Beginners questions before first grow

[fryge]

@KenBacon
just got back from the action.
they currently have chickenshit in stock(also other nice stuff like small pots, dehydrated cocosoil, etc).

I also checked the lable on that green boots fertilizer. turns out, it's also just chickenshit. both versions, the one for climbing plants and the one for hortensia and rhododendron. only difference with the chickenshit I've got, is that that green boots fertilizer is 90 cents for 1 kg, and the chickenshit I've got is 70 cents for 1 kg.

 

[KenBacon]

@fryge Oh man, you rule!! Thanks for checking that out. I will make a trip down there myself to stock up on some shit then.
I also found the original post by Dame Blanche on how to prep the soil before planting. I will definitely follow this advice and prep my ground this weekend.

Last week I bought Perlite, which I plan on using to keep the soil nice and fluffy, and also some Substral hydro clay balls that retain moisture. Maybe I'll throw some in just in case I am unable to water the plants.
So much good info, thank you so much!!

 

[fryge]

not sure how well those hydroballs would work...
soil already holds water, and I'm not sure if those balls hold more water as the same volume in soil.

if you want to get scientific, you could calculate how much water your soil holds and how long that lasts.
I've had to do such calculations in some classes(I study plant sciences). you need to know what kind of soil you have. then you take the volume(these calculations are based on a field full of crops, so they apply if you grow in full soil and when the plants are big enough, in a pot and with young plants it's a bit different), for which you would need the rooting depth.
then you take that volume, and multiply it by the amount of water the soil can release(between 'field capacity' and 'wilting point'). then a rule of thumb is that, on a sunny summer day in the netherlands, a crop(with closed canopy, so completely covering the soil) transpires about 5 mm per day.

anyway, what it comes down to is that clay holds way more water as sand(on clay soil a crop can often go twice as long without watering as on sand). organic matter also increases the waterholding capacity, but it also increases the airiness of the soil, so it's double good(it also has other positive effects on how well nutrients are bound/released and on pH buffering).
so if you're worried about water, I would add compost(=organic matter), and mulch(with for example straw) to reduce evaporation from the surface of the soil.

in pots, I've found especially mulching helps a lot, with fully grown plants in 40 litre pots without mulch I have to water every 1-2 days if it's warm and sunny, or they'll wilt. with mulch I can go away for a weekend(so 2-3 days without water), and they'll be fine.

 

[KenBacon]

Got me some chickenshit in the action this weekend, along with a bottle of liquid plant fertilizer and liquid fertilizer for orchids. I looked at the NPK values, and they seemed alright. The bottles were so cheap, I thought I'd pick them up for when I have a deficiency later on that needs fixing quickly. Thanks for that tip!!
I also bought this mini greenhouse for my seedlings, since we've had that cold wave here, I'd though that would help them.
I have a question regarding some seeds I started and have sprung now, but I think I'm going to make a new thread for them. I'll tag you, if you don't mind.

 

[KenBacon]

Last night I prepared my soil mix. I used mostly the good potting soil (about 35 kg) I bought, and added 2,5 maybe 3 small handfulls of chickenshit. Than I added 1 kilo of perlite and some old soil and mixed it all together in a concrete mixing tub. I want to keep it in there so the chickenshit pellets can start releasing nutrients before I plant the seedlings in there.
How old do you recon the seedlings have to be to plant them in there? I was thinking about 2 to 3 weeks depending on how good the weather is? I think I'm going to start the Dutch Passion seeds directly in 1 liter pots so I can keep them there without the roots getting restricted and keep them inside for longer until the weather heats up here.
If I plant them outside in holes with this mixture near the end of april, will the chickenshit have released enough nutrients?

Also, what are your average yields (I know, it depends on the strains) with the chickenshit method? You add no blooming nutrients, right?

 

[fryge]

2-3 weeks might be a bit young, in that case the soil might be a little too hot. but you can try and see how they react. usually I only add the chickenshit to my 2 last potsizes(12 litre buckets and 40 litre washbuckets), I think I plant them out around when they are 6-10 nodes tall(I never keep track of the weeks, but instead count nodes, imo more reliable since how fast they develop is temperature dependent, and height is deceptive since they can stretch more or less depending on the amount of light they get, so therefor I go by the amount of nodes on the main stem)

there should be plenty nutrients after a few weeks, the chickenshit alread has some immediatly available nitrogen, last year I had one plant that was particularly sensitive to nitrogen, and after planting out in freshly mixed soil it already got very dark green leaves and clawing, so imo it's not really needed to let the soil rest for long.

I have no idea what my yields are in weight, since I've never weighed my harvest.
but it does depend a lot on the strain. last year most of my plants were from a cross with kumaoni(a north indian landrace), and those were pretty low yielders. I had one plant from another cross that easily yielded double, maybe triple the amount from each plant of the kumaoni-cross of similar size(there were also a few in smaller pots at another location, which were a lot smaller, so even lower yield).
that one plant was my best yielding plant last year, it filled one big mason jar(about 20 cm tall and 11 cm wide).
I've been smoking from my own harvest since september I think, maybe augst, and I guess it'll last a few more months, and I smoke every day. that's from all balconyplants+guerilla combined though, although guerilla clearly yielded less(that one best yielding plant on the balcony yielded about as much as all guerilla, around 20 plants, combined).

the year before that I had 2 plants, which kept me supplied for around half a year. my best yielding plant(a hfh hashplant2) that year yielded 1,5-2x the amount from my best yielding plant last year(I remember that same big mason jar was filled to the brim, and I needed a 2nd to jar everything) .