Impromptu Outdoor 2015 - Nothing Like Last Minute

[who dat is]

I've had an opportunity pop up and I'll be able to throw some plants outside instead of being stuck with the crawlspace. I don't have any real experience and was hoping y'all could weigh in and help me make some quick decisions on how best to proceed. What I have to work with is 11 plants total, 3 GG4 and 8 Lemon Diesel x Apollo 11G F4 testers I'm running for Bhodi right now. I will be planting them on the hillside behind my neighbors house on the hillside. It was his suggestion and he's in the loop. He handed me the reins and just wants some bud at the end for having them on his property which is fine with me. I had planned on terracing either 2 or 3 sections on the hillside and placing a pallet down. My main concerns are,

• Should I go all out and put all 11 plants outside or should I hedge my bets and do a half and half approach with 5 or 6 going down in the basement?
  
• I was thinking of doing either 65 or 100 gallon smart pots and making up my own soil mix. I was going to do one per pallet per terrace. Each pot would get either 3 or 4 plants to it and then just turn them loose. I would cage and stake them up accordingly.
  
• I don't want to waste any more time so I want to get all the amendments that I need to make up my soil mix but after some quick math I realized how much would be involved up front if I went with 3 100 gallon pots outside and it got me pumping the brakes. Again, if I go the half and half route I could put 5 or 6 in the basement since I already have everything setup down there and ready to go for the most part.

Here are the girls as of yesterday and today. GG4 first, testers second.

Here's a crappy picture of the area in question. You can't tell but the hillside has ruts from water coming down and there aren't any level sections. There is plenty of native growth to whack through as well. A bonus is that there are some scruffy bushes that can help obscure the plants and hopefully protect them from wind and other elements.

The area get's loads of sunlight so the girls will be really happy once they are outside. Any and all info is greatly appreciated. I would love to have them situated outside ASAP so they can utilize as much of the veg light schedule as possible.

 

[SooperSmurph]

I would definitely go half and half, this year's unpredictable climate could come back and bite you despite the amazing spring we had.

4 plants might be a bit small for a 100 gallon bed / smartpot, i'd say 6 or 8 would be more ideal for planting them so long after May, if they had gone into the ground towards the end of May 4 plants would probably be just about right to fill a bed that size.

As far as amendments go, depending on your chosen soil source, balancing out the soil with lime, then adding Azomite may be all you really need. Without time to compost the soil yourself, you'll have to invest in enriching it a bit, there's always bone and blood meal, they're the macro to your azomite's micro, personally I like crab meal because it contains silica as well.

If you have a lot of gnats in the area don't forget to blanket your growsite with Diatomaceous earth, that'll help with silica too.

Good luck with getting as much out of them as you can!

 

[SooperSmurph]

My old soil amendment mix for 50% commercial soil 25% peat moss 20% perlite 5% vermiculite:

For every 1 cubic foot of soil, 1/2 cup bone meal, 1/2 cup blood meal, 1 cup crab meal, 1 cup dolomite lime, 1 cup diatomaceous earth, 1 cup azomite, 1 cup plant success granular.

After that it was water only.

 

[who dat is]

I would definitely go half and half, this year's unpredictable climate could come back and bite you despite the amazing spring we had.

4 plants might be a bit small for a 100 gallon bed / smartpot, i'd say 6 or 8 would be more ideal for planting them so long after May, if they had gone into the ground towards the end of May 4 plants would probably be just about right to fill a bed that size.

As far as amendments go, depending on your chosen soil source, balancing out the soil with lime, then adding Azomite may be all you really need. Without time to compost the soil yourself, you'll have to invest in enriching it a bit, there's always bone and blood meal, they're the macro to your azomite's micro, personally I like crab meal because it contains silica as well.

If you have a lot of gnats in the area don't forget to blanket your growsite with Diatomaceous earth, that'll help with silica too.

Good luck with getting as much out of them as you can!

