Supercharge
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For those who want a decent cash crop but have limited indoor space or worried about a large power bill, the indoor-outdoor growing method wins, hands down. IMO its the best guerrilla growing method there is. You don’t need to be living out in the sticks to do this, can be in your back yard, roof top, courtyard or balcony. The technique is very simple and has been written about many times. For people new to it I’ll only recap as there are many others on this site with far greater expertise than mine. And will describe my set up.
Indoor-outdoor is combining the 18hr growth period of indoor systems and sunlight for the flowering periods. You only really want to do this with indica or indica/sativa crosses but I have had limited success with pure sativas.
Essentially the technique exploits cannabis’s annual reproductive cycle. Growing the plants under 18hrs and then putting them in the sun will immediately turn them. Actually, they won’t turn as quickly if you do this during the summer but your crop will be more bumper. In either case, this ensures a steady supply of weed all year round. Because it gets quite cold where I live during the winter the plants finish in just 6 weeks outside and the yield is about half to that of summer, which can take them as long as 9.5 weeks to finish.
I grow AK-47 crossed with an unknown but particularly heavy indica, a strain I have known and loved for many years now. 2-3 plants go out every week and they are small somewhat gangly looking youths about 18” tall with 4-6 main branches. I tip very early on just after the cuttings have got started.
Grow room is a simple 10’x10’ 2 400mhs and grown in coco on a drip feed run to waste system - about as basic as you can get. At any one time I have somewhere between 15 - 30 plants in grow depending on the season and other factors, and varying numbers of new and rooted cuttings. They whole system is on perfect rotation; harvest two from outside then take two new cuttings - although I usually take a few and select the best rooted one to go into the pots. Because I always have plants in grow, I never have a shortage of cutting material.
Once the cuttings have roots busting out of their cubes these baby plants get put directly under the 400. And the older generation get moved out from the center, the oldest generation and biggest plants get moved out to the edge, thus creating a “bowl” of leaf and making most use of the limited light available. I rotate the outer large plants 180 degrees every few days so ensure even growth.
Putting the girls outside.
You can imaging growing 25 or so plants under 2 tiny 400mhs does not produce the chunky aggressive growth of a plant in hydro under a 600hps but this is all about efficiency and you will be surprised how much the power of the sun will make those twiggy teens transform into bushy bitches of bud. My current system takes advantage of living on a large property but I have done this when living in the suburbs with nice results by planting out into a bricked off courtyard.
I have several large 10gallon water saver pots have trays build into the bottom of them to collect runoff placed strategically around the property in large clumps of tall grass. The pots are easily 5 times the size of what the plant actually needs and this does two things 1) I only have to water every few days 2) I only have to change potting mix - actually it’s a delectable homemade compost blend - every few cycles. Coco plants go straight into this rich organic mix and they don’t mind the change at all, in fact they thrive. I then water with 1/4 strength flower hydro nutes, and add PK at week 4-5.
Results.
Winter 3-4 ounces per plant. Summer 6-8 ounces x 2-3 plants, every week. Do the math. The 4 - 6 branches of the plants are tied down and open with wire hooked on to the rim of the pot (do this slowly over several days otherwise you’ll snap them and cost yourself an ounce per branch in the process) so they absorb maximum sunlight and stay out of sight. They are short stocky shrubs by nature anyway and never get more than 3’ in diameter. Minimal work, electricity use and risk of getting done over by unfriendly neighbors. The cons are rain and mold, caterpillars and always having stuff drying on the rack in my house. I could automate the feed system from my water tank at the house but of course should one plant ever be discovered the lines would lead to the rest, so I carry water in by hand and this keeps me fit lol.
Indoor-outdoor is combining the 18hr growth period of indoor systems and sunlight for the flowering periods. You only really want to do this with indica or indica/sativa crosses but I have had limited success with pure sativas.
Essentially the technique exploits cannabis’s annual reproductive cycle. Growing the plants under 18hrs and then putting them in the sun will immediately turn them. Actually, they won’t turn as quickly if you do this during the summer but your crop will be more bumper. In either case, this ensures a steady supply of weed all year round. Because it gets quite cold where I live during the winter the plants finish in just 6 weeks outside and the yield is about half to that of summer, which can take them as long as 9.5 weeks to finish.
I grow AK-47 crossed with an unknown but particularly heavy indica, a strain I have known and loved for many years now. 2-3 plants go out every week and they are small somewhat gangly looking youths about 18” tall with 4-6 main branches. I tip very early on just after the cuttings have got started.
Grow room is a simple 10’x10’ 2 400mhs and grown in coco on a drip feed run to waste system - about as basic as you can get. At any one time I have somewhere between 15 - 30 plants in grow depending on the season and other factors, and varying numbers of new and rooted cuttings. They whole system is on perfect rotation; harvest two from outside then take two new cuttings - although I usually take a few and select the best rooted one to go into the pots. Because I always have plants in grow, I never have a shortage of cutting material.
Once the cuttings have roots busting out of their cubes these baby plants get put directly under the 400. And the older generation get moved out from the center, the oldest generation and biggest plants get moved out to the edge, thus creating a “bowl” of leaf and making most use of the limited light available. I rotate the outer large plants 180 degrees every few days so ensure even growth.
Putting the girls outside.
You can imaging growing 25 or so plants under 2 tiny 400mhs does not produce the chunky aggressive growth of a plant in hydro under a 600hps but this is all about efficiency and you will be surprised how much the power of the sun will make those twiggy teens transform into bushy bitches of bud. My current system takes advantage of living on a large property but I have done this when living in the suburbs with nice results by planting out into a bricked off courtyard.
I have several large 10gallon water saver pots have trays build into the bottom of them to collect runoff placed strategically around the property in large clumps of tall grass. The pots are easily 5 times the size of what the plant actually needs and this does two things 1) I only have to water every few days 2) I only have to change potting mix - actually it’s a delectable homemade compost blend - every few cycles. Coco plants go straight into this rich organic mix and they don’t mind the change at all, in fact they thrive. I then water with 1/4 strength flower hydro nutes, and add PK at week 4-5.
Results.
Winter 3-4 ounces per plant. Summer 6-8 ounces x 2-3 plants, every week. Do the math. The 4 - 6 branches of the plants are tied down and open with wire hooked on to the rim of the pot (do this slowly over several days otherwise you’ll snap them and cost yourself an ounce per branch in the process) so they absorb maximum sunlight and stay out of sight. They are short stocky shrubs by nature anyway and never get more than 3’ in diameter. Minimal work, electricity use and risk of getting done over by unfriendly neighbors. The cons are rain and mold, caterpillars and always having stuff drying on the rack in my house. I could automate the feed system from my water tank at the house but of course should one plant ever be discovered the lines would lead to the rest, so I carry water in by hand and this keeps me fit lol.