2010 outdoors,

[Cookie monster]

In 15+yrs of guerilla & garden i have never ever bothered about PH in water .

Interesting post MJ, I started off indoors so I suppose the whole Ph thing is ingrained into the subconscious.
Now that I think about it, I've read many gurella threads where folk are using stream/river water but I cant remember any mention of anybody adjusting the ph.

Seeing as how I have plenty of plants it sounds like a good idea to pick a few and water 1 with the hose 1 with ph adjusted water and 1 with plain river water.

Kinda curious to see will there be any difference.

 

[Cookie monster]

It's probably about time I posted a little update on the seed tent.

The 2 lil females (SQ x WR and Erdpurt) have made the switch from veg to flowering so a few changes had to be made.
A new reflector was purchased along with a more powerful muffin fan and the extraction fan was rewired to run at a higher speed.

The pollen collected (XF x AH) last week was given a 2 days to dry and packed in a paper envelope then placed into a plastic container filled with rice before going into the freezer.
Same thing for the (R2 x AH) male thats shedding it's pollen this week.


The 2 lil fem's in the tent will get a good dusting in 1-2 weeks depending on how fast they flower.

Outdoors 2 males were pulled and 2 more females threw out a few preflowes and were repotted.

Stay safe n happy all.

 

[MJBadger]

Cookie , believe me you have no worries , think back to all those 1000`s of outdoor & guerilla threads & they have all come good like you said .

I should have mentioned with the charcoal you need granulated , sold in aviary feed supplies as an addition to bird feed but too expensive buying it that way for what i had in mind . Simply buy a bag of BBQ lumpwood charcoal , place in a sack & bash it down with a club hammer till it`s about the size of corn . Drop the sack with a brick in it into the water & within a few days it has done it`s job , i think it absorbs all clorine fluoride & neutralises the water .
It`s an old gardeners trick my grandad told me about .

The grounds all baked off over here with this hot spell we are having just hoping for some rain .

Stay green .

 

[Cookie monster]

I must give it a try tomorrow MJ I have several boxes of this stuff on hand to refill my diy carbon scrubber should do the same job, the lumpwood charcoal in the hardware stores around here is usually pre-soaked in lighter fluid.

Tell me bro what strains do you usually run outdoors?

 

[MJBadger]

Tell me bro what strains do you usually run outdoors?

Very few if any seedbank strains , over the years on different sites i have met & corresponded with some very good outdoor growers & always up for a grow trial so have a few strains people have worked on . I`m not a seed hoarder as there is only so many that can be grown in a year .
I was lucky enough to have some of Zedheads & trying a couple of them this year , his Auto AK Haze , Auto AK White Widow , BGB`s Biddy , BGB`s Indica/MLow auto (semi)
Biddy Sis , Dutch Dragon (freebies) , Minimes AK x , i also had quite a few Danish strains but they seem reluctant to show so i think i`ll give them up as a bad job .
Also got some AK & FON clones coming to make up the numbers .

I have tried all strains , if they come good outdoor then think about an earlier flowering strain of it , thats the beauty of these outdoor threads & closey watch the Northern/Eastern Euopean threads coz if they get it right there with the summer , those plants will glow in the UK climate .


Stay green .

 

[Cookie monster]

Wow MJB thats quite a list, your right in staying away from the seed banks.
Over here in the grow shops they only sell seeds from the larger seed banks and even the strains touted as outdoor strains stand little chance of finishing unless we get an exceptional Autumn.

No sure what you mean when you say some of the Danish strains you have are reluctant to show, are you referring to showing sex (preflowers) or flowering?

I'm glad you brought the subject up as you may know most of what I'm growing outdoors was bred in that neck of the woods.
2 of the strains (Amnesia Haze crosses) have surprised me at the speed at which they have show sex.

At the moment I have 1 of the AH crosses and 1 erdpurt flowering indoors for seed, the Erdpurt after 2 weeks on 12/12 is just beginning to flower while the AH cross after 2 weeks on 12/12 is miles ahead.
Erdpurt


AH cross


Given the speed at which the AH crosses flower and that they seem extremely light sensitive I'm guessing there is not much point in breeding the Erdpurt and I'd be better off finishing them off indoors?

