The Big Plant Growers Thread

[nomaad]

Should get some decent yields as some are 6'-7' high and 5' wide already. As it's been mentioned, it's important to give support to big plants so branches don't break later in the season.

those that are the biggest/show the most vigor are: Casey jones, coral reef, snowcap, la Nina, amnesia haze, goo, chem3. It's still only June though, so I'll have to update the list after the season.

First of all, sick thread SB! Really a discussion I need to be a part of.

Fisher: How big were your plants when they went out? Last pot size before their final 300's? Clone or seed? What date did you get em in the ground? Are the 6-7' off the pots or off the ground? Did I mention I'm jealous? How did you deal with the cold snap a few weeks ago?

I really should stop myself (don't want to be annoying) but I can't (guess I'm that annoying guy): What's your spacing like? i did around 10 feet on center for the 200's. Yours looks like around 15. You're going to need it.

An imaginary friend is doing 600 gallon holes this year. They each have a full pallete of bag dirt in them. He is spacing at about 15 feet. They went out on May 12th and came out of 20 gallon pots.

Big Plant Thread? I'll see if he'll let me take a photo at some point.

 

[Guest]

Nice plants fisher 15


White shark this morning

Sensi Star this morning

Flo this morning. The bitch is so skinny she's hard to take a pic of. The top of my shovel is 5'. You can see this morning she's about 7 now.

 

[fisher15]

N- my biggest current plants were about 3' and in 3 gallon pots when they went out. I got the soil in mid April was filling planters until the end of may. Such a bitch. Plants were put in the 300's starting the last week of April. Some didn't make it in till June. I had some moms in 25 gallons, those are now actually smaller than many others. F'ed up a great looking burkle mom in a 25 trying to get it into a 300 by myself. She sadly ended up in the compost pile All are clones except two seed plants. The biggest clones were cut end of January. Were rootbound in the 3's by end of march. Didn't transplant em cause of space issues (was vegging everything in a 20' storage container until the hoophouse got built. I'll probably wait a month before taking clones next yr.

Just went out and measured them, there's like six or seven that are just over 6' (from planter not ground). I really think they'll be limited in width due to my containers. Spaced them about 6' apart. If the plants get more than 8' wide I could have issues, but it's looking like they'll stay about 6' and just get tall. I'm sure you're making many jealous yourself

To be honest I don't rember a cold snap, but a few cloudy days and a good rain about a month ago. Other than possible contributing to some early flowering, the rains were welcome here. Helped to give everything a good inital soak. Your imaginary friend should end up with some big girls...any idea on the dimentions of those holes? Sounds like a backhoe job for sure...gotta get me one of them neat toys

SB- thanks buddy...your's seem to be loving life as well! Always heard sensi star is a good smoke, looks like it can really blow up, too. What about the ledo uno? Ever grow it?

 

[antimatter]

bigger the better I put out 3 footers last year but I noticed the growth wasn't crazy like in california, they vegged fast but once the growth started getting woody they slow down, is that strain dependent, or do they need massive holes to get that extra growth?

 

[Grandma Gudenhi]

`08 garden

`08 garden

Here are some pics from past gardens, along with some of my opinions. I know some of this cannot be applied because guerilla grows have some different rules, but use what info you can.
This is from 08/05/08 (northern Cali.). They're at three months into their outdoor growth. As you can see, we had some wind damage on one. This year we will be caging them a bit sooner but we like to wait as long as possible and then wrap the cage around it. The most damage will occur with heavy winds and rains. Always make sure they're caged before this time. If your plants are strong, wind alone normally won't do damage during veg. But always cage by the first sign of flowering.

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Every year we've planted (except this year, 09), we've given them more space to grow. Last year we planted in almost 8'x8' space each. This year will be the same as the plants are big enough already.
Here is a pic from Aug. of 06. Much smaller then the Aug. of `08 because they had less room.

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Our cages are made of something called "pasture fencing". It's 4' tall and comes in roles of 330'. We've tried poles with twine, big tomato cages and welded wire fencing. The process we use now is by far the best. It's very easy, even during removal. But of course we will always be on the lookout for something better.
This is a Hindu Skunk from `08 with about four weeks to go.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as nutes go, I go organic. We prepare our entire garden by tilling in organic supplements each year before planting. For the past few years, the only extra they got was a good dose of fish emulsion about a month into veg. Then a good dose of Earth Juice Bloom once when they start to flower.
This year we have decided to feed them organically throughout the season. We'll see the differences and then see if it's worth it.
Here is a Candy Shiva from `08 that's almost ready. We'll trim off the bigger buds and then unwrap the cages.
(my b/f in the pic and no, he's not naked. I wouldn't want the neighbors to see something like that, lol)

 

[neongreen]

Good thread SB!

This year we have decided to feed them organically throughout the season. We'll see the differences and then see if it's worth it.

