Shlomo
Member
Hello everyone, and welcome to my outdoor thread!
It is my intention with this thread to harvest advice and opinions, so please be critical!
As a backgrounder, I've only done outdoors from start to finish three times, always because of emergencies, either an impending bust or other location problem, forcing me outdoors. Always the plants were big, mothers for cloning, so pests not an issue really, but only one grow was successful, the other two lost to mold or drying out (neglect, basically). The good one was tended by many people taking turns, so it survived, five six-footers of a heavy-producing local strain known as "Jamaican." Oh yes, If you are offered "Jamiacan" from BC, know this - it sucks.
So, I'm basically an indoors guy, and I am not quite certain I'm doing the right thing... I'm experimenting a lot. This is my learning season.
I am growing Purpurea Ticinensis, the Swiss strain made famous here by Esbe's posts. The description of the origins charmed me, and the price for the old, unrefined by Esbe strain was 40 swiss francs for 25 seeds, so I bought 400. This is the "freaky" strain sold by Owl, bred by Felix, I believe. Bred for alpine climes, apparently, which is where I grow, in the heart of British Columbia. The germination rate was about 99%, though I think I was low on the total, but the dealer sent me some Maroc and other goodies - oh well.
So without further delay, here we go.
My first plot is deep in the woods, about 600m elevation, on a steep solidly south-facing hillside above a creek. The area is like a canyon, and it is impenetrable at creek level. Orienteering skills required. No sign of man.
I made two field cloners that I popped 71 towel-germinated seeds into. The cloner is a rubbermaid plopped inside of a rubbermaid. The top rubbermaid has holes drilled through it where wicks, jammed into the bottom of peat pots, go through into the rubbermaid below, which contains water and has a high water drain hole in case it rains a lot. Here are pictures....
The rubbermaid with the holes.
The wicks, made from cheap cotton yarn.
The setup on location. Note the deer netting tented over - it hangs from a branch and I tucked it under the rubbermaids.
The wicks in the water.
A few weeks later, I came back and found that only 24 seeds came up. The reservoir was full and the peat pots moist, despite the warm weather streak we had for that short while. The netting appeared jostled.
On closer inspection, almost all the peat pots had roots.
But they were snipped by pests... probably birds, it being that time of the year. I bet they just pushed the netting down with their fat feathered asses.
I planted the 24 pinners, the champions long gone, in little holes in the soil, with some slow release high nitrogen ferts and water-retaining polymers dropped in. The soil is loose, pebbly, and basically a mixture of log compost, leaf compost, and patches of clay, the PH 6.8. You can't even see the plants here, really. I draped the works in deer netting stretched out with tie wire and anchored with rocks, logs, etc., and covered the ground in diatomous earth. I knew I should have brought a spray, but I left them to nature - the hike was worth sixty to seventy plants, but now it was twenty-four, and half should be male. Not worth going back to tinkle some neem and garlic/pepper/castor juice onto, considering I was almost swept away by a creek, fell off a steep embankment twice, filled my hands with thorns, and so on.
I'll be back in August to pull males, if there's anything left.
I had another seeder like this in a different location, but it was inadequately protected, as I forgot the netting, so I made a cage of tie wire and the grid was too pourous. 40 seeds out the window, not one was left, all snipped. Pestulance!
More to follow. Again, let me know what I am doing wrong, if you please. I learned lessons here which I will highlight in my next patches, so I am not totally clueless, but, you know... please let a player know anyway, as he would be grateful.
It is my intention with this thread to harvest advice and opinions, so please be critical!
As a backgrounder, I've only done outdoors from start to finish three times, always because of emergencies, either an impending bust or other location problem, forcing me outdoors. Always the plants were big, mothers for cloning, so pests not an issue really, but only one grow was successful, the other two lost to mold or drying out (neglect, basically). The good one was tended by many people taking turns, so it survived, five six-footers of a heavy-producing local strain known as "Jamaican." Oh yes, If you are offered "Jamiacan" from BC, know this - it sucks.
So, I'm basically an indoors guy, and I am not quite certain I'm doing the right thing... I'm experimenting a lot. This is my learning season.
I am growing Purpurea Ticinensis, the Swiss strain made famous here by Esbe's posts. The description of the origins charmed me, and the price for the old, unrefined by Esbe strain was 40 swiss francs for 25 seeds, so I bought 400. This is the "freaky" strain sold by Owl, bred by Felix, I believe. Bred for alpine climes, apparently, which is where I grow, in the heart of British Columbia. The germination rate was about 99%, though I think I was low on the total, but the dealer sent me some Maroc and other goodies - oh well.
So without further delay, here we go.
My first plot is deep in the woods, about 600m elevation, on a steep solidly south-facing hillside above a creek. The area is like a canyon, and it is impenetrable at creek level. Orienteering skills required. No sign of man.
I made two field cloners that I popped 71 towel-germinated seeds into. The cloner is a rubbermaid plopped inside of a rubbermaid. The top rubbermaid has holes drilled through it where wicks, jammed into the bottom of peat pots, go through into the rubbermaid below, which contains water and has a high water drain hole in case it rains a lot. Here are pictures....
The rubbermaid with the holes.
The wicks, made from cheap cotton yarn.
The setup on location. Note the deer netting tented over - it hangs from a branch and I tucked it under the rubbermaids.
The wicks in the water.
A few weeks later, I came back and found that only 24 seeds came up. The reservoir was full and the peat pots moist, despite the warm weather streak we had for that short while. The netting appeared jostled.
On closer inspection, almost all the peat pots had roots.
But they were snipped by pests... probably birds, it being that time of the year. I bet they just pushed the netting down with their fat feathered asses.
I planted the 24 pinners, the champions long gone, in little holes in the soil, with some slow release high nitrogen ferts and water-retaining polymers dropped in. The soil is loose, pebbly, and basically a mixture of log compost, leaf compost, and patches of clay, the PH 6.8. You can't even see the plants here, really. I draped the works in deer netting stretched out with tie wire and anchored with rocks, logs, etc., and covered the ground in diatomous earth. I knew I should have brought a spray, but I left them to nature - the hike was worth sixty to seventy plants, but now it was twenty-four, and half should be male. Not worth going back to tinkle some neem and garlic/pepper/castor juice onto, considering I was almost swept away by a creek, fell off a steep embankment twice, filled my hands with thorns, and so on.
I'll be back in August to pull males, if there's anything left.
I had another seeder like this in a different location, but it was inadequately protected, as I forgot the netting, so I made a cage of tie wire and the grid was too pourous. 40 seeds out the window, not one was left, all snipped. Pestulance!
More to follow. Again, let me know what I am doing wrong, if you please. I learned lessons here which I will highlight in my next patches, so I am not totally clueless, but, you know... please let a player know anyway, as he would be grateful.
).
, and that I had pissed in the direction of my exit, all over the bushes 
That was retarded.
