My second season of outdoor growing

[FieldEffect]

More pics following. Didn’t feed the tea until last night due to other family things precluding it. Little bit of N def showing on some of the lowers, that tea should fix that right up. The pics really make them look smaller than they are, they are all chest high and several feet around.

Avenue of the Giants. Smelling really strong, even though no flowers yet. Almost like licorice, can’t wait.

Dragon’s Hashplant seems content, but definately hungry.

Hella Jelly is happy.

Hawaiian Snow seemed pleased with the 100F temperatures yesterday.

Snow-G has been hangry but praying now.

SAD Fast[er than expected] is pretty stable but also showing a bit of N deficiency on lowermost leaves.

[FieldEffect]

Little medicinal garden update…had some N def, should be fixed now. Need to start feeding more often too. Life has been crazy so they haven’t gotten the obsessive smothering they once did. Luckily, they’ve been more than happy to keep growing like weeds. Need to do some better work making sure everything is staked down, fuck, that’s a ton of work in it’s own right and not cheap either. Giant screens are starting to make a ton of financial sense. Live and learn, right? Maybe next year I’ll cut the number of plants a bit too. I fear trim jail already.

Avenue of the Giants, Hella Jelly, Snow-G (L-R)

Critical Kush Auto coming along, pistils starting to change

Hawaiian Snow starting to peek over the fence.

Runtz XL Auto Smelling good and starting to cloud up.

Super Lemon Haze Auto - looking nice and also starting to cloud up. Think this is going to be the first harvest of the year.

Photoperiod gang, Dragon’s Hashplant R foreground.

Forgot to get pics of the SAD Fast. Flowers starting to bulk up on that.

Cheers guys, guessing only another couple weeks of veg before it gets wild

[FieldEffect]

Chop time for Runtz XL Auto and Super Lemon Haze Auto!

Runtz starting to get chopped up…

SLH

Washing as I go, drip dry on trays

Nothing like trays full of wonderful smelling herb!

Into the dry cabinet!

I’ll be checking back in a few days…

[FieldEffect]

Week Update:

Took a jar out of the cabinet of each Runtz XL Auto and SLH Autos. Testing my DIY dry cabinet, so wanted a sample after 1 week of dry. They are dry enough to jar but not quite DONE. I’ll be burping them this week frequently. They smell AMAZING compared to last year. Excited to smoke these, and I’ll draw samples again next week at the same time to compare. Gotta say, the autos are pretty awesome to finish so early and give me something while I wait for Croptober.

The 15-gallon girls are flowering. Avenue of the Giants in the back L, Snow-G in the middle, and Hella Jelly foreground R. These ladies are about chin high right now

Snow-G beginning

Hella Jelly

Avenue of the Giants picture turned out pretty bad so she’s out of this batch of pics. Wish my phone had a better camera. The Critical Kush Auto pic also looked bad, therefore left out. Still needs some time, lots of white pistils on that one.

SAD Fast is well on her way. 2 more weeks

Dragon’s Hashplant has turned into a hedge. Definately need to put in some work defoliating tomorrow

Hawaiian Snow has decided she wants to see into the neighbor’s yard now. I’m going to pick up some giant stakes to spread her out at 45 degrees in all directions. The neighbor won’t mind but I don’t want anyone spotting colas from the road.

[FieldEffect]

Couldn’t resist some more pics this morning.

CKA
Critical Kush Auto getting some real chonk to her. I like this single-nug growth pattern (at least the way it looks anyway). It should be easier to trim too, going to have a nice handle.

The SAD Fast is like a giant auto, topped several times and just starting to fill out. It’s 15 weeks old, about 9 weeks in veg and 6 weeks so far in flower. I think we’re more than 2 weeks out for this, maybe a month or more. It’s certainly behaving weird thanks to the auto genes in there, we’re already 40+ days into flower. Leafy buds which I’m not thrilled about but no big deal I guess. .

SAD Fast

Is it bad for me to worry I’m going to have WAY too much weed? The photoperiods are many times the size of these things. May need to get one of those trimmer bowl things, I spent an hour trimming 20g yesterday. @AzSeaindooin420 I know you are thinning the herd out a little bit, how TF are you going to trim? Store/cure untrimmed? I guess that’s an option, it’s either me smoking it or my friends that got it for free, it’d be hard to complain with free weed that needs a haircut.

