Outdoor Goji Og

[FlamingCheeba]

Hey everyone, Im new on icmag. My state recently legalized mmj so to me this is the first time we've been able to grow outdoors with any size. My Bodhi goji og plants are right at 8 feet in height in 100 gallon grow bags. I have no experience with goji og or it's branching structure,(these plants stack tightly node on top of node)or how much stretch to expect. I have been trimming sucker limbs off since spring. Now I have long main branches that have multiple secondary branches close together right at the tips of the main branches. How would you recommend trimming and how much under growth/ secondary branches should I take off? You can see in the pictures most of the secondary growth is removed leaving fan leaves ,I haven't trimmed these plants in a few weeks so there is loads of new branch's. Should I lollipop them? I'm clueless when it comes to plants this big. Medium size outdoor plants and indoor SOG is all I know. I have trellis on the way ,thinking I can drape it over them during flower for support.. any help man I sure appreciate it. Thanks

 

[FlamingCheeba]

I'm growing in 100 gallon air pots, plants grown in a natural style, no lst or training other than trimming undergrowth, going for big as possible. We are about 2 weeks from flower onset. Its not much info out there on growing monsters. Out in Cali and Oregon they grow huge trees but it looks like alot of the process is strain dependant. It's still alot of fun.

 

[pipeline]

I would try to get some airflow by pruning inside branches. Also once flower onset is closer, you could lift up the canopy to get more airflow and promote the stronger branches. I don't grow any plants that big, but I do grow several plants close together in the shade to simulate a large plant yield. Its pretty much the same. Clean out any diseased leaves and cut inner growth that won't yield well. Inner growth steals energy from the other growing tips in good light and removing inner growth will help improve airflow.

Check out @Shcrews garden. He has a website motherlodegardens.com/ and posts on Instagram mainly, but he talks about his methods growing large 10+ lb plants in some of the past threads.

 

[pipeline]

Motherlode Gardens 2021

Greetings everyone, and happy 4/20... I am excited to be back posting another grow log! Things are already in full swing here, and I know I always say this, but it is shaping up to be our best season yet. Here's what we have planned so far: -30 XXL plants from seed -Outdoor breeding...

www.icmag.com

 

[FlamingCheeba]

Awesome, thanks for the link. I think smaller plants are definitely easier to keep healthy, and easier to maintain. Your babies look super healthy and vibrant.

 

[therevverend]

I'm in western Washington. Grew out a Goji OG F2 last summer, growing one out this summer. Last summer's got about 9 feet tall, I expect this summer's to do the same. I didn't have to trim, prune, or leaf and at this point it looks like I won't have to this year unless things change. She has a nice open structure and large colas from top to bottom. Yours looks a little busier towards the top than mine was, denser secondary branches. Those should all form into nice dense colas but you could probably thin them out a little.

You're probably further south than me so I'd expect your plants to flower a week or 2 ahead of mine but I think you're still 3 weeks to a month away from the start of flower. Mine didn't really switch until around August 20th, yours will probably switch in the Aug 10-20th range. Depending on your latitude.

Doesn't hurt to check the time and date guide for your area. You can expect her to flower when the day length dips into the 13:30-14:00 hour range. Don't panic if she's either late or early to start to flower, she finishes right on time, 1st to 2nd week of October. Good mold resistance but not bulletproof.

Here's a look at mine from last summer.

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This is what I consider a perfect big plant Christmas tree structure. The crown is well-defined. The branches are long and grow upright with decent sized colas from top to bottom. Light penetrates deep into the plant and around each branch. There are lots of big shade leaves but they aren't shading out portions of the plant. There's no need to prune, leaf, lollipop, or do any of that stuff.

I should add I don't like messing with plants outdoors unless they're problem plants. Big plants tend to have good structures, otherwise they don't get big. Leafing and removing branches steals energy from the plant and causes the plant to bush out, produce dense clusters of small branches instead of defined large branches. Of course I do leaf and prune when it's needed; the Goji in my pictures didn't need it and I was rewarded for my patience with a great yield of fantastic smoke.

Your plant has a slightly different structure although now that I examine it carefully it's not that different. I wouldn't worry too much about the lower parts. On mine they turned into long branches with good sized colas. None of the branches were a waste, they filled in with medium sized flowers.

The top is the odd part, doesn't seem to be forming a well defined top and breaks up into smaller shoots. These won't dud out on you, they'll produce quite a few medium sized colas. What you don't want is for it to be a 'tip bearer', medium sized colas and then nothing for the rest of the branch. I'd probably remove quite a few of the lower 'splits', where it wants to divide and divide into smaller branches. I wouldn't use a heavy hand, I'd stay very conservative, but pruning some of the smallest 'branches to nowhere' might help.

