Did I Miss Anything? 1st Outdoor Grow

[mrgrowguy]

First of all, sorry for type o's right off the bat, I'm posting this from my cell phone and we all love auto correct, right....

What I'm looking for on this thread;
Advice. I want to see if anyone can think of anything I missed. I may use your advice, I may not. But I welcome it all as I like to consider all things and make my own educated decisions. So please feel free to input.

My background;
I have multiple seasons of experience with hydro, dwc, and soil grows (both organic and non organic). All of my experience has been indoors. I have a lot of experience with pruning, shaping, and supercropping.

Location;
Southern California, Side of house, plot will be elongated 6 ft wide by 20 ft long. Plants will be lined in a row for maximum sun exposure. The 20 ft length will run east and west, again maximum exposure.

Covering;
I will be running a 2.4 mil growhouse film as a cover, but the sides will be wide open. Reasons include moisture control and privacy, both required.

Plants;
Will be running 4 plants, yet to be determined. Each in a 20 gallon container. I will be scrogging as I am limited on height. Plants cannot go above 6 feet, but I can use all four to fill in a huge scrog.

I plan to bury the containers about half way to add a few vertical inches. Will dig deep and add rocks for great drainage.

Soil mix, proportions may change, and I'm very vulnerable with my mix, so little advice needed here, just reporting what I'm using: FFOF, pro mix hp, petite, bone meal, blood meal, epson salt, died seaweed, guanos, and a small trace of sulfur and dolomite lime.

Running a hose on a timer and will basically be a drip/soaker type of watering system.

I may add more I info, feel free to ask questions.

 

[geologic]

Another important ingredient--
good neighbors...

 

[mrgrowguy]

Another important ingredient--
good neighbors...

So true! I chose the side of the house by the really old neighbors that don't come outside much anymore;) I live in the city, so yes, great point.

The only variable is their pool guy...

 

[geologic]

Be prepared for "worms" (caterpillars) come ~September/October,
alternate Bt and Spinosad at the first sign of 'em--
and, of course, Cap's Bennies...

 

[straincreation]

Ill second the cattis. And use of BT cant stress it enough. Or you will lose great tops.
Imo sounds like a fun season at grow guys house.
Happy farmin;)

 

[Og Gong]

I had maybe 20 different species of caterpillars on my out door grow also had to deal with grey mold. If you wanna keep it small put it out after first week in July after June gloom. When I put my plants out early April "the clones" flowered right away and look good until July then it reveged and stretched again until end of September early October lol they was 12-15ft the whole hood was reeking lmao I went indoors after that :rolleyes:

 

[mrgrowguy]

Yes, definitely. The only thing that killed my friends outdoor over and over again was caterpillars.

I already have both spinosad and bt. And I will be applying rigorously.

 

[mrgrowguy]

Oh, I also have eagle 20 to use early in veg and other fungicides if needed before flower. But the humidity here is so cal is almost always 50%

 

[Og Gong]

Oh, I also have eagle 20 to use early in veg and other fungicides if needed before flower. But the humidity here is so cal is almost always 50%

Depends if you are west of the 405/5 or on the east side. Near the beach gets overcast then humidity rises in the evenings.

 

[mrgrowguy]

Depends if you are west of the 405/5 or on the east side. Near the beach gets overcast then humidity rises in the evenings.

north of both freeways, inland enough it takes me about 15 minutes to drive to the nearest beach (Huntington and Newport).

Current humidity in the tent - 45%, indoors - 52%.

 

[dutch69lover]

you may want to do some research into companion planting some other plants that may either drive the buggers away from the area or draw them to those plants instead of being interested in your babies. Also I would suggest you pick a strain that is strong outdoor survivor as plants breed for indoors won't be accustomed to the outdoor environment. BOG has some strong strains your may want to look at.

 

[Seamaiden]

I can't recommend E20, ESPECIALLY in SoCal. In fact, in my opinion, due to the pressures placed on organisms down there you'd be doing yourself a favor learning how to deal with spider mites, fungus gnats, powdery mildew, and caterpillars ALL organically rather than with chemicals.

E20 is known to cause resistance, and there's a really good chance resistant PM is in your area. I know my own son battled resistant mites to no end. The list goes on.

Have isopropyl alcohol, JMS Stylet oil, Azamax/Azatrol, Bti, Btk, Spinosad and at least rosemary essential oil on hand. Oh, don't forget a good soap (a true soap) like Dr. Bronner's.

25mi inland my son's issues were the mites and at least two types of fungus, PM and whatever was causing his bud rot. He finally got a handle on the caterpillars, but bud rot would still show up fairly strongly during those pre-summer months.

I spent over 30yrs in SoCal. HB used to be *the* place to go once we finished our chores. Newport was ok, but took a lot longer. We'd take the bus all the way down Beach Blvd.

 

[mrgrowguy]

you may want to do some research into companion planting some other plants that may either drive the buggers away from the area or draw them to those plants instead of being interested in your babies. Also I would suggest you pick a strain that is strong outdoor survivor as plants breed for indoors won't be accustomed to the outdoor environment. BOG has some strong strains your may want to look at.

Great info, thanks. And I definitely will. I will do some research after work, but if you have any suggestions that come to mind, that's be great. I will also check my local garden place to see what they recommend too.

I can't recommend E20, ESPECIALLY in SoCal. In fact, in my opinion, due to the pressures placed on organisms down there you'd be doing yourself a favor learning how to deal with spider mites, fungus gnats, powdery mildew, and caterpillars ALL organically rather than with chemicals.

E20 is known to cause resistance, and there's a really good chance resistant PM is in your area. I know my own son battled resistant mites to no end. The list goes on.

Have isopropyl alcohol, JMS Stylet oil, Azamax/Azatrol, Bti, Btk, Spinosad and at least rosemary essential oil on hand. Oh, don't forget a good soap (a true soap) like Dr. Bronner's.

25mi inland my son's issues were the mites and at least two types of fungus, PM and whatever was causing his bud rot. He finally got a handle on the caterpillars, but bud rot would still show up fairly strongly during those pre-summer months.

I spent over 30yrs in SoCal. HB used to be *the* place to go once we finished our chores. Newport was ok, but took a lot longer. We'd take the bus all the way down Beach Blvd.

Thanks for the input. I've only used E20 so far when I was growing in my closet due to pm, and it worked very well. If I still use it, it will only be one application on 4 plants. But I will consider other options.