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The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

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Yes4Prop215

Yes4Prop215

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i had minor drainage issues in my mounds and saw small crop loss to fusarium and other root related issues, due to the mounds sitting on clay and not draining off properly. i went back to dumb pots and didn't lose a single plant to wilt in 2015. also saw larger yields out of the 400s, something about being root bound and hit hard with nutrients just makes a plant push out monster colas.

i miss my mound garden though, it was so damn pretty. if i designed another mound/bed garden i would definately put some kind of drainage slope into my pads.

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redlaser

Active member
Veteran
jd123 said:
I distinctly remember byf grilling you multiple times because you worried about gophers. He was about to the point of calling you dumb for worrying about them and also preached how he does no or little protection against them and isn't bothered. Byf is smart, but he also has a tendency to think if something doesn't affect him, than it must not affect anybody else. If you went that route in my neck of the woods, you'd lose 3-4 plants by the end of the season.
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not sure what post it would be but Byf is a believer of propane cannons where you gas the tunnels and collapse them when its ignited. kills whatever is there as well. get someone to give a bid or you can get a system for around 1500 I think it was.
 
T

TriSierra

Member
Yes4Prop215 said:
i had minor drainage issues in my mounds and saw small crop loss to fusarium and other root related issues, due to the mounds sitting on clay and not draining off properly. i went back to dumb pots and didn't lose a single plant to wilt in 2015. also saw larger yields out of the 400s, something about being root bound and hit hard with nutrients just makes a plant push out monster colas.
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We've seen this too. Its a process of remineralizing and increasing organic matter in the clay soil beneath the mound soil - after the first year of mounds, the clay soil begins to greatly improve in terms of tilth and permeability. With mounds it seems you need a deeper base than with pots in order to account for this. Adding a sod buster cover crop pre and post season helped us. Always thought doing a hugelkultur for row mounds would be beneficial.

Short-term pots are the easiest and more fool-proof - which is a huge advantage.
 
J

jd123

Member
redlaser said:
not sure what post it would be but Byf is a believer of propane cannons where you gas the tunnels and collapse them when its ignited. kills whatever is there as well. get someone to give a bid or you can get a system for around 1500 I think it was.
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The rodenator. I used one a lot before all my beds were heavily protected by hardware cloth. They work good and they're fun to operate. Once you lose a couple 10#'ers to gophers, it makes you go a little Rambo. I made a pact with myself to never lose a plant to gophers ever again lol.
 
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BAKED_BEANZ

i,m wondering if plant numbers (limits ) weren't a factor , what size plants would you grow ?

i think the younger and more robust structure and manageable size of say 2/3 pound plants , far out weighs the impressiveness and looks of a 10 pounder ? credits they do look fantastic . but how practical are they if plant count wasn't a problem .

maybe this post doesn't belong in this thread , but i,d like to hear from you guys , what your choice would be ?

it wasn't put here to upset the bottle-fed babies . its genuine question for you big plant guys . love your work though and drool regularly.
 
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milkyjoe

Senior Member
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I would grow 5 2lbers over 1 10 for sure. Dont think you gotta drop down to less than a pound though...at some point the volume of plants is gonna add work (cost) and lead to some logistic problems
 
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jd123

Member
I'd much rather grow plants in 100 gallon smart pots that get 3-4 lbs and are easy to support and prune. Like prop was saying above, those bound up smarties have a stellar finish. My plants now have two metal cages and then two trellis cages and sometimes more if need be. gets really windy at my place.. Sometimes my blue dreams dance around like those big blow up things that wave all over the place in front of car lots and it freaks me out.
 
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hup234

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Got ripped last night ,outdoors,anybody got ideas on trail cams or silent motion alarms?thanks
They only took the almost finished ones so I think they'll be back.
 
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BAKED_BEANZ

i have pm,d you about trail cams , that send pics to your phone ( you will need good signal ,burner sim cards and phone maybe ) . i might also add it was a full moon . rippers always work the full moon . they don't want to be using flash lights and shit in the dark . ( well organised ones ) i presume if you got ripped this time of year your in southern hemi .

better get on it . chances are they will be back next full moon or close too it when theres enough light at night , prob a day or 2 before full. they know theres more left and they will convince themselves its been enough time and you would have dropped your guard by now. trust me i know all about this . also second run they will be a lot smarter too , they know theres a possibility of you having something set up .

if your on private land , which i hope you are .
you needs dogs .lots of dogs . ( watch dogs obviously ) and a couple of bite trained ones . no human can out run a dog . lol or camp out . i don't know what you have to lose . but i know no one likes being stolen from . we put a lot of time and risk into growing our plants , its very personal when someone rips them .

i have a shit load more things i have done in the past , but i,m not prepared to list them here . if your in need pm me . i hope you didn't lose too much . its in the big plant thread so thats not a good sign .
 
