First time Outdoor, 2011, Organic Cali bud FTW!

[Zarezhu]

Hey guys, I'm pumped. Just got back from the buddies that I'm growing at, about to get ready for work.
TOO excited, snapped a few pictures for yall.

We extended his garden this year in order to accommodate both his plants and mine. I get my own 6 plants while he'll probably run 20 or so.

150 Gallon DIY Smart pots!
Some WONDERFUL soil (more details later)
The starts are in a shed recieving 24/0 right now under a 400w HPS. Planting everything outside tomorrow (with a possible exception of 2 clones that are still fairly small)

Setting up supp. lights to extend the day to 18/6 as soon as they hit outdoors.

Haven't been hardening them off, I hope they can take it.

Thats all for now, here's a few pics.

NOW i KNOWWW they're too close together, that wasn't up to me. I would have spaced them in a zigzag pattern and try to give them as much room as I can, but I don't own the land, and that's all I'm allowed to work with. Hopefully they dont grow into each other too much.

 

[Zarezhu]

Update tiiime.

SOIIIILLL.
I went out and purchased a pallet (50 1.5cf bags) of Home Depots potting soil. It came out roughly to $5 per bag. Contains worm castings, kelp meal, bat guano, and chicken manure.

So each pot roughly got 8 bags (some more some less, depending on plant size) of potting soil. To each outdoor container I added 1cf of worm castings, a 40lb bag of dry stall (basically its a fat bag of pumice for real cheap from the feed store, replaces perlite), and 2cf of peat moss.

I had a 50 lb bag of gypsum as well as a 50lb bag of dolomite lime, so each container got roughly 8lb of each at a 50/50 mix.

I also added about 3 or 4 lb to each container of Jobes Organic All Purpose Fertilizer. It's a 4-4-4 organic fert (seabird meals, bone meals, etc.) as well as a source of beneficial bacterias AND archaea.

When I transplanted, I mixed in GH Subculture B + M (bacteria as well as the fungus), as well as a second mycorrhizal product to the planting hole, ensuring they hit the roots right away.

The well water I have access to is 7.2 ph, and doesn't contain any chlorine. I'm trying to have as many beneficial microbes in my soil as I possibly can.

I'm most likely going to be feeding compost teas, as well as probably Earth Juice just to push them a little bit more.

I haven't got a chance to set up my supplemental lighting yet, so they went from 24/0 to 14/10 and have been that way for 2 nights, I should be able to set up the lights tomorrow.

I wish all my plants were the size/health and had the vigor of the bubblegum, it'll be interesting watching how smaller clones compare to the bubblegum. Learning as much as I can for next year.

SADLY, the plants are roughly 5-6 feet on center, so I spaced out the 3 bigger ladies (2 ATF and the bubblegum) away from each other so they don't overrun each other, and the littler plants can do their own thing. This is what I'm worried most about, the spacings. We'll see.

The smallest plant (single stem still) is Purple Trash (Purple Trainwreck x Hash Plant). The other little plant (with two main stems, slightly stressed, it's got funky 3 bladed leaves and whatnot, it'll snap outa it) is a Northern Lights x Purple (wish I knew more about it). The tall lanky yellowing plant is a NYCD (FTW!, this is a killer ass pheno, hopefully it can take off, I hate planting sickly looking plants. The biggest is a bubblegum, and the 2 bushy plants are ATF's. I'm STOKED for every strain I've got running.

Alright guys, time to go to work. Beautiful weather we're getting, 80+ all week, should be hitting 90 on Thursday!

 

[Zarezhu]

So I got my lights set up today. The plants are looking good. I did a little bit of pruning as well. The bubblegum had too many fan leaves covering nodes that weren't getting any light so I had to snipsnip. A few dead leaves on the NYCD. I hope she perks up soon and takes off, this strain is KILLER and it's sad to see it so yellow and sad. The ATF's had some leaves that were just burnt or in the way so they got pruned up a bit too. The northern lights x purple should hopefully start to look better in the next week or two, I'm waiting for some new growth. The Purple trash is beautiful, no transplant shock and is already growing.

I have 3 cfl fixtures for my 6 plants that are to turn on at 2:30 AM and off at 6:15 AM. Sunrise is at 6:10, with probably like 15 minutes of twilight, so plants should roughly be at 18/6.

So exciting to see this unfold. Next thing I need to do is get some mulch so the top doesn't dry out so quick. It's getting REAL warm.


Any questions? Comments? Advice?
I'm just looking to do the best that I can this harvest.

 

[Zarezhu]

Here's the bubblegum on 5/8. I'm most proud of her, she's the only clone I started ahead of time and trained her since day 1 to grow into the bush she's sure to grow into.



