The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[localhero]

To make the pots:

I took 4' wide garden fencing and cut it in half, well actually cut out the middle wire. that made the width of the garden fencing into 20" with @4" of outcropping vertical wire. that worked well cus the soil height i wanted was 18" and that left 2 inches extra. Bonus was that I found a roll of 40" wide burlap. so i wrapped the burlap twice around the garden fencing threading the loose wires of the garden fencing through the ends of each side of the burlap. that made a perfect tight fit. the leftover wire ends i used to stake the pot into the ground.

I dunno, sometimes things just work out perfectly without perfect planning and this was one of those times. credit goes to this forum and tom for inspiring me to make my own. i forget who mentioned a large improvement on diy pots was to wrap them in burlap to insulate them, but that was the reasoning to use burlap.

heres a pic with the un put together pot where u can see wire ends protruding from the bottom.

peace

 

[scarred4life]

thanks for the great advice, nomaad.

I noticed that a lot of growers are using the open-bottomed pots...
any problems with gophers?

I was talking to someone in the same environment as me who uses plywood under each pot because of gophers. Does anyone think wood might rot or something and affect the roots? I know the thread already has some discussion of open- vs. closed-bottomed pots, but would burlap really stop a gopher?

(btw, i posted my previous strain question as a thread in the growing outdoors section if anyone wants to save it from being obscured by a lot of way cooler threads.)

 

[mister c]

Anyone ever run Jillybean outside?

i have ran blue dream and jilly both inside for a while now, and jilly has a lot of blue dreamish traits....even bigger yield for me too plus smells like apple pie.. Seems like she would do outstanding in the great outdoors?

 

[localhero]

im not running burlap under the pots. no gopher issues here. if there were then id just line the bottom of the container with gopher wire or chicken wire. i wouldnt put plywood under your plants, they use glue to glue that together. besides being really expensive and heavy, wood would not only rot away and prevent proper drainage but also as it composts will steal nitrogen from your soil.

 

[slmndl]

Local Hero
Um what do you need "supplemental lighting" for? I'm confused. I am doing my
first grow and its outdoors. I was going to keep the plants in giant containers, not
inground. Can I do that?

 

[localhero]

slmndl,

supplemental lighting is used because sometimes, when you put your plants outside after vegging indoors they will prematurely flower due to the difference in lighting time between lets say 18/6 20/4 24/0 indoors to outdoors from may to june 21. when they prematurely flower it takes the plant time to figure out that the daylight is getting longer every day to eventually go back to veg. its that loss of time that you try to avoid with supplemental lighting outdoors. so for me im gonna run my sup lighting from 330 am to daylight.

 

[scarred4life]

gopher wire sounds like the way to go, localhero!

all your questions are answered in the preceding pages, slmndl. read em all, there's really useful stuff throughout

 

[slmndl]

thanks LH
Oh-so that's why my seedlings started to preflower so early! They seem to be doing
okay outside..I'm too lazy to do the outdoor lighting, but thank you for explaining.
Can I just grow in HUGE pots? Nothing in ground? Or is that too limiting for the girls to
grow to their potential?
S

 

[scarred4life]

You may not grow in big burlap pots
You may not use supplemental what nots
Tom Hill’s way mightn’t work for you
Shall I read this thread? What shall I do?

 

[localhero]

You may not grow in big burlap pots
You may not use supplemental what nots
Tom Hill’s way mightn’t work for you
Shall I read this thread? What shall I do?

I may grow in big burlap pots
with crazy ghetto made supplemental what not-nots
Tom Hills way might work for me
Watch my progress, you will see

 

[nomaad]

any problems with gophers?

I was talking to someone in the same environment as me who uses plywood under each pot because of gophers. Does anyone think wood might rot or something and affect the roots? I know the thread already has some discussion of open- vs. closed-bottomed pots, but would burlap really stop a gopher?

No plywood. Glues, mold treatments. Yuck. I have gophers. Rusty metal cages are kinda nasty to deal with down the line. I love my smartpots. Versatile.

Anyone ever run Jillybean outside?

If she shares with Blue Dream; vigorous growth and wide branching from every node, narrow leaves that allow great light penetration and a comparable yield, I say run'er outside and you will probably be happy. I am a rook compared to the other guys here, but this is my rule for the big pots.

im not running burlap under the pots. no gopher issues here. if there were then id just line the bottom of the container with gopher wire or chicken wire. i wouldnt put plywood under your plants, they use glue to glue that together. besides being really expensive and heavy, wood would not only rot away and prevent proper drainage but also as it composts will steal nitrogen from your soil.

Dude.,.. your pots are so well done that I thought u used some kind of rigid brown mat (kinda like a mat made out of coco or something) just stood up on its own. Well done. Clean operations are nice.

I may grow in big burlap pots
with crazy ghetto made supplemental what not-nots
Tom Hills way might work for me
Watch my progress, you will see

I think the post this responds to was not directed toward you. You may already know this and I am just confused.

What's the capacity on your pots... sure you've said, but I missed it. 10 foot spacing? Looking good, man.

