Outdoor grow in Southeast Michigan 2024

[cpurola]

So, I checked out the Grower's Ally fungicide (citric acid) and it looks promising but it says keep it away from beneficials.

I rely on my good guy bugs to keep the undesirables off my plants. I've been seeing waves of different insects come and go.
As the aphids flew in and multiplied the hover flies, minute pirate bugs and others came and eliminated them all. (honestly, I don't have ANY aphids)
The tiny inch worms are caught and used as food for youngins by the potter wasps. (I still spray BT)
Dragon flies are always around catching other flying bugs.
And now, almost every bud site has a tiny yellow spider waiting...

 

[cpurola]

That's kinda why i asked about the lollipopping. I used to not do it but the last 7yrs of outdoor i have and i truly believe it helped me alot from getting mold and heavy PM in the fall. You may feel like your hurting them but it's really a benefit to open air between the branches on the main stalks. And open more under the skirts.

I'll give it a try on some and see what happens. I know the ones re-vegging are going to be in trouble and I wonder if that may be part of why they got Septoria before the others.

 

[Beazy]

Last time I did multiple outdoor plants I stripped pretty much every branch from the main stalks out and only left like 3-4 nodes on each branch !! Cuts down on the larfy buds and gets great airflow. And you’re right it will be a big job on all those girls but also very beneficial in the end

 

[Organic13]

Love crab spiders. Good luck today in whatever you decide to do with them beast.

 

[Rooke]

Photo time again. It's getting harder to keep them in the frame. Literally and figuratively. LOL

Extras (Skystone in the middle is huge)
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The 12
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Frostberry
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Angel 98
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Romulan Warp Drive
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Snow Angel
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Peanut Butter Herijuana
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Purple Prozac
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Blood, Milk & Sky
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Skystone
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LAX
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Okanagan Grape
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Aghan Outdoor
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Dirty Dancing
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Heya C I noticed that you have a brown leaf on your frost berry cola you might want to check it just cautious your gals look amazing btw

 

[Thatoneguyyouknow_]

Once i know how theyre gonna level out structure wise. I also remove a lot of interior and lower growth. I wait a little longer then most do, and prob dont remove as much as some, but i still do it.

I probably wont on Peaceblaster #1 because increasing it's airflow would be redundant, but i def will be on all the other plants.



And @Rooke is correct. Your frostberry has a some likely bud rot going on. If you pull those brown leaves and pluck out (dont cut) the rot underneath, itll usually stop spreading from that spot.

 

[RealFarmer]

So, I checked out the Grower's Ally fungicide (citric acid) and it looks promising but it says keep it away from beneficials.

I rely on my good guy bugs to keep the undesirables off my plants. I've been seeing waves of different insects come and go.
As the aphids flew in and multiplied the hover flies, minute pirate bugs and others came and eliminated them all. (honestly, I don't have ANY aphids)
The tiny inch worms are caught and used as food for youngins by the potter wasps. (I still spray BT)
Dragon flies are always around catching other flying bugs.
And now, almost every bud site has a tiny yellow spider waiting...

View attachment 2227624View attachment 2227627

Check out the arber products. They have good organic fungicide and insecticide. I've been running it this year and would highly recommend both

 

[cpurola]

Heya C I noticed that you have a brown leaf on your frost berry cola you might want to check it just cautious your gals look amazing btw

Your frostberry has a some likely bud rot going on. If you pull those brown leaves and pluck out (dont cut) the rot underneath, itll usually stop spreading from that spot.

Thanks for the help, but my poor Frostberry has been doomed from the start, as soon as I took it outside too early. I had hoped it would have a flower stretch and longer branches which is why I planted it out back. Thought I'd give it shot.
I'm going to cut the entire center out so the side branches might survive until harvest time.

 

[Thatoneguyyouknow_]

So, I checked out the Grower's Ally fungicide (citric acid) and it looks promising but it says keep it away from beneficials.

