WTF....Is ANYONE on the mid-atlantic getting a decent harvest this year?

[darkstar12]

So thanks to Hurricane Irene, torrential rain, blight (in spite of valiant attempts at holding it off with LC), and than finally mold, I was forced to cut down most of my crop (anticipated harvest between 3-5 lbs) a couple of weeks ago. This is destined for bubble hash, and I may get a half pound of that if I am lucky. I still have a few plants outside that have at least another 3 weeks to go, but with rain forecast everyday for pretty much the next week, I suspect what I have left will be turned into hash also.

This morning I also helped someone harvest ALL of his crop that was still 2-3 weeks from finishing and had a substantial amount of mold on it also. He will also be hashing out.

We are both experienced outdoor growers, with over 25-30 years combined experience between the two of us and we have both never seen such a horrible year. Typically I bring in a least two lbs a year outdoor, this other guy I know rages and brings in much more. This year it is likely that all we are getting is hash.

Strains that usually flower starting the first week in august not starting until the end of august, first of september, torrential rain, mold, all we are missing are locusts!

Next year will definitely be running autoflowers or short season strains only, and will be saving the quality genes for indoor use only.

So, is anyone here that is in the midatlantic region going to be bringing in anything close to what they thought they would be?

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Im right there with you darkstar. Count me in as having the worst growing year in so many years that i cant remember. About 5 years ago there was a hurrican that killed my whole crop about 3- 4 weeks from finish but i probably got more pot that year than i will this year.

Like you, controlling the blight was a failure. Its taken 1/2 or more of my crop. Every plant has buds from mid plant up, but nothing on the bottom half of the plant. Bare. It outright killed 5 plants with me spraying them.

I lost 4 more of my biggest, healthies plants to a thunderstorm spawned by the hurricane that had an 80mph gust. I stake my plants with a 5' piece of 1/2" rebar and it broke the plants over where the top tie was. Nothing can protect plants at that wind speed. My buddy rushed out and put a 2nd stake on his and it broke the branches from the main stem.


Ive been growing sensi star indoors and outdoors every single year since 1999. Ive grown probably 35 packs or more and i know the strain and every pheno and aspect of the strain inside and out. Every star plant i have, began to flower this year a full week to 10 days later than ever before, but whats worse, theyre rate or pace of building flowers is at a much slower rate. Every year, on Sept 30, im considering harvest in the next week or so. This year, they arent even 1/2 done and it will be Oct 20 before theyre ready.

I have 20 + years of good notes and depending on the moon and temperatures, theyve finished earlier some years than others, but in all years for the past 30+ years, my plants have started flowering Aug 1. NOt this year.

I quit growing strains that mould years ago so that hasnt been an issue for me in years. But i feel your pain

Sensi star, Maple leaf indica and Flo darkstar. All are top quality with decent yields and a late sept finish. Legendary and wont succumb to mould.

 

[Mr.Fiskars]

I don't have any plants outdoors, but I hear you guys on the blight. It totally ruined my neighbors and my vegetable garden. It came on really fast and hard, so fast, it was pretty much untreatable. I feel for ALL you outdoor guerillas who had a bad season.
tomatoes?? nope.

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Right on Mr. Fiskars. My tomatoe patch was prize winning until mid july when it was shot to hell. It came on the tomatoes and actually the whole enviroment like gang busters and was as you say, practically uncontrollable. My tomatoes are small and puny - that is the ones that didnt have end rot. They not only had blight, but several other wonderful funguses. Pot and maters are getting hard to grow here.

I saw a case on another site where the guy had his plants in amongst his tomatoe plants. He posted the question as to what was wrong and i pointed out the tomatoe plants in the picture that were devestated. He's no longer growing his weed with his tomatoes

 

[sutra1]

Got MLI, PCK, and Mandala's Speed (dunno why she is named Speed Queen, anything but speedy) Queen in ground. No mold on the in-grounders, much on the MLI in containers. Really wet August & September with four days of rain predicted this week here in the hills of North NJ. Tomato's? Irene killed them off.................

