Colorado Greenhouse 9300' (Seasonal and Year-around)

[blvd420]

nice grow, iv ben watching u and learning for about a month now, i like everything from your construction skills to strains. i live on a mnt top,were winds get around 70-80mph a few times a year. my brothers in college in colorado.haha good luck this winter ill be watching

 

[highcountrygrow]

nice grow, iv ben watching u and learning for about a month now, i like everything from your construction skills to strains. i live on a mnt top,were winds get around 70-80mph a few times a year. my brothers in college in colorado.haha good luck this winter ill be watching

big ups! Glad someone is checking it out! Keep learning and burning brother

 

[JackStrat]

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=63091&pictureid=1503752View Image https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=63091&pictureid=1503753View Image https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=63091&pictureid=1503754View Image https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=63091&pictureid=1503755View Image https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=63091&pictureid=1503756View Image

Question, if I may;

That basic plant size, width and height and habit, I think, what I am looking to do given my space and resources would work. Working on budget, square feet to allow per plant, yield.

As a starting point, (kush's yes?) what should I allow space wise and expect, on average, for weight yield and crop time? Would be growing under 8 mm poly carb sheeting. We're thinking 6 weeks veg 8 flower???

Thanks!

 

[highcountrygrow]

Question, if I may;

That basic plant size, width and height and habit, I think, what I am looking to do given my space and resources would work. Working on budget, square feet to allow per plant, yield.

As a starting point, (kush's yes?) what should I allow space wise and expect, on average, for weight yield and crop time? Would be growing under 8 mm poly carb sheeting. We're thinking 6 weeks veg 8 flower???

Thanks!

are you talking summer season? when are you putting plants out if so? Hard to say exact numbers but if you getting 15per 250q ft thats pretty good. id allow a 5 x 5 of space atlas per plant in 35 gal-65 gal. a lot of factors though go into determining the final product.

 

[highcountrygrow]

Hello all, been a minute since and update! I still have another passion that I continue to allot much of my time in the winter months.... skiing! So hence why I've taken a break from my updates. Although, I have not taken a break from my usual duties in the Gardens. My focus has been on my indoor rooms, as I rebuilt them this summer and Im still dialing them in. But my break on the GH growing is about to come to an end. I will be filling up my 2 custom built year-around GH's upon my return from yet another ski trip on Feb 21st. Should be running some Skywalker OG, Blackberry Kush, and possibly some Chem Dogs. (still figuring out what I want for this spring round)

I will post some pictures in the next week as i start to bring the sleeping GH's back to life.
Should be pretty easy b/c they are already getting up to 90F during the day with NO power input just pure solar radiation and thermal mass.

 

[who dat is]

Nice, pics or it didn't happen. Both skiing and greenhouses.

I was just at Monarch this past weekend. Awesome snow to be had on their hike to terrain, really good. It was a nice change of pace from the typical Summit County experience.

 

[breakersix]

I used to just do super soil organics with my personal compost tee mixture, but about a year ago I moved towards doing a similar 60% coco 40 % roots original with mykos, biolive, azos, glacial rock dust, langbeinite, and a few more innoculants. And now I do just a couple compost teas throughtout flower and I use Kind botanicares base and bloom with rock resinator and liquid calcium from nectar of the gods. Also throw in some liquid karma. The results have been phenominal the past couple harvests.
Indoors are harvests double to consistently hitting 1.5lbs/1000W at ambient CO2 levels. And im excited about what this regimen will produce in my greenhouses this year.

Is your second medium mix still considered 100% organic?

Thanks for all your time.

 

[highcountrygrow]

soil mix is organic
the nutrient regimen includes salts and some organics (compost teas every3 wks, and i add liquid kharma, super thrive in veg/after transplant, and a few other misc additives)

 

[gorilla ganja]

Great thread, glad I stumbled across it. Thanks for sharing.

Would love to hear more about your breeding and what you have on the go for fast/high altitude strains.

Peace GG

 

[breakersix]

Thanks, man. GL.

 

[highcountrygrow]

Great thread, glad I stumbled across it. Thanks for sharing.

Would love to hear more about your breeding and what you have on the go for fast/high altitude strains.

Peace GG

In my experience (about 400 hundred cultivars outside/GH) early flowering and short flowering timed strains will usually perform the best with a short season harsh climate. With the GH environment you are able to grow a greater variety of strains as you can control the environment similar to an indoor setup. light deprivation can allow you the ability to have success with strains that would normally not flower until later in the season. Also strains that are resilient against PM are always a must at least hear in Colorado.