This baby is one of the ATF's. Definitely growing, but she could use a good 2-4 weeks before she's lush green all around and filling in more. When each of them shoots grows about another 3-4 inches I'm gonna tie her down to the ring on the tomato cage, open her up real good. That's when she's really gonna shine, super tight and branchy.
Any advice on how to get rid of her purple stem? When I got her the whole thing was dark purple and very tough. I flushed and transplanted, and she's been greening up, just VERY slowly.



This here is the NL x Purple. You can see the new growth up top. Happy she didnt stay stressed for too long. The old leaves are whack but she made a speedy recovery.



DIESEEELLL. ftw. I was over at my buddies (whom I got the atf's and the diesel clones from) and I looked at his mothers. Offered him $150 for this Luscious Purple (Humboldt P. x Mendo P.) mother he had, was maybe 2 feet tall with an inch thick trunk and super bushy and green all around. Sadly, he said no, so I'm gonna have to keep waiting on this diesel to kick into gear. I've just been picking off dead leaves. The roots when I transplanted the D were kinda lame, so I figure once it gets itself a nice base the rest should take off.



Purple Trash right before I watered her. Been growing like a champ. Can't wait to see her in the next few months, I love me some hashplant



And last of all this is just the garden at an angle. Had a light turned on just so I could do a little watering and maintenance.



I'll take pictures of the rest of the garden eventually too. There's probably around 25 plants in the ground right now with only 6 being mine, but his are off to a rough start. Every plant he put out that was pretty decent size has been flowering, some looking already 2-3 weeks into flower. IDK why he doesnt set up supp. lighting, I showed him how easy it was. At least my 3 bulbs light up the whole garden somewhat. They'll snap out of it (thats his philosophy, "its just a weed"), and when they do I'll take pix for all of us to see.
Questions? Comments?

 

[Yesca73]

good start. I aM TRYING TO DECIde between Patio plus and Fox Farm OF. $5 vs $10 a bag.
I was thinking of throwing mine out now also but I think I will wait until 1st week of june to play it safe. How long u gonna run that supplemental lighting? How do u water? if u use drip what kind of emitters u using?

 

[GOT DANK]

good start. I aM TRYING TO DECIde between Patio plus and Fox Farm OF. $5 vs $10 a bag.
I was thinking of throwing mine out now also but I think I will wait until 1st week of june to play it safe. How long u gonna run that supplemental lighting? How do u water? if u use drip what kind of emitters u using?

go with ffof. great for the price

 

[Zarezhu]

@yesca - ask me that same question at the end of this season and I'll let you know ;] I've never run large containers outdoors and I've never used Patio Plus, so this whole year is going to be a learning experience for me. I was planning on spending the $600 on a pallet of FFOF until I saw I could get a pallet of the PP for under $300. With an extra yard of compost @ $40, I figured I could spend the extra $260 on ammendments that would make it up to par if not BETTER than ocean forest.

However, I don't know yet; only time will tell. They're both very hot soils. I've used a lot of OF in the past with good runs and bad runs, so I believe it just boils down to how well you know your soil and how well you know your plant. Give your soil what it needs, and your plant what it wants. Keep them coexisting happily and your bud with reward you with utmost dankiddy dankedness.

If I wasn't going to ammend my soil, I'd probably have gone with the OF or even Roots. It just seemed like a real good soil to start with (proper ph along with kelp/chicken manure/bat guano/ewc) and its definitely a step towards building my own soil completely, which is what I'll be doing next year most likely.

If the soil isn't enough to push the plants as much as I want, I'll be adding strong feedings of Earth Juice. After all, it's only once a year we get this chance really ;]

@supp lighting, early-mid june, most likely mid june just to be safe. Slowly ween them off.

@watering, I've just been using a hose or a bucket. If I decide (which I probably will) to automate the watering, it'll be very simple as all my plants are fairly close together and they're uniform. I'm still not sure on which dripper/emitter I'd use. I'll have to take another look at the "large plants" thread, they cover this quite well.

 

[Yesca73]

I went with the OF. I also got some large perlite.I have 65 gallon Smartpots. each pot is 9 cf. was planning on 7cf OF / 2cf Perlite. does this sound like good ratio?

 

[Zarezhu]

Sure you could definitely do something like 3 part OF for one part perlite. You could even add more you'd just have to water more frequently.

 

[Zarezhu]

Just got back from the garden. It's amazing how much they can grow in 4 days. The bubblegum is just taking off, I tucked all the top shoots under the rings of the tomato cage so she should keep on bushing out REAAL nice. The NL x P is much taller and fatter, looking really healthy. Same with the Purple Trash, she couldnt look any better. Stems getting fatter by the day and she's spreading out real nice.