[AzSeaindooin420]

That’s where I’m very particular, I will only hand manicure mine and I have a high standard of no leaves left at all and buck out as much stem as possible. Not out of my realm to spend 12 hours cleaning a 3 Oz plant but also the motivation for bigger plants, bigger Buds have bigger leaves so easier to get through a lb in a day trimming with fist sized nugs but some of my smaller 1 Oz high quality plants have easily taken me 10 hrs so I am shooting for weight and quality this year
I will typically space out chops 1-3 days apart and hang for up to 10 days and the 7th day I’m usually starting the trim/jar process but gives me that few day window to get through it.
Weed actually holds its age best when the sugar leaves are left on and and even better if left raw on the stems in a bin but space constraints don’t always make that practical so not uncommon I will buck down and bag up untrimmed and pull it out in the spring or early summer to process up and have always noticed it stays fresher than the daily smoke kicking around that was processed right away in the fall.
When it comes to “donations” towards supplies people usually are happier to kick something when it blows em away and didn’t have to clean it up but excess weed is still excess. Once I harvest this year’s I’m busting out bubble bags and washing last year’s leftovers that sat around in jars collecting dust

[Gpaw]

@FieldEffect

I’m going to have WAY too much weed?

In practical terms… there’s no such thing as “too much weed”…

There are any number of interesting ways of processing said weed that will be opening up for you to explore…

Cheers
G

[FieldEffect]

I initially started this edeavor to get quality - I want good buds of varieties that aren’t sold at dispensaries. I’m probably leaning towards a mixed approach just due to my time not being super generous.

I picked strains that should be finishing about a week apart, so once they come out of the dry machine I have a week or so before I will have another batch of stuff to trim. I’m just worried that isn’t enough time. I think perhaps I’ll adopt a mentality of trim/cure the nice and easy to trim stuff, maybe hash the rest, maybe even decide at harvest and do some fresh frozen. That at least gives me some time to spread processing out over. Been thinking about buying a chest freezer, and have a vacuum sealer.

When you bag/bin up the untrimmed (which I agree with, in terms of preservation) what do you use for sealed bins? How do you store these?

I had two close friends that were going to help me with the trim operation in exchange for some herb, but they’ve both taken jobs that won’t tolerate this stuff and I’m going to be on my own without trustworth help. It would be easy to find help around here but hard to find help that I wouldn’t mind knowing about my backyard garden.

I guess I’m going to get good at trimming

[AzSeaindooin420]

@FieldEffect

When you bag/bin up the untrimmed (which I agree with, in terms of preservation) what do you use for sealed bins? How do you store these?

Just freezer bags piled up in my safe in pure darkness

Haha that’s the same dilemma I have too, do I hunt for the help or keep it under wraps lol

[FieldEffect]

Just finished giving all the ladies and the veggies a fresh batch of compost tea. There’s been some mushrooms sprouting in the veggie beds and the soil in the airpots is growing beautiful mycelium. Gotta say, this is super rad to see. In the desert especially. Seem to have the balance of moisture and air just right, mostly by accident.

The other half forgot to water when I was out of town Tuesday/Wednesday, I was worried when I looked yesterday morning. They were super dry and wilted. Bounced right back within a couple hours.

I had to use some actual insecticide on the watermelons last night. They are a good distance away from the medicinal herbs, but I hate to break my new-found organic habits and my previously natural IPM regimine. The squash bugs had just gone too far, they killed the squash plants (3x), my pumpkin vine, and were starting on my watermelon. I tried everything else, hand plucking them, burning the eggs, natural IPM, nothing worked, they were just blowing up. Sprayed some Sevin (Cypermethrin) last night just after sunset. They’re all dead today, it’s crazy. Hope it didn’t mess anything up.

After the squash bug slaughter I picked a juvenile melon with end rot (probably happened a few weeks ago during a heat wave). It was red and sweet inside, I may have to pick this one today

Late last weekend I started retraining the Hawaiian Snow. Those are 8’ bamboos, I’m trying to spread it out so it doesn’t blow clear past the fenceline. It’s recovering from some of that pruning and training stress.

The Sweet Afghani Delicious Fast is starting to ripen up. Couple more weeks.