I rely on my good guy bugs to keep the undesirables off my plants. I've been seeing waves of different insects come and go.
As the aphids flew in and multiplied the hover flies, minute pirate bugs and others came and eliminated them all. (honestly, I don't have ANY aphids)
The tiny inch worms are caught and used as food for youngins by the potter wasps. (I still spray BT)
Dragon flies are always around catching other flying bugs.
And now, almost every bud site has a tiny yellow spider waiting...

View attachment 2227624View attachment 2227627

You can make your own without a plant safe surfactant (soap) for insect safty and itll prevent powdery mildew just fine, just not bud rot as the surfactant is how the citric acid makes it into the flower structure to prevent the rot.

That brand of spray is just how i found out you could use citric acid for this purpose lol. I only ever used that brand while i worked for that facility because they let me take water bottle fulls of it for free semi frequently.

I only ever used it during the last several weeks of flower outside anyway when buds are really thickening up, and at that point, im starting to be less concerned with keeping predatory insect around anyway.

I have sprayed a couple times following several days of rain in a row with a little h2020/citric acid solution though. Never noticed the spiders and mantises leaving, but i wasnt using any plant soaps to spread it around yet either.

Now when ive sprayed spinosad on the other hand Ive found dead spiders and bees both days later, and if it rains right after spinosad, ive noticed dead worms on the surface of the ground too.

Prob the last year i use spinosad outside. Ill be switching gears there next season for sure. Idc how non toxic that stuff is to me, pyrethrin has less collateral damage and breaks down faster, even if it is a little worse to get on my skin then spinosad. i dont bug spray in flower either way.


I really do like citric acid those last few weeks of flowering outdoors though. It's a nice safety net. And if you use based water at the end to wash, it zaps it all out of the flowers like a magnet lol.

 

[Galgrows]

Thanks for the help, but my poor Frostberry has been doomed from the start, as soon as I took it outside too early. I had hoped it would have a flower stretch and longer branches which is why I planted it out back. Thought I'd give it shot.
I'm going to cut the entire center out so the side branches might survive until harvest time.

Sounds like one of my slurricanes flowered then never really stretched, the other one did abit got to 28" still sitting out in the sun looking OK but that small one well it's just fat as can be like a clump of tangled sausages LOL

 

[Organic13]

@Thatoneguyyouknow_
Thanks for all that detailed info. Neem has always seemed to work for me in the past. I keep finding leaf hoppers on my plants. To most that wouldn't seem like a big deal, but they've destroyed old, established patches of my echinacea because of the diseases they carry and transfer. I don't want to kill all my beneficial insects using spinosad though. I've been spraying the plants in the evening with it. While I haven't found a bunch of dead insects, that doesn't mean it isn't occurring.

The bookmark feature constantly saves me here.

 

[cpurola]

Sounds like one of my slurricanes flowered then never really stretched, the other one did abit got to 28" still sitting out in the sun looking OK but that small one well it's just fat as can be like a clump of tangled sausages LOL

At least you don't have the rain to fuck things up royal.
Have some shopping to do, then I'll head out back and start the thinning process. We're supposed to be dry until it rains Tuesday, then Sunday, then Wednesday. On paper that looks ideal, but I don't trust the extended weather forecast farther than tomorrow.

I never really looked that close before but do the top branches look a little wilted during the flower stretch? A couple of them look terrible up top, but not the whole plant. I remember the Frostberries did that after I put them outside.

 

[cpurola]

Sprayed all photos yesterday, didn't want to wait til after I trimmed. (going to take awhile)
3 gallons well water
3T Howler
3oz. Cease
1t LAL Stop
1 1/2 oz. BT

 

[Thatoneguyyouknow_]

@Thatoneguyyouknow_
Thanks for all that detailed info. Neem has always seemed to work for me in the past. I keep finding leaf hoppers on my plants. To most that wouldn't seem like a big deal, but they've destroyed old, established patches of my echinacea because of the diseases they carry and transfer. I don't want to kill all my beneficial insects using spinosad though. I've been spraying the plants in the evening with it. While I haven't found a bunch of dead insects, that doesn't mean it isn't occurring.

The bookmark feature constantly saves me here.

lol i cant smell neem without gagging, has an acrid-ness that catches in my throat.

If you sprayed neem heavy on my plants 2 weeks from now, i could probably still detect traces of the scent after harvest. I dont even spray neem in veg.