What can I do about my purple stems?? My 2 ATF's and my NYCD (both got from a buddy, my club clones are fine) have them purple stems that are very hard and its kinda sad because they cant grow as well as my healthier plants. I was thinking I'd foliar the three plants with Epsom/Phosphorus and see if that helps speed up the de-purpling of my beautiful ladies. I know they'll get better in time (they're MUCH better than when I originally got them, before the transplant and flush), I just don't want to waste too much time with this stem bullshit. The new growth is getting better though, I guess it's just a waiting game. Definitely worth it though <3 ATF ftw

I was digging around the outside area of the pots, seeing how evenly the dirt was drying out, and to my surprise every single plant had roots already working their way a good ways into the soil. I give them 2-4 weeks until the roots hit the edges of the pots they're in right now. Very exciting to see how quick the roots develop!

When should I brew my first batch of compost tea? And some alfalfa tea (triacontanol). I want to try the alfalfa tea first as it's a growth hormone and it seems like they could handle a little extra push. Good to see that the soil is very nice on the plants so far. Hopefully it stays that way though harvest :]]

 

[Zarezhu]

First day of good weather in a long time. We've been having storms (hail, rain, wind) here in cali so far and it seems like the weather should be straightened out with highs of 80-90 reported for the next few weeks baby!

How much they've grown, it's insane to me. I've never had plants with so much potential.

I worked alfalfa meal (2-0-3) into the surface of all the containers today and then I watered it in. They didn't need any watering as it's been raining, but I took the opportunity to soak the alfalfa meal in and try to prevent it from being too strong as I used somewhat a liberal amount. Hoping for the nitrogen boost as well as the boost from the growth hormone present in alfalfa meal is just what they need. With so much sunshine in the forecast, the plants could use a little boost.


Here's the garden as of 6/7/11. It's in the bright sunlight so its not a very good picture but check out how much the plants have grown


This picture was taken just about a month ago. The weather was cold but they still all managed to EXPLODE, especially in root growth. Pretty much all 6 plants have roots touching the sides of the containers (4' diameter)



The Purple Trash I put in was a freshly rooted clone, and is now the second biggest/most robust of the 6. The bubblegum, which was already established in a 3 gallon pot is definitely the biggest, already 4' in diameter and her trunk is something that is enough to excite a noob grower like me lol. The NYCD, which was yellow and stressed when plugged, has a trunk on her too. Filling in real nicely. The smallest clone I put in (nl x p) is growing real nice too, although slower than the rest. Probably because she was growing somewhat funky when I got her. The two alaskan thunderfucks are doing great. One is a bit ahead of the other, but they're both just gonna SHINE come harvest time. They finally grew out of their purple stems and are growing stem and leaf and roots like pros. Exciting to see how lime green extremely resinous indoor buds will look on an outdoor plant.

I gave them my first feeding today. I plan on using compost teas in the future, but still haven't got to building a brewer. I want to start foliar feeding too, any recommendations for what to foliar with? Any advice from anybody about anything at all?

Toke on good people

 

[nomaad]

Looks great man.

If your soil is as rich in nutes as FFoF, you probably don't need to feed them to the roots yet. You should, however, hit them with a Brix Mix foliar(or something like it that you mix up) weekly now that the temps are up.

I think I have an idea of the difference between well amended reused soil and fresh FFOF

I did some leeching tests that compared fresh FFOF to last year's depleted FFOF [I had tests done at A&L labs and the soil was depleted of everything but Phosphorus (because I fed to the roots in flower)]

What I found was that the fresh stuff had a highly soluable booster in it that leeched out after 3 rounds of 1 gallon of water through 2 gallons of soil. (2000ppm on first leeching.) After that it sort of equalized with the newly amended soil. I didn't do enough successive testing to see what happens after 10 or 11 "leechings", but I intend to do so after we get plugged. I have a feeling that the amended soil will maintain a nice level of nutrients longer than the FFOF becauise it has more and better slow release nutes mixed in.

No matter what quantity of dry, slow release amendments you put in, the initial BOOM you will get from high end bagged soil should be more pronounced.

I will hit the pots with amended soil from last year with a 1000ppm dose of Verde to give them that fresh bag boost. And I will do some similar leeching tests throughout the season comparing fresh soil to amended to make sure that the runoff ppm between the two are more or less the same. Its not the cleanest science, but it'll do for my purposes.

 

[nomaad]

I went with the OF. I also got some large perlite.I have 65 gallon Smartpots. each pot is 9 cf. was planning on 7cf OF / 2cf Perlite. does this sound like good ratio?

my ratio is 4cf perlite to 9cf FFOF. nice and fluffy... gives em lots of air and lots of room for explosive root growth.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

looking good man...i hear that about stubborn partners...my friends plot that i invested in this year hes kinda old school minded.."its a weed she will be fine"....but i still worry about auto flower, etc....if his are already in flowering that doesnt sound too good. but he will learn his lesson when your 6 harvests properly while his 20 are stunted and fucked up...

