The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[Texicannibus]

Anyone started indoors monster cropped then put out at beginning of growing window? From what ive seen of monstercropping indoors id think that would make a crazy plant. Only concern Id think would be the stress of monstercropping causing possible hermi.

 

[ROOTWISE]

Danimal---a 16/8 light schedule solves the problem almost anywhere. Set-up a temporary room or box...there is at least one huge thread in the outdoor forum about preventing early flowering in outdoor transplants.....

 

[danimal7]

Sounds like you have a light sensitive strain . If you don't want to get rid of the clone mother you are growing , then continue what you are doing and put special consideration into a well airated soil when you put them out this summer .

It can also be done from seed . Genetics , sunlight and soil are biggest factors . Start seeds at 14.5 hrs of light . Any seedling that tries to flower under that light regimen , discard it . Put them outside at the earliest date that the weather will allow (better yet , start seeds outside at the earliest date) . Take special precautions to keep critters at bay , attacks from insects will stunt growth .

The biggest outdoor plants I have seen were not growing in soil . They were growing in a bed of pine needles and leaves . The plants were not intentionally planted there . Seeds (came from bricked imports) were tossed in the needle/leaf pile just to be discarded the previous year . Well , the next spring , they sprouted . Within three months , the sprouts were 10'+ monsters . They did have full exposure to the sun . The needle/leaf pile was old so it had a lot of composted material from which the roots were feeding from . The leaves in the pile also acted as a mulch to hold moisture , which was the main factor of keeping them alive since the bed they were growing was very well airated (brush off a few leaves from the top of the pile and I could see roots). The only drawback was stability . A late summer storm came through and knocked most of them over . Even then , they still survived .

circa 2002
this was a volunteer that grew in a cow field . I was back by the fence hitting the Bong and tossed some middi bagseeds over the fence, The day we took these pics is the first day that anyone had laid eyes on this plant. This thing was actually in with the cows, they broke the top out of it...lol

 

[*Journeyman*]

Anyone started indoors monster cropped then put out at beginning of growing window?

Not me personally growing but have seen 6' plants put out later April.

 

[Guest423]

It's all in the root space,genetics, and the amount of work you can put into them. A person that can tend his plants daily is gonna grow some beasts.

Big Roots = Big Plants

Genetics depends on your location, alot of people have a short growing seasons thats why Indica or Indica dom hybrids rule the roost for some people. For me living about as north as you can go before you enter Canada I need Indy or Indy doms mainly, most sativa or sativa hybrids won't get done by early/mid Oct.

A person that can get alot of root space and killer genetics for their area along with being able to take care of them daily is gonna grow waaaaaaaaay bigger plants then a guy that has to bring in their own soil to mix with native soil, can only visit for maintence every or every other weekend and has to carry water in by hand.

 

[*Journeyman*]

For me living about as north as you can go before you enter Canada I need Indy or Indy doms mainly

Or a greenhouse...if you can.

Maybe just try some Durban Poison hybrids?

 

[Raco]

Awesome thread!
Pulls up a chair

 

[Butte]

How about a couple more big ‘uns to get us rolling again?

12+ lb Blue Dream (clone)

Highland Mexican x Blueberry (seed)

Sage Monkey from this year (clone)

Factors for growing monsters, imho, are in order of importance: sun, soil, water, and genetics. If one factor limits, then the rest won't even matter.

Let's start with sun. This last season I purchased a tool for analyzing the sun different gardens were receiving. It's called the SunEye and is really an amazing tool.

Here's the fisheye shot it took of my garden:

Then, within seconds, it generates this view:

With a touch of a button, it throws out this graph:

…and, for contrast, here’s a buddy’s place:

Right now we’re benchmarking with this tool, but I’ve been telling people that if their sun is 50% or more then it should be good. This information can also be read as to when you need to harvest by. We had a large plant not do too well (still 6.75 lbs) because the light dropped off in late October / early November when it needed it to finish properly. I’ve also shot gardens with big plants that, apparently, didn’t get too much sun, but the SunEye told a different story and explained how this novice grower could be doing so well. You can also remove obstructions (like trees) and find out exactly how much sun you'll gain before ever taking one out. I've saved many a tree by showing the gardener how little sun it would gain...also dropped a couple!

Factor two is soil. Without sufficient food, you’ll not be getting the most out of your genetics. I should mention at this point that all of the plants I’ve posted are grown 100% organically. Most are clones, but some are seed plants as well. I had a friend pull over 12 lbs off a cut of the Blue Dream – a sativa leaning strain that is purported to be Blueberry x Santa Cruz Haze. I run a hybrid system of raised containers on beds. The reason here are multi-fold. First off, I hate to bend over to manage my plants. Second, I can push more water through the containers and get greater nutrient cycling. Third, I ensure the plants get a great start before reaching the beds.

I’ll include here the addition of compost tea. Good biology is critical to success in large plant growing. Sure, you could get a monster in a one shot deal with chems, but your yield will go down every year until it’s just a shadow of the first year. Providing the mechanism to release all that food you loaded into the soil is critical.

