Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr
So, I just wrote this fucking long posting and lost it through my own stupidity. I'm so pissed at the moment that I'm just fuming.
But let's try to get that info back out again.
So I've got some pics for you now, but first I'd like to chat about a few things.
I'm beginning to rethink my proposed grow site location. The issue is that my proposed site runs along a length of field which is owned by the farmer next door. He plants hay in that field every spring and cuts it down in the fall. During the interim he doesn't enter the field at all after planting is over. Don't want to damage the crop, you see.
So I was planning on planting the weekend after he plants. Then come fall, we'd both be harvesting around the same time. However, he'll surely harvest before I do so he'll naturally see the plants all growing in a nice, straight line down the length of the field. Now, one might say that he's a hick and he'll never recognize a pot plant or discern it from climbing teacup roses. But I don't think so. This is a man who makes his whole live about planting and growing live plants. He's a professional at it, and as such must be treated with as much care as you'd treat any highly educated professional in their field (oooh, there's another pun, "in their field"). He'll surely be able to recognize a pot plant from 100 yards away, maybe further. Now wouldn't it be a disaster if he recognizes the plants and calls the cops and they come and cut my angels down? Yes, that's a disaster for sure. Not to mention my ensuing prison time! I tell you, this sphincter of mine has gone almost 50 years without having any foreign objects pass its barrier, and I don't think I want to try lending it to "Mother Bubba", my cellmate in prison for a bit of protection.
So maybe that spot isn't the perfect spot. It's perfect in so many other ways, though. All day sun with no obstructions to shade my angels at all. On a bit of a rise so that any rainfall doesn't sit on the ground lying at my angels' feet. Unable to be seen from the road. Etc.
But today I found another spot while I was out 4 wheeling in my Blazer in the field (coming back from the compost heap). This spot also borders the farmer's field, but there lies a large grove of trees between his field and mine here. I could plant here with incredible safety. Absolutely no one would know about my crop except the wife-bot, who helps me devise all sorts of mechanisms for my grows, including the watering problem. I mean, no one would know. Now that sounds like safety to me, don't it?
But there's a problem with this proposed site, too. Remember, this is a cow field. I would have to fence off an area large enough to grow my 20 or so plants in it so that the cows don't eat all the leafy greens that would be growing there. Now THAT would piss me off, royally, if the cows bloody well ate my crop before it even had a chance to grow.
At the first proposed site I would also have to do some fencing, but the fenceposts are already pounded into the earth, there. Pounding in fenceposts is the hardest part of fencing and you need a post pounder for it. A post pounder is a machine that you haul behind your truck and it uses hydraulic technology to lift up the post and slam it into the earth and deposit the post there. Well, I do not own a post pounder. Nor do I know anyone else who does. And to rent one? Well, that's just yet another expense to add onto the already growing mass of dollar bills that I just cannot afford to lose right now. So the post pounder is out. It's a no-go. And for the second proposed grow site, I would definitely need a post pounder to even begin cordoning off a section to grow in.
A bit of a dilemma. I know. But I'll figure it out.
I've booked James, my 16 year old friend who wants to sell drugs with me -- you remember him, don't you? -- for 2 weekends from now to come and dig my holes for me. I've decided to forego the idea of growing in cloth bags outside. I was going to make my own cloth bags but the fabric would come out to over $200 to purchase, and again, I just cannot do that. So I"m growing in the ground, in conditioned soil that I'm going to mix up myself. I picked up 15 bags of Black Earth for $2.79 each and 5 bags of Cow Manure for the same price to help condition the soil, and I've got my Blood Meal, Bone Meal, and soon enough I'll have Bat Guano, Worm Castings and Humic Acid (actually, I"m not sure if I need Humic Acid or not. I'll have to check again. I've got it written down on my shopping list, but I cannot remember where exactly it fits into the equation.).
So for those of you who've never grown outdoors and who don't know much about it, let me tell you a few things that might be of interest to you.
