2013 Colorado outdoor grow season

[City farmer]

Spring is already happening in my seed/ veg room:D
popping some master kush, facewreck, querkle, og bubba x trainwreck x haze, blue dream, deathstar, northern lights, recon, bubba kush and a few more.....
doing greenhouse and light deprivation again this season as well as some outdoor. How the hell do I post pics I have not been on here in a while......have some great shots from a few seasons ago?

 

[City farmer]

og bubba kush from a few seasons ago at 8500ft

 

[City farmer]

good ol hoop houses. I did two harvests one blacked out from early may to july. the other normal season harvested in oct at 8,500 ft. Hope I can do as good or better this season!

 

[kolah]

Very nice. Whats that big silo looking thing covered in plastic?

What type of arrangement are you using to light dep your greenhouses?

Good Luck!

 

[outwest]

Looks like I'll be running 3-4 plants out doors this summer. Been gifted some 'Uncle Willies' beans. . .an outdoor indica that's been selective bred at elevation over the last 30 years. Supposed to be reminiscent of watermelon hashplant. Also gonna run some chem cuts and something super trendy/elite like GSC to see how she handles the CO sunshine.

outwest

 

[City farmer]

Thanks Kolah.....thats a 400 gallon water res up on pallets that i would fill up from the well. And mixed compost teas to feed them,
I used 20 gallon bags of roots 707 and they needed water frequently. Thinking 65 gal smart pots for the early season black out. And 100 gallon smart pots for the full season crop.

Every night at 7 pm I would go wrestle this huge black out tarp over the green house and cover the edge with logs. same routine at 7 am for 55 days untill they finished. Had a few times when I almost took off with the tarp in 50 mph winds.....no fun.

This season I am doing one big greenhouse with a smaller section inside to black out. Kind of a hoophouse within a hoophouse. Should be much better to black out and will hold up in the wind.

Outwest sounds like a good strain to run......def important with colorado's wild weather patterns to have something acclimated to our area. I have not had much luck with anything that was not covered in a greenhouse yet. due to crazy weather patterns. And the strains make a huge difference and really come to life outside! The og bubba did ok I got a half p per plant but the sativas really seemed to shine. Had this pussy willow lemon diesel thats up in one of those pics. It got destroyed outside in a nasty hail storm early in veg, every leaf gone. But within a week was bushing out like crazy. I put it in the greenhouse and it got 7.5ft tall putting out just over a lb. At 8500ft elevation it snows and freezing weather sets in before indicas are finished. The sativas really seem to like finishing in the hot july sun and theres no rush to harvest due to freezing weather!

 

[chickenman]

When will ya start blackout?

 

[kolah]

For my light dep I plan to use some simple pulleys, hooks and rope to make to easier. The cats ass would be to hook up one end to a electric (or solar powered) garage door opener. Just push the button or hit the remote and open and close the baby. Or just do it by hand.

It sounds like you got a nice set up going. I also plan to run some gutters off my GH to collect rainwater.

Watcha using for heat? it looks like woodstove?

just a note of interest. I grew Power Kush (100% indica) and it finished up here on my land (at 9300 feet) in mid-late September. That was really nice.

for me, I just started some some seeds, Purple Hammer x Alien 4 and some Afghani #1 (Sensi Seeds). Afg 1 did very well up here, big yield and great couch-lock narco style. I am still deciding what else to grow but am leaning towards straight old AK-47 and Mr Nice's Black Widow or his Medicine Man. I may also try out some autoflowers. Spring is coming.

 

[midwestdensies]

Awesome pics, great work. Cant wait to have a little more space but a few outside will do. Hope this years a good one for you.

 

[City farmer]

Thanks for chiming in guys i am really excited for spring!

Chickenman...I will start blackout in late april- early may even though nature is still in "flower" light cycle at that point it helps keep the chilly nights at bay with the double layer of plastic. So the ladies get pre vegged indoors untill then.

Kolah....sounds like a good plan setting up pulleys and ropes to assist. I have been trying to figure out the best way to do this. Im sure something automated could be set up....but that takes all the fun out of wake and baking every morning on my way up the hill and the constant love and attention the plants get from being so closely tended to. But if there was an easy way it would be nice to just stand back and watch a garage door opener on a timer or something do the work......Let me know if you get some ideas we can try something out.

Yes! on collecting rainwater....the plants LOVE rainwater...we actually got a permit with our well permit to collect rainwater of the house legally!!!!. I always do it anyways but now we can set up a large rainwater collection and filtration system and show it off without worries. Kind of like the collection systems used on the earthships in taos NM if your familiar with those amazing structures. There is plenty of rainwater for house and garden use to collect in colorado if you have a big enough tank to get you through the dry spells. Its a no brainer to figure out the best way to use it!

