Hopefully more than a mota of mota's mota

[mota]

I’m frustrated, and Mrs. mota can’t help.

My frustration is because, as an exclusively outdoor grower, I don’t have any pictures of my current grow. And the reason for that is I don’t have a current grow. HA! It’s still too cold and wet where I am in the Bay Area. I’ll germinate in a few weeks, but that’s then, this is now.

To hopefully mitigate some of my frustration, I’m going to post a few pictures of my grow last year. Nothing like a journal, really more just random pictures from when I remembered to take a few.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m not the most organized person, which brings me to this year’s grow and the daunting idea of keeping some kind of an even vaguely organized journal. I really want to keep a journal, but honestly I don’t see myself being successful at it. What I will be doing, however, is posting pictures and a narrative of what I/the girls have been doing. I hope to make that weekly, perhaps more often.

My backyard is L shaped, with the leg of the L being narrow and stubby and on the east west axis of the yard. Our back fence is on the south side. That narrow leg is the only part of the yard that gets morning sun, so everyone overnights there. As you can see, it’s not a large space. It also receives the least ambient light at night. I actually used a handtruck and piece of plywood to help keep it dark.

Here it is both during the day and at night later in the year…

And with the handtruck and plywood (actually OSB) blocking the light from our and our neighbor’s night lights.

This next one is directly west of the “alley,” where the plants spend the night.

You can see in this next shot that there is a large pine tree in our yard. It throws a lot of shade as the sun moves across the sky. Consequently, I have to move all of my plants multiple times every day. As the year progresses and the days shorten/the sun is lower in the sky, I have to move them more often. It’s good exercise for an old man. FWIW, that’s a Lemon Kush plant.

Acapulco Gold

Afgoo

Arjan Haze and a bag plant in the background

Bay Dream, then another Bay Dream I called red legs

Dead Head OG

This next shot is the west edge of our yard. The camera is facing north. Juicy Fruit and Acapulco Gold.

These are two thirsty bag plants. I had three. These are the large and the small.

And finally, most of the plants in the late afternoon. This shot is facing kind of southeast. On the right you can see the alley where the girls spend the right. On the left you can see the shadow of the pine tree against our building.

Thanks for looking!

[TopShelfTrees1]

nice my friend! i can only imagine being held to mother natures discretion on when i can grow. i feel for you, but looks like you make sure to take advantage and get enough bud to last! ive wanted to grow afgoo forever and have yet to see a documented grow with it on here or anywhere recently anyway. how was it? have some projects in mind if i do ever come across her if the stuff i heard is true. super sticky? shortish, tight big buds, and takes any issues with ease, some creates droplets of resin on the buds around harvest resembling amber rain drops… thanks in advance.

[Calyxander]

Well, well, it is quite nice to see that I’m not the only sun-following fool here! Haha.

I have been moving my outdoor plants from encroaching shadows into direct sunlight for at least a few decades now. IME the more direct sun, the better.
I also grow indoors in a tent, however I have come to prefer outdoor flowers over their indoor counterparts. But because I used to grow outdoors in the NE US, I found that the best way to prevent the devastation of PM or Bud Rot, was to bring the plants indoors for the dark cycle every evening. The climate controlled environment really helps prevent most cases of PM or Botrytis. Even in my two growing locations now (which are not nearly as bad for PM as the NE), I bring my outdoor plants indoors every evening, which allows me to trigger flowering and harvest time as I desire. I use this technique in order to harvest year round outdoors in SoFla.

Best of luck with your upcoming outdoor grow, and wishing you a bumper crop harvest as well!

[CapnCannabis]

I’m a big fan of the Stress training with the Cord restraining the branches to squat them out like that right to the pot itself.I’ve been doing the same with 5 gallon buckets and Dollar store 20 gallon plastic totes.Acts like a poor man’s Scrog net good looking Brochacho nice grows.I’m an alley way grower myself

[Weednerd.Anthony]

I’m always happy to see a buddies’ work, even if it is not the most detailed journal, occasional pics, and a few notes of what you are planning and doing from plant training, to your soil mix, maybe the watering schedule, whatever you decide to include, it is always great to look back on later and experiment with different ideas!

Good luck this season as I know weather can be unpredictable at times, but I’m sure you’ll pull through it with some very nice smoke! @mota

[blowdout2269]

Hey! I’ve seen these pictures somewhere before…

[mota]

Thank you so much! Honestly, I feel lucky to be able to grow weed under any circumstances. My 2022 crop was a bit under a kilo (goin’ old school!). There was a time I would have burned all of that by myself over the course of a year, but no longer. These days I mostly give my weed to other folks.