Not because it doesnt work for me, entirely because of how sensitive i am to that smell.

There's GMO phenos i cant smoke for similar reasons (garlic mushroom onion) and i can absolutely tell as soon as i open a bag of flowers if neem got put on them during flower lmao.


Spinosad takes 2-3 days to really start killing stuff. I gotta spray like every 3 or 4 days to keep mites from establishing before flower here. It takes me over an hour just to get all my stuff sprayed down. Takes a lot of solution. Im up to about 1.5 gallons every spray now. My gardens a lot bigger then I intended lol. Every time it rains and earthwaorms come out of the ground, they are dyeing now because the soil is so thoroughly colonized with the spinosad bacteria. I keep finding solitary honey bees dead in the clover grasses near the patch that they love to collect from too.

Im probably going to give horticultural oils a go in this region next season with a smaller garden.

 

[Organic13]

You and Cpur have jungles, no doubt. In ground is definitely where it is at to get those massive plants it seems. I am still learning this plant. I have awhile before I will have a jungle (if ever becse I may never be able to be in ground) and I'm okay with that. My second batch looks better than my first batch. Improvement is all I can strive for right now, not a massive harvest or a massive jungle.

Thanks again for all the info you share.

 

[Thatoneguyyouknow_]

You and Cpur have jungles, no doubt. In ground is definitely where it is at to get those massive plants it seems. I am still learning this plant. I have awhile before I will have a jungle (if ever becse I may never be able to be in ground) and I'm okay with that. My second batch looks better than my first batch. Improvement is all I can strive for right now, not a massive harvest or a massive jungle.

Thanks again for all the info you share.

Before i planted this season outside, i didn't even realize i had genetics that would get this big in a single season tbh. And if i hadn't planted in ground, i still probably wouldnt realize i did lmao. I was aiming for 4-6ft bushes. Ive actually created a helluva lot more work for myself then i intended.

If i could give half of them away as they sit without hurting them, and knowing whoever took em would take good care of them, i 100% would lmfao.

I would only need 1 plant the size of peaceblaster #1 and id still be giving more away then i smoked myself lol. All ive done really is amend with flood plane loam, and throw down fresh goat poop and cheap organic pellet feed. Couple micro feedings early on. The rest is all genetics and the local environment, and the health of the mineral rich mountain soil full of legume roots, not me lol.

I am a firm, die-hard believer in KISS

1 for 1. Indoors or out, the more i can simplify my regiments/process, the fewer supplements and additives i can get away without using, while still keeping my regiments effective, the better results i achieve, and this has been the case in every method, and every environment ive grown in, inside and out.

 

[cpurola]

You and Cpur have jungles, no doubt. In ground is definitely where it is at to get those massive plants it seems. I am still learning this plant. I have awhile before I will have a jungle (if ever becse I may never be able to be in ground) and I'm okay with that. My second batch looks better than my first batch. Improvement is all I can strive for right now, not a massive harvest or a massive jungle.

Thanks again for all the info you share.

You know, I never intended for them to get so big, but they have a will of their own.
Comparing the ones in the raised beds and the 'extras' plot, no doubt, weed prefers unfettered root space. That part of my experiment has very obvious results even before harvest. LOL
Lesson learned, the bigger the available root area, the bigger the plant.
I suspected that was true and now I KNOW it from personal experience.

 

[cpurola]

I love the website from MSU and all the info they provide. Not all of it is relevent to me and my plants but enough is and I love it.
MSU crop reports

 

[Galgrows]

You know, I never intended for them to get so big, but they have a will of their own.
Comparing the ones in the raised beds and the 'extras' plot, no doubt, weed prefers unfettered root space. That part of my experiment has very obvious results even before harvest. LOL
Lesson learned, the bigger the available root area, the bigger the plant.
I suspected that was true and now I KNOW it from personal experience.

LOL dang lessons

 

[cpurola]

Okay, y'all aren't gonna believe this.....
In CP's continuing Drama of ups and downs....

Just got a summons for Jury Duty, the Second Fucking week of September! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
(I don't usually use that word, but seems appropriate this time)