The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[Guest423]

Here's a cool little gadget to mess around with, a good friend of mine posted it on another site and it seems pretty neat.

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/daylighthoursexplorer.html

 

[nomaad]

i think you may have more problems with clones outside at this point than you would with seeds. I have never run seeds, so I am no authority, but in theory, clones outside at this time of year will flower.

I would recommend (at least) having another set of clones ready to go in later just in case. I had issues with the plants that flowered and and reveged because they had those mutant leaves that sort of twist up and back to the stem...seemingly they are trying to cover up the bud site or something. I found that these turned into places for moisture to accumulate and mold to begin later in the season.

 

[Guest423]

I hear your concern but I've put clones out beginning of May many times with no issues, I have also had plants start to flower then have to reveg back out, that was always coming from straight 24 hours of light. Like I said I'm not to worried about it though. If they get pissy with me I'll rip them out and replace them down the road.

In theory where I'm at my plants should pretty much flower anytime of the year I put them out but they don't. My longest day of the year is only 15 hours of light, I'm rollin with only 13-14 hours of light up to that point and shortly after that point.

My theory is hopefully my plants sense that everyday they are out there they are gaining light not losing light. I have the same amount of light all through May as I do in mid/late August when my plants are starting to flower, But clones and seed moms I've put out in May for the last 15 yrs haven't flowered, only a few but they were always coming from straight 24 hours of light indoors.

I haven't had a problem since switching to 18/6, I'd like to even drop more light through veg on my plants that plan on goin outside early. I wonder at what point indoors would trigger them to flower? Then I could keep my light just above that point, then when they went outside it wouldn't even be much of a change and they'd still be gaining light everyday from that point.

 

[theJointedOne]

I hear your concern but I've put clones out beginning of May many times with no issues, I have also had plants start to flower then have to reveg back out, that was always coming from straight 24 hours of light. Like I said I'm not to worried about it though. If they get pissy with me I'll rip them out and replace them down the road.

In theory where I'm at my plants should pretty much flower anytime of the year I put them out but they don't. My longest day of the year is only 15 hours of light, I'm rollin with only 13-14 hours of light up to that point and shortly after that point.

My theory is hopefully my plants sense that everyday they are out there they are gaining light not losing light. I have the same amount of light all through May as I do in mid/late August when my plants are starting to flower, But clones and seed moms I've put out in May for the last 15 yrs haven't flowered, only a few but they were always coming from straight 24 hours of light indoors.

I haven't had a problem since switching to 18/6, I'd like to even drop more light through veg on my plants that plan on goin outside early. I wonder at what point indoors would trigger them to flower? Then I could keep my light just above that point, then when they went outside it wouldn't even be much of a change and they'd still be gaining light everyday from that point.

I agree. and gentics play a part as well. I put everything out last year on may 9th with no problems.

more sun the better imo to keep off the early flower


hey planty nice avatar...Dread a General in this Babylon! dUDE the soil guy actually made it up the hill! ...not like the first batch....dude made me haul it up the hill on my back! lol


dam Tom that looks like some fire!! stay irie with that

I know Jah but it seems I need to meet this God guy

bless

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

I use the accuweather site for my weather. seems to be the most accurate. The monthly weather calendar (unpaid) has about two weeks ahead forecasted... yesterday it looked like smooth sailing well into May, but the far end of the 15 day forecast is now calling for more heavy rain.

Regardless, plants are going into Garden A on Thursday with supplemental lighting. Garden B will have to wait till later in May as the supplemental lighting is not possible. Too bad that's the garden with the 300's.

anybody know of a site that shows last year's weather for a given date and zip code?

Not the Weather, but a pretty good daylength calculator, drill down to your lat, http://www.gaisma.com/en/dir/001-continent.html

 

[planty]

tJO - you've had the Bubba from God..that's the bubba I stoked ya out with. Glad you're geared up. The last of my shit comes this week and I'm done filling beds. I'm going to amend them this week and plant mid may once the weather is AAA. When are you going to be up next? I'll come around and we can smoke some of my shwag

 

[baet]

thanks planty and nommad.

i've always grown fully organic, never worried about pH. but i think i'll be filling my smartpots with promix(never used) and using botanicare(never used) + humicacid, to compare growth with that of my compost beds fed teas.

my question,
-should i worry about pH in my beds of promix?
-should i be buffering my botanicare nute solution?


i just assume the promix medium, lacking compost and rich substance, has no ability of buffering and taking care of my nutrients, as does my compost mediums. also, batching botanicare with out buffering and feeding all season i believe would make my promix medium undesirable for roots and the vigorous growth i'm looking for in using promix and botanicare.
correct me if i'm dead wrong

 

[osoloco69]

You will need to get a soil pH tester and I would amend the promix if I were you. Here is a mix I have used for some time, and I feel that it works very well.
1 bail promix
1 big bag fox farm chunky perlite or equivalent amount of lava rocks.
3 bags worm castings
1-2 Cups High N guano
1.5-2.5 Cups High P guano
2-4 Cups Kelp meal
4 Cups Greensand
4lbs Rare Earth(GH) or use Fulvic acid when fertilizing
4lbs Diamond Black(GH) or use Humic acid when fertilizing
1 Bag Tarantula (AN)
1 Bag Piranha (AN)
2 Cups lime(add while checking soil PH as castings have different PH, and more may be needed)
5 Cups diatomaceous earth(use dust mask and gloves)

I prefer to use AN iguana as it is more pH stable than pure blend. It also doesn't make your buds all taste soured.