While it’s true I did have 2 Afgoo plants, I’m not quite sure I’d go so far as to call my grow “documented!” I’m such a disorganized stoner mobile. On that same note, however, last year’s documenting was better than the previous year. As I get more familiar with growing, I hope to get better at documenting my grow too. We’ll see how well I am at breaking old habits (like not documenting things/getting at least a little more organized). Hope spring eternal.

The Afgoo is a delight to smoke. It’s flavorful and quite head stony. I wouldn’t say my Afgoos were super sticky, but I’m sure all the movement my plants get every day diminishes their potential in every way. They were shorter than, for example the Acapulco Golds, but overall they seemed pretty average in height. I only grew sativas last year. The Afgoo buds aren’t particularly big (again, all the movement?) but they are fairly tight, as you describe. I can only wish there had been “…droplets of resin on the buds around harvest resembling amber rain drops”! Holy shit yes, amber rain drops!! But sadly, not a single stinkin’ drop!

Thanks again for your post!

[mota]

Darn right I’m no ordinary run of the mill fool, I’m a sun-following fool!

I’ve often wondered if others are in the same sun situation as I am, having to move their plants daily. Thank you for mentioning that. Based on a picture he posted, I believe that @WeTokeChronic may also need to move his plants daily. Likely others too.

Based on nothing but my intuition, I suspect that all the movement my plants get retards their growth to at least some degree. My yard is bumpy, with tree roots and other crap sticking up, making it far from flat. I try to move my plants as gently as I can (ie, without shaking the pots/plants), but even being careful I can’t imagine that small feeder roots don’t get broken with every move, and that can’t be good for the plants. Do you think I’m being realistic in that belief? Is that also a concern for you as you move your plants?

I love growing outdoors since it means I’m out of doors, and that’s generally a good thing, although I admit some enviousness at multiple crops a year for indoor growers. All that variety!

I totally agree, bring on the full sun! The more the better!

For all practical purposes, 2021 was my first year growing. Once they had some size, I started putting my plants indoors at night (in our laundry room, to keep them out of the light from the security lights). The lack of air movement (or at least that’s my guess) caused a serious and prolonged PM outbreak. While I had no other real problems, I wasn’t prepared for all of the variables that are involved in growing high quality weed. I probably lost half my crop. On the other hand, I learned a bunch about what it takes to have a successful grow, and ultimately that made my loss worth it. And I still had half my crop, so it was hardly a total loss!

I learned a lesson in 2021 and didn’t move the girls indoors at night last year. That was actually a good thing on another level. It was damn difficult for me to lug all of those 10 gallon pots with at least somewhat large pot plants up and down stairs. I’m not sure I would still have been able to do that in 2022. I want good pot, but not at the price of fucking myself up. I am so self-centered!

So, while I didn’t have PM issues in 2022, I did have other pest issues, mostly cut worms. Towards harvest, I’d find dangling flowers every morning. I found the worms and killed them, but just like clockwork, the next morning I’d find more dangling buds. I also had a mild aphid infestation, but that was relatively easy to deal with. This year, however, I’m going to be mixing up the medicine that @JohnnyPotseed so generously posted here, Mites,Thrips, Aphids 'one-n-done' with pics. We’ll see if it affects the cut worms negatively. I hope so with all of my positivity! If not, I still have my squishing fingers available.

Last year, I likely spent more time with my plants than I did with Mrs. mota, who has a full-time job. I’m retired and pretty much out in my yard if the sun is shining. I fucking loved it!

Thank you so much for your well wishes!

[mota]

Yeah, stress training makes so much sense, spreading the plant out to let more light into the center and promote flower growth along the stressed branches. After looking at a bunch of the indoor growing posts, I think I waited too long to tie down the first pair of branches, and thus the rest too. This year I will do that earlier and maybe get more “inner” flower growth. I’m also going to use something other than string to do the tying with. String is just a PITA to work with, particularly when it comes to adjusting the length of the tie downs as the plant grows.

Do you have to move your plants daily to ensure direct sun as much of the day as possible? Do you believe moving them damages the feeder roots as I’ve described above? If so, is there anything you do to mitigate the damage? I try to move slowly without shaking them too much, but haven’t come up with a more seriously effective solution.

Thank you for your comments!

[CapnCannabis]

The Fabric pot ones I move into direct sun all day the planted ones stay put they turn into hogs of the road and take over so I have to switch out eventually there is more sun on that spot now we took a tree down so I just rotate potted plants around I use my daughters old red flyer wagon to haul them around.