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

And I guess this is the life of a farmer, some good years, some excellent years, some bad. Each year has its own set of challenges, pretty cool the way mother nature works. Imagine the hard ships of the men and women who depended on a good year to grow enough food crops to get them through the winter.

On that note I had to pull some outdoor buds 2 weeks early, due to mold, so I would concur that this year was a sub par season for sure.

 

[KSP]

The jury is still out for me, although I'm not completely confident of having my usual results. The combination of Irene\Katia and Lee have kept this part of the interior cool and wet. My strains don't come down until the first of November or so, and so far no mold; mine are fairly resistant to mold anyway. Just worried about diminished returns because of all of the cloudy days. That and the Oscar Meyer Air Force was out in force this past weekend. Hopefully the weather keeps the bacon grounded.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[Claude Hopper]

It was a bad blight year here for tomatoes. The indica's I had out and the Female Seeds Purple Maroc got hit pretty hard by blight.

Not every thing was hit hard though, my Danish sativas fared very well as did my Paradise Seeds Vertigo and my cross of Vertigo and HFH Hashplant. They just had a few spots.

 

[Nondual]

A friend on Long Island said outdoor grows got hammered this year and virtually no one did, or is doing, well. Looks like 5 days of rains coming and people are chopping what's left early. If people don't the coming rain will destroy what's left.

 

[Strainhunter]

OP I wonder if you have been asking yourself how Florida outdoor growers do it...

They got the rains all summer plus high temps and humidity.

 

[darkstar12]

OP I wonder if you have been asking yourself how Florida outdoor growers do it...

They got the rains all summer plus high temps and humidity.

Strainhunter, any suggestions? I actually was wondering that, or at least something similar. I was watching a National Geographic show on cannabis and it showed the greenhouse seeds guy traveling to equatorial areas (lots of rain and high humidity) and was wondering how they do it.

This is the first year in 15 years where my almost entire harvest will go to making hash, and I am not looking for a repeat of this, thats why I am thinking autoflowers or proven short season strains (i.e. ready or almost ready by sept. 10th at the latest). They don't have to be connissuier strains, as they are reserved for my indoor grow, but they do have to be smokable with a good flavor and halfway decent stone.

 

[Mr.Fiskars]

Right on Mr. Fiskars. My tomatoe patch was prize winning until mid july when it was shot to hell. It came on the tomatoes and actually the whole enviroment like gang busters and was as you say, practically uncontrollable. My tomatoes are small and puny - that is the ones that didnt have end rot. They not only had blight, but several other wonderful funguses. Pot and maters are getting hard to grow here.

I saw a case on another site where the guy had his plants in amongst his tomatoe plants. He posted the question as to what was wrong and i pointed out the tomatoe plants in the picture that were devestated. He's no longer growing his weed with his tomatoes

Did your tomatoes also have really thick skins D.S.? Mine were pretty thick skinned and they seemed to take a really long time to ripen up. I have 1 plant left, half blighted and half alive, still throwing flowers even, but it still has 2 dozen green tomatoes on it that are very slowly ripening..they do taste pretty good though!

 

[Strainhunter]

Strainhunter, any suggestions? I actually was wondering that, or at least something similar.

.........

Not an opinion but from (although past) experience:

Use late flowering Sativa strains.
Those which finish well after the rains have stopped for the year.

Personally while I was growing in FL I had GREAT results with G13 Labs "Power Skunk".
They get about 25' tall and yield 4 to 5lbs each, VERY easy to grow, practically "idiot proof".
Get two bags of composted cow manure from Walmart, dig a hole in ANY ground (sand or not) and plant the sexed seedlings in there, then pretty much forget about them besides watering if you have to.

Good stuff, very resinous and not that fluffy neither.

I can't link to it since it is a non Seedboutique breeder. Just Google "g13 labs power skunk" and check out the very 1st result.