Outdoor growing i'm a total novice and any input from experienced European outdoor growers is going to be a massive help to me.

Stay safe n happy and many thanks for sharing your outdoor experience.

 

[MJBadger]

Over here in the grow shops they only sell seeds from the larger seed banks and even the strains touted as outdoor strains stand little chance of finishing unless we get an exceptional Autumn.

Thats probably because the majority of seedbank strains are grown indoor & outdoor flowering is their guesswork . For years on the outdoor threads we have mentioned this , we see so many of the new growers come on & say i got such and such strain that will finish end aug-early sept etc only to find the plants suffering bud rot in oct .
Seeds that have been put through their paces on outdoor threads are trialed & the gooduns come through with a harvest b4 the growing conditions ruin the crop .
Thats probably a good reason for autos & i know several growers that love these but i find a 6-8ft standard plant more of a pleasure when it comes to the manicure !!!!

What i meant by the danish not showing is actually germing once the chitted seed is potted , been a real poor show with them this year but i`m not the only grower to have this happen & although there was an offer of some more it may be a bit late , it`s never happened other years but i`m not too worried anyways as i have enough (i hope) for a good crop .

Stay green & good news it`s raining .

 

[Cookie monster]

What i meant by the danish not showing is actually germing once the chitted seed is potted , been a real poor show with them this year but i`m not the only grower to have this happen

2 of the strains I'm running had similar problems, the Erdpurt had a mediocre germination rate and none of the Rox F2's germiated but sure sometimes thats just the way things go.

Still no rain over here and with 1/4 of acre of food crops to water every day, I'm praying for a good downpour or 2.

 

[The_Grim_Reefer]

I'd also stay away from any shops when looking for seeds. I also tend to shop online for pretty much everything unless its something that'd cost more to ship than the product itself, or if its a case of its needed immediately.

Was over in the dam bout a year ago and heard rumours of a shop in my area providing information to the guards, they were able to tell me the shop owners name, the address, what kinda shit they sold etc. So as a general rule of thumb now i stay the fluck away from all shops now as much as possible. Add to the fact its cheaper to order shit in (and the products are more up to date), then its a no-brainer.

Also i dont think i've ever really seen a shop sell breeders or strains that i want to grow out. Its always Dutch Poison, Greenhouse, Flying Dutchmen etc. And always a limited stock of even these. Seedstock is also never (that i've seen) kept in the right conditions so germination rates are gonna fall, and you dont know how long the stock is on the shelves. All n all i see no point in using these shops bar grabbing a bottle of ph Up/Down, or maybe a dropper or 2.

Nah it's cool Grim, sure I could go out and pick up some if I wanted to, just not keen on lining the dealers pockets.
I'll be hashing to seed plants in 8-9 weeks and t'was time for a break anyhow.

Yer i know what ya mean m8, couldnt be arsed handing over 50 quid for something underweight, overwet, and trampled by a pack of horses.

Have a bag of trim i been meaning to hash up for some time, cheers for reminding me lol, might hop down to the shop and grab a few bags of ice n let loose . Also apparently had miscounted the weeks, and am now entering week 6 instead of week 5 .... 1 week less to wait

 

[Cookie monster]

Grimm I'd be very interested to hear more details about the shop that was allegedly giving details to the garda.

For obvious reasons I'm not gonna ask what shop it was seeing as how it's in your area, security and all that.

I'm just a little curious if it was one of the headshop chain stores, I have my suspicions about one of the bigger chain stores.

 

[IDGO_]

Was over in the dam bout a year ago and heard rumours of a shop in my area providing information to the guards, they were able to tell me the shop owners name, the address, what kinda shit they sold etc. So as a general rule of thumb now i stay the fluck away from all shops now as much as possible.

I bet I know who your on about, so as not to give your general location away, I'll just say he isn't Irish.

Last time I needed equipment it was north of the border for me, used a mates car who didn't grow & I parked far from the grow shop. Any time I used a shop in Dublin, I used a city centre shop & carried the stuff back to an underground car park.

