[Sleeper7784]

Subbed. Looks like your going to have fun Grow Nerd.

[grow nerd]

Originally Posted by silver hawaiian

..and I thought you might be phoning it in, 'til I saw that item. Good to see a man who's SERIOUS about his work!

Wish that were an option; no one in their right mind would want to work for me.

Originally Posted by Sleeper7784

Subbed. Looks like your going to have fun Grow Nerd.

Not 'til payday :-(

~~~

Got some sites leveled.



I binned the go-cheap idea for fencing and got some T-posts, just like I should. Initially planned on using cheaper stakes: wood, round metal (garden type), and bamboo were options. Getting older, I find I'm doing more and more things the right way the first time around, instead of just knowing the right way and taking shortcuts in practice. Primarily because I've learned from the past that doing it right the first time is a lot cheaper and less work than re-doing it after an incident.

If you look close you'll see the T-post has some yellow clips. Those plastic insulation clips are for holding this:



Hope to run enough power to have some unexpected venison BBQ one day.

[grow nerd]

I'll also be installing some "wildlife netting". Starting from the top of the T-post, it will run down at an angle (instead of straight down), as recommended by some netting manufacturers.



Like this:



Below the plastic clips for the electric wire, will be 2' of poultry netting. If I have enough energy left, I'll bury it a few inches below ground so rodents can't just squeeze under. I imagine that should be sufficient for all types of animals except for the burrowing kind (gophers, moles, etc). I'll have metal mesh under, and maybe also around, the pots for that. Sliced into a bunch of tunnels while leveling some spots today.

[Hanzokan]

Love the title, awesome thread, hope you have a great season!

[grow nerd]

Hanzokan, thanks, and likewise.

~~~

Read up a little on electric fencing containment, and found that this low-grade polywire / polytape doesn't perform as well as regular larger gauge wire (galvanized, stainless, or aluminum), especially over longer distances. The ultra-fine stainless wires cause enough resistance that it will degrade in performance after a relatively short distance, and can easily break or burn out. It does have advantages in that it is higher visibility and arguably easier to install & handle for temporary containment. I think the 1/8 mile polywire was about $15, and roughly the same for 1/4 mile 17ga galvanized wire (which performs much better even in longer distances).

I won't be using wood or otherwise strongly anchored corner posts, so I imagine I won't be able to tension these very tight. Hoping that a relatively loose installation won't cause any shorting issues; I'll be using 2" offset insulation clips (instead of the standard 1/2" or so) just in case.

Based on the reviews / results I've read of the deer & wildlife netting, though, it seems the electric fencing might not even be necessary.

Useful article: How to Choose an Energizer for Your Electric Fence System

Not as simple as I originally thought, especially with dry soil conditions: Deer Exclusion Devices and Deterrent Techniques. Looks like I'll need more wire, possibly tensioned as well.

Pictures & info on some high-end fences @ Intelligent Fencing Systems

After reading about all the different configurations to deter this and that, I'm compelled to scrap the electric fence idea and go with an alternate method. Other than the "peanut butter" design, looks like I'll need plenty more wire, hardware and accessories including possibly wood corner posts for tension so the loose wires don't accidentally short. Search for the "peanut butter" in the Deer Exclusion Devices and Deterrent Techniques paper for more info; it may not work very well with dry surrounding soil.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about transplant shock, root-boundness and maybe a couple of other things I've learned and experienced during this grow.

Tonight, I'll watch YouTube videos on how to fell trees.

[grow nerd]

Been busier than I anticipated.

Hoophouse snapped in multiple places, again. Gave up on half-assed patch repairs and decided to start from scratch with SCH40. This time, took a total loss on some plants. Currently serving as a weight for the light dep cover, at least 'til it dries up.



The below soil pile was from the same plant that got real beat up the last time the hoophouse snapped. I guess it never really recovered, as I found almost no roots outside of its original rootball after pulling up the main stalk.



Also took a total loss on two, possibly three, full-term plants that got beat around by some strong winds. The concrete remesh cage was knocked over along with the plant, which was bent almost 90 degrees on its side. The main stalk was flopping around so loosely at the base of the soil, that I no longer felt comfortable going with those plants. Real unfortunate, as they were my favorites, but the show must go on. I have just enough backups to cover those, but it would have been nice to have extras.

Being root-bound and transplanted on the same day it transitioned to outdoors from 24/0 indoors was a bad start, to begin with. Took a peek down the sides of some other plants that were transplanted a few days earlier as well as avoiding the beating from the hoophouse, and they seemed to be showing some (not too many) roots around the sides. Somewhat of a relief, but they're still not anywhere near as big as I had originally planned / hoped.

Also cut down a few trees that were in the way of my plants getting full sun all day long. Harbor Freight's 14" electric chainsaw held up to the task. Chain slipped off a whole lot of times, I think due to a bad tensioning screw, but got the job done for less than $50 out the door.



I'm pretty beat right now and barely had the motivation to get this post out; I'll talk about some more details and what I learned from this experience soon.

Definitely feeling the punishment and pains of being the lazy, unprepared grasshopper trying to catch up to the ants on the last second.

[grow nerd]

Scrapped the electrified fence idea and installed that deer netting. Gotta look close at the pics to see the installation, but I think I did okay. Found the best price point & height safety compromise on 7-foot T-posts and decided to go with ~6' above ground. About $5 - $5.50 a piece, depending on where you get 'em.



Ran two strands of 17ga galvanized electric fencing wire (~1300' on sale for $15 @ TSC) across 2" offset plastic insulators at the top of the T-post. Then twist-tied the deer netting onto the wire every 3' or so, as well as landscape pins in the dirt about every 4-5 feet. Had no problems maintaining good tension on the wire by hand.

I think I mentioned that I re-did the hoop house. In doing so, the walls got a bit closer to the plants, and the tarp did a bit of damage to some of the buds that were touching... wind, condensation, and all.



So I installed more purlins and used the remaining galvanized wire to make cross hatches in areas to keep the tarp from caving in and touching the plants.

[grow nerd]

Dream Queen:



Label fell out, I forgot:

[grow nerd]

Durban Poison:



Blue Dream:



Mixed:



I keep "forgetting" to take pics of the super pissed off full-term transplants. Although this is about sharing experiences, good and bad, I've been pretty busy and taking time out to get pics of crappy plants that are causing me stress isn't very high on the priority list. But we'll look at 'em, and we'll talk about how they got to be that way. And hopefully I'll learn something valuable in the process. Soon!

[HillBilly1]

I prefer to smack the ugly ones around and talk ditty to em