Elevator in the Forest

[Elevator Man]

I have killed a deer, I clubbed it to death and to be honest, it was bloody hard work!

Well, I'm glad we've cleared all that up...

OK - tomorrow's the day - first planting. All the ladies are ready to go - taped up to stop them falling out if they tip over in the bag. We've had a lot of rain over the last few days, and it's really warm, so there's no better time to do it. I've got some horticultural-grade sharp grit sand that I'm taking up - it makes a pretty good slug barrier, but even better, is exactly the same shade of brown as the dead bracken, so once the plants are in, a dusting of this all round makes them almost disappear.

I also found some Miracle-Gro organic food granules for not much money, of which I'll add a little when I plant them, and also some water-retaining crystals too. Even better, I found some organic-safe slug pellets, which are also safe for children and pets, which means I can scatter a few around without giving the deer a tummy-ache, which would really bother me.

So - all being well, I'll report on my return, hopefully with a picture or two.

 

[Elevator Man]

First Planting, 28th April

First Planting, 28th April

I got the first plants in the ground today without any problems - it took half an hour, and I was out again. The ground was very wet after days of rain, and there's more tomorrow, so this was perfect - full sunshine all day.

Hopefully all the preventative measures will work, though the organic pellets stunk to high heaven, which makes me think there's some fishmeal in there - I'm worried this might encourage foxes or badgers to dig them up, but I'm returning on Thursday, so we'll see.

Here's a long shot of two plants and two close-ups, to show the spacing and general situation - not much else green there! That's the Mystery Strain on the left, and Cheese X Purple Afghan on the right:



Behind the row of small trees, and a little further up the slope, are two different Cocoa Kush phenos - again, a long shot and a close-up of one of them:



I put grit sand around them which might discourage digging animals, and will definitely discourage slugs. Most importantly, I filled a plant sprayer with fresh piss, and went round each plant thoroughly, and then around the whole area, spraying more on the deer tracks. Whether that will work or not remains to be seen, and I'll report back on Thursday when we plant some of my friend's - but I'm relieved the first batch is out, as that's five less here to worry about - in number terms, I'm way over my normal indoor limit at the moment - they're only small, but that's not really the issue these days...

 

[Paddi]

EM. You´ve done everything. May all the good Canna-Gods be with you

Well, I´ll wait transplanting to outdoor.
Hope it´s okay in your area

Paddi

 

[Elevator Man]

Paddi - yep, it's in the hands of the gods now. Or the paws of the animals, more accurately. Just gotta beam some good karma onto my hillside now, and keep that valley happy...all together now...

 

[smokeymacpot]

hope u have good luck. im not having any so far.. 5 damaged, possibly dead and another 5 munched to bits. i think a rat or mouse got them

 

[rabid]

Good luck EM. As Paddi said, you've done everything you can to ensure a successful endeavour. Kudos on your outdoor choices...The DJ strains should shine. Are you putting out any Flo or Vanilluna?

I've just had to cut 30% of my Cubans due to mold...

May the canna gods smile on you...

 

[Elevator Man]

I'll be putting out both Flo phenos, definitely. As for the Vanilluna, I haven't had much luck with clones - my last surving one looks to be drying up and dying, and the stump I was revegging got very turgid and then succumbed to spider-mite, so it got binned. I gave a couple of clones to friends, so I can probably get one back OK.

I'm sat here worrying about the digging-up potential, but there's not much I can do for a couple of days now. It rained this morning, and it's gloriously sunny now, so if they're still in the ground, they're having a good time...

 

[justagrower]

hows it goin EM ? fine thread . it s very nice to read how much thought and care you have given to the deer . lots of respect for the way you are going about your gorilla adventure .

sure we are in for a decent summer this year . hope you need to find a friend who drives a transit for the harvest . all the best for the coming months.

 

[Elevator Man]

Thanks mate - I just hope the good vibes last the whole summer and I get away with this intact. As for transit home, that is something I'm thinking about - if it's a really successful harvest, there could be a lot to bring back. I'm hoping for reasonable, but have to prepared for the exceptional!

It's about five miles back to my house from the spot on the main road, and I could walk it easily with a rucksack full, but it would rapidly become residential and then urban, and then seriously urban! Maybe nothing would happen if no smell, but if so, it could be like The Pied Piper...

The bus is the other option, as it's very fast compared to walking, and if there's no smell, it's the best option, as in late summer the hikers are out in force, so there's nothing odd about getting on a bus with a full load - as long as I smell of socks and not skunk!

Other than that, there's the option of commandeering a brave friend to drive me home - risky obviously, as there's a registration number to deal with then, and if anything goes wrong in a vehicle, even a minor sideswipe, the cops will be there, and then we're sunk. Running off from the scene with a bagful of weed wouldn't do my reputation for discretion much good. But if no problems, then it could all be done very quickly.

The main issue is harvest time - if we get lucky, and they all ripen differently, we could just have one or two plants a week to take home and dry, which would be relatively easy. If they all finish at the same time, we've got big problems. There's no way I have enough room or isolation to dry a huge crop here, and there's not many folks I know with the space that could be trusted, but I'm working on that one. In the meantime, I just need them to be alive at the the end of the week - good enough for now...

 

[PAGreen]

Big ups for all the hard work. Outdoor grower for years=HARD Work. Can't wait to see DJ'S Cocoa under the beautiful sun. Peace.

 

[Elevator Man]

Second Planting, 1st May...

Second Planting, 1st May...

Well all good so far - I went out again today with one of my two buddies who have joined me on this. We took another five plants out - some of them quite large - one was over two feet tall.

