Orient Express Outdoors 2020

[Kindest]

Seeds were harder to come by than expected this season, so I ran what I had left in the cupboard. What I ended up with included three Orient Express and one Bangi Haze, all regular seeds. The Bangi showed male early and had some weird deficiencies from the start, so he's already been excommunicated. I'm also growing a couple of Pure Love from Irie Genetics... no idea on these, they were some old freebies.

The three OEs are outdoors in (yes I know small) 10 gallon smart pots in Happy Frog amended with worm castings/azomite/perlite. I water daily with RO and I'm feeding a pretty heavy Fox Farm nutrient regiment. I definitely have at least 2 different phenos, one is very sativa, one is average sativa look, and one is the squat bushy pheno.

Vietnamese Black Pheno?


Tall OE #2


Bushy OE


The only problem I've encountered is a small mealy bug attack that spread to all five plants. I treated with neem foilar spray and have been keeping all five relatively separated with 3x day inspections. Here are the culprits:


Hopefully somebody with a bit of knowledge can weigh in on my phenotypes and give any additional guidance as I try to get these to finish in Michigan zone 6B.

 

[Kindest]

Sexing the OEs

Sexing the OEs

I’m pretty sure this short bushy one is a female, yes? I’m an indoor guy, so I’m not used to not being in control of my light schedule.

 

[rizraz]

Looks like a female to me.

 

[dubi]

Hi Kindest,

Glad to see you are growing Orient Express this outdoor season
Your latitude is a bit on the limit for this strain but i think they will finish fine if you have benevolent October. Your OE #1 and #2 are clearly the Vietnamese sativa pheno, beautiful.
The third one is a more balanced sativa/indica expression. The preflower in your second post shows female gender.

Regarding the pest, remove the lower affected leaves and alternate spraying with neem and potassium soap.
Hopefully you can keep the pest under control before the flowering starts. Let me know if you have any doubt.

 

[Kindest]

Hi Kindest,

Glad to see you are growing Orient Express this outdoor season
Your latitude is a bit on the limit for this strain but i think they will finish fine if you have benevolent October. Your OE #1 and #2 are clearly the Vietnamese sativa pheno, beautiful.

Thanks Dubi I really appreciate the feedback. I grew one nice OE outside last year that I had to chop early because of early cold rainy weather. This year I was reluctant to use the smaller 10 gallon pots but this way I can pull them into a garage to finish under lights if necessary.

 

[squatty]

I think that is an excellent technique Kindest. I'm at 45 degrees North and I've been doing just as you explained.

I don't have lights to finish with but just being able to move my flowering plants out of the rain in fall has decreased the mold I experience substantially.

Good luck!

 

[Kindest]

Started bloom nutes today. The Orient Express are eating as much N as I’m willing to give them... Currently at the “heavy feeding” level every day. Besides the mealy bugs, these are very healthy ladies so far.

We’re in the middle of a fifteen day stretch of 90F temps. They seem to be loving it as long as I keep them watered.

OE #1 VB

OE #2 VB

OE #3 Ethel

 

[Kindest]

I think that is an excellent technique Kindest. I'm at 45 degrees North and I've been doing just as you explained.

I don't have lights to finish with but just being able to move my flowering plants out of the rain in fall has decreased the mold I experience substantially.

Good luck!

Thanks it’s true I’ve already pulled them in for one severe storm with 50mph gusts and also to put them up on a table for foilar applications and inspection. I wouldn’t want to do it for more than these five or so plants but I’m almost 40 and it’s good exercise.

 

[dubi]

Hi Kindest,

They look very happy outdoors at this point. Yes, Orient Express likes very strong feeding during flowering, so keep the feeding constantly strong until last 2 weeks of flowering.

It's a good idea to grow them in pots you can move indoors in case of heavy rains in late flowering, OE produces very big and dense colas under optimum flowering conditions and this kind of flowering structures are inevitably more prone to botrytis.

 

[Kindest]

The OE are the three ladies on the left. Pure Love x2 on the right. They are all stretching about an nch a day and want more more more food. I top dressed each with about 1.5” worm castings earlier this week and it rained buckets today. These ladies are very happy.

I’ve still seen an occasional mealy bug on two of the plants, so tonight I pulled 2/5 in for another foilar treatment and gave them a good under carriage trim. Tomorrow I’ll rotate and do the other three.

