Outdoor soil question

Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
I'm an indoor grower and don't know the first thing about doing it outdoors, so pardon me if this is a stupid question...

I always see outdoor grows in pots with the usual soilless mix. Do any outdoor growers do it in just the soilf in their back yard or wherever and if so then how do they control Ph?
 
diet coke

diet coke

Active Member
I just find a good spot(not my backyard) and plant them with a little food and root stimulator. Try to visit as little as possible.
Wish I could grow in the yard. :(
 
T

TWS

Well-Known Member
PH is for synthetic nutes. Add some lime and microbes and ditch the bottle. lol..... well kinda.
 
LivingCanvas

LivingCanvas

Well-Known Member
Unless you're adding chemical nutes you shouldn't NEED to monitor pH.
I personally use a soil recipe where I add straight water, R/O to avoid high tap water pH + MAYBE
some epsoms for Mag/Sulfer.
 
Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys.

Thinking of giving a couple of male plants a go in the back yard. I don't know about the climate here...but want to try anyway and see if i can keep them going long enough to collect some pollen off them.
 
Rhizogenic

Rhizogenic

Member
BeastGrow said:
use Dolomite lime to control the PH
Click to expand...
Do not do this. Unless you know that your soil has poor pH, you shouldn't be adding something to adjust it. An example of why this might be a bad idea would be adding dolomite to my native soil, which is 30% (of the base cation saturation) Mg. 30% is already too high, any more Mg would lead to poor infiltration and a decrease in fertility.

LivingCanvas said:
Unless you're adding chemical nutes you shouldn't NEED to monitor pH.
I personally use a soil recipe where I add straight water, R/O to avoid high tap water pH + MAYBE
some epsoms for Mag/Sulfer.
Click to expand...
pH should be monitored in soil. It is an indicator of how well it would support the plant of interest. Old growth stands or grasslands often have pH values in the low 5's with no added chemicals. Shoot for a soil around 6.4/6.5 with high microbial activity.

Sunbiz1 posted a useful link. I would attempt to figure out what type of soil you have to work with before you add anything.
 
MonkeyGrinder

MonkeyGrinder

Well-Known Member
White area here.
Around my area I take a look at what else is growing. The terrain types are pretty freaking vast. Hills, Mountains, Forests, Grasslands, Swamps. The native soil is a roll of the dice as well. In dense forests it's usually nice rich dark soil. You get outside of there to grasslands and it's usually just plain old brown dirt. Then you dig elsewhere and Bam nothing but red clay =/ I've noticed in most pine forest regions mostly clay soil as well. So I just avoid them now really
What I DO look for though are Magnolia trees. They grow wild around here and they tend to thrive around areas with very rich, moist and well draining soil. They're evergreens and the leaves feel almost like plastic. Clusters of spruce trees as well are good indicators of decent soil from my experience. The plant life in potential spots is 9 out of 10 times a good thing to consider when scouting.
One of my drunken getaways is a nice dense grove filled with both of them :D
 
Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
Lots of spruce around me that's for sure. :)

Can yiou can change the pH of the dirt just by saturating it well with dechlorinated tap water that's pH'd to 6.5? I figured if I did that a few times before planting in a particular area that might work???
 
Sunbiz1

Sunbiz1

Well-Known Member
MonkeyGrinder said:
White area here.
Around my area I take a look at what else is growing. The terrain types are pretty freaking vast. Hills, Mountains, Forests, Grasslands, Swamps. The native soil is a roll of the dice as well. In dense forests it's usually nice rich dark soil. You get outside of there to grasslands and it's usually just plain old brown dirt. Then you dig elsewhere and Bam nothing but red clay =/ I've noticed in most pine forest regions mostly clay soil as well. So I just avoid them now really
What I DO look for though are Magnolia trees. They grow wild around here and they tend to thrive around areas with very rich, moist and well draining soil. They're evergreens and the leaves feel almost like plastic. Clusters of spruce trees as well are good indicators of decent soil from my experience. The plant life in potential spots is 9 out of 10 times a good thing to consider when scouting.
One of my drunken getaways is a nice dense grove filled with both of them :D
Click to expand...
Areas containing annual native grass/wildflowers generally contain a good amount of decomposing/aged organic matter, they exist in white areas as well...just not in large enough numbers to be reflected on the map.
 
Sunbiz1

Sunbiz1

Well-Known Member
Rhizogenic said:
Do not do this. Unless you know that your soil has poor pH, you shouldn't be adding something to adjust it. An example of why this might be a bad idea would be adding dolomite to my native soil, which is 30% (of the base cation saturation) Mg. 30% is already too high, any more Mg would lead to poor infiltration and a decrease in fertility.



pH should be monitored in soil. It is an indicator of how well it would support the plant of interest. Old growth stands or grasslands often have pH values in the low 5's with no added chemicals. Shoot for a soil around 6.4/6.5 with high microbial activity.