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breakersix

Member
Butte said:
Hello all

Let’s just jump right in...

Lighting. I run lights in my garden till the second or third week of June. I went to this site: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html and figured the day length for the solstice in my area. Once I had this number I matched the current day to that length and put the extra lighting on the morning side. If I remember, the lights came on around 4:30 am and went off once the sun was up. There are less people awake in the early hours versus the night so I felt this was a little more low key.

Here’s a shot from June 7th showing the spacing of the bulbs. I use 40w cf’s roughly 15-20’ apart. I’ve not seemed to need any more light than that. Installation is smooth using twist lock light sockets on two strands of wire. I plug it into a gfi plug and forget about it. Personally, I feel lights are more important with clones versus seeds, but this is only from observation. I've also witnessed plants pulled out of serious flowering with the use of concentrated lighting. Perhaps double the density you see here and left on for, I believe, 18 hours.

Training. In the above picture you can still see the 2’ diameter rings we use for initial training. This stage gives us an even plant and is useful for setting up what will be main support branches. This next shot shows when we usually put the next ring on. Timing in all of these steps is critical. Do it too late and you’re struggling to get the plant in the right position being able to train the tops where you want them. I pointed out some of the initial training that was done when the ring went on.

Here’s the same plant 17 days later.

The astute observer will notice there is now a “cap” on the concrete wire support ring. These are cut 5’x5’ and fit nicely over the rings. Again, timing is key. Placing the caps on when the plants are at the stage below ensures you can put the tops in a nice even canopy.


As the plants continue to fill the space, we come in with 5/8” rebar cut to 10’ lengths and more hortinova. In these shots we did not use t-posts at the bases of the rebar, but did this last year for more support.


10 days later. It would have been much harder to put the netting on at this point. When the growing tips get 12-18" beyond the existing netting, we come in with another layer lightly draped over the outside of the plant and allow it to grow through that layer. The timing on this additional netting is dictated by plant growth.


Here’s a shot from this year’s garden probably the day we put on the netting as the bottoms still are not fastened to the rings. Also notice how the netting is only loosely around the plants. We're looking to have the plants grow through the netting, not be forced through.


For me, one of the keys to big plants (in this case higher yield, not just super tall or wide) is an even canopy with lots and lots of budsites. We let our plants veg to three or four feet and then take a large set of tip cuttings off the plant. 6-8” from all the main leader shoots. This creates a much more ball shaped plant. This first picture is a plant with a more traditional, small topping approach. You can see how there are fewer large growing tips than the next picture. That plant had a larger set of cuttings taken from the tips. It’s my feeling that you are changing the balance of growth auxins by removing that material.


We also prune up the insides to remove spindly growth and vegetation not getting good light. The improvement in ventilation inside the plant as well as the majority of growth going to quality budsites is well worth the effort...and it does take maintenance!

Well, that’s all for now. Perhaps we should go into soil prep next? I’m mixing mine now for this summer...

Happy gardening - Butte
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Super late to the party but, you have no idea how much this helped.
 
DimeBag65

DimeBag65

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Veteran
been way too long since i have visited this thread! you all are killing it with these huge plants! unfortunately i have been needing to keep plants under 6 feet and under hoop houses. cant wait to watch everyones prep this year and dig around for ideas.

been looking to reconnect with a few people i have not talked to since the chat room here on IC, emerald triangle you still around bud? feel free to PM me was looking to chat it up about this year.

Best wishes to all on another successful year and monster plants!
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

i thought i might pop my cherry in this thread , i guess she just scrapes in .

plus you boys must be hunkering for a pic by now , being the off season / start of season . columbian D .
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ponolove

Member
Still undecided on in ground or smart pots. Pros and cons to each. Probably will do both this year and figure out what's best for my garden. Some of my 800 gal pots I plan on cutting off the sides and dumping 2 yards of new soil to make mounds. My river garden sits on tailings and I think the drainage is pretty good. I have gophers but can't murder them without guilt..my nieghbor has 4 kitty's that keep them in check though. That I can live with. Meanwhile I'm enjoying these off season therapy sessions and getting stoked for this year!
 
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plastochron

Member
ponolove said:
. I have gophers but can't murder them without guilt..my nieghbor has 4 kitty's that keep them in check though. That I can live with.
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a lot harder to kill the furry pests than the chitinous ones... i don't consider myself a sadistic fuck but i can't help but go after them with caddy shack style bloodlust... lost about 10% of the garden two years ago without exclusion wire and still lost a few plants last year even with every plant having gopher cages. almost makes me want to switch to smarties... but not quite.

thinking about adopting a few barn cats this season as mammalian biocontrol agents... as long as they know its only cool to urine mark the san diego cat piss.
 
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