Critical Kush Auto is starting to reach criticality. Maybe 10 days? Ordered a better inspection microscope (the wifi one that is popular), but Amazon keeps pushing the deliver date out. I’m going to let this go a little past prime because I’m looking for a sleep-aid out of her. She started foxtailing a bit and pushing new pistils, so this may be a tough call.

[FieldEffect]

Critical Kush Auto is getting closer to done. It’s been 90 days since she popped out of the surface. Is this new bud foxtailing something to worry about or just let it mature?

I spent some time with Avenue of the Giants, thinning it out and trussing it up. I guess it’s hard to see between the tree and other weed plants behind it. This plant is strange compared to the others - it has tiny leaves, but it’s not a small plant. Everything is scaled down and more frequent. Tiny bracts, lots of them. She needed some time invested because it’s been a PITA to keep her trimmed. Hows this? She’s smelling very interesting, licorice and fruit mixed with solvent. She’s been stinking more toward the licorice end of the spectrum since she had a few fan leaves, when none of her sister’s had any noticeable smell at all. Have a feeling this is going to be the bell of the ball so to speak. Should I be trimming further up over the course of a few days or is this height good? I’m not opposed to incremental harvesting, so having some immature buds toward the bottom/middle is fine with me, I’ll just clip the ripe stuff as it appears. I may have topped it too many times, there have been a ton of smaller branches already removed.

SAD is also cruising towards chop time, musky and earthy with beautiful colas starting to ripen.

Wish I had a better camera or smellovision. Not in the cards right now

Have a great Sunday!

[FieldEffect]

Web microscope finally arrived. Took from samples inside to learn to use it. Works well compared to pocket microscope. Really, the best thing would be one of the stereo 20x or 30x microscopes but I think I’d be getting into trouble at work

I’d definately appreciate some feedback on my closeups below. I’m wanting these two to be pretty sedating, these were picks for getting some better sleep.

The Critical Kush Auto is getting the axe on Friday, I think.It’s been confusing to say the least, the way it’s foxtailing is confusing to me because there are still white pistils but for the most part she looks done.

SAD Fast is looking to need some more time, not sure how much, I want about 30% amber on this. I’m actually somewhat surprised to see such cloudy heads. It was farther along than I thought.

The rest of the ladies in flower, with the earlier girls full blast now. Snow-G, Avenue of the Giants and Hella Jelly are spitting out pistils.

Update Friday

[Dendro]

Cant believe I missed this, an amazing thread and grow to learn from! Such detail, honest questions and honest answers. My kind of read! Have already seen so much cool new ideas and comments and still need to read through half the thread. Please, keep it up! Plants look Amazing
As for your auto being harvested, she looks done and IMO, another week or a few days should not change her much, they throw out hairs forever, if the trichs are good(I can see them from here!) And you have more plants coming in soon? Enjoy your fruits my friend!
Many thanks for all your support and positivity over on my end, I wish you an overwhelming harvest!

[FieldEffect]

Hey there Dendro! Glad to see you in my thread too!

I’m about to head out to prepare the wash buckets for the Critical Kush Auto harvest. I like to harvest first thing in the morning, when the plants are still effectively hibernating, and it also happens to be my favorite time of day when I’m alone and unpressured. I’ll bring another sample of the SAD and just keep an eye on the trichome situation.

As for an overwhelming harvest, that would be both fun, and well, overwhelming. My scissor wrist is getting carpal tunnel syndrome just thinking about it

Back for an update and new pictures later this morning, when the sun is up and there is a few trays of Kush in my drying cabinet.

[FieldEffect]

Meant to post some pics yesterday, chopped that Critical Kush Auto. Apologies if the pictures are bad, I try but it’s usually before full sunrise when I’m out doing this stuff. It’s the SW desert, I feel like I’d die if I went out working after 10am.

World’s shittiest low-light dawn photo

Wash setup: Lemon Juice/Baking Soda, H202, Tap Water Rinse, Distilled Rinse.

Drip dry before into the dry cabinet.

Ready for dry.

Couple of lonely cannabis trays in the dry cabinet, some tobacco slow-drying/curing lower shelves. If you thought weed took forever to dry…tobacco is crazy. It’s smelling very mild and sweet. This stuff has been in here for at least 3-4 weeks. The giant stems (some of them are 3/8-1/2" wide at the bottom of the leaf) take forever to dry. I’ve got more to harvest but honestly I’m not too sure I even want to if the SAD is going to get the axe in a week or so - that’s at least 4-8 trays wet. The leaves are so big fresh they basically take a whole tray. I could try hanging them, but not sure if it’s worth the hassle. Also, looking at the pic again - I think I’m going to go back out and swap the ordering of the trays for more uniform airflow over the buds. Buds on bottom above the circulation filter, air-obstructing leaves towards the top.

