The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[bamboogardner]

Having more organic matter will help the soil hold Nitrogen and other nutrients. Like Backyard said you don't want to mix the two if the worm farm soil is near ideal.

Yes, Agreed. I was thinking of mixing the soils together so I ended up with one soil mix. But you are right. Why ruin the Worm Farm soil amending it. It is already dialed in. So with that said, all I have to do is to amend the VermiFire now and get it up to par and have it tested again. So based on the Vermi Soil Report, what would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[Cep]

Bamboo,

Page 3 of that report gives you all the instruction you need for the vermifire. I don't have any experience with the worm farm, but some knowledgeable guys on this thread do. I would love to see the analysis on it though.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Hey folks, looking good in here. Can't wait to see what 2014 brings to everyone. We are in a new location, not as much water as the last place but I have pge so that will be nice. Keeping it mellow this year till the rains come back. I think that in my area they are going to be busting anyone that's using a ton of h2o so we're going to get in and out with some deps and then focus on indoor until 2015 season. Best of luck to you all!

Hope you have a better year than last year.

One deep until I die!

 

[tommy1984]

Hey all you jumbo sized plant growers! I am looking for a couple strain suggestions to go with my Blue Dream. Looking for something that does VERY well out doors but the end product leaves people saying "OMG that was one of the best strains Ive ever smoked!"

I got that reaction from EVERY ONE last year when I grew out some sour kush AKA head band, but the yield was crap, only 4-6 oz per plant in a 100 gal hole.. they complemented on the taste and the high. We are out east so they are use to the Mexican swag that's 2-4 years old and been through dozens of hands before making it to their local dealer..

Oh and it would be nice if your recommendations were available in seed form.. Thought about grabbing some green crack to run with the BD but I wanted to ask you big plant growers for some advise first.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

good to see ya back z-ro! I'm also getting back into indoor seriously to hedge against any OD issues with water, although i have a pretty solid game plan with the water usage this year. a bunch of homies upgraded their greenhouse game serious this year, only concern is late storms means more rain during the early summer that might create low light/high humidity which is bad for GH but we shall see!

tommy something that grows/yields like BD but produces quality like a headband is what we are all looking for! I've seen some promising plants out of OG hybrids from various breeders, seed vigor is important when growing lower yielding, less vigorous clone only OG cuts. plus if you're on the east coast usually means you have a shorter flower time so a 70 day chemdawg OG hybrid is not gonna finish properly. maybe try the master/bubba kush family they usually finish pretty early, aeroG is in maine and is able to harvest his LVPK (purple kush but very similar to bubba) before the snow and hit 2 lb per pot usually.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

After talking shit on black out for years I am going all in and doing one nicely...

Any one use forever flowerings breathable wall? I was going to do steel end walls and mount my intake and exhaust through the end walls and will get their kits to make my life easy.

I was thinking 1kw per bed.

4x4 beds

What strains are people doing in blackouts nowadays?

I was thinking animal cookies..

 

[Dr. Purpur]

something that grows/yields like BD but produces quality like a headband is what we are all looking for!

I had a Male Headband from a S1 last year. I hit the GG4 plant with it. PF is the only one that grew any of the seeds so far.

GG4 x Headband S1

 

[furrywall11]

@Backyard -- Yeah I used two of those last year - intake and exhaust. They work well but, they are of course pretty pricey. And their customer service is really bad.

 

[Endur]

After talking shit on black out for years I am going all in and doing one nicely...

Any one use forever flowerings breathable wall? I was going to do steel end walls and mount my intake and exhaust through the end walls and will get their kits to make my life easy.

I was thinking 1kw per bed.

4x4 beds

What strains are people doing in blackouts nowadays?

I was thinking animal cookies..

Yo, BF

I would recommend light dep some, Cherry Pie, Cookies (Forum or Animal) GDP. CP does spectacular in Light Dep.....

That's my plan, anyways....plus probably throw some others in, but not 100% sure just yet.

Endur

 

[Backyard Farmer]

@Backyard -- Yeah I used two of those last year - intake and exhaust. They work well but, they are of course pretty pricey. And their customer service is really bad.

What did you need customer service for? Seems pretty straight forward to install and use.


Did it take a while to ship to you?

 

[HorseMouth]

On the Light Dep query from Backyard Farmer. Thank you for not talking shit on Black out anymore, you will enjoy the success and the promptness of Light Dep. like no other Outdoor before.

The main thing to remember with light Dep is that you will not get the months of veg time during the summer months so you MUST pre grow huge veg plants before they ever hit the ground.

First off, what day are you planning on harvesting? There is a Full moon on Sept 9th and August 10th. Can you get close to harvesting on one of those dates?

Do not grow something silly like GSC where the smaller harvest weight will be glaring in a Black Box scenario. Use your main Cash croppers, (I use Headband) as they have a better shot of making real use of the summer sun to put on weight.

Temper your expectations if this is your first year Light Dep'ing. Success in this realm is not dictated by weight, but by speed. Example, this year, I am trying to harvest in July, Aug and Sept. all light dep greenhouses, and I'm trying to average 2 lbs a plant.

There are so many advantages to the Light dep program, very few larfy buds, much quicker finish time (summer full sun seems to not drag out finishing weeks), holding weight when no one else has anything to speak of, etc. Plus it will help make you a better grower with another technic in your holster.

There's more, but I'm off the work. I wish there was a Light Dep. Forum, and I could be a moderator. I would expound much more on what I've learned.

I base so much work off Thomas Jefferson who used to hold a 'Pea contest' in which his group would have a contest to see who could have a big bowl of perfect Peas' first in the early summer. What I would give to live in Monte Cello and grow giant Ganja plants under the auspices of T.J.

