I'll be checkin in. Cant wait to see this go down!

-Supa

just wait till i start showing off...thanks for always helping me to strive to be bigger and better..

Happy mothers day everyone.
Now for the big secret I have mentioned a couple times. The last couple years we have had a pretty cold may and june. Some years I could plant first week of may and the plants would explode, others they would sit for a month with no growth. The plants in the greenhouse on the other hand, would surpass them in growth because of the warm days and nights they were experiencing. This year I planned to build pvc hoops over all of my outdoor plants to give them the greenhouse experience and make it so I could plant earlier. Sometime late june or early july when it gets way too hot the plastic will come off but the hoop will stay in place to help with supporting the plants. I built the hoops a little small with the hope that the plants will grow a few feet through them. I will run two 4' pieces of plant trellis netting down the length of the hoops ridge to hold the plants up. I will also be using a texas tomato cage and a larger deer fencing cage like last year around them. Obviously not all plants will be the same size but I will deal with the monsters that need some extra support once it is clear which they are. I am thinking a second hoop over those ones with more trellis netting another few feet higher would do the trick.
This is my trench garden. These hoops are 120 feet long. This is a very windy spot and we did struggle getting these hoops solid. We added weed mat to the fence to act as a wind barrier and it helped a little. Adding a ridge piece to the hoops helped add some strength and we have a t-post at either end duct-taped to the pvc. It really adds some strength. We had hoped to be planting a lot earlier with these hoops to really get the most benefit but several speed bumps slowed us down a bit.




These are some of the hoops that have supplemental light and Mr Nice clones planted in 200 gallon smarties in them. This is a much less windy spot and the hoops didn't need the ridge piece. I am already wishing I had gone with 300 gallons smarties here but I am sure these will do fine. Still have a lot of hoops that need to be put up. Next year I hope to be planting a lot earlier and would of but my soil is still way too hot in most of my 300 gallon smarties. Hopefully next week it will be cool enough to get everything else in. The clones you see in the pots in these hoops will be going into some of my trenches at the beginning of june. They won't have supplemental lighting at that point but I think they will be fine.













That's all for now folks.:character0103::icon_cookie::afroweed:

lookin really nice, lovin the hoops too, keep it up man!

Got some more hoops planted and a greenhouse too. Should have the majority of all our planting done within a week. We do have some clones that won't go into their final trenches till beginning of June.

Humboldt, someone just posted on another forum that poly plastic (can't remember which type, I assume the sheeting plastic you can get at the big box stores) doesn't play well with PVC and will crumble in short order. Do you have to replace that plastic every year, or are you using a special plastic?

I would suggest running 1x2x8 across a few of the front rows of greenhouses, it will be much more rigid if you run them about 2' off the ground horizontally between vertical pvc columns.

I also found that equal size black pipe cut into 2" peices wrapped around the poly and screwed into the poly and pvc will hold the plastic on like a washer. Someone suggested it to me and it worked very well. Self drilling screws make easy work of it.

I also saw a good article on www.orchardsupplyhardware.com about using 3 columns on each arch. You use one inside and two outside the poly and slide the plastic inbetween them up and down so you can vent it easily in the early season if you want to. I really liked it!

If you want to have your plastic for more than 1 year, woven poly lasts forever! Its worth the money!

Its called painters plastic at Friedmans, and at home depot its in the paint section also, 3-6mil plastic in 10 - 30' wide x 50-1000'

I don't think thicker would last longer really... its just not UV stable so it will harden over the summer. Winter will make it break beacuse of the brittle state and cold making it worse and wind... it all helps destroy it.

Where did you get those cords w/ the plugs or bulb outlets on them?

Oh, you can use electrical pvc it is UV stable, if that was the question.

Seamaiden said:

Humboldt, someone just posted on another forum that poly plastic (can't remember which type, I assume the sheeting plastic you can get at the big box stores) doesn't play well with PVC and will crumble in short order. Do you have to replace that plastic every year, or are you using a special plastic?

Click to expand...

The plastic will only be on these hoops for two months at the most and then stored for next year.

happyinmendo said:

I would suggest running 1x2x8 across a few of the front rows of greenhouses, it will be much more rigid if you run them about 2' off the ground horizontally between vertical pvc columns.

I also found that equal size black pipe cut into 2" peices wrapped around the poly and screwed into the poly and pvc will hold the plastic on like a washer. Someone suggested it to me and it worked very well. Self drilling screws make easy work of it.

