To Grow in Soil or in Pots

[Kutch]

So It's February and I'm from Riverside. Still Raining so I'm waiting March(Late) to start growing my plants. So I have the whole backyard at my disposal; how would YOU go about this? Should I grow them straight into the soil or maybe 20 Gallon pots?

I want to YIELD the most I can and I've read 9 out of 10 that in the Ground the plant will grow bigger and yield more but in Pots you have more control and better soil. Would a 20 Gallon pot be equal to a big hole in the ground?

If I were to grow in the ground how would I attempt this? Sorry I've never grown before : /. I was thinking digging 4 Ft down and 3 FT wide filling it back up with a Mixture of Roots Organic Potting Soil - Volcanic rock - and native soil. I just fear that the Water will begin the build up and turn my operation into a muddy pool. The ground in the back is sorta like hard clay.

Also just a thought. Do give my plants a cheap source of co2 I was thinking of getting pots then filling them with hot water and dropping dried ice into them creating their co2 rich mist. Probably will do this every morning/night.

Also Are there any good top soils out there that I could use instead of potting soil? maybe that would help??
So Living in Southern California where it literally only starts getting cold in mid winter how long will my plants stay in veg mode? I want to grow big strong plants to produce a LB each AT Least*. Was thinking maybe 7 Ft'ers would do the trick.

Any help would be much appreciated!!!! !!!!

I'll start taking pictures and update the Community on my progress !

Oh! And since I buying clones to start off I was thinking of getting this.Then I was thinking of buying a bag of Co2 poking a plastic tube into it connected to the Hot House Dome.
HydroFarm Hot House - Discount Hydroponics
CO2 Boost Buddy - Discount Hydroponics
or maybe this??Could I use this one outside?
HydroFarm Megagarden - Discount Hydroponics
with this light
C.A.P. The Mini Sun Light System - Discount Hydroponics

Then transplanting them into 3 Gallon Pots and them transplanting them into the GROUND or into 20 Gallon POTS.

What do you guys think??

Also looking at all the ROOTS Organics what products would you recommend? Buddha Grow + Buddha Bloom?

Instead of using 3 Gallon Pots are there any Hydroponic systems I could use outside maybe about the same size to grow massive roots for my young plant so when they transplant they'll have a jungle underneath to give them a head start.

Waterfarm?
or
maybe this
Sunleaves Garden of Ease Aeroponic System - Discount Hydroponics

what do you guys think???????

 

[JJ Bones]

Re: To Grow in Soil or in Pots.

I would go with the pots honestly more control and metrics tools involved.

 

[Cultivator]

Re: To Grow in Soil or in Pots.

yeah go with huge pots. if ur yard is like clay u are asking for trouble. it could be done if u dig whole yard up and add drainage but if u used 20gal pots u be fine. not straight into 20gal though. repot a couple times if u growing big plants with long veg times.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Re: To Grow in Soil or in Pots.

Clay soil can be problematic when growing out doors which may be prone to water logging, poor aeration & might be a tad acidic if i remember correctly !

It will require liming (dolomite) adding sand to improve aeration of soil, organic matter such as manures etc to improve the structure of the clay soil & thats just the beginning !


Alternatively you could build a raised bed & fill it with pre mixed soil if you wish to grow out doors...

You can use your internet search engine to do reasearch on Raised Bed which is a popular method for growing veggies & flowers, in real life fuzzys a gardener by trade which i have recently completed a landscaping project of raised beds for a wheelchair bound gardener.

Raised beds are a good option

 

[Muttt]

Re: To Grow in Soil or in Pots.

Dig a huge hole in the ground. Use a black 30 or 50 gallon contractor garbage bag. Make lots of holes in the bottom of the bag (drainage). Place the bag inside the hole. Then, fill the bag that's in hole with which ever high quality soils you wish (I prefer Subcool Supersoil, or something similar). This keeps other stuff, plants, etc from draining off the nutes from your grow. It provides all the drainage and everything else that you get from growing outside. But, with better control over your nutes and soil quality. Without having to have a back hoe come in and dig up your entire yard and replace all the soil. Then, when it comes time to replace the soil you were growing in, you only have to dig up the bag you put in the ground and don't have to dig up half the yard. Hope that helps.

 

[Cultivator]

Re: To Grow in Soil or in Pots.

that wont work in clay if it rains heavy then it wont drain away.

 

[OG1969]

Re: To Grow in Soil or in Pots.

