The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[nomaad]

Indeed, Slangheat. Good post.

I have considered the idea of a huge outdoor scrog, covering my entire garden space... pretty sure every serious big plant grower I know has considered it...

However, I take into account the surface area of a fully rounded plant. Lets say at harvest, the plant has a diameter and height of 12 feet. If you were to extend the surface area out, it would cover more than the surface area of a flat garden with 100% coverage.

Another problem is maintaining a huge sea of green floating 6 or 8 feet in the air... if you had some kind of crane that could suspend you over the garden for the daily caterpillar inspection come September... Well rounded plants have space between them for ladders and much of the nug can be tended from the ground.

After building a 1200 sq feet of OD SCROG in my black boxes this year, I had the same fantasies again and decided to do some hard manipulation of a garden of Blue Dream plants to see how they handle themselves compared to ones left alone. The stress of hard training definitely slowed things down compared to plants that were staked well and left alone to grow like xmas trees. I think the ones that we leave alone (except for a single topping) will do the best.

I also think that there is a significant difference in the amount of labor that would be involved in the scrog... not sure... I'd have to crunch it some more.

One more thought is that, outdoors, where the penetration of the sun is so much more intense than indoors,, many giant spheres of green beat a flat surface. The idea of 'even canopy' seems more related to a limited lumen environment with light emanating from a fixed position... In the full sun, the nug from the very bottom skirt of my blue dreams were still huge "top"-like colas.

I do top my plants to encourage more tops at the top... But for the most part, i will be letting my plants grow into the biggest, most stable spheres that they can be. Letting them follow their natural structure seems to be most conducive to living up to their full potential.

 

[Guyute54]

Butte did a SCROG a few years back https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=30137

Unfortunatley I can not see any of the pics.

 

[guest8905]

I agree that training is a good thing.

In my dreams I have a huge flat garden with a high grade soil with plants spaced about 40' apart. Each one is a thin bladed hybrid of the highest order. Each day they are bent down and down and down, with no vertical growth allowed. to make a complete circle of a plant, a giant round hedge. Every day you bend it down and into the desired shape, until it is august 7th and then let it go vertical.

the sun is 100k lumens/sq ft. if im not mistaken, so a plant that gets as much sun exposure the better imo. Big bushes of herb that have tons of larf inside are a joke, they are hosts for far more pests and diseases than plants which have either been cleaned up to the last few nodes on every single branch before flowering, or one trained to be more of a flat wide hedge.

I see each branch or internode as a little clone, and i know that a clone can put on a pound easy even when planted in july with full sun exposure, so if I have a 20 ft diameter plant that is 1.5ft tall, i want to make sure the canopy gets as much sun and that the sun goes as deep as possible with out getting shaded, so a low flat bush makes more sense to me than a sphere that is a black whole in the middle.(sorry im ranting or not making sense, first joint in over 3 weeks, been vaping a lot more)...there r some old school heads up in butte that have been making giant 15-20' flat hedge gardens for years. It just takes the right mix of genetics, environment, and good growing!


stay safe and green!

 

[Dr. Purpur]

I agree that training is a good thing.

In my dreams I have a huge flat garden with a high grade soil with plants spaced about 40' apart. Each one is a thin bladed hybrid of the highest order. Each day they are bent down and down and down, with no vertical growth allowed.

Buffalo girls wont you come out tonight , to dance by the light of the moon.

 

[NorcalBob]

outdoor scrog

outdoor scrog

Here's a few shots of my side yard I screened yesterday. These aren't trained for yield but to stay lower, they've been visible from the street in years past.

Before




After




Heres a shot from last year, worked out pretty well.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

When they stick up over the fence, just hang big fake tomatos on em. Works everytime!

Im joking. I do the same to keep them down. I have one Panama Sativa that is just starting to take off. Its at 6 foot now, and Ive decided it let it go to 12-145 if it wants. It has a shrubs on one side and a giant old olive on the other. Its going to be fun to see how big it will get. Ill show you some pics of it later.

 

[critter1685]

anybody else have preflowers forming already or am i bummin?

