I’m getting ever so closer to my first gorilla grow. I’m trying to make up my mind whether to go with seedling soil straight into a hole in the ground or to line the hole with a plastic trash bag and put the pearl light, and soil in there. What are your thoughts? Line the whole or not. The area I am in can get dry in the late summer. Thoughts, line the hole or leave it just in the soil..
I really understand why you are considering using a plastic bag. Here are a few negative points that should be thought about before starting the work. They are based on things that occurred to me while fishing or hunting. I was always looking at potential guerilla growing areas.
Dragging the bag into you guerilla grow is just one more chore. Plus any part of the plastic that might stick up and be visible could attract attention. Count those as reasons to skip doing it.
There is a real good chance that lining the hole with a plastic bag will prevent excess water from draining out after heavy rains such as a quick summer storm that dumps an inch or two in an hour. Same if there is a 2 or 3 day on and off rain in the summer that dumps a couple of inches. The bag, even with some holes punched in it will not drain fast. The water is trapped and that will prevent oxygen from getting to the saturated soil and the roots. Also the excess water would encourage an anorexic decomposing of any organic material in the soil around the roots. Another reason to skip the bag.
During normal conditions the plant will send out roots to the sides and down as a normal growth. The root system will pick up water and nutrients as it does this. When it comes to the plastic bag the roots will be forced to stay in the soil inside the plastic lined hole. The plant will not be able to send roots out past the immediate area searching for water and eventually searching for more nutrients. Another reason.
Just as the water can be trapped inside the bag the opposite can happen. Moisture on the other side of the bag is prevented from getting to soil that is already surrounding the roots through normal capillary action. That compounds the problem mentioned in the paragraph above. Another reason.
Plastic does not decompose back to the organic hydrogen and carbon materials it originally started of as. Plastic is basically 'forever'. The plastic will start to break up into pieces, getting smaller and smaller, but that is not decomposition, just smaller pieces of plastic. The plastic bag is just more litter in the ground or blowing in the wind above the soil. Kind of like the plastic jugs of water that have hauled in and left behind for someone else to clean up. Another reason.
Best thing to do is haul in organic materials that will absorb and hold onto the water for a while. Peat moss comes to mind. Even easier is to find piles decomposing leaves and old, well decomposed logs. Put that organic material into the hole. Mix it in and add some blood meal to encourage a faster decomposition of the materials. This organic material will help feed the plant and will hold onto excess water after heavy rainfalls.
I can't come up with a really good reason to use plastic to line the hole.