Starting my first outdoor/greenhouse grow, need advice

[souf69]

Alright all you farmers out there, I will be starting my first greenhouse grow and need all the help and insight I can get. I would like to hear nute lineups as well as mediums, and feed options. I have a large loafing shed, it faces south for southern exposure. Its eight feet high at the highest point, then a gradual down slope to about five feet.I plan on removing the front panels and replacing them with clear panels.
I plan on using only southern exposed light so I have shade, and i can control the temps with a/c and a swamp cooler. I will be posting pics later this evening....lets hear it

 

[caregiverken]

Do it! :) Im subbed

 

[Seamaiden]

Gosh... ok, well my 'nute line-up' is all ag stuff. I'll suggest starting with bulk topsoil and amending that with the goodies--compost, maybe some worm castings, I like Dr. Earth pre-mixed fertilizer mixes, they're really very easy to work with and you can make tea with them. I have switched from perlite to rice hulls for lightening up mixes.

What's a loafing shed, a shed for layabouts?

I'll suggest not blocking any light if you can help it. The swamp cooler sounds delicious (I love high humidity).

 

[souf69]

Here we go, I know lottsa work....

 

[Pancho-N-Lefty]

I would imagine that Dominion would have some great organic nutes for u to use.;)
But Seamaiden has got her outdoor stuff on lock.

PnL

 

[souf69]

The big room is 16 x 30. Little one is 12 x 16. I plan to do 20 autos in the small room and probably 30 full seasons in the big. Im tearing the front ( south facing ) clean off and replacing it with clear panels, and 10 feet off the roof replaced with clear as well.

 

[souf69]

Anyone have a compost regimen mixture? I was thinking about using tga supersoil recipe, any objections? Maiden what do you think?

 

[potentinfinite]

If its south facing go ahead and make the entire roof clear and paint the south face of the northern wall flat white.

As for compost it looks like you may have space to make your own....I love going overboard with organic It seems the suggested soil mixes would be good too with amendments worm castings, bat guano, green sand....compost teas are amazing...I used to collect the guano for my plants when I was younger from the Mexican free tail bats that stop in downtown Austin TX under the congress street bridge. People come from miles around to see millions of bats fly out from under the bridge to hunt mesquitos every night. Composting yourself rocks. Add plenty of banana peels for potassium eggshells coffee grounds any greens and vegetable scraps cooked food scraps can be good too as long as there's no meat and not much butter or milk ,,,yard scraps, chopped sticks, leaves and grass clippings, I used to collect my neighbors ... This plus the guano and even live worms in your beds you know you need to water when the worms come out of the bottom and you know it's a little much water if the worms come out on top and stay there long enough to die plus plants seem to like the roots massaged

 

[souf69]

Awesome mane, any particular ratio of guano, castings, verm, etc?

 

[Seamaiden]

You don't need to compost guano, though some chook poop can be pretty hot and probably should be composted. Unfortunately, my soil 'recipes' are much like my cooking 'recipes' in that I start with the basics (bulk topsoil or bagged potting soil) and then go with handfuls here and there, until it looks and feels 'right' to me.

There's a cat named Tom Hill on another forum. Look up the growing big plants outdoors thread in his particular forum. I can't link you, but there are a few soil recipes in that thread that are totally workable.

 

[souf69]

Maiden, you just blew my mind! Mr. Hill is a legend..... thanks again...I found a recipe of his supposedly.

 

[souf69]

ok, I been real busy but I did get a chance to tear the roof off and pull the walls down.

 

[Seamaiden]

Maiden, you just blew my mind! Mr. Hill is a legend..... thanks again...I found a recipe of his supposedly.

Glad you found the thread. Very educational for those who are trying to get the most out of each plant. :)

Good work on the barn!

 

[souf69]

maiden, do you think that is enuff opening for the sunlight? Or should i cut the horizontal pieces of wood out?

 

[kolah]

I am an outdoor grow-nut and still learning but have had great success outdoors (and that's growing without electric). I don't know squat about indoor grows.

Get more light in, it's free ! Open er' up.

If money is scarce, use whatever is around for a soiless mix and use some nice organic liquid nutes. ( I use General Organics but there are other good ones out there too)

If money is plentiful (god bless ya, lol), go with the bigdawg soil recipes (Subcool, bat guano, fish, etc, etc) and look at all the great threads here on the thcfarm under "outdoor growing"

Make sure you ph your soil and your water too.

Worms and home compost will be super beneficial.

It looks like a old livestock stalls. Make sure you give it a good cleaning and look for old moldy hay and other crud...as it will come back to haunt you.

Also have some plans to keep critters out....and two-legged assholes.

REMEMBER, Keep it simple. Don't over water or over fert. Good Luck

BTW,,,whatcha gonna grow? whats your climate like?
=============================================

 

[Mogrow]

keep the roof open, it will eliminate the need to cool. now you will probably want a fan to keep the air turning over. you might think about a breathable shade cloth for the sides. and maybe have some for the roof if you think the choppers are flying over or something.
check out amber's greenhouse setup, it's awesome.
good luck brother///

 

[souf69]

I am bringing a small backhoe in this weekend, gonna dig down four feet inside and lay some beds inground. I want to keep em cool all summer. Gonna put a swamp cooler in and clear the top section.

 

[souf69]

I am an outdoor grow-nut and still learning but have had great success outdoors (and that's growing without electric). I don't know squat about indoor grows.

Get more light in, it's free ! Open er' up.

If money is scarce, use whatever is around for a soiless mix and use some nice organic liquid nutes. ( I use General Organics but there are other good ones out there too)

If money is plentiful (god bless ya, lol), go with the bigdawg soil recipes (Subcool, bat guano, fish, etc, etc) and look at all the great threads here on the thcfarm under "outdoor growing"

Make sure you ph your soil and your water too.

Worms and home compost will be super beneficial.

It looks like a old livestock stalls. Make sure you give it a good cleaning and look for old moldy hay and other crud...as it will come back to haunt you.

Also have some plans to keep critters out....and two-legged assholes.

REMEMBER, Keep it simple. Don't over water or over fert. Good Luck

BTW,,,whatcha gonna grow? whats your climate like?
=============================================

have some corleone kush, ssh, gsc, and iss goin in. I have till junish to finish this gh. I know its an old horse barn, but thats what I want it to look like....

 

[kolah]

Sounds great...and nothing wrong with a "cammo-horsebarn greenhouse." :)

I like Mogrow's idea for a roof vent.

digging those beds 3-4 foot deep will be really advantageous. Just remember to not overcrowd your plants. Give them room and they will skyrocket. In the past I overcrowded my plants and yields dropped. Less is more sometimes.

Marigold, onion and garlic are good critter deterrants. I always toss a few of these in my GH beds.

Check out Caregiver Ken's threads as he does a great job of of growing outdoors.

I am interested to see how your GSC will do outdoors. Have you started growing the seedling/clones yet?

 

[Seamaiden]

maiden, do you think that is enuff opening for the sunlight? Or should i cut the horizontal pieces of wood out?

More natural light is ALWAYS better, IMO. You can't get enough in there, so take off as much as you possibly can.

I disagree with removing the moldy hay and droppings--those are free nutrients you're getting rid of if you do that. I would turn them over and get them decomposing, and am ALWAYS on the lookout for stuff like moldy hay. Instead, I usually have to buy perfectly good hay, or I get the sweepings from the local feed shop to use for my teas and in my beds.