Smoketastic's 2016 Outdoor Grow

[sm0ketastic]

Hey everybody. It's time to get started with my 2016 outdoor grow. This will be my second grow. I'm located in the south central US.

Last year, I planted a few plants in small fabric pots, and they did okay. I got around 12 ounces of bud, which should have been plenty to last me for the year, if most of it hadn't been stolen. (But that's another story for another time.)

This year I'm looking to go a little bigger, and I'm going to plant most of my plants in the ground instead of using fabric pots. Yesterday I dug out 20 holes out deep in the woods. They are divided between two locations. After all that digging, last night I was feeling tired and sore for sure !!!

My elbow's also hurting a bit. It didn't help that most of the soil was pretty rocky, and when combined with a lot of tree roots, it made for some strenuous digging. The soil wasn't the best. Lots of clay. I'll have to haul in amendments, which I plan on doing over the next two or three weeks. The plan right now is to mix the native soil with some ProMix, compost, peat moss, water crystals, worm castings, dried cow manure, and some perlite. I'll also throw in a cup of dolomite lime per hole with some time release fertilizer like Osmocote. During the season, I'll be feeding with Dyna-Gro Grow and Dyna-Gro Bloom.

My theme for the year is to keep it simple and easy. This is a guerrilla grow, and I'll probably only be able to visit my plants once a week. I'll have to carry in water. Nearby creeks are shallow and will probably go dry. Luckily for me, a couple of ponds are a short five-minute walk away from each of the plots. I don't care about growing monster plants. I really only need about a lb of weed in total to be happy at the end of the season. I'm well aware that I'm capable of getting that from just one plant, but I also want some variety, so I'm going to plant around 20 plants. I expect to lose several along the way to critters, diseases, weather, etc. But with 20 I should end up with a good harvest.

I have the seeds in hand. I'll post my *tentative* lineup below, but it will likely change several times before planting time arrives.

I'm aiming for a good variety of sativas, indicas, and hybrids with staggered finishing times.

Autos

• Auto Seeds - Auto Pounder with Cheese
• Auto Seeds - Chemdog
• Dutch Passion - Think Different
• Mephisto - Fantasmo Express x 2
• Mephisto - Sour Orange Diesel Kush
• Seedsman - White Widow
• TH Seeds - MK Ultra

Photos
All FEM except for the Cornbread

• Dinafem - Purple Afghan Kush
• DNA Genetics - Nicole Kush
• Female Seeds - Red Purps
• Freedom of Seeds - Dieselicious
• Genofarm - Goldenberry
• Greenhouse Seeds - Super Lemon Haze x2
• Humboldt Seed - Blue Dream x 2
• Kannabia - Afrodite
• Kannabia - Karamelo
• Kannabia - Mataro Blue
• Kannabia - White Domina
• MOC - Northern Lights
• Moxie Seeds - Viper Cookies
• Rare Dankness - Cornbread x 2
• Seedsman - Somango

I'll try to keep you all updated during the grow, hopefully with a few pics. Advice, comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome along the way.

Here's hoping for a great 2016! Wish me luck.

 

[sm0ketastic]

1/30/2016

1/30/2016

I dug six more holes today in a new plot I discovered while on a hike with my dogs. It was a wonderful spot. Very stealth. Great southern sun exposure. And the soil was dark and rich, so I will not have to amend it much at all. I will have to carry in water if the nearby creek dries up, but it'll be manageable. Deer and rattlesnakes are my main concern here.

 

[SouthernGuerila]

Howdy neighbor.

I'll be doing a similar grow. Except I'll be using some bagseed, some seed from my 2009 grow which I cannot remember exactly what they are(didn't label). I believe they're Afghani x polyhybrid F1s.

Deer and people are my main concern. Snakes and ticks are added fun.

 

[Easy7]

Auto's are good for early harvests of some head stash before the fall. Other than that I'd ditch the auto's, sorry if you bought seed already.

Focus on growing monster plants and perhaps fewer plants. How big are your holes? If your looking for 1lbs from 20 plants you can get 2lbs off of 1 plant. Once a week is ok to visit, every 5 days is best.

Seems everything else is in order.