Lads, never, ever use a car linked to your grow to pull up outside a growshop & load shit into your car, common sense should tell you that.
If you do buy seeds from a shop, don't buy them from your mate down the local headshop, NOBODY should know what your doing.

Stay safe lads

 

[Cookie monster]

Lads, never, ever use a car linked to your grow to pull up outside a growshop & load shit into your car, common sense should tell you that.
If you do buy seeds from a shop, don't buy them from your mate down the local headshop, NOBODY should know what your doing.

Stay safe lads

Very true and great advice
People should also be aware that since these headshops started being firebombed they are bristling with cctv cameras both inside and out.

 

[Cookie monster]

Time for this weeks update.

With the weather being so nice the past few weeks and the few badly needed rain showers last week everything is really starting to pick up pace.


The last of the unwanted males were junked along 2 stunted females.
The first round of clones were taken from the bottom branches of the Xfiles x Amnesia Haze.

Thats the nice thing about starting early indoors and planting out early, 2 weeks to gow a healthy root system and they can be in the ground mid june leaving 2ish months to grow before flowering.

Happy planting all

 

[MJBadger]

Earlier in this thread one of the growers mentioned the viability & storage conditions of seeds particuarly from seedbanks . A few yrs back i was in a very well known seedbank in london & asked for 3 particular strains , the guy went out back & returned with a shallow wooden drawer stuffed full of packets looking for the ones i`d asked for . When i asked him if i could feel the drawer he asked why , " Because i want to see if they have been fridged " . He told be they`d need masses of fridges to keep all there stock so they don`t bother !
I then asked when the ones i was after came in , luckily that week so i bought them & they did grow ok . Never again though . Since then my seeds mostly come from growers i trust because they tend to keep them in the proper storage conditions . I have had great germination with 4 & even 6yr old seed stock . Look after your seed & the plant will come .

Cookie , your plants are looking good .

Stay green .

 

[Cookie monster]

Since then my seeds mostly come from growers i trust because they tend to keep them in the proper storage conditions . I have had great germination with 4 & even 6yr old seed stock . Look after your seed & the plant will come .
Stay green .

Agreed,
Best one I've seen is seeds in glass display cabinets under halogen shop lights.
Growers definatly treat their seeds better than any seed bank or growshop from what I've seen.

 

[tonto]

little update

really fallen behind in my schedule, havent got all my sites finished because of work and the heat but got out today and did a good amount and will hopefully plant a few soon.

also made a huge mistake and listened to grow shop staff and used coco pots for seedlings, i asked and was mother fucking guaranteed that they would not suck the water out and require buckets of water, fast forward to now and iv lost a load of my seedlings in one day because the heat wave.

kcs and the GGvDP got hit the worst with a couple of casualties from all the other strains.

the nigerian afghanis thrived for some reason,


cookie the plants must be loving this weather

on the whole growshops thing earlier, could some one pm me, im 99% i know who's in question, if so no bother been there twice in my life and sworn each time never again.

im tired little more tomorrow.

 

[Cookie monster]

Sorry to hear you lost a few bro, generally speaking I've a low opinion of the advice anyone from a grow shop gives.
Half of them dont know their arse from their elbow.

Must of been hard going digging and amending your plots in this weather, the humidity is killing me

Looking forward to the update and sure those seedlings are gonna fly up once they hit the soil, all this sun is doing every plant wonders.

 

[tonto]

little note,
gave some mycorrhizal powder stuff a go,

http://www.friendlyfungi.co.uk/rootgrow_shop.php

most of the seedlings with this stuff survived so im happy with it

 

[Cookie monster]

Never used the stuff Tonto but reading the marketing info on the link has me a little curious about it's claim to help plants in times of drought, god knows my plants in the conservatory need every little help they can get this weather.

This weeks update:
Finally everythings sorted out and the last of the females I'm keeping went into the ground 2 days ago.
8 plants in total dotted around the garden, indoors 2 already pollinated and 2 more to go in a few weeks for next years seeds.

I cant get over how fast the plants are growing, we had the same good weather last May and last years plants were miles behind.
A few pics


A lot of topping n training is going to be needed if I want to keep them at a reasonable height.

Stay safe n happy all.

 

[esbe]

wow man, they grow like they where paid for it! really like this one!