If I’m successful in starting my first thread I intend this thread to be an introduction for new outdoor growers and a resource for seasoned vets alike to gain some tricks to combat any issues related to a wet climate.
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Good luck with that, taking a lion on by its tail there.
I used to grow in trees, edges of swamps, edges of farm fields.
Years of trial and error
Best od grow ever was a broadcast unplanned grow.
Had all these beans and its like what the hell am I gonna do with all these must’ve been a thousand seeds there.
Went back to check it out couldn’t of got planned any better
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I’ll start off with some tricks I’ve learned to combat slugs. When I first began, I had heard about wood ashes, and slug bait, which I believe is iron phosphate although I could be wrong on that. Slug bait does work, but don’t put the bait right next to your plants as it seems to draw in the unwanted guests. If you’re not there and you run out of slug bait, you’re left with a whole bunch of slugs with nothing to eat. Better to put a board or some other material down as a refuge from sunlight for the Slugs, and put some bait under there so the rain can’t wash it away.( Added benefit is the slugs are in one place and easy to kill. This works without bait too as the slugs will hide here from the sun during the day. Next up is wood ashes. Placed at least a foot away from your plant in a circle, wood ashes work great until the rain hits them. They need to be periodically replaced, and you have to watch out for the extra potassium and ph it adds. Crushed egg shells are another tool that can be used. The Slugs don’t like to crawl over the sharp edges, and the shells provide valuable nutrients when broken down. This is as effective as wood ash and lasts longer. But, the best thing out of everything I’ve ever found for Slugs is a copper collar. Simply take a strip of copper about 3 in wide and 6 in long and turn it into a circle. Make sure all the copper overlaps and touches itself thoroughly so no slugs can fit between gaps. I make 2 folds going the opposite way at the ends of the copper and clasp them together like a bracelet . Drive this Copper at least a half inch or an inch into the ground being careful not to cut the roots of young plants. Being in contact with moisture and to the Earth, this copper acts as a natural electric fence by getting a charge from the ground. I have never had a slug crawl on a plant using a copper collar, unless some sort of weed or brush made a natural ramp to the top of the copper and the slug was allowed to crawl up this. They also sell copper mesh in catalogs that can be used similarly, but they degrade quickly, and they collapse quickly. An added benefit of using the copper collars in the bush is that things like coyotes and deer tend to avoid stepping on them. I’ve had coyote tracks in my freshly planted patches, and they must be suspicious of these collars and thus avoid them.
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Well yeah all that fresh dirt might as well put up a billboard, lunchtime for critters
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Absolutely. I’ve had bears and coyotes and raccoons and skunks and whatever else digging at my patch after its been dug. I always wait at least 30 days before I plant.
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I just remembered the old beer trap as well for Slugs. Cut a can into 1/3, and nearly fill it with beer. The Slugs love to drink, little alcoholics they are, and they will drown in the beer. It’s only works until the corpses pile up so high the Slugs can crawl out, or until they’ve drunk all the beer! Not bragging here but in 30 years I’ve never lost a plant outdoors once it reached the height of 6 in( except dirty thieves i might add!)
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Another observation that I’ve made on slugs. Slugs will not eat a plant that grows from seed in the soil. But plant a fresh seedling in the soil and they can’t pass up those tender greens. Before I knew about the copper collars I had two dozen plants eaten overnight once. The only way I even knew it was slugs was that I actually found one engulfinh my plant starting from the top down and I was able to rip half of it back out of its gut. And then of course there are The Telltale slime Trails everywhere . Anyone have any ideas why slugs bypass a plant grown from seed outdoors in the ground? Personally my guess is some connection with the soil microbes. Edit… I’ll shut up now so others can respond LOL
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We usually get a lot of moisture here in the fall. In the past I’ve grown next to creeks and rivers… these are rolls of the dice…one good storm and the bank could wash everything away.
