The Big Plant Growers Thread

[Shangri-la]

The fencing 'cage' around the plants is meant to support it for later in the season, as well as I find they really help in bushing things out. I bend arms through the cage, which exposes the center to more light. I need to get up pictures, but I've been adding a larger diameter outer cage that is 8' tall and about 5' diameter but rests on the ground outside the planters. I'm going for something like GG, where the cage supports the buds but I think also having that inner cage will only help. Check my thread, I talk a lil more about em. Peace

Hi Fisher,
Thank you for the reply. I already know what the cages are for, I've read the whole thread. Perhaps I failed to properly phrase my question...

What is the purpose of the silver plastic skirts around the BOTTOM 1/3 of your plants?

I saw something similar in Tom Hill garden photo posted earlier in the thread. However, I am unable to locate any info on the reasons for adding the plastic skirts.
Thanks.

 

[fisher15]

Ya know, after I typed up that reply, I wondered if you were talking about my PLANTERS.

My plants grow in them, above ground, with good soil. The natural ground is pure clay and large rocks, so digging, on this scale, and with the setup time I had, didn't seem possible. The planters are made from 4' wire fencing cut in half and measured to make them about 2'x5'. Each one holds almost 300 gallons of soil...

And the 'silver plastic' is actually just landscape fabric draped over the wire to hold the soil in.

 

[Shangri-la]

That's interesting. Thank you for the info, Fisher. I'm truly appreciative.
I also have rock/clay as my natural soil. I dug. No fun. I went about 2 1/2-3' deep with a 3' diameter. I used hardware cloth to line the holes to prevent gopher damage.
After losing several branches already this year, I'm building cages today-tomorrow. Another board member recommended the cages to me about a month ago. I should've listed then. Better late than never....and at least they'll be up pre-flower.
I like your use of an inner cage and an outer cage. I currently have an inner skeleton using stakes and string. I think I'll try your method next season.

Another question...
How do you harvest once the plants have grown through the cages? Branch by branch until you can access the cage and get it back off?

 

[jackel]

thought i could add something to this thread as iv been growing relatively big plants for about 5 yrs. iv found planting clones in full sun (no sooner than may 10th) result in very bushy plants that dont require topping. as shown in other peoples threads, fence cages are great. here is a friends 2-caged plant for Fisher

starting ur clones inside under 24hours of light early, then lowering the light to about 14hours before planting may 10th works great. iv seen people who have 8x8x8 plants by early june because they put clones out early with incendescents on each plant to keep them vegging. they end up with 5-10lb plants. i cant do that though LOL.
Shangri-la: yea u take it branch by branch. leaving the stalk and cage where they are. it can be a PITA to harvest with cages, but i take the tops first, let the lowers and smaller ones build up for a week or so and then take them. sometimes u can let the even smaller ones go another week or so and they will swell to almost a golfball and be takin again. u can take 3-4 cutings from one plant. normally im so overwhelmed wit buds that i leave the popcorn on the plant till everythings done, than just cut it off and throw popcorn on a screen to dry and be made into hash.

 

[nomaad]

Seems like a pain in the ass to have your plants incarcerated like that. I have this huge roll of welded wire in the garden that I just can't bring myself to use. If I could find the stuff with the 4 or 6" square holes in it in 6ft tall rolls, I would be more into it, but I can't find it.

The 2"x4" holes in the welded wire (which is waht it looks like is used in the pic in jackels post- at least the outer ring) just aren't big enough for me to give the plants the love I want to give them.

 

[jackel]

u can take wire snips and cut a link out if u need more room. but the plants really do take care of themselves pretty well without needing to be fucked with.

 

[BeardedClam]

 

[fisher15]

Jackel- NICE, that's exactly what I'm talking about...each cage serves a purpose

N- got my fencing at tractor supply co and HD. TSC had 'redbrand' fencing in 4'x330' rolls, HD had some random 'field fence' but it's basically the same. Larger holes at the top, gradually getting smaller. Goes from like 6"x8" down to 6"x3". It's a little tricker watering, but really no big deal. Can still foliar with a wand. It's the pre flower trim that might be a bitch but I'll suck it up. Broken branches SUCK, and these cages help a lot.

