my grow room need some advice

z4qqqbs

Well-Known Member
so my grow area has way to much water. basically when i step my foot is in a half inch to an inch of water. the ph of that water being 7.8ish i would rather not grow in pots but i might have too does anyone have any tips i can use to make sure my plants dont get too much water from that. i could mound some dirt but i dont know how effective that would be and then it would be a sore thumb from the sky. i would like it to be as low key as possable. i also have a river by my grow for water that ph of the river is also 7.8. i would just bring my ph tester and fert with me and balance it on site when i water. so that wont be an issue but the amount of water will. any help would be nice
 

RockstarEnergy

Well-Known Member
hey dude you could make some raised beds. a guy gave me this technique a while back, i haven'd tried it but it seems like it would work pretty good. it would probably depend on how many plants you want to grow though.

I call those "Ka-Chong" moments, and I had a similar one last summer :) One of the guys we were working for said we could put a bunch of plants on his property (super rural NorCal), as long as they were hidden well and we had to give him half. We had 1 Maui and 16 Afwreck clones about 2 feet tall and express permission to grow guerilla on our boss' property, but couldn't think of how to plant them. It seemed like it would've been a waste to put them in little buckets, and digging holes way out in the wilderness had lost its appeal after we had already dug 25 hella big ones for the boss. So we were about to give up and say fuck it, lets just do the work and dig the holes, when all of a sudden - one of my buddies came up with the idea to use small (like 1 inch diameter) tree branches and criss-cross them like youre building a log cabin. They were about 2' x 2' wide and like 6-8 inches deep. It took about 5 minutes to construct each one. Turns out these little DIY grow boxes are really strong, they hold the soil and drain really well and are also perfectly camouflaged in the brush. We ended up pulling 5 pounds total (4 pounds from 16 Afwrecks and 1 pound from 1 Maui lol). Those boxes were a lifesaver :)
It might be a good idea for you. If your plants roots eventually grow deep enough, they might start to suck up that water from the ground but since the majority of the root system is above the water line they wont rot. kind of like a Hempy Pot(passive hydro).

I dont know its up to you haha. good luck!
 

ICantBelieveItsNotBud

Well-Known Member
Im growing in an area similar to yours, i just decided to use 5gal buckets. Seems to be working fine just hope i dont have to water them too often.
 

z4qqqbs

Well-Known Member
dig a small trench on the uphill side to divert water around your grow space
no that wont work because the water is all around it isnt flowing its just there. but as for that box idea that may accually work very well. cept theres not wood around lol just cat tails and other boggy plants. but i could take green plant pots and cut the bottom off then just fill with soil that way. so that could be a solution. but how would the water seeping up into the soil alter the ph. cause the bog water is at 7.8ish so how would that affect the soil when the roots get down that far? and maybe find some sand too cause that would provide some good dranage.. any other tips would still be nice
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
Rockstar has it nailed, use wood to elevate above the water. It seems like you will have to haul in some wood, but I think it is your besat bet.

I have a little ditch nearby I am going to throw some plants in, but it floods during heavy rains. Luckily there are some old railroad ties lying around that I can just chuck in the ditch. Then the plan is to use a burlap sack to hold the soil on top of the railroad ties.

good luck
 

veggiegardener

Well-Known Member
If you're out in the tules or cattails, you can use Smart Pots. A Smart Pot twenty gallons or bigger will serve you perfectly.

7.8 isn't optimum, but you should be able to control it with some of the "Up" and "Down" products available.

Even without correction, you should still get a crop.
 

veggiegardener

Well-Known Member
Rockstar has it nailed, use wood to elevate above the water. It seems like you will have to haul in some wood, but I think it is your besat bet.

I have a little ditch nearby I am going to throw some plants in, but it floods during heavy rains. Luckily there are some old railroad ties lying around that I can just chuck in the ditch. Then the plan is to use a burlap sack to hold the soil on top of the railroad ties.

good luck
If the river is right there, you should be able to find enough driftwood to build a raised bed. Odd shaped and the chinks filled with whatever is handy, you should be fine. Avoid using a lot of perlite in your soil mix. It shows up very well from above.
 

z4qqqbs

Well-Known Member
If you're out in the tules or cattails, you can use Smart Pots. A Smart Pot twenty gallons or bigger will serve you perfectly.

7.8 isn't optimum, but you should be able to control it with some of the "Up" and "Down" products available.

Even without correction, you should still get a crop.
what are these smart pots you speak of
 

RockstarEnergy

Well-Known Member
no that wont work because the water is all around it isnt flowing its just there. but as for that box idea that may accually work very well. cept theres not wood around lol just cat tails and other boggy plants. but i could take green plant pots and cut the bottom off then just fill with soil that way. so that could be a solution. but how would the water seeping up into the soil alter the ph. cause the bog water is at 7.8ish so how would that affect the soil when the roots get down that far? and maybe find some sand too cause that would provide some good dranage.. any other tips would still be nice
hmmm didnt think about the pH problem. but even IF my theory works like that, since the majority of the root system is above the high pH water and recieving the water you adjusted i dont think it will affect it very much. i could be wrong though!
 
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