Would it be better then to do 2 65 gallon pots or just the 1 100 gallon pot? 3 plants per 65 or the 6 plants in 1 100 gallon? I was thinking 100 gallon because it would have a larger diameter for the plants to fill out without crowding one another, same goes for the 3 in 65 gallons, better plant placement so they aren't crowding?

Thanks for stopping in Smurph

 

[Avinash.miles]

i'd go 2x 65 gals, just off top of my head, those plants look nice who dat is, will keep an eye on this one thru the season

 

[who dat is]

i'd go 2x 65 gals, just off top of my head, those plants look nice who dat is, will keep an eye on this one thru the season

That sounds way better than what I was originally planning. Thanks for stopping in

 

[NewAgeGenetics]

yea own pot is better when they produce bud.

with those big plants u r not late.

 

[DunHav`nFun]

Well bro....They only build roots till end of stretch , and they`ll immediately go into stretch mode once put outside and get past transplant shock , so.....

To make sure you don`t waste good dirt that no roots`ll ever get to , I`d go with all 3 Glue`s in a 100 gal SP , and the other testers "X" can be anything with seedplants , although .....

From what I`ve seen of Bodhi`s gear they tend to get big outside, so maybe each 1 in it`s own 65 .....Hell....if yas got the dirt , put em ALL in their own 65 for that matter....one thing`s fer sure though....

Get to work fillin them bags with dirt cuz time`s a wastin ya heard ?......anyways....

This is extra weight for the yr , so take buncha cuts from everything and start rootin em for inside and let all these bring home da nuggage.....

Take ALL lower limb cuts and bury the plants to the hilt when transplanting and wait for transplant shock to be over , then it`s off to the races.....

X can be anything when starting late outside Bro , and it seems like there`s a LOT of folks still scrambling to get plants out in NorCal due to all the political bullshit and seizures , so this yr promises to be interesting for supply and demand....who knows....

Prices might not drop as much for outs this yr as in previous seasons , so get all yas can get Whodat.....anyways....

I was asked in PM to contribute in this thread , so everything I post is out of just hopin things go as well as can be done with the time left at hand to do so....maybe Shcrews will drop in with his watering schedule since I don`t think you`ll go to the trouble of loopfield manifolds and inline driptubing for total automation , or will you ?...regardless.....

Keep us updated and...Good luck WDI....

Peace....DHF.........

 

[who dat is]

Thanks Fred. I intend to only handwater, nothing fancy this year. Next year could be a different story.

 

[EastBayGrower]

Hey man glad to have you around for the outdoor this year! Little late in the game, just like myself, so we'll see how big these girls get...

As far as amendments and soil mix g9, pop on overify to the organic soil forum and read the recycled living organic thread that will give you everything you need.

Or if you just want some quick soil mixes I suggest using the Slauson mix.. or check my thread in my signature for my organic soil mix, don't skimp on the soil, if u do it right you won't have to buy any other nutrients all the way through your grow...


O and try to find a store that carries down to earth ammendments, it's the shit...

I too am using 30-45gal smarties and with planting this late in the season a 100gal smarty might be overkill? Maybe not for a sativa though...

 

[who dat is]

Hey man glad to have you around for the outdoor this year! Little late in the game, just like myself, so we'll see how big these girls get...

As far as amendments and soil mix g9, pop on overify to the organic soil forum and read the recycled living organic thread that will give you everything you need.

Or if you just want some quick soil mixes I suggest using the Slauson mix.. or check my thread in my signature for my organic soil mix, don't skimp on the soil, if u do it right you won't have to buy any other nutrients all the way through your grow...


O and try to find a store that carries down to earth ammendments, it's the shit...

I too am using 30-45gal smarties and with planting this late in the season a 100gal smarty might be overkill? Maybe not for a sativa though...