The heating system is a propane heater on a thermostat that has no fans and requires no electrical. It works pretty good unless it drops down below 10 degrees. Had a few frozen buds at the far end of the greenhouse the last few days of harvest when I was sleeping in the greenhouse and trying to frantically trim everything before it all froze. LOL

Yea Im excited for the master kush...hope it does well and finishes in time. I was in amsterdam in september but probably could of harvested them then. they were well done and very amber by october.

Midwest....thanks for the kind words! If your only doing a few go big with the pots and veg em like crazy!

Any one else popping seeds or starting clones for outside yet?

I will get some pics of the next round and try to keep it updated. This thread should get interesting I hope! Help keep colorado green this summer!

 

[kolah]

Have you experienced any PM( mold) issues by running the propane heater? In my first years GH and running without ventilation/fans it spiked my RH readings way too high which created a PM issue.

 

[City farmer]

Kolah....the first night I left the heater on with the vents closed. It was dripping wet and very humid in there. Luckily i didnt get any pm issues. I think the key is to have some fresh air vents on both sides. I found a company that makes a "breathable wall" that does not let light come through. http://www.foreverflowering.net/

they also make very nice breathable blackout cloth.....I may give it a try but most likely reverse engineer there breathable wall with some regular corrigated panels painted black and stacked up vertically next to each other to mimic the design. It should work....

 

[City farmer]

Found some shots from last season these plants vegged for a few weeks and were transported to the remote location to flower.

 

[City farmer]

My new home in the hills for the summer! Harvested and peeled the poles myself. And trailered in 6 tons of flagstone for the floor.

 

[coloradochem]

Hey hey hey what is up City Farmer? Your speaking my language big time. like the pics, looks great!!! got our clones for our light dep vegging up now. and am starting seeds/mothers for the big show.

have you tried plants in the ground?

 

[chickenman]

Air circulation is also helpful in GH...Fans on all the time plants moving rreally helps.

 

[City farmer]

Chem thanks glad your getting ready for summer as well! I have put a few plants in the ground next to my creek bed and some others in the bush. They always come through with some interesting bud.....but never more than 2 zips off one plant. Theres an area where I have springs coming up from underground creating a marsh area. I had some plants down there last season amended soil with compost and planted just above the spring so roots could climb down to water. It worked but that property is just to fuckin cold at 8500ft and it started freezing in aug i think. So no luck yet with just popping them in the ground:(

Yes air circulation is key with the light dep method. It gets stale and humid fast with the black out tarp on. I had no electric so my fresh air was delivered in the form of hellish winds blowing in a few vents. A 12v solar powered fan would have been great.

 

[coloradochem]

we do ours in 1 yard holes filled with a super soil of sorts. water every 48hrs or so with teas and water. top dress occasionally. and harvest very well. we had our first solid 5er this yr. and a cple that were real close two yrs ago. before the last 2 yrs we ran a much milder soil set up, in smaller holes, or containers, and fed liquid organics. we always did good but never over 2-2.5.
Im not quite as high in elev as you but pretty close to it. and am far south (insert shane co plug lol) where winter comes a lil later, and more lazily. Its something you might think about. In my experience plants handle harsh conditions better when they are in the ground. i like to say hooked to the earth. this is just my opinion. looks like you got a pretty good handle on it the way your doing it :)

 

[City farmer]

Nice chem! This is the kind of info i was hoping to get going on this thread. I agree plants should and do handle more harsh conditions in the ground. Im looking forward to putting more effort into that this year. I am working on a new larger piece of land this season, that is lower (7500ft) and down south as well so im sure will have better results. Congrats on the 5er! And you get to be lazy haha nice im in! Ok so..... super soil of sorts??? When you need 40 plus yards of some good super soil to grow these trees whats the most economical way to get it out in the middle of the southern bushlands of colorado?

 

[coloradochem]

When you need 40 plus yards of some good super soil to grow these trees whats the most economical way to get it out in the middle of the southern bushlands of colorado?

still working on that one. we started with bales of peat and put it all together ourselves. ordered bulk supplements from the internet and various feed/garden stores. had to break down and buy some stuff from hydro stores. which gets into the pocket book real fucking fast. doing a much larger setup this year and multiple locations also. so im putting a lot more work into sourcing, ill post leads when i get em. one i found is a company on the west slope that makes a soil that they call "the dank" which has some good shit in it. but is pretty pricey imo, i think i can do better. but not sure yet. i sure as hell hope so. cant recall the company's name atm.