Two things I wouldn't do. I wouldn't do any pruning after July 31, I'd be leery about pruning after July 20th. I've found pruning at the onset of flowering doesn't do much good and it can slow the onset of flowering, cause it to occur at different rates for different branches. Messes with the chemical 'go' signals.

I'd be conservative when it comes to leafing. I leafed mine hardly at all and it did great. Leaves produce more energy then they steal unless they're shading out critical sections of the plant. Or the plant is unnecessarily producing more leaves than necessary. I don't see the Goji doing either. Whatever you end up doing I'd play it conservatively because big plants don't need a lot of help. It's the way cannabis is meant to grow.

Good luck you're going to have a great harvest, Goji is some of the best smoke you'll find.

 

[FlamingCheeba]

Thanks Rev. Ya we're right at 14:30 hours of light a day right now the end of July it'll be 14 hours of light a day . I'm seeing 3 phenos, 50 percent of the males were tri-leaf alot of branching close together / haven't seen any tri-leaf in the females. The main variation I see as far as phenos is the difference in leaf structure, and internodal spacing .This particular plant I found special. From seed its first true leaves were in this order cotyledon ,1 leaf , 5 finger leaves , 9 finger leaves and has stayed at 9 and it stacked twice as many nodes.Ive never encountered a plant that went from 1 to 5 finger fans leaves. I wish I had taken pictures. The other phenos grew normal, 1 ,3,5,7 some reached 9 fingers but huge fan leaves maybe the biggest I've seen. Theres one pheno that looks exactly like your f2 which looks amazing. . Havent had to touch it at all. The other interesting pheno I found besides the males which mostly showed tri-leaf tops , is this pheno that only grows 3 finger fan leaves, a few ,5 finger leaves, the internodal spacing is a lot further apart. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow for you. Thanks again.

 

[pipeline]

Thanks for sharing your experience. All sounds like great advice and goes with my understanding of plant physiology and the limited experience growing.

Schrews may have been growing for a specific type flower product and doing more aggressive pruning to get more high quality high density flower.

Keep an eye out for foliar diseases, prune out diseased leaves to prevent leaf spot spread. It is good to not remove the leaves unless necessary. They are utilized for growth by the plant.

 

[Ca++]

You might want to drag a net over her, and let her stretch through it. Heavy side branches can get limp as the weather turns less favourable. Mainly though, my big plants fall over, without fail. A net could offer some anchorage. Though I just let mine fall. Planting enough to cover losses, as perhaps 25% is lost on those that fall.

I'm unsure why they always go, as it doesn't seem like other peoples do. They always fall in the same direction to. It's the wind.

 

[FlamingCheeba]

Thanks pipeline. The only other problem I've had is on a Drizella x Ms. universe. We had rain for 5 days straight the coca cola size stalk swole and cracked right at the base allowing some rot to eat away at a section covered by dirt I've been having to hit it with hydrogen peroxide and keeping it clean.

 

[FlamingCheeba]

You might want to drag a net over her, and let her stretch through it. Heavy side branches can get limp as the weather turns less favourable. Mainly though, my big plants fall over, without fail. A net could offer some anchorage. Though I just let mine fall. Planting enough to cover losses, as perhaps 25% is lost on those that fall.

I'm unsure why they always go, as it doesn't seem like other peoples do. They always fall in the same direction to. It's the wind.

That's what I'm thinking to these branches are going to be limp noodles with a few oz of buds weighing them down. I'm hoping the sativa side of this goji og blesses me with sugar spears rather than 2 liter bottle colas. These plants were blessed at the beginning of spring surviving a 20 minute hail storm with 45 mph winds. One goji was beat in half. Only a twisted portion of lower growth remains. I like the idea of huge plants. But as far as ease , I'm prefering 3-4 footers. The wind just blows right over them . Where the large plants are flat on the ground without support. Thanks CA

 

[FlamingCheeba]

Rev, this is the pheno that resembles your F2 the most. Then a bushier goji, pic 3 is the 3-5 leaf pheno.

 

[therevverend]

Schrews may have been growing for a specific type flower product and doing more aggressive pruning to get more high quality high density flower.

Schrews wasn't just growing big plants, he was growing 10 lb+ monsters. A plant that big is going to have vast areas in the interior that don't receive light, that can cause all kinds of problems. I noticed he wouldn't mess with the overall form of the plant but he'd have to do a ton of leafing and pruning to clean that stuff out of there. A few times people lectured him on his plants being too leafy, how much more yield he'd get after he removed the fan leaves. I found his responses humorous.

ou might want to drag a net over her, and let her stretch through it. Heavy side branches can get limp as the weather turns less favourable. Mainly though, my big plants fall over, without fail. A net could offer some anchorage. Though I just let mine fall. Planting enough to cover losses, as perhaps 25% is lost on those that fall.