The best part was seeing the plants I installed on Monday completely untouched, and sitting happily in the sunshine. They're already lost some of their 'growroom tan', and look brighter green than last week. Nothing had dug them up, or even attempted to - which suggests the plant sprayers full of piss might be working! I've made sure to eat a lot of meat over the last week...

Also I was surprised just how much these water-retaining crystals actually swell up - never used them before, and they were seriously swollen. The plants were actually lifted out of the ground slightly, such was the inflation! And a little 'leaking' out of the soil too, in the hot sun. So I don't think they'll struggle for water really - at least not for now.

So - five more in, spread out a little from the others to minimise discovery potential. I (or we) should be able to get another five or so out at the weekend, and then more in about a week, when my next clone batch has grown out a little more.

The line-up so far:

Cheese (2 plants - original cut)
Cheese X Purple Afghan - from British Hempire
Cocoa Kush (2 phenos - DJ Short)
Erdpurt X (Eroc X DP) - from Esbe
Mandala#1 - clone from old seeds
Mystery Strain (unknown old-school classic)
Skunk#1 X Flo (2 phenos from seed - my cross)

Lots more strains to go in, including a few experiments to see what happens in a UK climate - in particular I want to try my Mikado phenos to see if one will actually finish - I heard they may not, so there's no point in missing the opportunity to try. Also a Thai and some Highland Oaxacan Gold might be nice. Not that they'll flower, but they'll grow, and produce many, many clones if necessary, and some great photos. And it'll be a damn sight easier than growing them indoors...

 

[rabid]

Sounds like your game plan is working well so far...at least the critters don't seem to be interested in the new vegetation.

Those water crystals are amazing...Last year I hydrated less than 1/8 of a teaspoon (about 10 balls) just to see how much absorption they had. One hour later they had swollen to almost a full tablespoon. As you discovered it's not hard to overdo it with those crystals.

I'm really interested as to how the Skunk x Flo and the Cocoa Kush do outdoors.
Good luck EM

 

[Elevator Man]

A friend of mine grew another Skunk X Flo pheno last year in his garden in Britain - he pulled three and a half ounces, which was seriously impressive. I got to try a little and it was fantastic. It's a bit of a dark horse this cross, as it hasn't shown the insane fruitiness of the Skunk at all - more of a weird dank spiciness, or occasionally a kind of musky banana smell. I'm just glad more of them are getting tested out now.

 

[jaykush]

nice use of natural mulch. looks like a great spot

 

[Elevator Man]

Well after going through 15 Leb 27 seeds, I finally got a good female - not too tall, and nicely-proportioned. So I've pulled it out of the veg chamber a couple of days ago, along with the purple Flo, and I'll plant those out on Thursday.

My friends have at least five more plants ready to go out too, so if we can manage one or two trips a week for the next month, there should be more than enough to keep us busy. I'll update again when I get back.

 

[Elevator Man]

Third planting, 8th May

Third planting, 8th May

Me and my friend took another eight plants out today of various sizes, but mostly BIG. The largest was well over two feet tall, and required topping before I'd allow it in the ground! So that makes eighteen so far, with plenty more to go in a week or so. Two went in patch 1, and the rest in patch 2.

The weather's been amazing the last few days - really sunny with hardly any cloud, and certainly no rain. Consequently, the water-retaining gel has been a lifesaver, though the fresh plants went into slightly damp soil, so it's not dried out yet. However, I did fetch some water from the stream to give all the plants a little drink - no sense giving them a hard time right now. Once the roots are bigger, I think they'll be able to fend for themselves better.

I can't remember exactly what we put in where today, but I know the list included:

Early Special
Mandala#1
Funk (Skunk X Flo)
Leb 27
Flo (purple)

Also another of Esbe's crosses, but I can't remember which! No matter - I'll remember. But so far, so good...

 

[Elevator Man]

I'm getting a little concerned about the lack of rain the last few days - it's been totally dry for over a week now, so I think I'm going to pop out later today and give all the plants a drink. I'll have to be careful, as it'll mean a couple of trips to the stream with a water-carrier, but I'll just take it carefully, and make sure everything's OK. Should be able to get the camera back soon, so I'll grab some pics on the next visit.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like things are rolling along nicely. No worries about rain for me, we get two days bright sun, then a day of torrential rain, then back to sunshine. Look forward to seeig some pics. I'm just off to add a couple of Hashplant clones to one of my outdoor spots, I'll be upating my outdoor thread later with pics.

 

[Ulysses]

What kind of lows temperature wise are you guys running across the pond?

I put some Blueberrys out early and now they are hating it at around 40 degrees F low temps... We also got a hail storm the other day Going to lose some fan leaves for sure on those babies!!!

Is you back and feet aching like mine are aching??? Hehehe, remember you have to go get all those plants you put in! The job has only just begun!!!

I'll be picking all the thorns out of my scalp now...

 

[Elevator Man]

Ulysses - At the moment, very warm at night - been around 10C at night, and 25C daytime - about 50 and 72F? It's cooling down a little now, but the frost is gone for this year - way too much warmth in the ground now, even if the air temps dropped. The bracken is just beginning to grow out now, so we have about two weeks before it's shading the plants.

I lugged 20 litres of water over the hill today (don't know what that is in gallons - we dropped those years ago!) - all the plants were fine, though one or two were a little droopy, so they were definitely needing a drink. There's 18 plants, so I gave them all a litre, with a little extra for the droopy ones. And sprayed more piss around, which seems to be working, as there's no deer damage whatsoever. No slug damage either.

There's a few leaves been nibbled by insects, and there were some tiny orange mites on all the plants, but whether they're responsible I don't know. I'll take some neem spray next time just to make sure. But all great so far - I have another three plants ready to go later this week, and my friends have some too, so we'll get those out, and try and take some pictures too.