Hey Folks, I'm brand new to this forum and to growing as well. So I need help with what I've done to my ladies. I built a big burm to hide my crop on one side. Then a couple days ago I started laying sod chunks on it from another spot in the yard I'm clearing for a veggie garden. So I layed a bunch on the burm and let water all night. In the morning there was standing water in my best ladie's hole. I dug a hole about 8 inches or so and began dipping out the water. I did that a few times yesterday. This morning there was standing water in 4 holes. I did the same thing with the dipping out the water. All around my soil is clay so it don't drain too quick. How bad off am I. Is there something else I can do? Any insight would be greatly appriciated. Thanks Tonkaak
And the idiot of the day award goes to tonkaak!
- Thread starter tonkaak
- Start date
quietguy420
Well-Known Member
You need to dig HUGE holes when working outside that you can fill with soil of your choice "moisture retention, nutrient retention, looseness etc." I dont grow outside but one of my patients does, he swears by a 3 foot hole with a chopped up fish, bones, guts, and all. Fill hole a foot, put half fish in, fill another foot, put other half fish, fill last foot with clone/plantling and more soil. If you have clay you will need a larger hole and more of your own soil. The roots are going to have a hell of a time growing , and all moisture is going to sit in your holes like its doing now. Try using something with large pieces of material in the soil. This will give you better drainage, If you really wanna get crazy you can dig a 5 foot hole, put 2 feet of sand, then treat it like a normal 3 foot hole. the sand will give the water somewhere to pool and drain instead of sitting on the surface.
Fisherman Pete
New Member
bear with me i've jsut hit the smoke 
this is only relevant if you are hand watering and not expecting heavy rain i guess
why not just dig a round hole the depth of the main hole, shove a piece of plasstic tubing down, with another piece just coming into the hole, then once your plant is in and growing and you are watering, water until you see water enter the pipe (shine a flashlight down etc) in exactly the same principal as runoff drainage holes in a pot, the clay will then retain the water, like a pot, and the plant will drink it dry, re-water.
the black line is a piece of white tubing. i see no real reason it shouldn't work
even now it is refined in that you simply take a plastic pole and ignore the right angle. shove the thing into the main hole near the edge before you start filling with your soil mix, and then it'll fill with water once it's fully saturated. genius plan!
this is only relevant if you are hand watering and not expecting heavy rain i guesswhy not just dig a round hole the depth of the main hole, shove a piece of plasstic tubing down, with another piece just coming into the hole, then once your plant is in and growing and you are watering, water until you see water enter the pipe (shine a flashlight down etc) in exactly the same principal as runoff drainage holes in a pot, the clay will then retain the water, like a pot, and the plant will drink it dry, re-water.
the black line is a piece of white tubing. i see no real reason it shouldn't work
even now it is refined in that you simply take a plastic pole and ignore the right angle. shove the thing into the main hole near the edge before you start filling with your soil mix, and then it'll fill with water once it's fully saturated. genius plan!
quietguy420
Well-Known Member
This guy is "McGyvastoner"bear with me i've jsut hit the smoke
why not just dig a round hole the depth of the main hole, shove a piece of plasstic tubing down, with another piece just coming into the hole, then once your plant is in and growing and you are watering, water until you see water enter the pipe (shine a flashlight down etc) in exactly the same principal as runoff drainage holes in a pot, the clay will then retain the water, like a pot, and the plant will drink it dry, re-water.
the black line is a piece of white tubing. i see no real reason it shouldn't work
BCBuddy420
Well-Known Member
I laughed for a good 3 minutes straight, not satying it wouldn't serve a purpose but the drawing....bear with me i've jsut hit the smoke
why not just dig a round hole the depth of the main hole, shove a piece of plasstic tubing down, with another piece just coming into the hole, then once your plant is in and growing and you are watering, water until you see water enter the pipe (shine a flashlight down etc) in exactly the same principal as runoff drainage holes in a pot, the clay will then retain the water, like a pot, and the plant will drink it dry, re-water.
the black line is a piece of white tubing. i see no real reason it shouldn't work
Fisherman Pete
New Member
that thing should work, and you just stop the moment you see water.
i just watched the mythbusters episode on macgyver to which i now feel like watching the real thing for the first time haha, never seen more than 30 seconds. according to an internet poll, this fact puts me below the level of mannly man.
what can i say, i have a stupid creative mind. i'd be an inventor if i had the tools, materials and more indepth knowhow on materials and physics. but i create, even when stoned, unfortunately most of the time i put it into practice there is a heavy usage of ducktape!
and the picture, well, did you know ms paint had that function!!?! look at the artwork on those stems!
i just watched the mythbusters episode on macgyver to which i now feel like watching the real thing for the first time haha, never seen more than 30 seconds. according to an internet poll, this fact puts me below the level of mannly man.
what can i say, i have a stupid creative mind. i'd be an inventor if i had the tools, materials and more indepth knowhow on materials and physics. but i create, even when stoned, unfortunately most of the time i put it into practice there is a heavy usage of ducktape!
and the picture, well, did you know ms paint had that function!!?! look at the artwork on those stems!
Another brilliant idea fisherman Pete. I like the way you brain. But my current problem is how to pull out 3 feet of standing water that has saturated the holes/soil already. I've been dipping water out for 2 days now and it seeps back in. I just now went and stabbed a bunch of aeratiion holes to, God willing, help wick off moisture and get o2 to the roots. Thanks Pete Mcguyvastoner.
Fisherman Pete
New Member
for now it is a bit of a problem, i think that if the whole area is saturated, then you can do nothing but be vigilant and keep mopping up what you and and just hope. you can always get extreme, shove a spade into the earth around the plant in a square, shove sheets of plastic into the holes and cover, i'm not quite sure how it's flooding, but that might keep the water from flooding the rootball, it'd act as an umbrella in a fucked up kind of earthworm jim kinda way