Trench growing

[mastacheeser]

alright one more day of digging and it will be done
anybody have experience moving ladies inside to outside?
i dont have my greenhouse cover up yet and its kinda cold
im losing some leaves, wondering if its from cold temps, stress from moving outside, or from switching nutes
running a full line of nutrients inside and switched to a gh 3 part for the girls outside when i moved them

 

[mastacheeser]

rain + 5 ft hole = 5 foot watering hole
thank goodness it was a test run for summertime greenhouse
also left them in coco so see if it was legit to do that outdoors and am liking that as well
if these things were in dirty they would be done with for sure
shouldnt really have to worry about this too much in the summertime, it really shouldnt rain for three months straight

 

[Seamaiden]

alright one more day of digging and it will be done
anybody have experience moving ladies inside to outside?
i dont have my greenhouse cover up yet and its kinda cold
im losing some leaves, wondering if its from cold temps, stress from moving outside, or from switching nutes
running a full line of nutrients inside and switched to a gh 3 part for the girls outside when i moved them

Yes, I'm pretty sure Blaze has some good experience, and it's how I do things. If it's too cold (55F or below) then growth pretty much shuts down. Can you do a coldframe over them? Switching nutes shouldn't cause leaf drop all by itself. But then my OD ladies get nothing but good earth and good organic nutrients, we work with the soil food web.

Did you acclimate them to the sun before moving them? They can get pretty burned up, especially clones, if you don't give them a little shade and help in acclimation first. My own method is to keep mine under the big old black oak out front, it's got a good canopy and restricts direct sun from hitting them during the most intense times (after 10am through well after 2pm). Otherwise, I'll use landscaping cloth and make a tent with a few bamboo stakes, just enough to give them a little shade for a few days to a week.

 

[Blaze]

IMO it is way to early to move plants outside unless you are in a tropical area, or have a climate controlled greenhouse with lighting. Putting them out now can cause a lot of issues.

Winter isn't over yet so so will likely be battling the elements. Also the light cycle is very short now, they would need a lot of supplementary lighting to keep from flowering right now.

If the light cycle gets messed up and the plant start to flower or get confused it can really hurt your yield later on. You never want your plants to get stressed out or start to go back and froth between veg and flower.

Often people equate putting plants out earlier with higher yields and this is not always true. The timing has to be right or you can end up shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[papadop]

I hope you have taken into account flooding. Rain run off could be a issue. Good luck.

 

[mastacheeser]

thx much for the feedback everyone
they are just some old mothers i was guna toss
we saw double our rainfall for the enitre winter, in december
wouldnt even have to worry about this normally if the ground wasnt so staturated
kinda suprised mudslides havent gone crazy
was gunna do something with a trench this year starting in early april at the very earliest
have done this the last couple years and the quanity is def hurt a little bit doing outdoor over the winter, ran last years winter outdoor until mid march
the original plan was to do a greenhouse cover and a space heater of some sort, but the ladies were looking pretty good as it
using some nutes that were guna get tossed as well so its really just a quest for knowledge
this general organics line is messy

 

[mastacheeser]

Yes, I'm pretty sure Blaze has some good experience, and it's how I do things. If it's too cold (55F or below) then growth pretty much shuts down. Can you do a coldframe over them? Switching nutes shouldn't cause leaf drop all by itself. But then my OD ladies get nothing but good earth and good organic nutrients, we work with the soil food web.

Did you acclimate them to the sun before moving them? They can get pretty burned up, especially clones, if you don't give them a little shade and help in acclimation first. My own method is to keep mine under the big old black oak out front, it's got a good canopy and restricts direct sun from hitting them during the most intense times (after 10am through well after 2pm). Otherwise, I'll use landscaping cloth and make a tent with a few bamboo stakes, just enough to give them a little shade for a few days to a week.

theres about a million things that were wrong with theses ladies
two were mothers, one was cloned, veged, flowered, reveged, cut off of, and reflowered in about 2 months so she wasnt super happy
also checked the root temp and it was getting into the 30's at night, way too cold, made some covers and got this fixed
i could keep listing but my fingers hurt
thx for the great info seamaiden

 

[Seamaiden]

Oh... yeah, they won't dig those low temps, but the problem is that those temps won't outright kill them. I've tried killing plants by just leaving them outside during cold spells, and it's never worked.

IMO it is way to early to move plants outside unless you are in a tropical area, or have a climate controlled greenhouse with lighting. Putting them out now can cause a lot of issues.

He's in SoCal, which is, from a growing standpoint pretty close to a tropical environment. My mother's plumeria bloom almost all winter long! Her hibiscus is blooming, too, not to mention all the orchids she keeps outside. 20mi east of LA.

Winter isn't over yet so so will likely be battling the elements. Also the light cycle is very short now, they would need a lot of supplementary lighting to keep from flowering right now.

If the light cycle gets messed up and the plant start to flower or get confused it can really hurt your yield later on. You never want your plants to get stressed out or start to go back and froth between veg and flower.

Often people equate putting plants out earlier with higher yields and this is not always true. The timing has to be right or you can end up shooting yourself in the foot.

While I've never grown weed in SoCal, my son and folks do it, and they've got stuff going right now outside. They have problems, to be sure, but those are based on the fact that the entire area is heavily landscaped and there are more bugs/pests/diseases practically inherent in the area than you can shake a Thai-stick at.