Sunbiz1 posted a useful link. I would attempt to figure out what type of soil you have to work with before you add anything.
Click to expand...
Just wish to add, those growing near river basins generally have plenty of lime already present in native soil...in some cases too much.
 
T

TWS

Well-Known Member
I thought Dolomite lime stabilizes PH weather it"s up or down, how could to much be a bad thing or harm ?
 
Sunbiz1

Sunbiz1

Well-Known Member
TWS said:
I thought Dolomite lime stabilizes PH weather it"s up or down, how could to much be a bad thing or harm ?
Click to expand...
Not a bad thing at all, just not necessary to amend w/it near limestone riverbeds. The only case I have ever seen too much present for a cannabis grow was near a limestone rock quarry, and that was a problem b/c the water source being used also had high lime content.
 
S

Stay Brewin

Member
Sunbiz1 said:
Some areas of the US have the best native soil on the entire planet, complete with 6 inches of aged compost(humus)already on top.

http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/orders/mollisols_map.html

If you reside in yellow or green, all you really need to do is add a bit of granule nutes, a bit of perlite, and mix well. If you're in white, time to start amending or even replacing soil in some cases.
Click to expand...
Thats very true. Thanks for that link its really helpful. We have a lot of good land to grow here especially in national parks. Personally I've never even used dolomite, I guess its just the warnings on the bags... I have always used store bought soil/soiless.
But I do know the only way I've grown and not needed to monitor ph to dial something in is by using compost tea only to feed the plants with soiless mix (pro mix). Anything ur mixing straight from a bottle or granular solution is gonna adjust the acidic/basic levels somewhat, in my experience that is.
 
Sunbiz1

Sunbiz1

Well-Known Member
Stay Brewin said:
Thats very true. Thanks for that link its really helpful. We have a lot of good land to grow here especially in national parks. Personally I've never even used dolomite, I guess its just the warnings on the bags... I have always used store bought soil/soiless.
But I do know the only way I've grown and not needed to monitor ph to dial something in is by using compost tea only to feed the plants with soiless mix (pro mix). Anything ur mixing straight from a bottle or granular solution is gonna adjust the acidic/basic levels somewhat, in my experience that is.
Click to expand...
Was just discussing this in another thread, all Promix contains is sphagnum peat, perlite, lime, and a wetting agent. Lime must be added to peat(the only time I even use it), I make my own Promix and add a few amendments9mainly worm castings)for indoor plantings. And I use the same granule nutes both indoor and in-ground...Epsoma plant-tone. You can top dress in-grounds w/it and leave, rain does the rest.

National parks, lol...since our tax $$ already support them mine as well put the land to good use!.

Peace
 
Rhizogenic

Rhizogenic

Member
TWS said:
I thought Dolomite lime stabilizes PH weather it"s up or down, how could to much be a bad thing or harm ?
Click to expand...
TWS, it can influence pH in both directions depending on the soil, but people run the risk of adding too much magnesium when they apply it. Healthy soils for most plants, including cannabis, require a much higher ratio of Ca to Mg (around 7:1). Dolomite has a Ca:Mg ratio around 2:1. If too much Mg accumulates in the soil the texture will become clay like with poor drainage and since both are similar cations (+2), plants have a harder time "sucking" enough calcium out when there is that much magnesium present.
 
Rhizogenic

Rhizogenic

Member
Sunbiz1 said:
National parks, lol...since our tax $$ already support them mine as well put the land to good use!.

Peace
Click to expand...
Ha! Just don't be chopping trees down and dumping miracle grow in my woods. I'm on patrol with a compound bow and a ghillie suit...
 
S

Stay Brewin

Member
Yeah right after I posted that I thought it would encourage the wrong thing... whoops. but out here wandering into a forest will most likely end up like that what happens to the kid on the show weeds.. u just run the risk of running into some serious people. I use veganics through compost tea only (hence the name) so guerrilla is not my cup of tea so to say lol. no plans on growing in a park for many other reasons too, mostly cuz I may get shot walking through the wrong spot out here honestly... and no offence at all but I have a feeling it wouldn't be an arrow.
 
Rhizogenic

Rhizogenic

Member
National forests are dangerous places sometimes and it's unfortunate for people that just want to enjoy them. I didn't infer anything from your post, so no offense.

More soil info is explained here rather than me writing a novel. The school of thought started with this guy William Albrecht:

http://biofarmassist.com/?p=118
 
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