SAD Fast. I think this one has just a week or two left, she’s starting to wither away. I’ll bring a few samples in Monday night and assess the situation. It’s got 4 colas the size of my SLH Auto (1oz dry) so I’m guessing this is going to be in the 4-6oz range dry. I probably only smoke 2 grams a month, so…I’ll be OK with just this until next season. Back in the day, I’d be snapping 1g bowls all day. I didn’t smoke 2008-2019 or so, now even a couple small hits does the job. When I was still single I’d literally weigh out 60mg and just smoke that in a bong, so half a gram is way more than I need anymore. I love the excess of just rolling nice 0.5g ish joints and just smoking until I feel comfortable and putting it out. Which I’m going to have plenty to do. I already do, just with the two autos that have already been jarred for a while.

Dragon Hashplant is an unruly thing. There are so many side branches all the way up to the top of the cola it isn’t clear what I should be trimming off anymore. Perhaps it just stays unruly. I’ve been keeping the bottom and center of the ring of colas clear for ventilation, but dense foliage on this one.

Hawaiian Snow is adapting to it’s new, X-TRA WIDE lifestyle. When does stretch stop?

I’m getting really excited for the Avenue of the Giants. It’s pretty, full of bud sites and smells amazing.

Snow-G is getting along.

Hella Jelly, hopeful this is a good smoke too. Pretty stem purpling like the Avenue, and nice aroma.

Anyway, have a great weekend! Thanks for reading my ramblings

[Dendro]

Killin it bro, seriously healthy! Cant wait to see how these turnnout, the next couple of weeks are gonna be insane, obviously Id say stretch always depends for the most part, but outdoors, it usually goes alittle slower than indoor because of the slower loss of daylight so the buds are longer to form though huge heavy buds as long as you keep those branches spread and not worry about the little twigs at the bottom, Ive been clearing mine out like crazy, basically hollow inside. If I may, it does look to me like you could remove a few of the lower fans on most of those lovely ladies, but surely not necessary, though if you do, just start at the bottom of each branch and pinch off an equal number of the main fan leaves, leaving at least three or four sets at the top, obviously do this on a cool as possible day, closer to night time, but yeah, if you want to fatten them up a bit real easy, just take a few fans as long as there is a decent new branch already coming out of the joint. Of course this can also be done on side branches that aren’t getting to fat. They will slow for a week or so but will make up for it in the end, can delay harvest if done too often, but Ill do light defol like once a week or more as long as there growing nice, with one or two huge defoles at the beginning and middle of flower. Its quit amazing how much can be taken from the plants, a friend and teacher kept pushing me to do more. I kept thinking, this guy wants me to ruin my plants!, He kept saying, More! More! Needless to say, I definitely found the point that defoliation does some serious damage but when healthy plants are worked on with the right timing, love and care, the progress is three fold. The plants look really nicely spread already, just alittle defoliation and your gonna be having to support those buds with much more stakes! You could try a heavy defole on just one or two, maybe you already have? I do see some leaves on the ground…Either way, looking right on point!
Cheers brother! Hope all is well.

[FieldEffect]

@LedZeppelin I haven’t even smoked any of the SLH yet, I got some from a dispensary a couple years ago is why I wanted to grow it. We’ve been doing too much family stuff for me to be zooted on a Saturday morning, but the Runtz XL has been great smoke in the evenings. Soon, maybe this next weekend will be it’s turn to shine while I’m out tending the gardens or working around the house. And maybe a Critical Kush in the evening

@Dendro It’s funny because I feel they are already stripped to hell. They are compared to what they would look like. I pull a few leaves everytime I’m out. I think the hashplant is the least permeable and dense with growth so I can definately try being more aggressive, but I’ll definately need my stool because I’ll be out there a while. I’m getting the message that it’ll go beyond where I think I’ve ruined it and be OK. In terms of branches, maybe I should take a better picture of one and post it so I can understand what to chop off and what to keep. My mentality has been if it’s a side shoot close to the bottom, it goes. If it reaches the top of the canopy or all the way to the side it can stay. Or just remove everything within about 2’ of the top unless I want bud on it?