Water. Good quality and lots of it.

Genetics. Ahh, the holy grail. It seems that sativa dominant, but early finishing strains are almost a prerequisite to true monsters. I’ve been able to pull 6+ off an Alien Kush, so it is possible to get large plants with indicas, just not monster plants. I’m going to leave this part a bit short as Tom has a much better ability to explain genetics than I!

OK, off to cook up a bit of salmon for dinner...

- Butte

 

[Raco]

Awesomerrific OMG!!

 

[*Journeyman*]

How about a couple more big ‘uns to get us rolling again?

12+ lb Blue Dream (clone)...all of the plants I’ve posted are grown 100% organically. Most are clones, but some are seed plants as well. I had a friend pull over 12 lbs off a cut of the Blue Dream – a sativa leaning strain that is purported to be Blueberry x Santa Cruz Haze.

Uhhhh...biggest plant I've ever seen was 12+ lbs back about '06. Not only did I see it but smoked it. Been saying that for years. The grower was Guano Tea with an NL#5 x Haze. Pics/posts/etc. are online in another forum. Difficult to see someone pulling that off from seed. I do think there's no way to grow a Big Dog any way other than organic.

He grew that girl up the Feather River off to the side a bit.

 

[kannubis]

Tom Hill - excellent thread idea. I can use any info the lumberjacks on here will part with.

 

[Butte]

He grew that girl up the Feather River off to the side a bit.

Lot's of skilled gardeners up that way...

More on plant structure, support and pruning techniques later...

 

[Tom Hill]

Hehe, all the big names and usual suspects. Good to see you all and thank you for contributing some great posts already.

Here's what I am wanting genetics wise for this type of grow -

A narrow leafed hybrid (clones), mostly "sativa" in structure - compound branching etc, and perfect middle grounds regarding a host of other traits. The narrow leaves provide excellent light penetration deep into the plant. Bud structure should definitely grab something from the broadleaf, but not too much I reckon. Regarding harvest timing, I want to take the plant right to the very edge of my growing season. More often than not, a two week later harvest translates into two weeks extra veg time come late summer. What a large plant can do with a couple extra weeks veg is quite extraordinary. There are always exceptions, but the later flowering plant usually puts up less of a fuss in regards to spring/summer flowering too, this can be a huge problem that Danimal7 speaks of.

Rootwise, excellent posts, I'll get up with you in PM.

Butte, what can I say man, lol, outstanding amigo. Thanks for being here. Great to see such skilled farmers yourself and friends included.

For those of you who did not know, Butte here spares no expense, and knows well the lesson of not stepping over a dollar to pick a dime.

I thought I had seen it all with your outdoor lighting to avoid early flowering but this new toy of yours is too much you'll have to lemme take that SunEye for a test drive one day, it looks quite a few steps up from my rigged solar powered timer, lol. I'll be tending a few and consulting on a few this year. You and yours better have your chops down mango, as I have a few tricks up my sleeve

FarmerBoy, nice garden there friend. I like to use both spray emitters and hose on site. I usually set up a fertigation tank for mixing food (organic) and let fly to the garden from there.

DimaJones, I will also be trying to run some DC clones in a couple of these giant containers this year for giggles and smoke. In the past, I always put DC out in the 3rd/4th week of april, but this was from seed barely sexed and probably too early for clone. My clone transplant dates I have marked for this year are May 17,18,25,26. The DC clone would surely be safe on the later two dates, and maybe even the former - I'd not risk it (unless you can provide inground supplemental lighting like Butte) and transplant it on the 25th.

I guess for many of us the season has already began and we are at least deep into the planning phases, hunting clones, growing mommas, riffling through the old farmers almanac etc. This will be a fun one. -Tom

 

[danimal7]

ok new veg room set up 18/6 and these beans are soaking
shanti/mr nice SSSH x (subcools)jack the ripper

if I take titans haze out of the 24 room and put them in the 18/6 will they flower? or will a sativa dominant strain handle that transition better than a indica?

these beans came from a friend that had a buddy that spent some time with subcool....so the story goes...

 

[sackoweed]

motherfuck!!! I dont need to pull up a chair im floored...

Im speechless... peace.

sackO

 

[Dr_Tre]

Just a quick question folks, do you think you are sacrificing quality for quantity with these monsters?

 

[eugenegreen]

How?
They're all organic... Well most of these guys are.

 

[fisher15]

Hey guys, nice thread!

Agree with everything that's been said on sun, soil (makeup and amt) , genetics. Tom, I saw sativas continue to veg through end of august here at 39 this year as you mentioned. Things got massive, even a little clone put out july1.

Here is a Casey Jones from last years garden. Sativa leaning hybrid that vegged to 3rd week in aug and came down after the 'typhoon'. Didn't get a final weigh-in on her, as the drying lines got mixed. 12'x12 in just a 300g planter.

 

[Dimajones-AICC-]

Thanks Tom for your helpfull info.

Butte, OMG , AWESOME tool indeed!!

 

[fisher15]

Also, plant spacing, centers. Was around 11' last yr. Things got a little tight.. What do you guys think?