There is one caveat with switching to organic (if you used salt based fertilizers in the past), namely that the soil micro herd can take years to fully establish, although by the sound of it, your soil may not be in bad shape.

Thanks to jaykush for posting this link which has some good info in it, including some on the subject I mentioned above.
http://www.agriton.nl/higa.html

Nice plants Grandma!

 

[nomaad]

Thanks for the detailed reply, fisher. seems like our plants had similar lives before transplant into their final containers. If you don't remember a cold snap, then you didn't have one like us. It was memorable.

I've decided to use the same kind of fencing as you guys. Makes sense. I was going to use the 24" texas tomato cages ( http://www.tomatocage.com/ ) but its time to save some $$.

 

[nomaad]

.... oops. posted in the wrong place. my bad.

 

[GreatLakes THC]

Awesome thread...

Awesome thread...

And i thought my 4 footers indoors were big. LOL. I've been looking for a farm house to grow outdoors at but haven't found the right location yet. Someday. Again, great thread.

GreatLakes THC

 

[Guest]

Growth Rates:
May 1. 1'
June 1. 3'
July 1. 5' and then on to heaven.

Cannabis plants that contain any significant amount of sativa may and should add 50% in height and girth in the 30-45 day period between mid july to mid aug, (depending on your lattitude). Mostly indica's may not grow quite so much, but sometimes they do.

Fast growth is the key to big plants and that should start from day 1. If they arent growing fast and continue to grow fast, there is about a 2-3 week window to address the problem if the plants are going to be large. Ph, nutes water or sun is missing.

A large plant in mid summer should be adding 4-6" per day in height and girth. I use a measure stick in early growth. I poke a thin stick in the ground at the height of the plant and in 7 days i check the progress. If its not real and apparent, changes have to be made. Not paying attention to whats happening with the plant can have negative effects in a hurry.

"Head high by July" is the rule for whoppers Northern growers may have to pregrow for 45 days or so. July 1 was yesterday.

 

[Guest]

Ive never been able to add a pic to an existing post. It just doesnt allow that.


TODAY'S HEIGHT SHOULD BE...

Fisher 15, I havent grown Ledo uno because im not much of a sativa fan. A friend grew her about 5-6 years ago and the smoke was potent and lemmony. He had pics of the plant and it was a whopper and yeilded well. His were about 9' at harvest and beautiful. It has good mould resistance and comes in at this lat in mid october.

 

[nomaad]

Growth Rates:
A large plant in mid summer should be adding 4-6" per day in height and girth. I use a measure stick in early growth. I poke a thin stick in the ground at the height of the plant and in 7 days i check the progress. If its not real and apparent, changes have to be made. Not paying attention to whats happening with the plant can have negative effects in a hurry.

"Head high by July" is the rule for whoppers Northern growers may have to pregrow for 45 days or so. July 1 was yesterday.

I'm just relieved that the actual quote does not specifically say July 1st. I believe that sometime in July all my plants will be head high or better.

Hard to figure the height in that photo without a good reference.

 

[fisher15]

This should probably be posted in SB's other thread on fertilizer and yield, but I think it has a place here as well.

From neongreen's link (thanks for posting, good read)

The soil and rhizosphere microflora can accelerate the growth of plants and enhance their resistance to disease and harmful insects by producing bioactive substances. These microorganisms maintain the growth environment of plants, and may have secondary effects on crop quality. A wide range of results are possible depending on their predominance and activities at any one time. Nevertheless, there is a growing consensus that it is possible to attain maximum economic crop yields of high quality, at higher net returns, without the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Until recently, this was not thought to be a very likely possibility using conventional agricultural methods. However, it is important to recognize that the best soil and crop management practices to achieve a more sustainable agriculture will also enhance the growth, numbers and activities of beneficial soil microorganisms that, in turn, can improve the growth, yield and quality of crops (National Academy of Sciences, 1989; Hornick, 1992; Parr et al., 1992).

 

[nomaad]

thanks for that blurb. i think its appropriate to this thread. ways to make our big plants bigger sounds about right.

fisher... have you looked at the leaf pic posted in my thread? I found it on a few other plants of different strains. lemme know if you have any thoughts.

 

[candamo]

I havent been able to grow plants as big as that outdoors, i guess living near the equator and having 12 to 13 hours of dailight throughout the year makes it impossible to do a proper vegetative grow outside.
What i usually do is plant big clones outside in order to get bigger plants.

lucky you that live in other latitudes...

 

[antimatter]

that is a good one fisher, should definitely be added.

Growth Rates:
May 1. 1'
June 1. 3'
July 1. 5' and then on to heaven.

Cannabis plants that contain any significant amount of sativa may and should add 50% in height and girth in the 30-45 day period between mid july to mid aug, (depending on your lattitude). Mostly indica's may not grow quite so much, but sometimes they do.