Outdoor grows I see lots of plants like mine, as well as more trimmed and definately some less defoliated. That’s probably how I landed in the middle. I’m going to take a closer look at some of the other guys and you, see how it’s done. My examination routine in the evenings is less about plant shape/structure and more leaf health and smelling buds , the health thing is probably all I take from other people’s pictures anymore too.

[Dendro]

Hey bro…lol… I know the feeling, people always coming over saying “looks good,… but”…Not what Im trying to do. Truth is I think its really hard to give and take compliments and any advice at the same time in life let alone on-line. I literally just see a FEW extra leaves on some really great looking plants, plus, I dont know the last time you did defole or what the temps or moisture will be like in your area for the next week or when you last fed among many other factors. So I hope my mentioning something didnt cause you to overthink and react. From our conversations so far, I dont think thats the case and thats precisely why I even said anything. You are wise to try for somewhere in the middle of what you have seen. Even good clear pictures dont always tell the whole story. Im always still figuring it out myself. Just so many variables. I did all three of my outdoor plants alittle differently as I do every year, “eggs in different baskets” but still way too early to call it! It looks to me you are also trying different methods so I believe your golden as well. Fingers crossed for both of us! And to be clear, your branches all look good as well as fan leaves, they dont have too many or anything like that, its just that bit of ocd in me, Im sure that if I look at my own pics I can see stuff to remove, and I do! I probably over do it alot(Ive been starting to worry about my support) and definitely have before and I know this topic in general is always up for debate, but from my experience, and I feel that you agree, there are multiple reasons for proper defoliation in horticulture because it also occurs naturally IMO, i.e., animals snacking and eventually the plants own biological response to focusing energy to tops and ends of branches by dropping unnecessary fans and areas that aren’t getting much light and increasing growth to areas that need just a bit of help, and its like they let bugs take the parts they want them to take as plants can move nutrients around from leaf to leaf and branch to branch…just an interesting topic, not tryin to highjack your thread bro(i actually just noticed a nice thread on this topic after last nights comment and this one here, so ill now take this over there)…as I’ve said, I can also see that in a couple of months your gonna be filling all your drying trays and then some. And one last point that should be made here is this…does having bigger tops actually help us? Possibly they create more cannibinoids and weight but the chances of PM and pest damage definitely increase with density so there is always a give and take since proper defole also can help with ventilation in turn preventing that same mildew and/or pest infestation!..so around and around we go… btw, how far past that fence line are you able to go?, got cool neighbors hopefully not a problem but if so those are the kind of problems we like to have! oh, and your ladies are seriously thanking you for those “space blankets” gonna be stealing that one from ya if ya dont mind…

[FieldEffect]

I certainly didn’t take it the wrong way, no worries! It sounds like we have very similar procedures/mentality anyway. I definately feel the same way, it’s hard to give advice on something I feel I barely understand and am learning. I admire watching everyone’s plants come along in similar ways, seeing the similarities and differences in style and skill.

I’m open to the feedback; it’s easy to sit at the plant, especially when you get comfortable with them and see them everyday, and not notice basic things. That’s half the reason to post them in a place like this, others might see something I don’t. I also like reviewing the progress with pictures. I have a grow journal but it doesn’t have the photo timeline. I just literally am not sure how to proceed, so I want to ask for better advice. I’ll get some better photos of the Dragon Hashplant tomorrow and hopefully get some good feedback I’ll put to use. I’d prefer the input! Just help me get a better game plan. It has certainly worked with the compost tea thx to @AzSeaindooin420

Give me all the feedback, good and bad. You could tell me I really screwed up and my plants are bad or something, I won’t get upset, just help me do better! I’ve never done anything absolutely perfect, certainly never even close the first or second attempt. This is one of those skills that probably never gets mastered anyway - we’re caring for a living thing.

Steal away on the space blankets thing. Couple local guys are doing it now too with good effect. At least I can share something for all the knowledge I’m taking

BTW: Neighbors are totally cool with it, I just don’t want kids seeing them from the street. That’s why the Hawaiian Snow got moved behind the shed. We’re in a small town but there’s always some troublemakers.

[ColeLennon]

Great Grow Man Top Notch