If you are trying to do straight outside i recommend short flowering kush/indica varieties. They tend to be more cold/harsh climate capable and will still produce a quality end product.

I can go into more detail just message me with any questions

 

[breakersix]

soil mix is organic
the nutrient regimen includes salts and some organics (compost teas every3 wks, and i add liquid kharma, super thrive in veg/after transplant, and a few other misc additives)

Will you make any tweaks, or do you see any issues, with using the same medium in a greenhouse?


Have a good one.

 

[highcountrygrow]

Will you make any tweaks, or do you see any issues, with using the same medium in a greenhouse?


Have a good one.

I did supersoil with compost teas and organic nutrients for many years. I am now trying to find a medium between supersoil/coco and using salts in specific stages of flower to optimize both yield and oil production.

 

[highcountrygrow]

trying to get benefits of oil production / over all quality while trying to increase yield with more readily available available nutrients.

 

[breakersix]

Thanks, man.

I just closed on some land at 9000-9300 ft. 40 degrees N. Building two dep greenhouses.


How much does the altitude - and I'm thinking the combo of higher radiation and lower oxygen when I say that - affect strain health?


I'm not at the right number of posts for PM'ing yet. Sorry to keep on pinging you like this.

 

[highcountrygrow]

Thanks, man.

I just closed on some land at 9000-9300 ft. 40 degrees N. Building two dep greenhouses.


How much does the altitude - and I'm thinking the combo of higher radiation and lower oxygen when I say that - affect strain health?


I'm not at the right number of posts for PM'ing yet. Sorry to keep on pinging you like this.

The thing that makes growing up here a challenge is the temp swings. During a clear day, even in mid winter, the suns intensity can still heat up a well insulated GH to over a 100degrees. Now on the same day a storm can move in and the temp can drop from 55F with intense sun (cooking in the GH) to below zero with 120mph winds. SO, my answer to all of this has been to custom build my own GH's (well b/c those kits are great and all for most situations, they will be blown to kansas up here. Insulated GH with triple pane poly-carbonate panels and big exhaust fans for when its mid day with the CO sun. To heat, I put in thermal mass in the form of gravel floor, 55gal water drums (black), and some sort of heat source (i.e. electric heater, nat gas/propane, wood stove, passive solar, etc.)

The kicker here is to make sure your GH is well insulated, can withstand strong winds/gusts, has a ventilation system that can cool the GH when it wants to get 120F during peak sun, and also (almost forgot) you'll need dehumidifiers at night running b/c you'll want to keep the heat in during night but plants will be evapotranspirating (aka plants will be putting water in the air) so you'll have humidity spikes and issues if you don't have dehumidifiers on when GH is closed and not being vented.

There is a lot to think about with GH design and build in harsh climates. The hardest obstacle is the temp swings and humidity spikes at night. If you can limit those you'll be amazed at the quality one can produce with the sun in CO. But the key is controlling the environment so you can take full advantage of the natural sun.

 

[highcountrygrow]

also ambient CO2 lvl up here is ~360ppm. Which is pretty low but the plants still thrive if they are constantly getting that fresh mention air. This summer i will be installing a CO2 system to run in the mornings/evenings (won't run during day when my exhaust fans are on) to see if i can increase my density/yield. Doesn't cost much if your just running co2 for key stages in flower(IMO wk3-7)

 

[breakersix]

Thanks.

This isn't a hipshoot. Transferred within my company to Denver beginning of this year, complete full move in May-June. No grow plans for this year, going to spend Summer-Fall building infrastructure - to code - in preparation for a 2017 start, and I'd be ok with it taking another year if that's what it takes to do it right. Too much time planning and too emotionally invested in this to waste it by cutting corners.

Thanks for your inputs. Too many people think appearing to be competent is the same as actually being so.

 

[breakersix]

Related to your longer reply:

Are exhaust fans enough, or is an active cooling system warranted?

Copy on dehumidifiers.

Thanks again.

 

[highcountrygrow]

Related to your longer reply:

Are exhaust fans enough, or is an active cooling system warranted?

Copy on dehumidifiers.

Thanks again.

I am lucky enough to be at 9300' in the rocky mntns. the sun is hot but the air is always cool (usually never breaks 85 in peak summer midday. so i can get away with just exhausting the GH with a 12" max fan and a passive intake (10"). SO if i was in a hotter climate i would either use AC or just change the design to a hoop house and have a lot more passive air flow going on.
Many ways to design/build/operate GH's, I always change my approach depending on the situation/environment.

Wish i had a more solid answer for you