 

[growinup]

Nomad how big are the smartpots your rockin? Have you used em before? I have always used 4x4x2 pots with chicken wire and wood. But smartpots look sick and easy to use. Just fill1/4 full in quad trailer and pull to spot bam! Airpruning revolution!

 

[localhero]

nomaad,

the pots, the capacity is varied. some i dug down 8 inches or so underneath, others i just turned the ground underneath with a pickaxe. they range from 120 to 160 gallons. both pickaxing and digging are crappy jobs when youre tall. I like neither and every job i had as a kid when i had to do anything with a long handle i would do super fast to get it over with. that made me the go-to guy for getting digging and sweeping done lol. oh yeah i have no idea who he was refering to i just thought i would add to it. Internets are funny that way. sometimes LOL! means youre bein clowned, and sometimes it doesnt.

and thanks for the props man, they were fun to make.

 

[nomaad]

I am using 200's for most of my big plants. I am a proud owner of a dozen 300 gallon pots that will be used wherever I have a 15' diameter spot. Your 2 foot depth is a little deep for what I have come to understand as optimal. Many of the growers here either build their own or order custom smartpots that are 18" deep and however wide the gallon capacity requires. Its a little late in the season to get customs in time, but you can get a custom 200 (more or less) by turning down 6 inches on a standard 300. You can probably read this elsewhere in the thread, but the idea is that the wider your pot, the wider your plant will grow... width is a heavier factor than height in determining the weight of the plant.

Check out my 09 grow in the 200 smarties (linked in my sig) and if you haven't already, read this thread, cover to cover.

 

[localhero]

yeah man i wish i could go wider that 3 1/2' ft diameter pots, but my spacing wont allow it. theyre 8' to 7' apart. with 16' centers I'd only get maybe 5 plants out in that yard. if anything were to happen to any plants at that low a count id be devastated. this is the compromise i came up with. the soil height is 18" above ground level. I had extra ammended soil leftover and decided id use it all, thats why i dug deeper on some pots. mostly the pots that get the most sun. if it helps, it helps if not whatever. yeah nomaad i saw your first thread when you first started. we were both looking for property the same time i think. i remember that line about getting up at 7am to beat the rush.

 

[nomaad]

LOL. I found a great rental, but its in danger of being rendered illegal to grow on by the county's cultivation ordinance... if it ever passes. She has been good to me and I have made a lot of improvements... it would be sad to not grow here. It was a real sign from the universe that my intentions were in line when this place came through for me. We are blessed.

Sorry I don't know off the top of my head what strains your running, but with that much dirt, something like the Blue Dream is going to need every inch of that 7' spacing, I think.

 

[localhero]

My strains are many:

Banana Kush
Hindu Kush
Bullrider OG
OG
Chem 91
OG 2 (different source)
Pineapple dogshit
sfvog
Silver Buddha (thai x ssh)
****** OG
Tahoe OG

Ive had the worst luck with getting legit fire og clones, Avoid briskeezy lol. first attempt the disp called me back and told me theyd replace the "fire OG" clones they gave me because they found they were really trainwreck. that worked out well because a grower for them hooked me up with his bullrider/chem 91 and og cuts. he ran out of room in veg and I got super lucky.

as far as being similar to blue dream, probably the thai haze cross. looove that plant holy shit its the frostiest best bud ive grown so far, and it grows like a maniac. Inside ive had to super crop the tops and thats after topping it four times. I grew it outdoor last summer put out in august. although the outdoor version of the silver buddha is better smoking and more potent than its indoor sister, it just didnt look that great. very golden when cured. now i dont know if thats because i seriously abused her outdoors putting her out so late without a clue about how to do outdoors properly or what. Indoors she looks fantastic and with co2 gets much bigger buds. very land racey in appearance. thin leaves. and man the bubble off her made me feel like i was in the beginning of a shroom trip, too much even gave me a panic attack. got her via free seed through a grow class at a dispensary in venice. no one wanted their thai x ssh seed packs so i nabbed up like 30 of them. only one popped and thats my girl. If anyone knows what thai crossed with ssh is called let me know, ive named it Silver Buddha.

Ive been really lucky with this rental so far. Unfortunately I'm stuck in LA for this because of school. its been 10 years since i left and its time to finish. A grower friend of mine living in Ukiah is looking out for property to get for me after the summer but I'm not sure if ill be able to make it out there. Be nice to have some land though. I wish I could buy up acreage on the west side mar vista to topanga canyon lol. whatever im very happy with where i am and have learned what a property truly requires to make it growable.

If i need to mod out a big wheel to get around my garden because theres no room to walk, then I'll chalk that up to a good problem.

heres a pic of the Silver Buddha:

 

[nomaad]

If i need to mod out a big wheel to get around my garden because theres no room to walk, then I'll chalk that up to a good problem.

Please oh please do this.

Silver Buddha looks nice.

 

[Dr. Purpur]

Nice Plant Bro!

 

[pinkskunk]

bump!