I also saw a good article on www.orchardsupplyhardware.com about using 3 columns on each arch. You use one inside and two outside the poly and slide the plastic inbetween them up and down so you can vent it easily in the early season if you want to. I really liked it!

If you want to have your plastic for more than 1 year, woven poly lasts forever! Its worth the money!

Its called painters plastic at Friedmans, and at home depot its in the paint section also, 3-6mil plastic in 10 - 30' wide x 50-1000'

I don't think thicker would last longer really... its just not UV stable so it will harden over the summer. Winter will make it break beacuse of the brittle state and cold making it worse and wind... it all helps destroy it.

Click to expand...

Good points happy, if the plastic was going to stay on permanently I would reinforce the hoops more. The longer hoops have a t-post at the end to add some strength and they seam to be holding up well. I have a lot of experience with the woven GH plastic and use it on several of my GH's. I can usually get at least five years out of it if I am lucky.

happyinmendo said:

Where did you get those cords w/ the plugs or bulb outlets on them?

Click to expand...

Home depot. They are 50' long and have 5 sockets on them.

humboldtlocal said:

He says that quote in between songs on the Live at Reggae On The River DVD. Watching that dvd bring tears to my eyes. The music is great and brings back a lot of good memories. For those that don't know Rod Deal and the Ideals, Rod was a local musician that died in the early 90's. He was the embodiment of the Humboldt grower and his songs told the story of what it meant to live the life of a true Marijuana Man. He was taken too soon and will be missed. We are fortunate that his music lives on. I hear it on the radio often and have even heard local bands in Hawaii play his songs. His album Truth and Rights is epic and my other favorite was Police State. If you are looking for a copy of the DVD get a hold of Bongo Boy Productions in Mckinleyville, CA. They should have his CDs as well.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that info.. Not easy to find the police state album. Everything's looking great in your pics, gunna be a good year!

Outdoor in Mendo

Does anyone know if Purple Urkle, Space Queen and Sour Diesel grow well outside on the North Coast (no greenhouse) or should I grow them inside and something else outside? Thank you!

Outdoor in Mendo

Does anyone know if Purple Urkle, Space Queen and Sour Diesel grow well outside on the North Coast (no greenhouse) or should I grow them inside and something else outside? Thank you!

Nice set up humboldt

wow this scale is awesome and inspiring. have you ever ran the same clone in the same conditions, in different sized pots and compared the yields? I'm amazed at the 150,200,300,400 gal pots that are used. when i see 1 lb yields in 5 gal indoors, and 1lb plants outdoors in 10-15 gal holes, i wonder are you getting 10-14x as much? 10lb plants? that'd be great!

The problem is water loss from the sun/ heat you dont get indoors. You need the extra soil. Yes, if you put a 5 gallon plant outside and a 45 gallon pot you will be getting at least 9x the amount, it gets less and less on the multiplier as you go up but seems to have a rather large ceiling of possibility.

Very nice humbolt! I like your avatar...saw it in the back of high times....very nice! Looks like a hell of a year..

Hi everyone. Time for a little update. I spent a couple days in sacramento hanging with my collective, Fruitridge Health and Wellness Collective. Many THCfarmers are members of Fruitridge. These guys are the model of what a compassionate collective is all about. While I was there they were giving away fresh produce and eggs to their patients and they also give away several lbs of medicine every month. They also have a massage therapist that works on patients and they take care of vets and seniors as well. I have been so impressed with these guys and I am happy to grow for them. I had a lot of offers to grow for collectives and I was really moved by how these guys operate and the great reputation they have. If you are anywhere near Sac this is the place to be. They had a ton of great clones when I was down there if any one is looking for legit cuts. They also carry Swerves Cali Connection line. This winter I will be stocking that place with a lot of my genetics as well. I took in some of the sights while I was down there.

This is where all the real crimes in Cali are committed.:)



This is my Burmese Kush x Goo really starting to take off. I have high hopes for this one.

Here is the Shoe Goo showing what she is capable of.

This is one of our collective members Ganja D showing off his hard work.




The weather has been a little cold and rainy but the hoops are paying off. Well worth the extra effort. The girls don't seam to be missing a beat.
We will be applying for Clean Green Certification here real soon so I will let everyone know how that process goes. We need more Organic, healthy, pesticide, and chemical free meds in the collectives. Our patients deserve it.

humboldtlocal said:

We need more Organic, healthy, pesticide, and chemical free meds in the collectives. Our patients deserve it.

Click to expand...

I agree. I only know a handful of 100% organic and chemical-free growers.

Are you sure those smart pots are going to get filled out? You could throw two in each and still get some monsters.

-Supa