 

[GAME]

I always love to check out the Cali outdoor threads. Being able to grow under circumstances where the plants don't have to be hidden and sheltered. Ahhh, envy fills my heart, lol. Thanks for sharing and best of luck.

 

[Zarezhu]

That's how it's been this year. It may be a weed, but I'm a perfectionist. I want to be smoking on the best bud I can for the next year, there's no need to settle for anything less. Hopefully I can show him this year that all this work DEFINITELY pays off

All the mothers that my friend has put out this year are all whack right now. Some are trying to revert, some are just too far in to flower. However, his freshly rooted cuts that were put in are all vegging really nicely. I've really learned a lot about what kinds of plants you want to put in the ground for the biggest and most explosive growth.

All of the plants have been supercropped. Some once, some twice. It's incredible how the ladies react to it. Virtually no noticeable stress and it keeps them shaped real nice.

It's really good to know that bagged soil isn't incredibly different than reused amended soil. Especially considering how much soil some of the people here use. Incredible.


This is the Purple Trainwreck x Hashplant that was put out May 1st. It's been growing since day one really. Shows me that a healthy clone will grow much faster than a bigger teen if the teen isn't healthy


The Purple x Northern Lights is probably roughly at the same stage as a stressed out ATF teen I put in the same day. However, the NLxP was funky too. Had deformed leaves and showed slowed growth for quite some time.


TOP DAWGG. Bubblegum. This was the only plant I started somewhat early. Kept tying her down as a teen and put her outside and she kept growing like a champ.


NYCD. Has a FAT stem right now. Catching up to the rest too. This is the only strain a few of my friends grow just because it's SUCH a nice high. If you look behind the yellowing NYCD, you can see how small the Bubblegum was.


Thanks for the good wishes and the appreciation. If it wasn't for this community, I definitely wouldn't be blessed with any outdoor plants this year.

 

[Zarezhu]

I had been worrying about getting cages/support up for my plants a bit lately. Lucky for me I found a 100' roll of welded wire fencing at OSH on some kinda SUPER sale lol. 6' tall with 2"x4" squares. PERFECT for what I need. 100' should be just enough for me to make enough cages for all 6 plants, and it only cost me $28! Original price being like $148.

Now I just need to get my drip lines bought and hooked up. I have an 800gph sub. pump, it should be able to handle watering 6 plants just fine.

Should I mulch my containers?? Because after I install the cages I wont really be able to get inside the plant anymore, let alone apply mulch if I decide I'd want to do it at a later time.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

yea we are using that wire fencing too....was gona do the bamboo/plastic trellis but this came out cheaper actually...


do you mean mulch on the top...i noticed the top few inches of soil gets baked pretty tough so i was thinking about adding a few inches of layering on top to keep the soil protected from the sun..

 

[Zarezhu]

I was planning on the bamboo trellis too but I saw the fencing on the way out of the store and there was no was I wasn't buying it lol.

Yeah mulch on top. I feel like I SHOULD do it, because it'll definitely keep the pot from drying out as quick and it just seems really healthy for the soil. I just don't know what kind of mulch to use. Not sure were I could find straw around here lol.

I also am not sure how I should set up my watering, and whether the tubing goes under or over the mulch.

I've been flipping through last years grows just trying to get idea's but nothing yet. I'll figure something out.

 

[Zarezhu]

6/22/11 Update
With at LEAST a good month left of veg (probably more as we had a really late summer so most likely a really late winter as well), these plants are gonna get real big. The Purple Trash will probably be the biggest, as it's already surpassed everything. I'm hoping the Bubblegum has some FAT nugs as the stems are just FAT.

We have a bit of bugs that recently hatched throughout the entire garden. I believe the Patio Plus soil is to blame for this, as well as the compost we had brought in. Tons of little bugs flying around. They all swarm around the lights, and they're just flying EVERYWHERE. My guess is fungus gnats.

I also dug around in the soil a bit. There's probably a good 4 or 5 different bugs I've seen in some of the containers (some having very few really). The bubblegum has by far the most bugs living in the soil. I really hope they're not eating away at the root hairs.

I bought some Mosquito Dunks (it's a different variation of BT that is supposed to stop mosquitos as well as fungus gnats from reproducing). Sprinkled it all over the soil in each plant. Takes around 4 weeks to work, we'll see what that helps with. I also sprayed each plant with BT cat killer, and am going to spray again tonight with an insecticide derived from citrus peels.

I'm worried about winged root aphids, or regular aphids really. Or WHATEVERTHEFUCK is living in the soil. Is there some kind of safe root drench that'll get rid of all those suckers? Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed the bubblegum has been somewhat stunted (or at least not as robust as it used to be)