 

[Rob547]

Ive been growing sensi star indoors and outdoors every single year since 1999. Ive grown probably 35 packs or more and i know the strain and every pheno and aspect of the strain inside and out. Every star plant i have, began to flower this year a full week to 10 days later than ever before, but whats worse, theyre rate or pace of building flowers is at a much slower rate. Every year, on Sept 30, im considering harvest in the next week or so. This year, they arent even 1/2 done and it will be Oct 20 before theyre ready.

Yeah man, any thoughts as to why that has come to be this year?? I don't even have buds yet up here, previous years I'd be looking to harvest in about 3 weeks from now (latest).... Same strain here too. I'd like to be optimistic and say maybe the weather will hold out til Nov, but I'm not much a betting man LOL

-going back and checking, my avatar pic is from 9/10/08, fuck. Harvested 9/26, due to rain but hardly early

 

[guest121295]

Nearly every outdoor diesel I know of is rotting to shit already and the cut doesn't finish until Halloween where I'm at.The people I gave the cuts to are crying to me as if I did something wrong...the seedstock I gave out is also very late.That hurricaine came through and salt misted the whole place, half the pine trees have brown needles and tons of trees have no leaves.I did my "outdoor" grow in an old bathroom, growing as close to the ocean as I am is a crapshoot at best.Anyway, you guys are not alone and the NE is a long ass way from Fla, another world of mold and mildew, when the temps hit 55 at night and the dew sets in I don't care what you're running you cross your fingers and when the ground is wet there's heavy dew everynight...I'm sorry for the losses you guys are sustaining, soo much work for hash is such a shame!

 

[bagend12]

Im in the same exact boat. Every plant except for two sour life savers has been pulled down and is destined for making hash, a couple tops were salvageable, but out of 8 plants pulled down Im looking at maybe 2 z's worth of weed that is not ripe.

I still have two plants left that are about 3-4 weeks from finishing. I have not been able to check on the for the past week, and with 4 inches of rain expected this weekend in my area, and no sun expected until friday, these will doubtless become mold ridden also, even so I am just going to let them go till mid october in the hopes of squeezing out a couple ounces of non-moldy buds.

Strangely enough these plants did not really start flowering until the end of august, very late IMO.

It is not just us ganja growers either, many of the small organic farms around me have flooded fields full of rotting vegetables. Usually there are several roadside stands near me selling fresh, organically grown vegetables, this year there is no one selling anything.

Best thing that can be said is that when you factor in the amount of money I spent on soil, stuff to keep leaf blight at bay, and a new set of 5 gallon bubble bags specifically for this year I will probably end up breaking even, barely.

This is the most fucked up year for growing I have seen for awhile. You can add me to the list of someone who will be planting a ton autoflowers and shortseason varieties next year.

While I would like to go the long season sativa route that strainhunter suggested, Im not sure that would make it through blight, hunters, and LEO choppers.

 

[Wascally Wabbit]

NO harvest here buddy. Due to Irene and company -.- The farmer cut the corn. 5-7 lbs of white widow all gone.

 

[Good_KarmA]

Not an opinion but from (although past) experience:

Use late flowering Sativa strains.
Those which finish well after the rains have stopped for the year.

Personally while I was growing in FL I had GREAT results with G13 Labs "Power Skunk".
They get about 25' tall and yield 4 to 5lbs each, VERY easy to grow, practically "idiot proof".
Get two bags of composted cow manure from Walmart, dig a hole in ANY ground (sand or not) and plant the sexed seedlings in there, then pretty much forget about them besides watering if you have to.

Good stuff, very resinous and not that fluffy neither.

I can't link to it since it is a non Seedboutique breeder. Just Google "g13 labs power skunk" and check out the very 1st result.

I'll check that out! Thx for the recommendation.

 

[warthog]

yep irene fucked me.. i would have had the best harvest yet too.. controled pests, mould, mildew, even the dreaded blight... but fuck if i was gunna know that we would get the worst floods seen in years and my spot is definitely a flood zone( not terrible but enough to cause my plants to have oxygen lock outs)

next year ill beat the floods... smart pots on pallets!

 

[mad librettist]

if you got salted try to find some salsola soda to grow. Very tasty and removes all the sodium