First Norcal Outdoor Grow

[DrNorCal]

Hey everyone I've decided to take a more journalistic approach to my first time growing. Hopefully i'm able to document my failures and successes and help some of you guys out in the future. So let's get started.

I'm going to give you a general idea of what's happened as of now because I planted on the first of June. I made three holes in the soil with around a three foot diameter and a depth around a foot and a half. I inserted two bags of Fox Farms Ocean Forest(Excellent growing medium) along with some Perlite to make the mix a bit airy. So I planted three clones on june third which include two blue dreams and an J1. I also planted three Star Dawgs with the same specifications as the others. I will be feeding my plants with the Fox Farms Trio a long with Age Old Organics Age old Kelp. I will also be using B-1 for transplant shock and some rapid rooter by general organics.

 

[DrNorCal]

This morning around 8 I watered all my plants lightly with some RapidStart and Kelp. I'm still trying to upload images but imgur isn't cooperating I'll post them once it works.

 

[DrNorCal]

So here is the J1. She has had some serious development compared to the others. I'm guessing it has to do with the genetics because there isn't much else different except the soil used here in this image is a local organic medium.

Here is a blue dream and it kind of looks droopy it may just be that it's vegetating extremely right now it may have doubled in size within the past 3 days.

Ahh another blue dream following the same symptoms as the one above. Well see how they feel tomorrow morning it may just be something weird.

Here are the other three sites that exclusively include StarDawg. I'm using those transparent weed tarps as a tool to harden my clones.

Stardawg grow my little angel I want to smoke you into the oblivion.

These three are experiencing some mild growth as they are somewhat still trying to get used to this hot 100 degree weather.

As you can see I have already put the tarps facing at a where the sun will be falling in the evening. This helps because the hottest part of the day is in the evening so its best to help your plants with a few extra hours of shade in the hottest part of the day.

 

[Toaster79]

Upload your pics with the farms uploader and don't hotlink them.

Read the rules again

Keep it green

 

[DrNorCal]

I saw some some roots exposed and was wondering if I didn't burying the two blue dreams well enough. I went to my local nursery and bought some more medium and placed it around and gave it a nice watering in the evening. Hopefully this is what was causing the lack of growth.

 

[50YardLine]

They take a second to find their feet. If your still having issues, water a nice compost tea in. Good luck.

 

[DrNorCal]

I have a 55 gallon drum and plenty of 5 gallon buckets. What do you recommend me buying the pump for? I only have six plants

 

[50YardLine]

http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Hortic...d=1434734173&sr=8-1&keywords=40+watt+air+pump

I like this air pump. They make them in all different wattage.

40w = 1-40 gallons
80w = 40-65 gallons

I use my compost tea's on every plant in my garden. Maybe you have some veggies that could use up the extra tea.


You could make a 5 gal brew with a simple air pump from an aquarium store. I always buy thinking of future expansion, which is why I recommend the first pump. Hope this helps.

 

[DrNorCal]

Do you apply the compost tea through the soil or through the leaves via spray? I'm sort of worried spraying my plants lol.

 

[Blaze]

Usually a soil drench is the best use for compost tea in my opinion, as the big benefit for it is to increase the nutrient cycling in the soil. You can foliar with it - and people do, but the research on the topic has shown that results are very inconsistent. Sometimes it can help with disease suppression, sometimes it does not, and sometimes it can actually make it worse.

 

[DrNorCal]

Very interesting blaze thanks for the feedback, so if i'm understanding it correctly when you create a compost tea the microbes help the plant absorb and process the nutrients to a higher potential?


Last night I fed the three larger plants with a full dosage of nutrients. They seem to be taking it seemingly well and I expect a increase in growth as this is the first time they've received a non diluted dosage.


I was curious as to the progress of the Star Dawgs, so I analyzed their root structure yesterday (I know i'm nuts I just had to look). The progress looks substantial and i'm looking forward to seeing the development of new nodes. Receiving the 4 hours of additional sun as compared to the others is contributing to a noticeable difference in growth rates.

 

[DrNorCal]

Checked the weather today it's only supposed to be a high of 88 at 5pm. The soil is still damp and wet enough for no watering today as it will not be very hot. Tomorrow morning I'll give the plants around a gallon flush.

 

[DrNorCal]

I got a new dog! It's supposedly a pure bred German Shepherd not certified or anything. I bought him for 250 off some rancher, so funny thing is I didn't think its parents would be too big but they were huge and his paws are huge hes only 8 weeks old! Now I just have to teach him to stay away from my garden. :(:mad:

also rip saydee my old dog she was a border collie mix she just passed away a week ago..

 

[SmokesalotofVT]

Look at the Lil Poopy Dog..oh wait, i mean Puppy (-: Cute bugger !!

 

[50YardLine]

RIP Saydee. Sorry for your loss.

Cute pup.

 

[DrNorCal]

Thanks guys I got this puppy because I couldn't be without a best friend also I had a significant security issue from outside my property. My trash was sitting in the street on Friday and these suspicious homeless people were digging through my trash. I had some cannabis related materials inside of it . I'm not sure if they noticed it but i'm not taking any chances. I hope German Shepherds make a good guard dog !


I really should water today but I'm so tired because of this dog keeping me up all night. I have school today and have to pick up some puppy chow so I'll most likely give a mild watering in the evening. All the plants are progressing well now and I should upload more pictures here soon. so tired....time for philosophy class! :(

 

[DrNorCal]

What grows faster a German shepherd or cannabis? Anyways i'm always excited to see new growth. It's starting to exponentially increase as the plants seem to put more foliage on them. I added nutrients today a mixture of Fox Farms Grow Big and Bloom, Age Old Kelp, B1 Plant Starter and last but not least some Rapid Rooter. It's supposed to get hot today! 106 Degrees Fahrenheit I'm loving it. The indica is prevailing. These plants have been in the ground for 22 days now. They've grown above a foot and half each and wide. Does anyone expect what kind of yield I should see?

Guard dog not guarding anything

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Have you thought about topping your dreams should help build them up a bit or alot there's nothing to them the skinny kids always get the bad rep lol I just did one inside up to a week into flower then put her outside I almost didn't top it before flowering but finally gave in about two weeks out and topped every top two nodes down the tallest few being node one and only topping what had an inch of stem from main stalk or more and they went from this

To this

I'm givin her all she's got captain she can't hold much longer

Needless to say I was not expecting this kind of blowup on a dreamer but mine responded very well and I now wish I would have caged her being she is like three weeks out or less pointless to screw with her now she has those bean poles the top is what I am concerned about its like laying over and about to split her in half I don't have anything tall enough to prop her back up with either any ideas are welcome

 

[DrNorCal]

Dude thanks for the advice I didn't even think about topping them. Hopefully it adds some density to the frame. I took off four tops from the most stable areas on all three plants. The unstable nodes were left alone in hopes that they in turn get larger and more supported.

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Can anyone see the second picture idk if it didn't show or if my service sucks at the moment and won't load it on the page rite now for me or what