[mota]

I’m going to make a determined effort to keep track of as many of the variables as I can manage. And, as you say, it’s good to be able to look back to see what was what from the last grow(s). And, in fact, I have found my throughly half-ass journal from last year to be of some use already this year, what with germination and planting dates.

Thank you for your well wishes!

[mota]

Yes you have, and it’s only because of you that you’re seeing them here! Thank you so much for that post mentioning this as a place with fabulous pictures!

[George]

10 gallons , I remember @Calyxander’s managing less weight per plant (wise decision) but I also understand growing beasts is attractive …

They all look beautiful , grow diary or not you should continue sharing them with us …

[mota]

Thank you so much, and absolutely I will continue showing off! Errr, I mean sharing! HA!

[mota]

In the upper most picture of this thread, on the left you can see a cactus. Not that long after I took that picture, I came out of my house one morning to find this! Oh no and a big shitfucksticks! As it turned out, there was absolutely no damage to pot or pot! It had been windy the previous night…

I found some pictures from my 2021 grow. I was even less organized then than last year. This year I will be more organized than 2022 and, all things being equal, I’ll have even better results!

I germinated at different times, so some seedlings had to remain obscured from the birds.

And a little later.

It’s probably about 11am and I’m about to begin moving plants. You can see the lower front plant is already in the shade.

I tried several kinds of containers. I settled on the most serious/heaviest duty, the kind in the collapsed cactus (and no, that’s not a euphemism for anything!) photo above. I’ve given most of them away. The 10 gallon cloth ones were too difficult to move, and the plastic ones were simply too light duty.

I was more successful this year with low stress training than I was in 2021, but next year will be even more successful I am confident. This is 2021.

Thanks for looking!

[Calyxander]

@mota

My yard is bumpy, with tree roots and other crap sticking up, making it far from flat. I try to move my plants as gently as I can (ie, without shaking the pots/plants), but even being careful I can’t imagine that small feeder roots don’t get broken with every move, and that can’t be good for the plants. Do you think I’m being realistic in that belief? Is that also a concern for you as you move your plants?

@George

I remember @Calyxander’s managing less weight per plan

Well, I had a similar apprehension. When I used larger containers I would move 'em in
a lawn tractor’s trailer, and I went as slowly as possible so as not to jostle the precious cargo. However, I never noticed any deleterious effect.
Anyway, nowadays I do not use any container larger than 2 gallons, I carry all containers myself, and many of my plants are in “1 gallon” nursery containers. I can easily move 4 of the small containers at once.
In some previous locations I had to move the plants every few hours.
Smaller containers produce smaller yields, but since I only grow primarily for myself,
variety and quality are much more important than yield to me.

[CanuckistanPete]

I’ve always been an outdoor guy too. But this past fall I finally retired from playing hockey, and needed a hobby to get me through winter so I bought a tent/lights etc and am now hooked. Really enjoying it, though it’s almost funny how little I’m going to get from each plant compared to outdoor. But it’s a hobby.

Nice looking plants by the way…wait, you wear socks with sandals?!?

[breadwinner]

I move mine all over the whole yard all summer long. I always try and do it gently, but I think they prefer to be in the sun more than they like staying still. If they could, they’d they’d walk on their roots across the yard to the sunny spots on their own, and they appreciate you doing it for them.

It’s funny my buddy was showing me his tents the other day, and he’s brutal on some of his plants, he’ll open a tent and basically bitch slap a bush and say “yeah, this one’s my keeper mom of blah blah…” pick up a five gallon and drop it three times and say “I guess I missed this one watering”

I think it’s obvious you’re taking care by the fact you asked others opinions, so you’d definitely be in the softcore realm of plant bdsm and torture, lol

I think this plant loves us right back

I’d like to think they love a little love tap here and there, it let’s them know we are here for them, haha

[Herrsquidward]

We have a bit of a Catch-22 regarding trees here. We don’t have a yard per se. Only enough trees were cut to put the house here; the woodline is no more than 6 or 7 meters from any part of the house. We’ve successfully grown squash, peppers, tomatoes, etc., but we had to carefully plan where we put the raised beds (the deepest soil I’ve seen so far is about a foot (30cm) deep) so they got enough sunlight. We’re planning on dropping a few trees this summer, which we’ve very carefully chosen. We love trees and will cut the bare minimum necessary. We have a huge basket oak (Quercus michauxii) that shades the front porch, and under no circumstances is that tree to be harmed in any way if it can be avoided.

[Herrsquidward]

How large are those containers?