 

[Polishdankchron]

I'll be watching your grow specifically FOR the autos. Good to see some mephisto genetics in there - I'm always curious about those. For guerilla I would stick with your plan of doing a larger number of smaller plants. Your spot in the woods looks like it could get dark once the trees fill in. Have you checked it out during the summer?

 

[Easy7]

^^^I've grown in some woods that got dark earlier. They do flower earlier due to this.

I'd grow less plants with more yield, but that's me. Too many plants and if someone finds one, they will find others. It's a lot less work to have 3 or 4 big plants, than 20 that yield nearly nothing in the scheme of things.

 

[Polishdankchron]

I think it really depends on your spot. I compare it to gambling - go big you may win big but make multiple bets for small amounts and you can reduce your risk considerably. So if your spot is absolutely perfect go for it big. So smoketastic your splitting of the plots is cool but I hope pretty far from an urban area. I'll be growing urban so I gotta minimize the risk cuz I really want to harvest. That's my high logic right now!

 

[Polishdankchron]

Also I avoided woods because it yields airy buds - didn't know it starts flowering early!

 

[Easy7]

Sometimes the best spots are clearing in the woods. They could get 10 to 8 hours of direct sunlight.

Just be careful creating trails to the plants. Change up how you do things and let the land heal itself. It takes a very long time for a broken weed to not be visible. Unless your in the jungle, those trails tend to vaporize quickly!

 

[sm0ketastic]

2/2/2016

2/2/2016

Hey guys. I made a trip to the local garden centers today and picked up some Osmocote, perlite, peat moss, and lime as well as some pots and medium for starting seeds, although I won't be popping them for another 6 weeks or so. This past weekend I went and picked up 30 gallons of a good soil/manure mix from a local farm. I'll be getting some more this weekend. I've got several bales of ProMix and plenty of compost on hand. Hopefully with all that, I can come up with a decent soil.

I've re-thought everything, and decided to scale down the grow a little. I'm going to have one main plot of 6-8 plants. That's the plot I have pictured above. I haven't been there in summer to see the exact amount of sunlight it gets, but I have a good feeling about it. I grew in a clearing of a similar size last year and got plenty of sun, and this clearing is at the bottom of a rocky southern slope near a creek. So I'm getting a slight southern exposure with fertile soil near the creek. (Just in case I come to regret my decision to make this my primary grow spot once all the leaves grow in, I'm still going to scatter 6-8 more plants in some other holes that I've prepared. These will be strains that I'm less enthusiastic about, but they're insurance in case my main plot experiences problems.)

And Easy7, I understand that autos have a hard time competing with photos, but I still plan on giving them a chance. I grew a few autos last summer and had mixed feelings. Most disappointed me. But I did find a gem in Mephisto's Sour Bubblin Crack. If my autos this summer don't turn out better than they did last year, I doubt I grow them again. But, I'm hoping with a little more experience under my belt and some better quality strains, that I might find another keeper or two.

Now I've just got to narrow down what strains I want to go with. That's the hardest part for me. I WANT TO GROW THEM ALL, DAMMIT! Lol. If anyone's interested, here's a spreadsheet with all the seeds I have on hand: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QAKXhk62Vz_Zi2Dtx40wvAh16XTm7G5X0AROHrZhIRU/edit?usp=sharing. I've highlighted the strains that I currently am most interested in growing, but I'm always changing my mind. Decisions....decisions.

 

[Bradley_Danks]

Interesting grow. Subbed. Pop all the seeds and Use the most vigerous ones

 

[sm0ketastic]

I mixed up some soil this weekend. I'm going to start carrying it out to my holes soon. I'm hoping that one 5 gallon bucket per hole will work. I found quite a few different recipes for soil mixes online, but I mostly came up with my own, making use of some things I already had on hand. What do you guys think?

5 gallons of manure/soil from an old cattle lot
5 gallons of compost from my home compost pile
5 gallons of sphagnum peat moss
5 gallons of ProMix Flex
4 quarts of perlite
1/4 cup (2 oz) soil moist granules
1/4 cup blood meal
1/2 cup bone meal
1/2 cup garden lime

 

[sm0ketastic]

Oops. I left this off, but I also added 1/2 cup of Osmocote Plus to the soil mix. (I can edit my posts yet because my post count is too low.)