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i got a couple preflowers popping on my LA con out here in butte....my friends garden in humbolt had some nugs forming on some already though.....i do know that some butte county harvests come down early like mid september and thats when my buddys chopped their LA con last year so maybe its normal....and i saw a bunch of other things hit the market last year in september too they were able to get a few points extra per pack before the main flood hits november...

 

[Dr. Purpur]

LA is always my earliest. I have some bud mess on them in the more shaded gardens

 

[Trinity Gold]

Cold and rainy in southern Trinity....

Hopefully the sun comes out to play again soon. Forecast is saying Wed..Been flirting with rain the past 3 days finally came on today.

Sing it with me big plant people " Rain , rain , go away , come again another day ! When will the sun come back out to play? "

 

[critter1685]

.

 

[nomaad]

Cold and rainy in southern Trinity....

Hopefully the sun comes out to play again soon. Forecast is saying Wed..Been flirting with rain the past 3 days finally came on today.

Sing it with me big plant people " Rain , rain , go away , come again another day ! When will the sun come back out to play? "

We've been under 80 degrees for a full week and it looks like another six days to go till we get back into the 90's. Worst part is that we soiaked the pots the day before the cool weather struck. There has been very little growth over the last week... The plants, who were getting watered every day in the 90+ weather have not been watered in 6 days. I want to get the fresh dose of Mycostop into them but will not put any water onto these plants till they ask for it... I don;t want to enhance the environment of cool temps and wet soil that will lead to pythium.

I am seeing a pronounced hard downturn on the fan leaves on some strains that I have only ever experienced in the pre-season. It has never bode well for the plants that suffered it vs. the plants that did not.

I'm also worried that, like the fires in 2008, this on and off cloudiness will cause early flowering this week and reversion to veg next week... or not. I was counting on this 2 week cool-snap we're right in the middle of to be 90+ and dry as a bone.

I am countering with 12-0-0 foliars every 4 days to keep everything in veg...

This is the reality of farming. There are good years and bad years. Still not sure which this one will be.

 

[guest8905]

pre flowers are normal but bud production shouldnt be happening now, imo unless there is something wierd in the light reg or the genes

 

[nomaad]

pre flowers are normal but bud production shouldnt be happening now, imo unless there is something wierd in the light reg or the genes

I think there is a bit more going on in the outdoor realm than just the "light reg"... temps, amounts of wind, cloud cover, smoke from fires filtering light intensity, (the last two are differences in the 'light reg")... I'm seeing clones proven over 4 harvests doing things they never have at this time of year.

 

[guest8905]

your right i should have said " ....wierd in the environment or the genes"


which plants are changing their tune for you this year over others nomaad?

 

[nomaad]

Almost everything has slowed down compared to last year with the cool-snap... exponential growth just slammed on the brakes. I think because they were heavily watered right before it got cool... The hard downturn of leaves (the claw) is happening on the Blue Dream and its really bumming me out. I have never experienced this (even in the pre-season) with this clone. In fact, I have never had a problem of any kind with this clone.

Tom, how is she doing for you?

I'm not sure yet whether the Sour D and Fire OG have begun to flower... I am still hopeful... but I am preparing myself for worst case scenarios. Don't get me wrong, I am still expecting a successful season... just ratcheting down the expectations somewhat.

 

[guest8905]

a few growers i know are dealing with some loss as well

 

[Ganja D]

I want to punch mother nature in the face. The stress of this weather is taking years off my life.

 

[nomaad]

I want to punch mother nature in the face. The stress of this weather is taking years off my life.

At least I know I am not alone. Are you having any problems or just worried about rain?

 

[Ganja D]

At least I know I am not alone. Are you having any problems or just worried about rain?

I am having major problems. I've been so busy getting my drip and water dialed that I put off properly supporting plants until this week.

I put my plants needs and health in front of my own priority wise,many of my biggest plants are on the verge of collapse. They can't take another windy day. I've been out in the garden yelling at the wind and my anxiety level is at a new high.

Edit: I'm all good,was just flipping out for a moment. Putting a plan in action and supporting these bitches. Let's do it!