Fast growth is the key to big plants and that should start from day 1. If they arent growing fast and continue to grow fast, there is about a 2-3 week window to address the problem if the plants are going to be large. Ph, nutes water or sun is missing.

A large plant in mid summer should be adding 4-6" per day in height and girth. I use a measure stick in early growth. I poke a thin stick in the ground at the height of the plant and in 7 days i check the progress. If its not real and apparent, changes have to be made. Not paying attention to whats happening with the plant can have negative effects in a hurry.

"Head high by July" is the rule for whoppers Northern growers may have to pregrow for 45 days or so. July 1 was yesterday.

Last year when I put out the 3 footers June 1 I noticed a lot of them got 10+ feet, but there were quite a few that capped out at 6-7' couple that stopped at 5' , there were about 30 plants total but they all molded so I never got to see how much the yield was. They were early October finishers but never got past September rains. Im not sure how much of a jump start those 3 feet really gave me since once they were growing they just grew so fast, I could see 6 inchers getting just as big

 

[Guest]

Try TNR Candamo, but me o my, columbian gold isn't a shorty. I had columbian plants so big that me and my partner could only drag off 1 plant at a time to harvest. 16' or 4 meters. The stalks were as big around as a tennis ball. It took us over a week to harvest 8 plants.

That is interesting fisher15. I guess im old school in that its hard to believe that organics can out produce chems, but this old dog is always lookin for new tricks. If you find out more, post it up.


Don't sweat it nomaad. Most of my plants look more like this one which is around 4'.

 

[ROOTWISE]

Hey silverback and fellow lovers of curvy chicks! Thought I'd follow up on your request for fertilization techniques. Hope this can help some of you out there or inspire a new person!

Here's a quick little overview of my main "maintenance" recipe. Easy as 1,2,3!

1. Fresh compost from my own animals barn bedding and feeding area. We build about 6 of these per year. The pile starts out about 6' tall and 10 ' wide at bottom.

2. 55Gallon drum of compost tea. I use 5lbs EWC, 5lbs of our compost from above. Fresh Comfrey leaf and a couple cups of Liquid Kelp also. Bubble for about 36 hours and use fresh!

3. Finished products looks pretty and smells sweet and earthy like a bottle of Age Old Grow or PBP from Botanicare....There is a ton of basic info and recipes in the Organic Soil Forum and it is posted as a sticky over there...

Here are the results:

Planted into beds May 15. This pic is from around May 20...

Here they are this morning! Fed nothin but the above recipe, I also feed every 14 days with Age Old Grow and Liquid Karma. Foliar LK spray about twice a week. The bed is also heavily amended and is detailed in my thread in my signature if you want more info...

OK! All that being said and displayed, I would like to bring up some differences based on our specific situation. I am lucky enough to do this legally under state law. That enables growers like me to dream big and do this basically in our back yards like a bunch of primadonnas! :smile: Some of what I and others like me can do may not be practical for you especially in guerilla scenarios.

I am also lucky that we devoted our lives many years ago to the small family farm. I live secluded and have a full circle of ingredients at my finger tips that are simply part of the self-reliant cycle that is part of a farm. Like manure, barns, out buildings, no noise or smell issues, neighbors can't see you mixing up bio-dynamic witches brew!!! etc... It opens up the door to use organics and really baby our girls all the way through. Guerilla plots, you have to be in and out. You can't haul 55 gallons of compost tea in, you can't easily haul in truckloads of soil, the plants are not 50 yards out your back door, etc...It is much easier to haul in small bottles of chemical concentrate nutes, etc....

I totally respect you and what you do silverback. We're all in this together and you're doing good works. You have adapted to your specific area and its needs and you make it work! You obviously have great success and that's the name of the game!!! It would be somewhat impractical to do what I do in your scenario. However, I could see incoporating some organics into your scene ;-)

Once again, I'm not blasting you for your use of conventional fertilizers, I just believe that there are folks out there that look up to these kinds of grows and making comments like "you can't achieve with organics" is just wrong. I also don't like giving those chem companies another dime. It's all tied to BIG petroleum.... (this is just me and my way of thought, I understand we all have different viewpoints)

I just wanted to say that using organics is more than feasible, but is much more applicable to plots you can service all the time but you have to work toward that lifestyle. Am I making sense? Sorry....

Anyway, keep everything in balance and with moderation, just like daddy taught all of us and we'll all end up on the same side of the fence someday anyhow....

GO BIG!!!!

 

[BUDOGHI]

Add to the list of strains Malawi99 and Mako Haze of the two the 99 gets really big!!!!!!!

 

[fisher15]

RDub- ok you are just badass my friend

Didn't think many others knew about comfrey. Had a FAT Russian comfrey bed at my old place and we'd always add it to the teas...great source of Potassium. You know what you're doing and your plants LOVE you for it. The g house is gonna be mighty full here soon!! What kind of pump is that you're using to brew with? I make 55 gallon batches here but could use more airation.

Great info, an asset to the community