Otherwise, I like taking the high ground…might have to water during the hot summer days, but come fall you can let it ride knowing it’s getting water, but high enough that it’s getting lots of sun and not drowning.
The edge of farmers fields, where they have the barrier of trees to show where their property line is, is 100% where I go now (when I do outdoor). I know it’s frowned upon to plant other peoples property…but the guy is right beside Boeings main plant with a huge field and walking paths…so I’m not sure if it’s really the farmers land or Boeing’s property…plant on the south side of the tree border…the combine/thresher leaves it alone because it’s too close to the bush and ride-on-mowers leave it alone because it’s on the other side of the bush…ta-da the invisible plant.
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I like High Ground near a water source myself. Subirrigation. My plants are usually left for a month or two at a time. Generally i plant, check in a week, again to pull males and finally again to harvest. Half a dozen trips absolutely Max for a whole season for me. Set 'em and forget 'em! I provide them with a really excellent organic mix , and I let Mother Nature do the rest. I don’t get crazy yields but I have pulled 1 lb plants
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Yeah I don’t advertise to plant next to tributaries, you’re correct a roll of the dice.
Swamps on the slight rises are perfect.
You gotta understand this was all guerilla, wasn’t as lucky as some of you in legal areas.
Running irrigation a no no.
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Yeah buddy! That’s what I’m talkin about! Which really brings us to the next part of this topic. Mold. Growing in a humid climate is one thing. Doing it in a humid climate in a swamp is quite another. I never really had any viable options for mold control, except to grow mold resistant varieties. But there are things that can work if your plants are accessible to you. Serenade spray is one, although it is pricey. Compost tea sprays work as well, by replacing bad microbes with good microbes, the same as with serenade in that regard. Another benefit to compost tea sprays out in the bush, is improved Frost resistance. It’s not the cold but the frost that damages plants . Frost actually occurs first on the Corpses of microbes that inhabit your leaves. By replacing these bad microbes with compost tea good microbes, you can improve the tolerance of your plant by a couple degrees. Planting under overhanging branches can also help keep the frost off. But back-to- botrytis or budrotis as i like to call it. I’ve noticed Bud rot will start in certain places first. Namely the first calyxes that show up on a plant when it pre=sexes, and the husks of any early seeds that have developed. I got in the habit of harvesting these early calyxes to get a taste of what the finished product will be. The added benefit is that they aren’t there to rot later. I’ve noticed that loose Bud structures don’t necessarily imply mold resistance. I’ve also noticed that tight Bud densities don’t necessarily imply weak mold resistance. Would anyone like to mention any bombproof strains as far as mold is concerned? I have lots more to share but I want to give others an opportunity to contribute. Any and all information on growing in wet, humid climates is truly appreciated. How about some of you west coasters chime in? The Slugs you have out there would eat our slugs LOL!
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Where I grow , the summers are hot and thankfully very little humidity , yeah we get a few days here and there - but nothing long term … now this time of year it rains a fair bit and temps drop at night … so my biggest problem will be mould … I am trying to minimise the potential destruction by growing Up on a slope … So The plan is that dew and frosts won’t get up as high as the plants - am I misguided ? I am not sure either way really . One thing I do know is that growing the Guerrilla style …nothing is for certain . I can only experiment in the location … sometime ya just have to suck it and see
I have chosen a slope that faces parallel to the suns path over the course of the day … I expect the colder night time air will lay in the valley - below my spot
It has good air flow
Good cover that should stop a lot of frost from settling on the girls …
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No , you’re not misguided in your choice. Setting plants on a ridge or on a slope that faces the morning sun will help them dry out after a heavy Dew or a rainstorm. And it sounds like you’ve already learned about Frost pockets, really low-lying areas that get colder than any other area. You shouldn’t have to worry about any mold issues when you first plant, unless your plants are susceptible to stem rot. I have not found a decent preventative measure for stem rot but serenade spray works as a control measure. I’ve also read that copper sprays work for this type of mold. I usually wipe the infected area with my fingers to clean off all the Slime until just a bear stalk is showing, white in color. And then spray this everyday religiously for a week and keep a close eye on it there after. Since we’re talking about stem rot, I have had seedlings without even their first set of leaves tip over due to stem rot at the soil Line. This condition is known as damping off. I had one seed off of my favorite plant that I grew a couple years ago .When it was just a baby it got damp off because I left my soil too damp, and had planted in compost that year. This was in a beer cup. Not many people know this, but when a plant tips over at the soil line, there is still time to save it. Simply snip the stem at a 45 degree angle just above the rot and stick it back in the dirt like you would a clone. My favorite little plant that year, known as Little Miss stinky, survived and thrived that way. Of course it was stunted for a while but I was able to save it, and its Offspring have been one of my best lineages.
