The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[nomaad]

You are going to need a charge controller (maybe) and some batteries (definitely.) You'll run the gennie during the day and charge up the batteries. Between the lights and the battery, you'll have a timer. Pretty simple.

sounds like you're working hard. very sorry to hear about your GH. u don't need big plants for forced flower. The best-yielding black boixes I have seen have been LOTs of small plants in a sea of grean in 5-20 gallon containers or small trenches. I am going to have up to 30 small plants in each 15x20' box.

 

[MediNice]

Nomaad, I look forward to doing a side by side with you and the mix. I'm screwed though.... I am finishing some things up north and I don't think I have enough time to get the amendments in and let cook for 3 weeks. Well, not unless I want to plant in the beginning of June. Looks like top dressing and 12cf of perlite to each 300 gal 6 foot smarty. Thinking of using aurora innovations uprising (dry top scrath), trinity, buddha grow and Buddha bloom, hp2). It's more cost effective than any other high grade liquid organic.

You got the blue dream? I will be doing at least 10. 10 green crack, and nycd, strawberry cream, sour d, lavender, Hindu skunk, matanuska myst, purps flat og. I'm somewhat worried about early flowerin on the straw cream though.

 

[nomaad]

I use Trinity. I like it a lot. I am also going to try Aurora's Soul Synthetics catalyst this year... its like trinity but with a micronute blast as well.

I am putting 8 cf of perlite into a 200gallon when I am mixing with FFOF. I will be upping it to 10cf for a 200 full of Greenfields. I am probably not going to run 300's on my back acre as the spacing won't be right. I am going to stick with 200's for now. I'm kinda disappointed, but I will learn to live with it.

 

[planty]

Would have liked to see what you can do with a big pot. There's always next year.

 

[MediNice]

I have the whole line up of soul synth, but it's in that pile of nutes that accumulates but never gets used again. The ph was too unstable for me in soilless and in hydro. I believe this was due to the infinity and the amino-aide. My ph runoff when going in would be 5.5, then in a few days it would be like 8 something. The one product that I am loving at the moment is Big Swell. I think I might get the same yield in my tables from using it with the organic Soil lineup, than my soilless dtw w/ house and garden's whole lineup. And I'm only using it at 2ml/ gal.

 

[mister c]

Is any of you dudes using guano instead of the bonemeal and chicken manure?

I came up on 6-7 20lb tubs of sparetime organics guano through a friend and i think i want to try it out on a few of my 200galllons.

There are 2 different kinds...the mocha guano (4-6-2) and the archipelago guano (0-7-0) and they come in 20 and 25lb tubs.

I am thinking just substitute the bone and manure for guano...but how many pounds per batch is the question?

OR

Should i just save it and brew a few teas here and there. If so how much per 50 gal barrel of compost tea? A few pounds im guessing?

 

[mister c]

Please forgive the double post....but if one where going to substitute the gypsum for lime, what would the application rates be for the tom mix?

Thanks

 

[localhero]

Mister c,

i dont think gypsum is a sub for lime, ive even heard it can lower ph. calcidic lime is a sub for dolomitic lime. gypsum helps loosen the soil and does something to immobilize exess salt buildup (or something) as well as provide calcium.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

Please forgive the double post....but if one where going to substitute the gypsum for lime, what would the application rates be for the tom mix?

Thanks

I used both. There was gypsum in the mix I used, then I tilled in 1 cup per CF of ground oyster shells.

I went light on chicken manure, and will be supplementing with Earth Juice and Botanicare.

 

[baet]

was gifted three blue dreams from a mendo friend!

guessing it's clueberry nommad since he says he goes 8 weeks with it

 

[nomaad]

Baet: The Clueberry/Blue Dream thing is a mindfuck for sure. But I still have not made up my mind as to whether they are truly different cuts or whether the differences are a product of environmental factors... I'm hoping to make a final determination this season running larger samples of both plants.

I am facing a serious dilemma right now... I have been worrying about it for a while and based on advice from trusted friends that confirms my worries, I think my 5 foot tall (with pot) Blue Dream plants in 10 gallon smart pots are going to be too big for my pots and 10 foot plant spacing. I am going to try and move some pots around to buy some more space today...

I have the option of trading as many of my big Dreams as I want to homies (other members of my collective) for smaller ones that I gave them. I have about 30 in the bigger pots. I am considering running 12 of them in one of my 15x20' black boxes in 65 gallon smartpots, buried in the ground (my hoops are only 8 ft tall in the center)...

Makes me sad to have to do this, but I want fully rounded plants that don't compete for sunlight and I am working with limited space.

I also have 300 gallon pots that I have not filled yet and was planning on scrapping for the year in favor of 200's. My B garden is 30x45 which either fits 12 plants in 200s with 10 foot spacing, or only 6 plants in 300's with 15 foot spacing. I know I can pull down 5 per plant in the 200/10 paradigm. I'd have to pull down 10 per in the 300/15 to even it out. I have no personally executed experience that inspires confidence for the 300's.

going with the 200's means trading out 15 plants for smaller ones and running the remaining big plants in the black boxes. I can probably drag some pots and make room for 3 or 4 with 15 foot spacing (which i might as well trade for 300's if I have the spacing...

