Need Some Expert Help Planning

[DuskrayTroubador]

Alright, so before I get into my future plan, let me begin by saying that in a little under two weeks I will be harvesting my very first grow, and though I made alot of mistakes and probably won't yield much, I have learned alot and am proud to say that I'm about a month away from smoking some pot that I can call my own. Below are two pics of a Special Queen (Royal Queen Seeds' selfed version of Early Queen) plant that I have going right now.

Anyway, next June I will be relocating to Central Florida and I have a rough outline of a plan for growing down there but I am still a greenhorn and I would appreciate any advice you guys could throw my way.

I will be growing 100% guerrilla, 100% outdoor from seed to harvest. No indoor vegging whatsoever. Due to this, my strain selection is limited to strains that stretch ALOT during flowering and equatorial sativas. My four strains that I want to grow are KC33 (though Brains' refusal to come out with feminized seeds still makes no sense to me, a mutual friend has talked to him twice now and he goes on a whole spiel about going against the will of mother nature and what not), Super Silver Haze, Jack Herer, and Panama Red. The reason I am not trying any indica strains is because any photoperiod responsive strain will begin to flower soon after sprouting and will not veg because there is never above 13 hours or so of daylight. KC33 is the exception because it stretches so much during flower anyway.

Now since I'm going guerrilla, I am inclined to dig holes 18" deep and AT LEAST 3' in diameter, if not more, and use the native soil as my growing medium and use chemical ferts the whole way. The problem is after doing research, I learned that the native soil in central Florida is sandy so I need advice here, is it okay to use the native soil or is it advised that I replace it with store bought soil? If so, what?

Now since I won't be arriving until late June, I will have my seeds germinated by July 1st most likely. Now I'm hoping that since I'm going with equatorial sativas mainly, this will not matter. My theory is that since these strains do all of their growing and stretching in flower, and the weather is warm/sunny enough to sustain growth year round, I could theoretically plant whenever I want and these strains will be ready for harvest in roughly 20 weeks. Is this so? Will having to wait until July to plant hurt me? Is my theory correct that I could plant on any day of the year and the plants will end up fully maturing since they are not photoperiod responsive and lack a veg cycle so to speak? I've had this theory confirmed by a well respected friend of mine on another site, so my question is more along the lines of how much of a difference will planting in July, finishing in January make compared to planting in May, finishing in November?

Tending to my plants will not be a problem, as I will have lots of free time. My biggest question mark however is how much water to give my plants? There is a shit ton of rain in Florida and I know I'm going to have to buy different nutes for rainy weeks. but I was told that the JH and SSH, if they receive enough water and nutes (I just need to know how much/how often as the plant progresses and gets bigger) could yield 2lbs each as a reasonable estimate.

Now that I've pretty much said everything I had to say (though I'm sure I forgot something or some things) I want anyone willing to share their knowledge to poke as many holes in my plan as they can and offer up all constructive criticism and advice they can. I (literally) have my notebook open right next to my computer, pen ready to add to my notes

 

[greennuggets7]

Firstly, congratulations on you first grow, only did onne plant? Even if so woth it in terms of experince.

Secondly i lived in southern florida or a while and at least down there the soil, was literily almost all gray sand. Can't speak for central but if its anything like south you are definately going to have to bring in soil.

Haven't grown any of those strains but one of you priorities is mold resistance, humidity is a bitch during summer months in FL.

Thirdly check your time schedules (sunrise/dusk) to determine when to plant. And planting in June would probably be better than later on because as you say the later you plant the more susceptible to auto flower they will be, and besides june is one of the sunniest months, not that there's any sun less months in florida anyways.

Another thing is you might want to rethink your 2lb monster ideas, as eradication efforts in fl aren't lacking, so pick and choose MULTIPLE spots to guarantee you smoke at the end of the season.

For example might want to do some sites with monsters as you say, then others minis (plant late July/early Aug) to again guarantee.

BTW if you still want to grow monsters consider some staking tying as rain as you said and hurricanes are VERY common especially around August.

Good luck and stay safe, Im not much more experienced than you but i offer what i can help with

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Alrighty, if I can afford it for my first grow down there, I'll be bringing in Miracle Gro. If money is tight, I may just have to go with Scott's soil.

