Please share thoughts on this setup...

[jsn9333]

I wonder if you can tell me your thoughts on my idea for this guerilla grow setup. I'm a first time grower this season.

I'm going to set two 50 gallon rubber maid storage bins full of water in a small clearing in the middle of a swamp. I'm going to paint them camouflage so they blend in and won't be very visible from the air. I'll fill the bin with water and a bit of water-soluble fertilizer. I'm going to set four 3-gallon planters around each bin, for a total of 8 planters. I'm going to drill four holes near the top rim of the storage bin near each planter, for a total of 24 holes. I'm going run 24 lengths of cotton yarn from the water bin to the planters, 4 yarn strands going to each planter. I'll weight down the water-bin end of the yarn so it doesn't just float in the water, but gets fully saturated. See the attached picture and you'll get the idea.

The idea is that the water will wick from the container to the plants as they need it. The grow location is a 20 minute walk through the woods... then I have to put on waders and walk 50 yards into a pretty nasty swamp. So I don't want to have to make the walk everyday or even every other day to water the plants. Assuming the plants each drinks a gallon a day (and the plants would probably drink less especially since they'd have rain available in addition to the wick) in theory I could visit the site to fill the water bins with some fertilizer treated water every few weeks.

I'm going to plant 4 orange bud plants and 4 northern lights plants to ensure I'll get at least one female of each to provide me with a nice indica/sativa selection this season. Come harvest I'll kill the males and probably go down to a single water-bin to reduce visibility in case The Man does a fly by. I'm only growing for personal use.

Please let me know what you think about this plan. I got the "water wicking system" idea from a gardening site recommending ways to keep your indoor plants watered while on vacation. I'm just not sure how well it will work for a permanent watering solution, and an outside one at that! I know that the best, healthiest plants come from allowing the soil to get somewhat dry between waterings so the roots spread out more, since that is how nature waters. But if its possible to grow all season via a wick and still get some sort of yield, I'd like to do it this way. This seems sort of similar to how the earthbox (EarthBox - Homegrown Vegetables Without A Garden) works, and those get good reviews from gardeners most of the time.

jsn9333 Reviewed by jsn9333 on 05-04-2007. Please share thoughts on this setup... I wonder if you can tell me your thoughts on my idea for this guerilla grow setup. I'm a first time grower this season. I'm going to set two 50 gallon rubber maid storage bins full of water in a small clearing in the middle of a swamp. I'm going to paint them camouflage so they blend in and won't be very visible from the air. I'll fill the bin with water and a bit of water-soluble fertilizer. I'm going to set four 3-gallon planters around each bin, for a total of 8 planters. I'm going Rating: 5

[bejay]

if your just looking to water you plants there is no reason you couldnt use the swamp to your advantage you could use a wick system with ropes ran into the swamp but would try to use something heavier than yarn would also suggest you go with atleast 5 gallon buckets if your using a pot then just suspend the pot above the water by placing on a stump or tree or make a floating raft to place it on so it can rise and fall with the water level
if the water level doesnt rise and fall much and stays near the same level at all times you could also mound up the soil in the swamp to where there is a decent size mound of soil above the water line and not use pots at all and just plant directly in the mound above the water but if the water rises to much your plants will likely die if using a mound.

[jsn9333]

Thanks for the tip with the 5-gallon pots/buckets. I heard its best to use 3-5 gallon containers, and was just going to go with 3 gallon to have as small a "footprint" as possible. But now that I think about it, the lesser the chance of having a root-bound plant probably means less chance of stressing the plant and ending up with a male. I'll go with the 5-gallon pots.

The water level of the swamp is very inconsistent, and sometimes its bone dry except for a creek running nearby. Wicking directly into the water is a good idea, but I'm going to stick to my grow box back in between briar patches in the swamp to make sure no hikers or wildlife department employees come across the plants if they decided to hike along the creek for whatever reason.

The area where I'm doing this is a wildlife preserve. But I don't think anyone ever goes out there.

thanks again for the ideas,