Growing Inside-Out: The Winter 24/25 Edition

[RootFarmer]

Hey Farmers

I decided to attempt a winter grow on my back patio. Sectioned off half with some plastic sheeting to provide a weather barrier to keep rain/snow/cold out and set up a 4x8 tent. While it does keep the elements at bay and provide a more stable environment, I still have outdoor grow issues to potentially contend with, e.g. bugs/diseases, etc. I'm using HID lights for a couple reasons. I already have ballasts I've been schlepping around the country for a couple decades and I want to take advantage if those normally dreaded heat issues. Despite outdoor rh in the 90s I still had low humidity inside the tent so I set up a humidifier with a humidistat inside. I also placed a small space heater outside the tent set to run when temps get in the 20s/30s. The floor of the tent is lined with 20"x20" seedling mats under the floor cover to compensate for the cold cement underneath.

For lighting, I have a 600 watt mag-coil and 2 1000 watt digital ballasts available but I've been having issues with one of the e-ballasts. My goal is to eventually have the 600 set up outside for mommas and use the digital inside the tent. Ballasts are set up externally. Reflectors are air cooled. Active exhaust and passive intake. I'm using Sunmaster Full Nova bulbs for veg. I have 1000w Eye Hortilux Super HPS, a 1000w knock-off type bulb and a 600w Vegelumax bulb available for flower, along with backups. There are two 6" clip on fans for air circulation. It has taken a little time but I'm getting a feel for how conditions outside affect those inside the tent but have the VPD in mostly range now.

I'm using 7 gal fabric pots with about 5-6 gal of soil. I'm doing this mainly for the dimensions. I prefer something more squat and that's about the only way to get it with the small size fabric pots. I fold down the extra fabric which provides somewhere to secure a tie-down if I'm training or simply a handle of sorts. I'll be testing a few different soils I made with various recipes and treatments.

I scored some cuts from a couple places. I got a Pure Kush, Pineapple Express and 2x Lemon Meringue (Lemon Skunk x Cookies n Cream) from Next Generation Farms, as well as, 2x Supreme Lee-Hi (Supreme Ruckus x Collie High) from Kapricorn Farms. A few not in the greatest shape and some of them were a little wonky so I'm attempting to grow them out based on that. They are getting some sort of training that kinda goes with the flow. We'll see how that turns out. Lol I've topped a few and taken some cuttings. I might start a couple mammas. Not a lot of space tho. Most likely the Supreme Lee-Hi will be one. Supremely high is definitely appropriate. My wife and I have yet to be able to finish a bowl of this strain without knocking us on our asses. It hits fast and hard like a one-two punch from Tyson ffs. Been toking since the 70s, that rarely happens anymore.


I'll try to post some pics in awhile.

 

[Galgrows]

Well i don't know much about the 1000s of different strains i sure never heard of that supreme lee-hi but it sure sounds like a heavy hitter. I used to have a screened in patio which i had my 3x3 tent placed and had my 4x4 in a spare bedroom. It was exposed to the cold wet Oregon winters but under cover. I used to use a old chicken coop heater in it LOL it was pretty hard to get a grow but i tried. I wish you good luck getting this running, please keep us posted as i'm sure curious.

 

[RootFarmer]

Well i don't know much about the 1000s of different strains i sure never heard of that supreme lee-hi but it sure sounds like a heavy hitter. I used to have a screened in patio which i had my 3x3 tent placed and had my 4x4 in a spare bedroom. It was exposed to the cold wet Oregon winters but under cover. I used to use a old chicken coop heater in it LOL it was pretty hard to get a grow but i tried. I wish you good luck getting this running, please keep us posted as i'm sure curious.

The one gallon challenge helped me work out some bugs in the environment. But still have actual real life bugs to contend with. But so far, so good.

 

[RootFarmer]

Step inside the weather buffer zone.

A peek inside....

Lemon Meringue

Lemon Meringue - leaning cut

Both Supreme Lee-Hi cuts were leaners also

Pure Kush

Pineapple Express

 

[Oldchucky]

Looks pretty damn good! Do you have a generator? And watch out for those nutrias! Autos?

 

[RootFarmer]

Looks pretty damn good! Do you have a generator? And watch out for those nutrias! Autos?

No generator but maybe not a bad idea to consider. They are all photoperiod clones. Each one in a different soil mix, except for the Lemon Meringue which are both in Test Soil #6.

 

[Oldchucky]

I was just wondering about the electricity consumption when you flip! But it sounds like you might actually be saving money during lights out just running the heater! Either way you must have some pretty cheap electricity up there! No, such animal down here in Cali! This is gonna be interesting! Knock it out of the park!

 

[RootFarmer]

I was just wondering about the electricity consumption when you flip! But it sounds like you might actually be saving money during lights out just running the heater! Either way you must have some pretty cheap electricity up there! No, such animal down here in Cali! This is gonna be interesting! Knock it out of the park!