As far as eradication efforts, are they really *that* good? I was thinking anywhere from 1-3 monsters per site, at about 8 different sites and if need be I was going to tie red and yellow silk flowers onto each plant, so that they don't look like MJ plants from above.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Can anyone else offer their advice?

 

[jakeh]

Greennuggets7 is giving solid advice. I've dealt with something similar to what you are about to get into except the soil was clay. What I found was when you alter the native soil you create a magnet for a wide variety of creatures. My early battles were with armadillos who loved the loose miracle gro with moisture crystals that was a combination of coir and peat. As the year progressed my arch enemy #1 was termites. I was at the same latitude as north florida. Towards the end of the year it was all about mold. I would approach this as if I were going to war. You are much better off with a lot of soldiers (minis) than a couple of Hulk Hogans. Lose a mini and it's no big deal. Lose a Hulk and your year just went to crap. Do a combination of both and see what happens. The time of year you are planting is very good. The year I seriously grew to make sure I wasn't going to have to buy anything was an absolute comedy (wasn't that funny at the time) of what could go wrong and did and what went right that shouldn't have (or so I thought). With your soil type your holes are going to be moist year round with water you lug in to your amended soil. Go to home depot or lowes and buy termite stakes. They are pricey but worth their weight in whatever your growing. They are plastic cylinders with holes drilled all around it with bait the termites take back to their colony and you are not poisoning what you smoke. They are self contained and work wonders. I can't believe there is as little information on this site on problems with termites but you are heading into the thick of them. As for armadillos get 2 sizes of conduit and paint them drab green. Take the larger guage and drive it in to where 2-3' are sticking up and stake/cage the plants. If they make drop a taller piece of the smaller painted conduit in the larger guage conduit and you have a nice inconspicuous stake. To deal with mold get several varieties and figure out which one works. GHS white widow worked great for me in a seriously hot, humid damn near swampy environment. GHS himalayan gold was beautiful but a mold trap. I also cheated and used greencure which is great at preventing mold. I got this from Silverback (rip) and it works like a champ.
To sum it up or at least what worked for me:
1. Late planting higher numbers worked best. They need less water, are stealthier, need smaller sized holes or more can fit in a big hole and have a lot less time to get messed with by creatures of various sorts including yourself. My best plant was a white widow I gave to a good friend whose wife left him. It was planted the latest in the shadiest spot (still 5 hours of sun a day) my friend picked out. Because it was my red headed step child and he lived out of town it got the least attention but it doubled what the rest of my plants yielded and was the highest quality plant.
2. Count on some serious losses and try different things to see what works. I buried pots, trash cans, etc.. My best defense against termites and armadillos were caged 5 gallon hempy buckets with coir and perlite at the bottom. The growth rate was phenominal but I was able to get to these and maintain them several times a week.
3. Do not take the temptation of using natures predug hole known as the rotted out tree stump. It saves a lot of labor but is a termite heaven.
4. Plant in some sparsely populated pine or on the southern edge of some pine forrest. It is great cover and having some shade will buy you time if you can't water as much as you like.
5. Keep your sense of humor because you are going to need it. Look at this first year as an education and see what works. You may decide to do what I did and just buy. It is a lot of work but a hell of a lot of fun at the same time and a wonderful hobby that forced me to spend time in the outdoors I otherwise would not have. It's good exercise to. I just had some life changes and a lack of time but not a spring goes by that I don't get an itch to drop a couple of seeds and that was since I was 14-15. Growing pot truly is much more addictive than smoking it.
6. Find some guys in the outdoor growers section that you can tell have been there/done that and not just spouting theory. I stalked Silverback (before his passing) and his old post along with DSToker? I think it was. They told the truth and there is tons of experienced growers that have a lot to offer. You may want to look up DHF. He is an opinionated old fart but speaks nothing but the truth. He is also retired and has done indoor and outdoor in Florida and may have a lot to offer as to why he moved inside.
Best of luck and be careful. Florida takes your hobby very seriously. You do the same and you should do fine. If you want to laugh your ass off read my old posts from my season from hell 2-3 years ago and what all went wrong. I'm a rookie by the standards of many here but even the ones that have done this for 30 plus years learn something new every year.

 

[sso]

hola loba, nice plants