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Spray for slugs as well as for caterpillars and I’d use actinovate and serenade to co bat pm and bud root since ur in a humid area. Full terms get big and dense and can mold up real fast if it gets too humid
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I’ve never heard of spraying for Slugs. Interesting. What would you spray? This is the second time today I’ve read of actinovate. What is this product?
Actinovate is a beneficial bacteria strain for mold and mildew resistance and there is a spray by Monterey that is slug and snail
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I guess I’ll add a little bit more about botritus. Many people get really scared about bud rot and they’ll cut out whole sections of buds or whole branches to get rid of it. I have not found that necessary. Simply keep snipping the affected area until you no longer see a white streak down the center of the inside of the stem. The roots of the fungus will be a white color, and you can see when their penetration has stopped. I go an inch past this point and snip there. If I cut off every cola that got botrytis when I was first growing, I would have never harvested anything. It should be said that I have no allergies of any kind, and I don’t sell. The main thing with botrytis is catching it before it sends out spores. The Tell-Tale signs of the beginnings of botrytis are wilted green leaves in a Bud if you catch it early enough. It will look like a leaf that is going without water, which it is, because it’s stem has died. Pull on this Leaf. If it comes detached easily you have botritus and you need to do surgery. I’ve gotten to the point where I can stick a pair of scissors into a bud blind and cut exactly where it needs to be cut. It’s best to take off an entire budlet, and not try to save those. Colas are another story and should be fought for if you are growing for yourself in my opinion.
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Ok , now you might help me clear up something here …I see the plants every couple of months right … I noticed on a finished Gelato x OG there was a piece of bud that had gone a khaki colour and when I pulled it off it had a silky feel to it , I have never seen it before , do you know mate
Just to be clear that khaki color is a real light brown correct? I think I know what you’re talkin about. I believe that is just botrytis with no moisture to keep it going and it just kind of stopped in its tracks and fizzled out. I would probably need a picture to be sure. It wasn’t actually webbing of some sort from a worm was it? You’re saying the budlet turned to a khaki color right?
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@livingthedream ya sound like you’re round me some where, it’s kinda the motto up here in lake country.
The draws going down thru fields, the areas farmers don’t mess with till harvest time.
These sometimes have water running thru them where it’s actually cut into the earth.
You plant weeds they know where the water is they’ll send deep deeeeeep into the earth to get it.
Frost pockets aren’t normally of no concern @upstate is correct .
If the ambient air pressure takes a dive for a day or so should be no worries, water them with reg temp water during.
As long as the dirt is not freezing it’s good, they start getting their tootsies cold now that’s another matter. Pretty much fucked at that point.
Weeds is the only thing green, harvest time of year. I always looked for a bit of natural camo background.
As far as what to plant keep with the shortest flowering time gear.
Sattys,- Shit, there’s another one mentioned somewhere in a thread supposed to be 35-40
Shit goes 45
7-8 week running Indy’s
Sensi seed used to put out an early line.
Early pearl, early girl, early skunk
Get on them Canadian growers/breeders sites.
Espicially west coast gear.
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