 

[theJointedOne]

oooh yeah that is good herb. fruit shit i like better though....or was it the chem ?.. haha honestly there all the freakin bomb...

yeah i broke down and bought the smart pots after testing out a few desings, i decided the smarts were good b/c they last forever! (ideally) and recycling is tight! (thats in a joking tone,, i mena yeah recylcing is freaking awesome but we all know that already)

funny planty im doing the same; mixing after this storm passes then sitting for two weeks.

humboltlocal if your reading this i saw your pic in HT...nice job bro!

anybody else already seen choppers?

 

[Bumble Buddy]

NOAA National Weather Service (local forecasts and outlooks): http://www.weather.gov/
Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
Climate Prediction Center: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

 

[MedResearcher]

Hope the rain isn't washing away to many of the organics........

Anyone cover their planters up?

 

[planty]

You know I seen em already tJO ! The day we covered the g pad they flew over...

Med - I don't think we're getting enough rain for it to be any worry. I was just out side turning some beds that already got done and they weren't wet down too far...that being said, I am going to be mulching my beds with straw once I'm all done amending them...which will be by friday.

 

[Butte]

So, I realize this is a great place to meet up and shoot the shit regarding how we are planning on getting large plants, but could we keep it more on topic and less conversational?

The thread is already 48 pages long and most of us don't even have plants in the ground. How is someone to find the pertinent information if they have to wade through a few people's back and forth banter about their particular situation? No offense meant to anyone, just would like to see more in the way of hard tips and techniques than casual BS'ing.

Just my two cents...

 

[mister c]

OK HARD TIP TIME....DONT WATER YOUR COMPOST TEA WITH TOO MUCH WATER PRESSURE OR YOU WILL KILL/DAMAGE THE MICROBIAL ACTIVITY.

So....Butte, how about you throwing a little info on your compost tea that you feed your large plants? You seem to have some previous experience/knowledge growing large plants. And i know that a good compost tea makes even the best soil in the world a 1000 times more active. That would be some hard tips and techniques. But then again compost tea is very, very, basic info. Just curious if yours is any different?

Do you just do a basic tea? (compost and carb/sugars)

How much and how often are you feeding your teas?

Are you feeding full strength tea with less volume or diluting with water and more volume? Or both.

I am aware that it is not good to feed teas in mid day due to heat/uv ray issues? Anyone ever heard of this?

 

[planty]

So Butte, what are you going to do this year to avoid losing those monsters ya work so hard to build? What contributed to last years losses?

 

[theJointedOne]

id like to discuss what benfificial/ companion cropps you guys recomend to plant between rows.?

any ideas?

also any strains known not to need suplemental lighting, i.e. purple skunk

 

[Dr. Purpur]

Tom, Mix assist Pls.

Tom, Mix assist Pls.

Tom, Ive decided to put in a couple more big holes. Im working with clay. (adobe) how much pearlite, and how much oyster shells do You think I can mix in, for good results. I already have some compost/ with added gypsom tilled in. I dont mind if I have to water often, and I usually feed every watering. Probably 200 gallon holes. Thanks in advance Man.

 

[theJointedOne]

So Butte, what are you going to do this year to avoid losing those monsters ya work so hard to build? What contributed to last years losses?

i know, at least for me, that my main goal is no pm, no pests, no mold, no rippers, no pigs!

but i will say this, and its already an opinion that has been voiced ere, organic is the way to avoid most problems. When your soil is "teaming with microbes" (lol sorry but it fit ) then you will have a a much better defense against said problems.

Also good supporting and trellising is key!

im kinda working on some ideas about building a bamboo frame around each plant and using the bamboo to harness and secure hortinet across the top, but i am going to make the diameter of the hortinet larger than the smarty so its should look like a giant ice cream cone shaped screen of green, with air flow through out the bottom and a nice colas protruding from every other hole in the hortinet. Im thinking i might use metal fencing instead of bamboo as the only experience iv had with bamboo ending up cracking apart mid season....Nomaad you have any thought on this? how to avoid bamboo snapage?

 

[Guest423]

My main goal this year is to keep the caterpillars miles away, got a little lax on the protection last year because I wasn't seeing any damage, that was until I started trimmin them big dense rock hard Bubba boulders. Them caterpillars loved the Pimpslaps x Bubba the most, nothin worse then breakin up a big fatty bud to find some rot and an orange worm in your nug lol.

The year before last I was sprayin with BT and spinosad religiously and didn't even see a caterpillar, last year I still sprayed but not as frequently and they snuck up on me, nothin will piss you off more when you grab a big top cola to start trimmin and you see the worm hole in the bud, you just know the inside has gone to hell at that point. Not this year suckers lol!!

 

[ROOTWISE]

How to avoid Bamboo snapping?

I would use re-bar.....

Last year I used 1x wood frames and they didn't hold up as well as I would like. This year I will be using the frame of my steel end walls in the greenhouse to secure and stretch horti-trellis as well as some re-bar posts...