possible.. I do something half way in-between with organic materials but lots of transplants.. . My yard dirt is like stone so I chipped out spots about 12x12x12 inches as that's all my old bones could stand to do with a 6 ft steel chipping bar.. Hard assed ground down past 3 inches.. Filled the holes with my blended soil and I get a fair pull from each spot.. Got some bigger at 18 square and some bigger yet but the added size doesn't get used in most cases it seems.. . Easy Organic Soil Mix for Beginners Here is the fastest moving soil thread and my own mix is close to it.. . Growing outside means you'll need an IPM. (Integrated pest management) program.. The moth caterpillars destroyed my first good outside crop so a bug zapper and weekly spraying with BT is needed.. If you've got moths in your porch light you've got worms in your buds.. Simple equation.. BT-k ( Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki) Armstrong garden centers stocks this brand but a dozen companies make a version of it so it shouldn't be hard to find.. Tell em yer tomatoes got eaten last year.. . Powdery Mildew is my second big threat and I use Green Cure weekly to keep that in check.. Potassium Bicarbonate.. I get this at the Hydro store.. 16 bucks a tub.. BNW
If you want a turnkey soil recipe, check out the buildasoil.com website. Lots of info and is geared toward building a killer soil then no ferts during the grow.
One 5 gal bucket with a safe ppm mixture of nutrients and water then water with hose until decent runoff. If going super soil then nothing needed just a hose. You can make kelp teas and use molasses. Also toppings work well too. I really can't wait to go full organic. Got the basics under I believe and literally ran into every pest and problem and learned how to overcome. Just took a dab I am rambling ha ha. Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