I’m really hoping this all finishes well - it’s my first *real* outdoor grow with multiple plants and actual effort. It feels good to “break out of the tent” but it’s also been a real physical challenge. Let there be buds!

 

[Kindest]

The OE girls have been through two rounds of foilar neem treatment and we’ve been bug free for five days. Looking good.

I’m transitioning feeding from daily grow into almost daily bloom. Mega eaters, all three. I’m wondering how long to keep feeding the high N Growbig.

I know these veg pictures are boring but it’s been a very satisfying grow so far.

Bushy pheno

The Vietnamese Twins

 

[Chi13]

These look great! I got the fem version but kind of wish I got regular. Watching with interest.

 

[Kindest]

These look great! I got the fem version but kind of wish I got regular. Watching with interest.

You'll be happy with those fems... I got lucky with 5/6 females this season. I would be pissed to spend two months and a bunch of resources on plants that just got chopped... A pollen chucker I am not.

 

[Kindest]

The OEs are chugging along outside. It looks like I eliminated the mealy bugs, but I do have some small chompers eating a few leaves. Japanese beetles for sure, maybe something else. I’m managing.

I’m more concerned that all three girls are yellowing are the bottom already. I’ve always been a very conservative feeder, but feel like I’ve aggressively fed these. Am I truly looking at a good old fashioned N deficiency here, and if so, should I just double down on the grow big for another month? My current feeding is regular feeding of growbig 3x week and Tiger bloom alternating heavy/regular feedings twice a week. Plain RO water every other watering.

 

[rizraz]

Looks like Nitrogen deficiency to me. They are getting to be big ladies, could be the pots are undersized for the growth. Did you ever let them get dry? If not I'd say N def. My suggestion would either be a good fish fertilizer which will give you a N boost plus add a little bloom boost. Neem cakes work well or if you want something really easy Aurora/roots now makes those dry nutrients (Uprising Grow and Bloom), those might be a solid option for a more set it and forget it kind of short season correction. If you decide to use the dry nutes just cover them with a handful of compost or worm castings.

Plants are looking great! Can't even see the tomato cages anymore. I'm excited to see your flowers pop.

 

[dubi]

Hi Kindest,

Looks like a nitrogen deficiency to me. Orient Express is a very hungry strain that loves very high levels of nutrients in late vegetative and throughout the whole flowering process, so better feed them abundantly than being more conservative with the feeding.

Another reason (the main one) for the deficiencies is that the plants are already root bound with such big size for the current pots.
If you can grow big plants then consider to transplant them, otherwise keep them feeding strongly with liquid fertilizers and only transplant in early flowering.

 

[Kindest]

Another reason (the main one) for the deficiencies is that the plants are already root bound with such big size for the current pots.
If you can grow big plants then consider to transplant them, otherwise keep them feeding strongly with liquid fertilizers and only transplant in early flowering.

I would guess that you and rizraz are both correct that the ladies are rootbound. I can't even get my fingers in the soil because the roots are so thick. I wanted to stay in the 10 gallons for ease of transport, but I think I'll transplant at least one of these over to a 30 gallon this week as an experiment. I've never transplanted something this size or this close to flower, it will be quite a risk! I'll probably try the short girl first - wish me luck.

 

[dubi]

Hi Kindest,

If you can only do 1 transplant then i would recommend you to wait a bit and do it when you see their first signs of flowering, otherwise they can easily eat the whole new soil in just a few weeks and get root bound again for the flowering when it's more crucial that the root system has plenty of nutrients. Best wishes.

 

[rizraz]

Hi Kindest,

If you can only do 1 transplant then i would recommend you to wait a bit and do it when you see their first signs of flowering, otherwise they can easily eat the whole new soil in just a few weeks and get root bound again for the flowering when it's more crucial that the root system has plenty of nutrients. Best wishes.

As always I agree with Dubi. I think waiting another week or two should put them far enough into flower stop them from consuming the soil too quickly. In the mean time pick a fertilizer and bump em. I'd use a fish (Browns is a great product) but anything with some N while still boosting P should work wonderfully.

 

[Kindest]

I gave all five girls a major undercarriage trim today. I had trimmed out the shoots a month ago, but new shoots had turned into a forest of small branches that were not promising and were definitely going to limit airflow as we progressed through flowering.

The yellowing is progressing in all three OEs and it’s clear that they are begging for more space. There are long white preflowers on all five so I’m transplanting the first two this weekend. This was not the original idea when I planned this garden but I know it’s the right move.