 

[hamstring]

Autos

• Auto Seeds - Auto Pounder with Cheese
• Auto Seeds - Chemdog
• Dutch Passion - Think Different
• Mephisto - Fantasmo Express x 2
• Mephisto - Sour Orange Diesel Kush
• Seedsman - White Widow
• TH Seeds - MK Ultra

Photos
All FEM except for the Cornbread

• Dinafem - Purple Afghan Kush
• DNA Genetics - Nicole Kush
• Female Seeds - Red Purps
• Freedom of Seeds - Dieselicious
• Genofarm - Goldenberry
• Greenhouse Seeds - Super Lemon Haze x2
• Humboldt Seed - Blue Dream x 2
• Kannabia - Afrodite
• Kannabia - Karamelo
• Kannabia - Mataro Blue
• Kannabia - White Domina
• MOC - Northern Lights
• Moxie Seeds - Viper Cookies
• Rare Dankness - Cornbread x 2
• Seedsman - Somango

I'll try to keep you all updated during the grow, hopefully with a few pics. Advice, comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome along the way.

Here's hoping for a great 2016! Wish me luck.

Good luck with your grow. The spot looks a little shaded but cant really say from one pic.

I have grown the Mataro Blue twice and its a great strain potency and tatse. They do hermie. I grew out 10 and had a couple hermies . It was good enough that I gave a second chance a few years later and again I had hermies.

It wont seed you whole plot it stays local to the plant that hermies but keep your eye out for bud rot because of the seeds in the bud. If it didnt hermie this would be a keeper strain.

 

[sm0ketastic]

Thanks hamstring. I'm going to go check out the spot again soon and I'll take a closer look at how shady it might be when the leaves fill in. I do think the opening is large enough, though, that a good portion of the area will receive full sun, or close to it. But if I'm wrong, I do know a couple other spots. The second plot where I dug another 6 holes gets some good sun.

I only have one Mataro Blue seed that I got as a freebie, but I've read a few good grow and smoke reports for it, so I am going to go ahead and try to pop the seed. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the plant doesn't hermie. Thanks for the heads-up, though. I'll definitely keep an eye on it.

 

[TheGardner]

Auto's are good for early harvests of some head stash before the fall. Other than that I'd ditch the auto's, sorry if you bought seed already.

Focus on growing monster plants and perhaps fewer plants. How big are your holes? If your looking for 1lbs from 20 plants you can get 2lbs off of 1 plant. Once a week is ok to visit, every 5 days is best.

Seems everything else is in order.

You're ridiculous to tell him to ditch the autos. Few years ago, they were shit, now they're hitting 20%+ THC, and more than 3 ounce yields. Don't give shitty advice and don't talk out of your ass man.

 

[TheGardner]

Hey guys. I made a trip to the local garden centers today and picked up some Osmocote, perlite, peat moss, and lime as well as some pots and medium for starting seeds, although I won't be popping them for another 6 weeks or so. This past weekend I went and picked up 30 gallons of a good soil/manure mix from a local farm. I'll be getting some more this weekend. I've got several bales of ProMix and plenty of compost on hand. Hopefully with all that, I can come up with a decent soil.

I've re-thought everything, and decided to scale down the grow a little. I'm going to have one main plot of 6-8 plants. That's the plot I have pictured above. I haven't been there in summer to see the exact amount of sunlight it gets, but I have a good feeling about it. I grew in a clearing of a similar size last year and got plenty of sun, and this clearing is at the bottom of a rocky southern slope near a creek. So I'm getting a slight southern exposure with fertile soil near the creek. (Just in case I come to regret my decision to make this my primary grow spot once all the leaves grow in, I'm still going to scatter 6-8 more plants in some other holes that I've prepared. These will be strains that I'm less enthusiastic about, but they're insurance in case my main plot experiences problems.)

And Easy7, I understand that autos have a hard time competing with photos, but I still plan on giving them a chance. I grew a few autos last summer and had mixed feelings. Most disappointed me. But I did find a gem in Mephisto's Sour Bubblin Crack. If my autos this summer don't turn out better than they did last year, I doubt I grow them again. But, I'm hoping with a little more experience under my belt and some better quality strains, that I might find another keeper or two.