Anyhow... can some of you veteran shadowcasters weigh in on this one?

 

[planty]

Seems like filling the space up with less larger plants would be the way to go. That's how I went.

You also don't think that you would have over crowding with 12 5 ft blue dreams in a 15 x 30? They only have a few feet to grow each way... my 18' wide hoop is 10.5' tall in the center, are you going to foliar spray them with something like paclobutrazol?

What about trading some of your big dreams for smaller ones then making a lot of clones off the others and doing as you said, the best way to yield in a light dep...LOTS of #10s with multiple plants per pot.. with the dream and an army of minis I could see a lot of logs coming out of a black box mid summer....

 

[nomaad]

planty: not sure about the overcrowding in the black box... I am going for full coverage SCROG in there... I could prune as needed to get the coverage I am going for... last year I did 12 (4 ft tall maxed out in 2 and 3 gallon pots) in that space in 65s... they shocked and never really established before I started pulling tarp... there was WAY too much empty space in there... The big dreams might be erring on the side of crowding but if what I am going for is a 15x20 screened sea of colas, it seems like it might work out... maybe if I just keep them in the 10's or put them in folded down 65s with 30 gallons of soil...

I can't visualize how I could get clones to the right size and stay under 99 in the amount of time I have...

I am going to go with 200 gallon pots full season and I have figured out how to get 12-15' spacing on most of the plants in Garden A. I will use smaller plants for garden B's 200's and try to amplify the space a little so I can have 12 foot spacing. Should all work out.

 

[nomaad]

I also have a second black box... the original intent was for both to be filled with Sour D, OG, Master Kush, J1, Bubba and others... I have about 50 of these plants mostly in 5 gallon pots under 2 feet tall. I might have to add more length to the second black box to accomodate all the plants in the event that 12 big dreams are taking up the other one.

 

[localhero]

Whats up everyone

This is my solution to supplemental lighting when you have neighbors and wanna keep a low profile. Everything listed can easily be found at hemp depot.

Materials:

Romex 250' = @ $50 it has a black and white wire plus a copper ground. 18gauge I believe

Cheapo clamp lamps = @ $5 per

Plastic 8' stakes @ $4 per

Outdoor sockets @ $3 per

Tube of silicone @ $4

Twist Connectors @ $5

Camo spray paint @ $4 per


The pictures make this fairly simple to explain. Basically youre just gutting your clamp lamps, running a bunch of romex from stake to stake, filling the twist connectors with silicone and finishing off with green paint. How I anchored the romex to the top of each stake and added wire to drop down is simple too but:

When youre running your wire to each stake, strip about 6' of romex, separate the white and black wires from the copper wire.

Fold the stripped portion of wire together so the unstripped romex on each side touch. twist the copper wire down about 5 inches or so and slide it into the hole u drilled in the top of the plastic stake. This should be sufficient enough to anchor the romex at each stake, you could also zip tie the white and black wires at the top of the stake for more support.

Cut the black and white wires at the middle of the fold so theyre both equal length. strip the ends.

Slide wires from your light plug through the spiral of the clamp from your clamp lamp.

Connect the white wires from the romex to the white wire on the light plug with your twist connectors, repeat with black wires.

Push the shade from your clamp lamp onto the light plug (its rubber and seals itself)

Spray paint all

Connect to a timer, and enjoy.

 

[scarred4life]

greetings, y'all...this thread has been really valuable for a long-time indoor, first-time outdoor grower.
with some help, I hope to pull off a few big ones, but i'm a little inexperienced with how the different genetics I've collected over the years might grow outside. below, i've listed the starts I have inside now, mostly in 5 gallon pots; any input (especially about potential yeilds) would be helpful. My plant date will be in late may, and I'm using 4' or 6' diameter pots w/ 707 because I won't have the time to let Tom's mix cook.

Deep Chunk seedlings: 8"-18", started mid March
Bubba Kush: 18"-24" , started early April
Chem Dog D: 12"-24" , started early April
Mendo Purps: 6," rooted in solos today
Purple Urkle: two topped, 24", started early March; also, 6" rooted in solos today
Grape Ape: one topped, 24", started early March; also, 6" rooted in solos today
OG Kush: one topped 36", started early March; also, 6" rooted in solos today

What would you grow, and what would you expect from it?

 

[nomaad]

I can tell you this: if the grape ape cut you are running is the same as the one I ran last year, you need to aggressively prune the long-petioled leaves throughout veg if you want it to put on any real size.

 

[scarred4life]

i'm not sure if the good karma grape ape is the same as what I have...i scored the cut from trybud through horizon in sac. indoors it is definitely the lightest yielder of the three purps that I mentioned.

is the purpose of your leaf pruning to stimulate branch growth, to maximize light to future bud sites, or both?

 

[nomaad]

my grape ape did not come from Good Karma. I do have a few cuts that have come to my by way of the collective but not that one. My GA came direct from Kyle Kushman by way of friends in his neighborhood.

The pruning is to allow better light penetration... With the cut we ran last year, I have seen 3x the stretch resulting in (more than) 3x the yield by using this pruning method. My own plant barely stretched at all.

 

[nomaad]

localhero: what is the material used to build your containers?