Good luck

Peace

 

[milkyjoe]

There's more, but I'm off the work. I wish there was a Light Dep. Forum, and I could be a moderator. I would expound much more on what I've learned.




Peace

Please expound here. I, for one, would love to hear what you have to say. Holding a few pounds in the early fall would not be a bad thing at all. Plus, I assume quality can be most excellent when you finish with 12 hours of sunlight. 2 lb plants is honestly twice what I was anticipating so that makes me

 

[furrywall11]

What did you need customer service for? Seems pretty straight forward to install and use.


Did it take a while to ship to you?

yeah, basically. i had ordered a lot of things and time was an issue and i didn't get things even close to their promised dates. they also seem kind of confused and scattered... i'm sure someone is going to chime in now and say they bought a 250k auto greenhouse from them and they helped them every step of the way but, whatever. probably not a good idea to order from them if you're in a hurry. the breathable wall is very easy to install.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Right on.

I'm not dying to have it yesterday, but I do want to have it at the same time I'm done building my auto dep.. so I will just go ahead and order it now because you gave me the heads up.

Horsemouth, great post. I can't wait till you expound on it. Big up!

My plan looks something like this , the structure will be 22 x 48 ... I am building the end walls out of corrugated steel to make blacking out easier and provide better mounting for my intake/exhaust system.

The main cover will be woven IRAC poly.

I am installing 2x 6700 CFM exhaust fans and 2x 5400 CFM motorized intake shutters. 4x 6400 CFM Air Circulating HAF fans.

The ridge vent will manually open on a rack and pinion system and the sides will roll up.

The black out fabric will be breathable 4 Layer and on a motorized track system.

I plan on using 1 1000W Gavita DE or e-Papillion per 4x4 bed and putting 4 plants per 4x4. I figured 18 beds would fit nicely in the space.

I was looking to just treat it like an indoor and plant teens in to the beds, turn the 1kW lights on , veg in the beds @ 18-20 Hrs & use the black out to stop light pollution and then set the black out to flower and lights to 12 hours.

May planting , veg till June and start the flowering. Replant in August and use the lights to extend the vegetative period and flower through the end of October using the lights.

Is any one using hydronic heating? I want to be able to rock this thing in the winter because it is a major investment in infrastructure.

In winter I planned to run the lights full time , double plastic the body ...the green house will be equipped with a propane furnace I have just read that if you heat the floor you don't have to heat the air as much.

 

[Primalraindrop]

@backyard farmer Please look into Rocket Mass Heaters. I think it would compliment your scenario well. for the winter. if you are pulling plastic stoke the fire. The heat from the mass lasts long enough that it should be fine thru the night. The only thing is you need to plan ahead. Best of Luck!

 

[Cep]

Horsemouth, spill your mind into this thread!

I've read that pulling tarp in the evening only is less ideal than pulling in the morning and evening. Any experience on evening only deps and potential problems with covering at, say 6 or 7pm, then uncovering at 10pm for the rest of the night?

 

[ponobegone]

do any of you deppers take your clear plastic off around june when it starts heating up good during the day? my deps are going to be small enuff for 1 person to pull tarp easily. they have to be low cost and easy tear down, this is the last season for this spot. awesome post horsemouth

 

[furrywall11]

I'm looking to get my well water tested for minerals/contaminants. Anyone know of a good place in Norcal or mail away?

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Fruit Grower Labs

Big up Horse Mouth ...

Thanks for talking me out of doing something dumb like growing Animal Cookies. I'm going to put something in there that will be big and give me a large # of units when the market is up.

 

[HorseMouth]

From Light Dep'ing in Nor. Cal and Oregon here's where I think the double pull is key.

If you have any sort of moisture level above 50% I recommend pulling your tarp closed at 7:30 pm, waiting until dusk is over and taking your tarp off. Then get up early (4:30 am) and pull your tarp closed until 7:30 am and then take it off.

Where I live in the Desert, I can safely leave the tarp on all night without the fear of mold and other over waterlogged issues.

Light Dep is really about cutting off Dusk and Dawn and having no fear about the regular night time conditions. I do have a fellow Light Dep grower that Pulls his Tarp super early in the evening (5:30 pm) then uncovers it at 10 pm and leaves it off for the rest of the night. So he doesn't have a mold/wetness issue and doesn't have to mess with it early in the AM. With this method, he hasn't pulled over 1 lb. plants yet, but he has only been at it for 2 years, and I feel that if his starting plant size was bigger he'd have more success.

As for Tarps, Where I live there is a store called Big R, and this store is predominantly for farming gear. They have a Hay storage Tarp that is woven and has a dual layer that I can't find anywhere else. It breathes and blocks off the UV and most sunlight. All the farmers around me use it exclusively in the Late fall and winter, and does a great job for both Hay storage and Ganja Light Dep.

Other thoughts. Longest day of the year is June 21st, so Pulling a tarp on June 1st gets your plants 6 weeks of the most sunlight of the year during their budding cycle and frees up that greenhouse/space to replant on or before Aug. 1st. Once you get that second crop in, you really only have to pull a tarp for 2 weeks, because by Aug 14th something pushed into budding isn't reVegging. That gives you some leeway with dealing with mold/wetness when it counts in late Aug. and Sept.

Also, I don't expect to get 2 lb plants on my late July harvest, but I do expect to get more then that on my late August and sept. harvest, so it's an average of 2 lbs. I'm shooting for.

I don't like having clear plastic AND a Tarp on the green house simultaneously, it seems to throw off the moisture content and adds mold/mildew where the two products touch during the night. For me, it's all about the Temp. of the soil and how are the Roots doing in May, so a couple layers of straw goes a long way.

Peace