Do you protect your outdoor plants against rain?

[socks4free]

For light rain no, but if we have a severe thunderstorm coming or it's near harvest I use a canopy like the one in this picture I found on Google. It doesn't completely protect them if there is a lot of wind or something but it keeps most of the rain out and it still has good airflow which is very important.

 

[grnmtn]

For light rain no, but if we have a severe thunderstorm coming or it's near harvest I use a canopy like the one in this picture I found on Google. It doesn't completely protect them if there is a lot of wind or something but it keeps most of the rain out and it still has good airflow which is very important.

Be careful as strong wind &heavy rain could possibly make that collapse on your big buds?

 

[grnmtn]

I choose strains that are supposed do well in my geographical area. Northern New England gets lots of cold rain and fog late in the short growing season.

Wiping Stylet/ Neem oil on leaves greatly helps the battle against powdery mildew.
I don't spray buds but some do early on. It degrades fast but I still don't do it.

Every morning I shake off buds from overnight dew and then after every rain.

That is what I do because I found that covering my plants restricts airflow which is a major issue on its own.

Watch out for those damn tiny caterpillars as they will rot your buds worse than rain.

Remember cannabis is a plant and has been getting wet since the beginning of time.

 

[RookieBC]

I don't worry about rain at all until last couple of weeks of flower. Make sure you've done proper pruning techniques, or training methods to allow proper airflow. I don't know where you're located but I'm from BC Canada. I don't have to worry about rain in my region, frost is the killer here. Prolonged periods of rain can definitely fuck things up closer to the end.

Fuck off cause I'm in BC but the region where all it does is rains from September-June lol

 

[socks4free]

Be careful as strong wind &heavy rain could possibly make that collapse on your big buds?

Nah it won't collapse under wind and rain. Our canopy is heavy duty and high quality. Not some flimsy junk you get at the dollar store or something. I've had it out in the worst storms last year and this without any kinda signs of damage or anything. I might agree with you if it was very low quality.

 

[Edinburgh]

No bc we buy strains that are hardy and ment to be grown under simaler envimentel conditions, however we do try to keep them out as long as possible and on cold nights sometimes do cover to prevent damage from the cold. And yea it has been a rainy summer in North East.

 

[grnmtn]

Nah it won't collapse under wind and rain. Our canopy is heavy duty and high quality. Not some flimsy junk you get at the dollar store or something. I've had it out in the worst storms last year and this without any kinda signs of damage or anything. I might agree with you if it was very low quality.

The strangest I've seen was one where strong wind gusts actually picked the tent up from underneath and it came down on its side.

 

[kevinfever]

Spray milk out over your crops the pm feeds up on the bacteria and drops off it's a band-aid method I use all the time

i use baking soda and dish soap mixed in water it helps keep the pm at bay but never gets rid of it. Do you dilute the milk in water or strait milk , i here of this remedy but never used it

 

[Chester13]

Fuck off cause I'm in BC but the region where all it does is rains from September-June lol

Bro go fuck yourself im in the interior, we get no rain,

 

[Chester13]

Bro go fuck yourself im in the interior, we get no rain,

Only thing we get here is smoke and fire, lol

 

[BudBogart]

Not against the rain…I shake them or blow with leaf blower after storms.
I did start staking them against wind storms with three 6 foot t stakes after this storm.

 

[mashy]

I choose strains that are supposed do well in my geographical area. Northern New England gets lots of cold rain and fog late in the short growing season.

Wiping Stylet/ Neem oil on leaves greatly helps the battle against powdery mildew.
I don't spray buds but some do early on. It degrades fast but I still don't do it.

Every morning I shake off buds from overnight dew and then after every rain.

That is what I do because I found that covering my plants restricts airflow which is a major issue on its own.

Watch out for those damn tiny caterpillars as they will rot your buds worse than rain.

Remember cannabis is a plant and has been getting wet since the beginning of time.

Hey @grnmtn, thanks for your tips. I tried to shake and dry buds once they got wet but I think they may have been too dense. Budrot was rife about a week after the buds got wet. No other issues at all with the plants, caterpillars were kept at bay with BT spray and no signs at all of PM. I think that if I want to grow 100% outdoor plants then genetics are the key.

 

[mashy]

I

Nah it won't collapse under wind and rain. Our canopy is heavy duty and high quality. Not some flimsy junk you get at the dollar store or something. I've had it out in the worst storms last year and this without any kinda signs of damage or anything. I might agree with you if it was very low quality.

It looks pretty sturdy but my main problem is that wind and rain usually occur at the same time where I live. Wind ripped the eyelets out off a good quality tarp when my plants got wet - the canopy would have ended up airborne.

 

[mashy]

i use baking soda and dish soap mixed in water it helps keep the pm at bay but never gets rid of it. Do you dilute the milk in water or strait milk , i here of this remedy but never used it

Hi @kevinfever, I can definitely vouch for the milk spray treatment for PM. Haven't used it on cannabis as I didn't have PM problems, but have used it regularly on cucurbits (zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin) for many years. Make sure you keep the ratio 10% milk, 90% water - too much milk can introduce other issues.

 

[mashy]

Whoa, nice plants though. Hope they bounce back - l'm guessing they will because they look super healthy. Double edged sword I guess - lots of big healthy leaves means lots of weight when wet.

Not against the rain…I shake them or blow with leaf blower after storms.
I did start staking them against wind storms with three 6 foot t stakes after this storm.

 

[Tracyfri]

I used to have one of those portable garages. I put a 6 mil plastic roof and left the sides open. I found the plants at the end of the season underneath the shelter looked alot more like indoor than compared to the plants right outside the shelter. More intact trichomes than the unprotected. Better stick and smell. This is northern NE. I think the lack of pounding rain throughout the season preserved alot more on the sheltered plants. Did this for several years this way. Just my experience.

 

[Mostlymooses]

That's generally the reason why greenhouse is more expensive and desirable than straight outdoor.

 

[Tracyfri]

That's generally the reason why greenhouse is more expensive and desirable than straight outdoor.

It is okay yeah that makes alot of sense. Call me cptn obvious lol

 

[Tracyfri]

It is okay yeah that makes alot of sense. Call me cptn obvious lol

With however a minimum a bare minimum of Labor and materials you can create what I'm talking about. It's kind of like hybrid greenhouse outdoor LOL with much better results than straight outdoor one of those cheap portable shelters people are throwing away the frames to those things all the time you only need to plastic the top. I guess that's what I was getting at. I suppose you could build the same thing on a PVC

 

[Mostlymooses]

If the weather is good I like to leave em in the sun but if it's gonna rain covering them is the way to go.

A good easy cover design is to drive 4 pieces of rebar into the ground in a square around your plant leaving half a foot or more exposed, put one end of a piece of pvc over one rebar and bend it over to the other side with the end on the other rebar. Do the same on the other side of your plant. Put another piece of pvc across the middle to make a rib for support, cover with plastic, and secure your plastic to the frame. Leave the ends open and roll the plastic up about a foot off the ground to help ventilate.

Since the hoop house frame isn't anchored directly to the rebar you can take the whole thing off if weather gets better. If your plants are huge you can also use two pieces and join them together with a tee.