Now I've just got to narrow down what strains I want to go with. That's the hardest part for me. I WANT TO GROW THEM ALL, DAMMIT! Lol. If anyone's interested, here's a spreadsheet with all the seeds I have on hand: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QAKXhk62Vz_Zi2Dtx40wvAh16XTm7G5X0AROHrZhIRU/edit?usp=sharing. I've highlighted the strains that I currently am most interested in growing, but I'm always changing my mind. Decisions....decisions.

Why not go with several plots planted at varying times? Plant your autos early, harvest them mid season. Plant some fems mid season after harvesting your autos, and then plant a late round of fems which will get to maybe 4 feet and yield an oz or two, then you can space out your harvests and reduce the work load while getting to run everything

 

[Easy7]

You're ridiculous to tell him to ditch the autos. Few years ago, they were shit, now they're hitting 20%+ THC, and more than 3 ounce yields. Don't give shitty advice and don't talk out of your ass man.

What are you yielding on those teeny tiny auto's? I'd rather put the effort into digging holes, feeding/watering 2lbs+ plants.

I have nothing against auto's, they have advantages.

Autos can

-bring in multiple outdoor harvest a year without light dep
-an earlier harvest
-grow in light polluted areas.

I'm simply suggesting to do less work and get the same harvest. Especially if plant numbers are an issue. It's a lot less work to get 50lbs from 25 photoperiod plants than 50lbs from 200 auto flowering plants. Depends on what your looking for.

 

[TheGardner]

What are you yielding on those teeny tiny auto's? I'd rather put the effort into digging holes, feeding/watering 2lbs+ plants.

I have nothing against auto's, they have advantages.

Autos can

-bring in multiple outdoor harvest a year without light dep
-an earlier harvest
-grow in light polluted areas.

I'm simply suggesting to do less work and get the same harvest. Especially if plant numbers are an issue. It's a lot less work to get 50lbs from 25 photoperiod plants than 50lbs from 200 auto flowering plants. Depends on what your looking for.

Not necessarily, tight spacing, 1sqft per plant, avg 1 oz per plant with 200 in one spot, you'll pull 12.5 pounds in 60 days. It probably only takes an hour to dig, and plant 100 autos, so 2 hours of work, and going in to top dress maybe once in the 60 days, and you're good. With 25 photos, you have much more risk, months more of stress, topping, fimming, to consider, going in to water possibly, going in to trim dead leaves, going in to shake massive branches, worrying about monsters being seen by helis or hunters or any other possibilities. To pull 12.5lbs in 60 days with maybe 2 weeks of serious stress about people seeing them, vs 3-4 months of pure anxiety and nervousness, for 50lbs, which could be achieved with larger auto plots, or more of them, I'd take the autos any day.

 

[Easy7]

Not necessarily, tight spacing, 1sqft per plant, avg 1 oz per plant with 200 in one spot, you'll pull 12.5 pounds in 60 days. It probably only takes an hour to dig, and plant 100 autos, so 2 hours of work, and going in to top dress maybe once in the 60 days, and you're good. With 25 photos, you have much more risk, months more of stress, topping, fimming, to consider, going in to water possibly, going in to trim dead leaves, going in to shake massive branches, worrying about monsters being seen by helis or hunters or any other possibilities. To pull 12.5lbs in 60 days with maybe 2 weeks of serious stress about people seeing them, vs 3-4 months of pure anxiety and nervousness, for 50lbs, which could be achieved with larger auto plots, or more of them, I'd take the autos any day.

Well you have fun with your 200 holes dug in an hour. Digging holes for photoperiod plants, I wish I could dig 200 an hour. Takes an hour just to get to a spot. Takes about half an hour per hole (2' x 2' x 2' = 8 cubic feet) or more and many trips to haul in soil media. Honestly, the site prep is the hardest and most time consuming aspect of guerrilla growing.

I've learned to not get over my head with wanting different strains and having more plants that are producing less, due to the numbers. Find strains that work in your climate and focus on plants that produce. If it's a good spot, 1 or 3 plants will hide better than 10.

Edit: If the bud is good, there is always the option of trading a few nugs for something different to smoke.