Thanks for stopping in. I intend to recycle some old soil and add amendments. Sooooooo much cheaper to go that route than buying prefabbed soil. When you speak of 30-45 gallon containers I'm assuming you're talking about 1 plant per? I'm still trying to run with the whole batch in one container at this point for simplicity. Just recently I think I decided on making a raised bed out of the pallet itself and running 5 in that. We'll see, my plans are changing every couple of hours.

 

[EastBayGrower]

Yeah I feel that, I originally planned to go in ground, then saw the clay soil I was dealing with, ended up doing 45gal smart pots (1 per plant) mostly buried in the soil (with some good soil mixed with the clay), good thing withsmart pits os they can grow through the bottom and increase yields.

a lot comes into play when plaNing outdoor, security first and foremost then soil, plant count/strains, time of year, ect..

If you have any specific questions let me know, happy to help, and trust me you want to be going full organic living soil, check out the organic soil section it's the best info in this site imo

Edit: one big thing about soil mixes is if you use certain amendments (alfalfa, bone, blood meal,ect..) you'll need to let your soil sit and compost for at least 2 weeks, when I mixed my soil and came back a week later my hand damn near burnt off!

 

[who dat is]

Yeah I feel that, I originally planned to go in ground, then saw the clay soil I was dealing with, ended up doing 45gal smart pots (1 per plant) mostly buried in the soil (with some good soil mixed with the clay), good thing withsmart pits os they can grow through the bottom and increase yields.

a lot comes into play when plaNing outdoor, security first and foremost then soil, plant count/strains, time of year, ect..

If you have any specific questions let me know, happy to help, and trust me you want to be going full organic living soil, check out the organic soil section it's the best info in this site imo

Edit: one big thing about soil mixes is if you use certain amendments (alfalfa, bone, blood meal,ect..) you'll need to let your soil sit and compost for at least 2 weeks, when I mixed my soil and came back a week later my hand damn near burnt off!

Organic living soil is the only way I've ever done it. I never saw any need to branch out and start buying fancy equipment and bottled potions. The only exception is my tower garden but that's a different story entirely. Regarding the alfalfa, bone meal, etc. I had figured that that could be a problem. I've burnt my plants before and I'm sure there will be some grief this round too. Time is always an issue, especially since I didn't see this opportunity coming along until a week ago. Hurry up and wait right?

Forgot to mention, I have blood meal but I'd rather topdress that in as necessary. I've never used it yet but I've heard horror stories about people burning the everloving shit out of their plants with it. I figured if anything else I can go lighter on making the mix and fill in the gaps towards the end with bottled organic nutrients and ACTs.

 

[EastBayGrower]

Also don't to dress blood meal if you have racoon around they will dig up your plants, there's MUCH better alternatives to blood meal out there that don't need to be cooked for 2 weeks before planting either, usually safe with fish and plant based products

 

[who dat is]

Yeah, or even the dogs too. I picked up some of the welded wire 2x4 mesh pattern fencing material to wrap around the pallet at least until I need to actually cage them with that material. Everything is purchased now and I hope to have it finished by this early evening. We'll see how that goes....

 

[who dat is]

Didn't get as much done today as I had hoped for, damn oil change this morning took forever! While I was starting to get after it earlier I noticed a really nice spot that I hadn't seen on my first walk around the hill. It's closer and better protected by taller bushes. I settled on making my own smart pot of sorts with landscape fabric and welded wire fencing. I don't know if I would recommend somebody else try this route but I like using power tools and other manshit.

I noticed this weird little face somebody drew on the inside of the pallet randomly and it reminded me of the Troll Face.

This is where I left it today after a good stopping point. Hopefully getting the rest done Sunday with plants in the dirt.

 

[who dat is]

 

[Avinash.miles]

i like it

 

[who dat is]

i like it

Thanks. I'm happy with it too but I don't think I would make another one like that again. A little too much work involved. If I didn't already have the 2x4s and the pallet wasn't free I wouldn't have gone this route.

 

[RckyMtRdnk]

I think you will be pleased come October.