outdoor question

[Orionb]

i was thinking of planting a decently large scale crop of tomatoes. Say i have 2400 acres of private property, do you think there is a good chance of anyone stumbling upon them? It seems as if 2400 acres would be enough space to find a spot that noone could get to. Also if there isnt a way to set up a water pump, would it still be possible to get large tomato plants by using certain soils and other materials that absorb and hold a lot of water? I just want a way to plant them with minimum visits and still be able to have something worth coming back to.

[Cerebro]

you have to make up your own mind on this one, safety for loved ones etc.
laws vary so much.
I'd create a highly productive regulated grow area and expect high yield per plant, rather than going for plant heaps and see what's left.
There is alot you can do for soil prep.
The best starting place is to open up the soil in early winter add organic ferts like seaweed, manure, blood n bone, compost, some dolomite. Add those water saving crystals (or dont), I've got a slow release seaweed fert that includes humic acid.....basically it's the organic material that create the air spaces in the soil that the roots like to get productive in, the air spaces also hold the water, so the more organics in there the better. Put compost all over it, this will kill off most weeds if done to more than 50mm, after a month you can plant a green manure like mustard in the same winter, dig it into the soil 6 weeks later and be ready to go.
You need to get some sort of reservoir to collect rain water into. A wick system can be used instead of pumps etc, they will keep a grow going through some pretty harsh periods. Even a small reservoir will do for a small scale grow.
Look into slunts DIY Greenhouse, and the medium info gathering guide sticky in gtgh might answer a few questions.
Good luck mate.

[Orionb]

Thanks for the feed back, i really appreciate it. Ill also go take a look at those sources you mentioned, hopefully i can have everything sorted out by next year's growing season.

[slunt]

Remember that next years growing season really starts in February/March as seeds need to sprout, sexing of babies, field preparation and scouting, supplies and a million other things need to be tended to so that you can get your girls outside after last frost or when the suns rays are long enough in intensity and duration to not trigger premature flowering.Usually late April.

[generic_hippie]

my alt has a bit to say on the growing of large scale outdoor crops

So, you wanna grow large scale outdoor crops?

Doc_flox for the win.

[Orionb]

Thanks again for the added feedback guys. Im actually going on a location scouting trip sometime within the next week or so. Its on 2400 acres of unused, uninhabited private property, so im thinking that as long as the crop isnt somewhere out in the open that ill be ok. As for getting water to the plants, do you think setting up a reservoir and bringing in water every month would be sufficient for growing large outdoor plants? Or would you be looking at much larger amounts of water for that size crop?

[generic_hippie]

In my experience, if you have a well prepared growing area your plants will use as much water as you can feed them.

carting water is hard work and should be avoided at all costs

[Orionb]

thanks generic hippie. Im assuming that relying on rainfall alone would not leave me with any sort of harvest to write home about, am i right? My location has about 28 inches of annual rainfall. Right now my main concern is getting the plants enough water, as the location is a slight drive (maybe 45 minutes) away and I will not be able to go to the site daily to give them water. Any tips on watering systems? Ive looked at Doc Flox's watering system, and while it is badass, i might not have the money or access to a stream or well. Any info would be greatly appreciated

[Cerebro]

I'd be starting off working out your target yield, then number of plants, then area required. If you find that the area required isn't as high as you thought it was you could possibly/probably get enough water to store from rainfall to get you through to only needing a few trips to manually refill reservior.
If you carry in surface mulch for the plants once a month you would be saving your back and fertilising your plants at the same time. A decent rainwater reservior would service a large area of well prepared soil very well.
It has alot to do with soil composition. If you have heaps of water available you can grow in sandy soils, or add perlite etc to increase drainage to allow for greater root activity: With low water you need a denser soil with many water retaining properties, you also need to reduce heat, and weed competition....lucki ly surface mulch helps all of those.

[Orionb]

Thanks much for the added feedback, I think I have a basic idea of what I need to do now. Im gonna be preparing the soil in the next couple weeks.

[Thepizzaguy]

Good luck with the tomatoes, maybe you should add a few pot plants in there as well. With 2400 acres of private land it must be a remote location and pedestrians may not be an issue. Helicopters on the other hand have the high ground....

[slunt]

What is this land used for? what kind of terrain is there. How big are the trees?
For example it's better to plant on a hill behind trees with an East/West exposure than out on the flat lands. People don't like to walk hills much and will stick to the trails. Helicopters have to turn on their side to look down into the trees.

[Orionb]

the land is a family ranch that is still owned but all in all abandoned. The location is a good distance away from a medium sized city, in rural location. The landscape would consist of hills, trees, brush and bushes. Id say the trees would grow anywhere from 15-25 feet high on average.

[Cerebro]

sounds perfect.

[Orionb]

im glad to hear it. I was planning on planting all female seeds, would this be a bad idea? I wanted to plant about 40 seeds, probably in 2 plots in an area thats surrounded by trees or something to that effect.

[Cerebro]

female seeds are a great idea.
You dont want the trees to be blocking too much light.
Surrounded is good, amongst isnt so good.
femaleseeds.nl , i think that's the web address, or through dr chronic.

[generic_hippie]

use a mother plant of known sex and cuttings

sexing on site has always rsulted in seeds for me

seriously, don't relearn what a thousand others have already learned

[slunt]

Female seeds are not guaranteed to be all females. Some males slip through.You should really start them six weeks early under floro's. Sex them when they grow about 4 weeks old and then remove the males. Take those babies out and transplant them in your previously cleared and prepared area.
The Sun travels in a line across the sky from East to West.You want to have an area that is totally open to that sun path, but blocked from observation North and South. Be ready for Bugs, slugs,animals,floodi ng, drought, and humans.Good that you have started your research now.

[Orionb]

Cool, thanks for all of the continued advice guys.

[Orionb]

As for watering I was thinking about going with some sort of drip irrigation system, do you guys think this would work?