 

[nomaad]

Yeah... I hear ya. I am thinking of making my own cages with redwood 1x1 wood. I can drill holes thru them at regular intervals and then thread some 12 gauge galvanized wire thru them. Same support without some of the hassles. All I know for sure is that I am NOT going to be doing the bamboo scaffolding thing. Cuz that is getting annoying.

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Darn! Ive been lurking this thread waiting for the staking part but i havent checked it in a couple of weeks and now its been hijacked and appears to be abandoned.

Silverback, I read in another post that you talked about "reverse staking and twisting". I cant find another single word about it anywhhere on this site. In fact, I cant even find that original post by you in another thread

Please, please come back and finish the staking part of this thread and talk about reverse staking please I need it soon!

 

[.clunk]

How about doing LST once at an early age? Just tying down once when planted at about one foot? After that letting all those tops grow full height instead of continuing to tie down.

This is the first year that I experimented with LST, and I have some "ornamental" clones in 1 gallons scattered around my backyard, more to prune and look at then to produce any bud (have to keep them small and move em around because of the neighbourhood kids). I'm pretty impressed with the amount of bud sites on these tiny plants, and would like to know how some similiar training would affect my outdoor plants grown in 20 gallon containers. Is it worthwhile?

 

[nomaad]

silverback has gone underground for a bit.

.clunk: I dunno if its the same as LST, but I definitely recommend bending over the main cola and staking it down once the plants get over their transplant shock. I get 2 monster main colas out of it. Again, its strain specific. Some of my strains wouldn't like that technique.

 

[bentom187]

im truly jelous, of all of your plants. i just cant do'em that big cause of security, also i cant beleive no one mentioned tom hills salmon creek big bud. i think theres another called cripple creek,

 

[elmanito]

Outstanding pica's especially this one

What variety is this one????

Some pica's of mine

Highland Oaxacan x Viking

Danish Gold

Namaste

 

[chongsbuddy]

HUGE MAF!!

HUGE MAF!!

In this pic i have a female ,mighty amstel freeze that has already started flowering,the other plant(on right) is maple leaf indica/nl courtesy of SB.THe MAF is from UDG and i am so impressed with it,it will be done by mid september with a large yield.Great bug restistanse and vigorous growth.First pic is NL/Maple on left and MAF on right,second 2 pics are of the MAF.I tied down the nl/maple to increase the yield thats why its so low.These pics were from 10 days ago,its grown 8 inches or more from then.

 

[jackel]

ElManito: the strain that is caged above is a local strain called "Maui". its probably not the original Maui wowie. but thats just what someone named it. it does great.

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Thanks for the offer guys, but silvers method was the first Ive seen to recognize the fact that the weight reversed 1/2 way through flowering and the branches that were tied down now have to be held up because the horizontal branch now cant support the weight of the buds. He had developed a staking design for this and he used a trimming technique to keep the lateral branching from becomming so long that when the wind blew it didnt twist the main branch and break it.

It looks like Im on my own here.

Chongsbuddy, i too have 3 of those plants/seeds going from Sb. Mine are covered with trichs.

 

[chongsbuddy]

you got the nl/maple leaf from SB?Cool!r u growing them inside?you said you had trichs going,mine r outside and have not even showed preflowers yet.how do u like the strain?

 

[Grandma Gudenhi]

..........If I could find the stuff with the 4 or 6" square holes in it in 6ft tall rolls, I would be more into it, but I can't find it.

The 4' tall pasture fencing has 6" holes. Four foot will be tall enough to support what's needed.


elmanito- Is that a fully developed male plant next to the female!?

 

[Madhemp]

First of all I would like to thank you all for sharing such wonderfull information. I am planning on going large next year, so I have been reading all I can, trying to get ready. I am planning on building wire/weedcloth "smartpot" copies ala Fisher15's my question is all things being equal what would you consider the ideal size to allow unlimited growth? Depth? diameter? amount of soil?. Since I am building my own I can pretty much go as large or small as required, but i would hate to purchase/mix up 16 bags of soil per plant if only 10 were required. My "pots" will be above ground as I also live around 38 degrees and my property seems to be mostly rock with some small amounts of dirt glueing it all together
Thanks in advance for any help.

MH