 

[mastacheeser]

yep its tricky, the extra azatrol always gets dumped on the lawn to help
def not going to give anything big a try just a couple ladies.
last couple years its been catapilars of all things, lucky they hit late and keep off my buds for the most part
easy as hell to spot and all you really gota do is pull them off every day
kinda figure if i keep it small it will be managable, already got my hands full inside

 

[mastacheeser]

anything that comes down this time of year goes right to bho for the personal

 

[Blaze]

Ah, OK if you are in SoCal you can plant MUCH earlier, as you are on the edge of the tropical climate there. Even that far south the days are still short though, so supplementary lighting would still probably be needed to actually veg anything outside right now. Sounds like you've got a good plant figured out.

A tip on the caterpillars: you can get traps for them to act as an early warning system. Most likely they are actually from moths which tend to lay their eggs earlier in the season. The larvae then emerge in the late summer and fall and wreak havoc on your crop. A little Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is all it takes to get rid of them, but it takes it about 10 days to kill the little bastards, so you want to apply it before you start seeing damage, which is where the trap come in. If you find a moth in your trap, go apply the Bt, and you should be all good.

Planting corn near by also will often deter and/or delay them as well, as it is their preferred food, so they will usually go for that first. I am a lot farther north than you though, so it may not be the same species of moth/caterpillars that you get down there.

 

[Seamaiden]

I've lived up here since 2004 and I still marvel at the difference in daylight hours that I can notice as the seasons change that I didn't notice when I lived in SoCal. Lived down there since '72.

Blaze is 100% correct about the Bt, in fact, I will get more religious about it and come as close as I can to insisting you spray every 10-14 days so as to prevent worms in your bud. Also, I got a couple different varieties of Indian sweet corn to plant nearby in an attempt to use it as worm bait, as he suggested to me a few weeks ago.

I want to hit that restaurant again, seriously.

 

[Dunge]

I need to be able to do this 'moving roof' or some such thing to limit light come summer.
What do you use for cover (black plastic?) and how large a tent can you move over the plants?
The practical aspect of covering while allowing air flow worries me.

 

[mastacheeser]

i have two old light rails that i tied a large set of window blinds too
you can do this very easy with just a electirc motor and a wheel on a track.
not 100% light proof but if i need to throw some sheets or something over the blinds i will when the time comes
not sure about the horse power of the motor but its 3.5 rpm

 

[Dunge]

Cool. Have you ever done this?
Please post a pic when you get something built.

 

[mastacheeser]

i had it set up real quick, but days arent really going to be long enuf for it to mess up anything on this run
peak around on google, there are a couple pre made systems that are pretty easy to copy if your willing to do some building

 

[FarmerGreen]

Trenches can work great, but digging them 5' deep is a waste of time and money. Cannabis is an annual, it does not put down deep roots, but wide, shallow roots. You can easily get big plants in as little depth as 12"-18" of soil. In my opinion, anything deeper than 2'-3' (even 3' is pushing it) is not needed and will not get you bigger plants or a higher yield.

What about depth for stability? I dug a trench last year - on a steep hillside - lots of work! In the end my plants were all 6', and as they put on weight the started to lean. The soil just wasn't enough to hold them up. This year I plan to use the same trench again, but I'm considering digging it deeper (when I re-amend)? I was considering 3' deep.

BTW, I was impressed with how far the tap roots went. When it was harvest time I pulled everything I could up. Base of stalk was was coke-can size in dia, and root mass must've been 16" long. I hate the idea of staking (even though its sometimes necessary), as I worry about it looking out of the ordinary & catching a eye. Yes, I am a gorilla.

 

[mastacheeser]

im prob using smart pots, not sure what size, pro get the biggest that will fit in the hole
im about 5-6 ft deep strait down right now, and dug out at a angle to get better mourning and evening sun
prob going another 2 ft deep to make up for the size of the smart pot, but not starting my summer cycle for another month or so
also havent decided between soil or coco
even if they bend real funky you should be able to steak them right?

 

[Blaze]

What about depth for stability? I dug a trench last year - on a steep hillside - lots of work! In the end my plants were all 6', and as they put on weight the started to lean. The soil just wasn't enough to hold them up.

As long as you have a good 12"+ of depth to work with stability shouldn't be too much of an issue. I know someone who has grown a bunch of 12'-16' tall by 10'-14' wide plants in 10" or less of soil. They did have the largest plant, which was about 16' x 16' tip over, but that was it. Width is what gets you the most bang for your buck, not depth. Digging a 5' trench won't add to stability anyway, the roots won't go that deep, especially with clones. I've personally had plants tip over in 3'+ of soil - but it had to do w/ lack of support, not soil depth.

Any decent sized plant is going to need additional supports regardless. If you are growing is loose soil (which you should be if you are growing cannabis) than the soil will have trouble holding up the plant once it gets large and weighty, regardless of soil depth. That is where the grape stakes and horta-nova trellis comes in :)

 

[mastacheeser]

misread that post, blaze is right on
for support im doing something like humboldt local does, its what ive always done indoors too.
a well supported screen (maybe two or three if your growing some monsters) will make it so you hardly have to worry about it