Excellent advice. I usually get hit by a big storm or 3 off the Pacific between late August and early October. Broken branches, knocked over plants, etc. Always tying them back up and fixing broken limbs. I've never trelised but I'd do a hell of a lot better if I did.

My favorite trick with large plants is to tie them down. I start when they're about 6 feet tall. I put a stake in and start tying them back towards the N, really to the NE because the best light in my garden comes from the SW. I still keep them tall because I have lots of surrounding trees and shrubs that block light but if you're in a field with direct light you can even pin them to the ground.

I have a friend who regularly pins 10 foot tall plants down so they're only 4-5 feet off the ground. It's the same basic plant shape but all the branches grow straight up, greatly increasing the amount of medium to large top nugs. It's a great technique and I recommend it outdoors over topping if height is a problem or you're in a windy locale. I have a friend that lives 10 miles away, he doesn't even have to stake his plants. There's no real wind on his patch so he doesn't have to worry about plant stability. Every location is different and requires different fixes to adapt.

Rev, this is the pheno that resembles your F2 the most. Then a bushier goji, pic 3 is the 3-5 leaf pheno.

She looks like she's already 'tucking', beginning her pre-flowering flower phase. I'm so far north my plants are very late to start to flower and compensate by finishing very fast. Of course these long summer days do wonders for my Veg.

All those plants look great, I like the 3rd one down the best. It looks quite a bit like how my Goji looked in veg, before it started to stretch. Stretching can change the shape of a plant in a hurry. It's very hard the first time you grow a strain outdoors to guess how a plant will change as the flowers form, another reason to be cautious your first year with a strain. I still think thinning out some of the bisecting branches is going to be your best strategy but if you didn't touch or leaf those plants at all you'd still have a great harvest.

Or you could prune or leaf the hell out of them and you'd still do great. That's the thing about growing, these plants can adapt to almost any treatment and do wonderfully. It's why there's so many kooky growers out there with kooky ideas they swear by.

Most of us start out growing indoors where pruning and leafing are necessary to increase yield. Outdoors the light distribution is entirely different, just as strong at the bottom as the top, it takes a few years to get a handle on things. I admit I still don't really know what I'm doing, I try to keep my plants happy and let them do what they do...

 

[dirty-joe]

I like the idea of huge plants. But as far as ease , I'm prefering 3-4 footers. The wind just blows right over them . Where the large plants are flat on the ground without support. Thanks CA

First, very nice bushes, but there is a thing as too bushy.

I agree, yes everyone likes the BIG plants, but the extra pruning, and staking etc., even worse is you can't even see the top of the plant to see if you got mold up there. My preference would be plants 4-6 feet so I can see the top of them.

I grew some 9 footers last year, started about April 15, and I won't do it again.

 

[FlamingCheeba]

I'll have to try the tying horizontal to the ground, I looked at that plant close up and it's def starting to stack flowers, maybe a early pheno. I constantly have to battle light issues here our daylight slowly increases from 13 hours in May to 14h 45m on the solstice , and were already losing over a minute a day.. I don't think I've ever had a plant finish past 3rd week of September. Its amazing how a thousand miles can change the length of day. Enjoy it brother. Joe, those babies look amazing, love the structure. I think I will down size next year or might get some 200 gallon pots instead . Harvest season will lay out next year's plans. If these don't yield double what a 4 footer does. I'm going to stay around 4-5 feet before flower next year.

 

[dirty-joe]

I think I will down size next year or might get some 200 gallon pots instead . Harvest season will lay out next year's plans. If these don't yield double what a 4 footer does. I'm going to stay around 4-5 feet before flower next year.

I honestly don't think 200 gallons is at all necessary. I've grown half pounders in 5 gallon containers, and those pictures I just posted here are in car tires with approximately 10 gallons of dirt, albeit they have no bottoms, and those plants harvested a full pound each. So seems to me that anything bigger than 20-25 gallons (half barrel) would be a complete waste.

 

[FlamingCheeba]

It's def a added expense. I think 100 gallons timed right should do the trick . The native soil is extremely rocky and heavy clay, holds way to much moisture. I'm loving these 100 gallon pots. I see them out west growing in 1000 gallon grow bags. Some of Jorge and Mendo boy's grows have been insane. With our short season. I'm with you I think anything more than 100 gallons is a waste.