I live in an area with heavy clay in the soil, Right down the road from a clay pipe manufacturing plant. Mine went into the ground with dug in holes filled with roots organic soil and planted at the hottest possible time you could they had roots that stretched so far when I pulled her after flowering. They were almost 8 feet away from where my girl Quadzilla was. Not wanting to cause any friction I think that this plant has survived many, many, many years without the care that we give it and it did just fine. So try to apply K.I.S.S. routine to your grow don't overhink and perform overkill on your plants. Best of luck, Peace OG.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

I was just looking at the average rain fall chart for california & it does appear some areas have higher rain fall than others such as Eureka, Mount Shasta, Redding these being above 30" of annual rain fall tho & depending when you are most likely going to get rain & which season it commonly happens in ?

Whether this is in your MMJ growing season is beyond me... as i don't come from california or america !


I may even be able to find out localised areas of clay with in california its all on the internet some where


I would not worry to much about water logging off clay even that drains in time, its just periods of prolonged rain fall over severaL DAYS TO WEEKS which can be problematic...

Techincally speaking as a landscaper you can installed drainage system there are many designs appilcable to help remove surface water, this may require a sump pit as your drain if using pipe drainage to depose of excess water these methods are often used in sports fields to keep the surface playable at all times !

A trench style drainage system dug to the depth of 1m/100cm lined with porous horticultural mating (black weed mat) & back filed with rubble/stones etc is a simple DIY version to use.


You can also dig a test pit... yup dig a whole & have look at your dirt & see how much you have of what type

Soil is layered

1. Top soil.
2. Subsoil.
3. Weather rock fragments/subsoil.
4. Bedrock.

You might find you have various amounts/depths of each, ya pretty unlucky to have clay as your top soil i suspect as it contains little humus or nutrients...

This is why it needs ammendments to improve its poor qualities & its acidic nature which clay requires a fair amount of liming to tame it...

Animal manures are often in the PH nuetral range to low alkline e.g PH 6 to PH 7.5 may varie a little bit tho & has a buffering nature against the acidity of clay soil with manures working in the same fashion as liming really

Also adding vital organic matter to the clay soil improving the structure & providing good substance for benifical microbes/microrganims to colonize adding azomite/volcanic rock dust to improve trace nutrient content of the soil also would be a fine idea !

Other ammendments can be used tho


Just got to work out the most cost effective method...

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Copy & Paste job from some california site...


Soil pH and drainage

Soils in California typically range from pH 5 (acidic) to 8.5 (alkalline). Most plants do best when the soil pH is slightly acidic to neutral (pH 5.5 to 7.5) because absorption of minerals can occur in this pH range. At higher and lower pH some nutrients are not soluble, and therefore not available to the plant roots.

Soil pH affects the availabililty of essential nutrients and also of toxic mineral elements.

Very acidic soils (low pH) may contain inadequate levels of plant-available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, molybdinum and may contain toxic levels of aluminum and manganese.

Very alkaline soils (high pH) are deficient in plant-available nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and manganese but also may contain excessive concentrations of soluble salts or sodium, both of which are detrimental or toxic to plant growth.

Low levels of calcium, magnesium and potassium in the soil can lead to low soil pH. Low soil pH can be adjusted by addiiton of lime (calcium carbonate, for example). High soil pH can be adjusted with additions of sulfur. These materials need to be incorporated into the root zone of the soil, and the process can take some time, especially for sulfur treatments.

A saline soil is a soil that has excessive soluble salts and (usually) a high pH in the root zone inhibiting plant growth. Saline soils can develop in the arid climates of California because evaporation of water vapor from the soil surface occurs more often than leaching, leaving the salts behind in the root zone. Saline soils develop a surface crust of whitish material (salts).

Plants tend to show wilt when growing in saline soils. Saline soils should be irrigated depply to flush away the excess salts. Mulch on the soil surface helps prevent surface water evaporation, reducing the accumulation of salts in the root zone.

A sodic soil is a soil that has a high pH (greater than 8.5) because of sodium accumulation alone without the presence of excessive concentrations of other salts. High sodium levels are toxic to plants.

Some soils are both sodic and saline.

Gypsum (calcium sulfate) and sulfur are used to reclaim sodic soils. A common misconception is that gypsum lowers soil pH, but its major effect is to improve water infiltration of sodic soils or high-sodium irrigation water. Large amounts of water must be added to gypsum-treated sodic soils to leach away sodium displaced by gypsum. If excessive sodium is not present, adding gypsum will not improve water infiltration (drainage).