Outdoor grow 2016 native soil amendments

[Mike_oxlong]

see View attachment 537484 Hi, new to the forum here and growing in general. I am planning an outdoor grow starting after last frost in mid may. Just wondering if I should make any additions to my soil before I plant. My holes will be made using a 15" auger to a depth of 4'. Was going to mix native soil with pro mix hp, worm castings and extra perlite. Also was going to add 6" or so of crushed brick to the bottom of every hole for excess water drainage. My soil is silt loam, 60% silt, 27% sand 8% clay and 5% organic matter. I have attached 2 soil analysis I had done a couple years ago. My main question is are the pro mix and other additions needed? My grow site is under drained with tile every 9' and on a slope for drainage. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[G.Leave]

Hey...might want to retake the pics of the soil report covering up the Report #, and office location, just as a security precaution.

So how wet is your environment? 4' deep holes? I grow my photos outdoors and only go 18" deep, but 10footX10foot wide holes and get very solid yields.

 

[Mike_oxlong]

Hey thanks, changed the pics, better safe than sorry. As for my environment, we average about 38" rain per year.. Pretty evenly spread out through the year.. Usually thunderstorms with heavy down pours then dry snap in the summer and more long drizzle in the fall.. I only say 4' as my drill can go 4', and my reasoning is a deep hole will guide the roots deep for water. Augering will Polish the sides of the hole and make it harder for the roots to go outward, so they will hopefully go down through the looser soil mix I fill the hole with. And the deeper they go the more available water there will be in the soil.. And if there is heavy rain, it will drain to the bottom of the hole faster and get picked up by my tile drain system.. My drain system is at 2.5', but I will put the holes right beside the tile as not to damage it. That was my reasoning, other option was go 4' then cave in the top and make it roughly 2' wide by 2'deep with loose topsoil in the bottom of the hole..

 

[G.Leave]

Are you planning to grow out autos or photoperiod plants?
The native soil mix sounds pretty decent, but me personally I am a hands on experimenter. I would try one plant with native soil mixed with some perlite. Another I would try a 50/50 mix with native and promix. Lime is always a good addition to virtually any native soil, especially if you plant to use the same spots for a few seasons.
I like your idea on drilling down to 4' and then caving in the top to give you wider root base potential. Sound like you will have a good grow...planning on a journal? Not sure if it will help you too much, but in my sig I have a thread on training photoperiod monsters that should have some useful information for your situation.

 

[Mike_oxlong]

I'll def have a look at your thread. Ya will do a journal I think. Going to go with auto flowers for my first grow, seems a bit safer.. Little more discreet and less noticeable by prying eyes if there are any. I've got some Mephisto illuminautos on order so was going to do 2 grows. Ordered the sodkx x fantasmo, bubbly x chem dog, chem purps and fantasmo x toof decay.. Going to do the sodk x fantasmo (5 plants) first. Start my seeds may 1st in 1 gallon air pots, then after Victoria day transplant into the ground. I figure the 1 gallon airpot won't shock the roots as they'll only be in there for a few weeks. Then seed my second grow of 5 chem purps in July and have in the ground by Aug 1 once the fantasmo are chopped.. The cooler temp in end september/October should colour them up nicely.. Last frost is usually mid may, and First frost here last year was Oct 20, so should have time to get both grows in with never more than 5 plants I need to tend for really.

 

[G.Leave]

Sounds like a solid plan. A few things to be wary of. First is spring temps. Cool early summer temps can(depending on strain) slow growth quite a bit. I often struggle with yield on autos outdoors due to cool spring temps. So make sure it has warmed up enough before you put them in the ground, especially if you are lacking dawn sun.
Try to leave at least an extra week or two on top of the breeders finish times. Usually outdoors they take longer than indoors.

Do a journal..if you run into issues, there will be many knowledgeable guys that will help you out.