Grow Hobby Redux - Outdoor

[caliOF]

Let's just say it's been an interesting year. Like others, the quarantine was a chance to start a grow. My last grow was a couple rudimentary indoor grows in 1985-1986. My son is in the cannabis business and gave me some seeds this past Christmas. Three Lemonade autoflowers and five fem Forbidden Fruit X Watermelon Zkittles. It was a shaky start for sure. My wife said outdoor only, small scale, very discreet. With that in mind, I purchased a small greenhouse on eBay. I popped the 3 autos around April 12th. First mistake was that it was too early. Two sprouted. I planted them into two 5gal fabric pots, and put them under 4 ft LED fluorescent fixture. At first they looked good. The third seed I dropped into my herb garden. They were stretching and so I bought a small LED full spectrum bulb on Amazon. This helped enormously. But I was overwatering and they stalled. Mistake #2. About that time (April 23rd) we had our first hot period of the year. I checked the greenhouse and was over 100 in there. I realized this would be a BIG problem by July and decided this plan would not work for me. Mistake #3. I would not be able to fix the heat issue and airflow would be a problem. I tried moving the autos outdoors, but it was pretty much a failure from the start. After stalling out, I knew that the autoflowers were not going to be successful, so started thinking about the photo-period seeds. I finally purchased a pH meter and found out my water comes out of the tap at about 8.3. I knew there was little hope for the autoflowers. On May 6th I popped two of the FF X Watermelon Zkittles. These were put under the LED full spectrum bulb and they did well with the ph'd water. On May 21 I was ready to move outside. I had only one spot that would fit the wife's requirement of discretion. Unfortunately, the spot only gets 4 hours of direct sunlight per day. Since I only had a place for one plant, I gave the other one to my buddy who had an outdoor grow two years ago and lives on acreage so does not have my suburb problems.
I decided that I would use LST to trellis my plant along a fence that hides my garden shed. I knew the amount of direct sun would be a problem, but thought I could use some indoor techniques to make it work and I set up a trellis. Here's a photo from June 28th, which shows my trellis set-up.

 

[caliOF]

The Summer here in the interior valley of California can be ungodly hot, but I felt everything was going fairly well considering the short periods of direct sunlight my girl receives. Here's a photo from July 21st. I'm trying to train her along the trellis. Wider not taller is the goal. I was a little concerned about how spindly she looked, but knew the lack of direct light was most likely the cause. BTW, I used NFTG #4 as my medium. 20 gal fabric pot. The only amendment was ResycleSil. Looking at her she could have probably used a bit more food, so I picked up some earthworm castings, Bu's Blend, and Dr. Earth Vegetable fertilizer.

 

[caliOF]

Because she was so spindly (especially compared to my buddy's girl who gets full sun all day), I was worried I was going to have another failure. Here's where I decided I really wanted to see what this girl might be able to do, so I took four cuttings. I decided I would really like a clone box. I had an old Army footlocker and now the game was on. I added the LED light, then bought a electronics exhaust fan on Amazon. For the air intake, I placed a dust screen to catch some contaminants. I also added a small fan for air circulation.

 

[caliOF]

Much to my surprise all four clones rooted and began to flourish! I gave one to another buddy for his vegetable garden on 8/14. His is outdoors and is currently a little taller than 2 feet, and has started to flower, and I'm thinking he could harvest around the middle of October. Here's a photo of my little clone/start box from August 12. More to follow about, this but I talked my wife into letting me set up a small tent in my garage. I will soon be back as an indoor grower!

 

[caliOF]

Back to Outdoors. Here's what my outdoor girl looked like on August 12th. Starting to flower! I'm stoked, but it's hard not to look at my buddy's plant and be a bit envious, as he's using only a 5 gallon bucket. He is using liquid nutes (not sure what line). Envy is not a virtuous emotion, but it did prompt me into wanting more control of my environment and I'm doubling down on organics and living soil.

 

[caliOF]

August 22. Filling out some and the flowering continues! Things are about to get weird.

 

[caliOF]

Well California decided to go into one of the hottest stretches in the last ten years, and then burst into flames. It's been devastating to watch. I'm sure so many family growers have been affected and my heart goes out to them. My plants were covered in ash. At first I thought the white spots might be PM, but the humidity has been mostly very low. The heat was over 100 for like ten straight days. I did my best, but this could not be good and I'm just hoping for the best at this point. August 27.

 

[caliOF]

Here's where we are as of 9/6. It's going to be 111 today. I'm pretty sure this will be the last over 100 deg period for the year, but you never know. Although I don't expect the buds will dense up with the poor light situation, I'm getting confident that I will have a harvest! I will start a separate diary for my indoor grow. I would like to mention that the information contained on this site is invaluable. To have a place to where folks are supportive and have the passion is phenomenal. Thank you all for showcasing your successes (and failures). It has a great impact.

 

[Madbud]

Looks like she liked that potash foliar feed, natures way.

 

[caliOF]

LOL. I'm hoping there won't be smoke taint, but I don't know a way to mitigate. I've read it's not a good idea to spray her down in flower, even with just water. I'm too lazy to rinse off fan leaves individually.

 

[caliOF]

On or about 9/16 I found little green caterpillars. Picked off about five. On closer inspection I found some bud rot assuming due to caterpillar poop, so I cut out those buds (some of the largest ones). On or about 9/20, I found more caterpillars and decided to save what I have. Cut them down and dried them in a spare bathroom. I figure total is about 4 oz dried. Overall, it was a fun first grow and I'm hooked.

 

[Madbud]

Cats are vicious, btk is a bacteria sold as thuricide or monterey brand that kills them after they hatch and safe up to harvest. I’ve been watching tiny cats hang off of my drying buds, they take 4-5 days to hatch and spin a single thread to escape. On live plants they eat the btk and die in a day or two, minimal damage; but give one a week and it ruins a cola. Another outdoor harvest practice is a diluted peroxide wash and water rinse to prevent mold and remove debris Before drying. Next year will be better!

 

[caliOF]

Thanks! I didn't know what to do, but I'm still happy with the results. Forbidden Fruit X Watermelon Zkittlez is tasty. Quick hitting euphoria, then mellows out. I am thinking about doing an autoflower outside next year, but most efforts have been toward the small indoor tent.