Right now one of the 1000w digitals is at 50% power. I'm also running the 600w mag. Won't switch bulbs to HPS until after stretch. Then I'm trading out the 600w mag with other 1000w digital for flower. I will probably need bigger exhaust fans and active air intake by the time I crank it up to 11, even with cold Jan/Feb temps outside. My power bill has gone up less than $20/month at most so far. I can live with that. Even with electric, it's a pretty low cost grow. I'm reusing soil from the summer. I buy my minerals/amendments in whatever quantity I like at this self serve place. The most expensive thing was like $3/lb and I only needed a couple pounds of that one and some things are as low as $0.50/lb. A few minerals/amendments, a cu ft each of EWC and Pumice for about $25. Compost is local also @ 12/cu ft. Total cost for all amendments was probably around $50-60. They were out of Humic Acids and Langbeinite at my usual place so I had to swing by DTE for those or it would have been less. I picked up a non-DTE fert to try while I was there too. That was like 20 bucks. And there is plenty of everything for several of these small grows plus my non-cannabis plants. So actual cost for this specific grow is nominal.
All things considered, I think fuel for a generator would cost more than electricity and I don't have to deal with fumes. And the carbon footprint......yeaaa no thanks.

 

[Oldchucky]

I know it doesn’t happen very often, but I was thinking about when the power goes out! Usually they go get it back on pretty quick around here! But every once in a while, 24 hours! I have three Generators! Don’t want my beer getting warm!

 

[RootFarmer]

I know it doesn’t happen very often, but I was thinking about when the power goes out! Usually they go get it back on pretty quick around here! But every once in a while, 24 hours! I have three Generators! Don’t want my beer getting warm!

I'll just leave that up to the weed gods. But I salute your commitment to fighting alcohol abuse, sir.

 

[RootFarmer]

Hey Farmers its been quite awhile since I posted here. My temporary winter shelter held up well which helped keep the tent environment manageable. Working with clones, the veg time was short. Just enough time to recover from transplanting, establish some new roots and settle into their new pots. The plants were kept under "full spectrum" HIDs thru transition which yielded minimal stretch. At two week from 12/12 flip, I switched to enhanced HPS for flower. Tent is 4x8 with two euro reflectors, dimmable digital ballasts, a humidifier and small space heater. Around mid-flower I caught influenza A and got really sick. My fever was about a half degree away from sending me to the hospital. Kicked my ass hard for a solid 3 weeks. About that same time I had started seeing a few aphids. But I was so sick, I couldn't do more than the occasional watering. Unfortunately, I ended up with a serious infestation. Like a scene from a horror movie ffs. Lol Once I was able, I used a biological treatment regimen and got a bunch of ladybugs. I eventually got them under control. The plants that got hit hardest were removed as their was noto going to be any salvageable flower. Those will be revegged and grow outside, most likely. Or maybe give some cuts to friends.

Tomorrow is Day 67 for the Lemon Meringues. Chop day according to the breeder. I pulled one out to get a close look under natural light and snap a couple pics. The plant in the pic was a wonky, severely leaning cut. I didn't mess with it othe than support it and top it. I didn't lollipop or do any culling whatsoever to any of the plants.

First pic is of the plant right after transplanting. The wonky leaner.

These are the same clone, taken this morning.


All plants were grown water only and only the initial amendments were used. No top dressing.

The Pineapple Express should be done Monday (Day 70), theoretically.

The Pure Kush has a ways to go still.

Test Soil #2 - Pure Kush
Test Soil #3 - Supreme Lee-Hi
Test Soil #4 - Supreme Lee-Hi
Test Soil #5 - Pineapple Express
Test Soil #6 - Lemon Meringue
Test Soil #7 - Lemon Meringue

Test Soil #2 was "cold cured"
Test Soil #3 & #4 were "hot cured" and the soils only differed by one amendment, all others equal.
Test Soil #5 - No cure
Test Soil #6 & #7 - No cure and only differ by one amendment, all others equal.

 

[RootFarmer]

Took the wonky Lemon Meringue today....well most of it. The rest will reveg and go out this summer. Might get an ounce from the little shit. My place smells a little like lemon, pine and skunk now.
Trimmed and ready to hang.

What I left behind

 

[RootFarmer]

Chopped the other Lemon Meringue yesterday. A much better yield from this one. Super frosty and smells fantastic.

Left a little to grow out again like the other one.

 

[RootFarmer]

Pineapple Express came down Tuesday.

The Pure Kush has another 2 weeks to go still.

 

[RootFarmer]

The wonky Lemon Meringue weighed in at an ounce. Disappointing but this was all intended to be an experiment of sorts.

 

[RootFarmer]

Looks like I never wrapped up this journal. Lol

To recap:
Yields were less than I had hoped for but this was really more to see if this was doable. Learned some useful things for next time. Also discovered a good product for pest management going forward.

Ended up with about 1.5oz each from the Lemon Meringue and Pineapple Express plus a couple ounces from the Pure Kush. Quality is superb, terps are loud. The kush has this faint lavender color that I really dig.