First of all, we have this belief that cannabis roots grow really deep down and that the more room they have to grow down the better it is. Well, this is patently untrue. Marijuana plants have roots that reach down about 6 - 12 inches primarily, and then they reach out, not down. You can see this if you look at a picture of roots grown hydroponically. You can see the mass of the root ball hanging down about 8 inches, and then it just doubles upon itself, now growing further down, but kind of growing all around that root ball mass. Given this, you don't need a terribly deep hole to grow your cannabis, but it should be a wide hole. That's wide, not deep. So to grow a nice, big plant outside, you'd dig a hole that's about 2 feet deep and at least 3 feet in circumference. Then you add your good, healthy soil (neither the soil you used last year nor the soil you dug up from your vegetable garden; they both have problems inherent more than they are worth), your conditioners like Blood and Bone Meal, Bat Guano (which is Bat Shit for those who don't know), mycorrhizae and all that other good stuff. Then plant yer plant in the middle of all that yummy goodness.
Most cannabis plants will thrive beautifully in that hole. Lots of room to stretch their roots. And if their roots do reach the outsides of their cushy confines, as they surely will, then they are free to bore into the rest of the earth around them. I've got no fear about this happening. This is good farmland where I live, some of the most fertile soil in the world. So my plants will surely grow past their conditioned soil into the harder earth around them, but they won't be constrained by it. Rather, that 3 foot diametre hole affords them lots of room to stretch their little legs. The key is that they can still access the nutrition that is contained in the soil that I'm providing and they'll get other nourishment from the earth surrounding. Win-win situation, if you ask me.
By now you know that I'm going to be brewing Compost Tea this summer, too, to both feed my angels and to spray on their leaves as a pest repellent and mold/fungus deterrent. Well, I've developed my own recipes for it (based, of course, on tried and true recipes that have come before). In my spring/summer teas I'm going to be brewing for heightened Nitrogen levels (without going overboard and burning my babies butts) and in my autumn teas I'm going to be brewing for heightened Phosphorous levels.
Okay. Enuf chit chat. Ready for some pics?
This first pic is of the cuttings that are still waiting to grow massive root clusters and become clones. They currently reside in a plastic grow box with a lid that affords 7 inches of room for them to grow up in and the lid has air holes for the angels to breath with. But this is how many I still have to see if they'll root adequately enough to become viable plants. All the clones are either Big Bud (indica dominant hybrid) or Pineapple Express (sativa dominant hybrid).
This next shot is of the seeds that may or may not yet grow into viable plants. Some are sprouting nicely and some are not. And SweetSue, please take note that it is not a question of germination practices that has caused so many of my seeds not to grow. I started germinating 4 seeds the other day at the same time using the same methods and only 1 of them has sprouted. The others are dead. This is not a question of grower's technique (or lack thereof). It is a question of piss-poor seeds. Anyway, here's the shot of those seeds/seedlings.
The next three shots are of my newest clone with root development. I do something a bit different when I root my clones. The roots grow out of the parts of the plant that have no skin and are exposed to the rooting solution (gel or powder). I scrape the bottom 1/2 inch of outer skin from the plant's stalk to expose more of the plant to the rooting gel and consequently to the possibility of rooting. You can see the results in the root development because roots grow all up the 1/2 inch of stalk where I scraped off the skin. It works. It really does. You can see for yourself in how the roots have grown from this clone.
So it turns out that I've got 6 viable Big Bud clones with vibrant root systems, 6 Pineapple Expresses, plus this last Big Bud that has rooted but hasn't yet been planted. I've also got several seedlings coming along. 2 CBD Critical Mass, 1 AK-47, 1 Blue Dream, 1 Northern Lights X Mazar. I've also just planted into Rapid Rooters 3 Cinderella 99s (of which I think I'll have zero viable plants!) and another Blue Dream.
So, all in all, if my Cindy 99s root and grow, then I'll have 21 plants for my outside grow this summer! I am SOOOO psyched. And if they don't grow? Well, you saw that boatload of cuttings just waiting to grow roots and fly.
I've been trying to figure out where I"m going to hang my bud to dry come fall. I"m thinking one of two rooms. This first room is in the porch attached to the house. Needs a bit of rearranging but it would work just fine. But is it big enough?
This next room is the old garage/shed that houses nothing but junk now. I could conceivable hang there to dry. I may just have to use both spaces, depending on the size of the harvest. To be honest, with never having grown outside before and never having even had a harvest at all yet, I have no idea how much bud to expect to come.
And here's my new shovel! I just bought it yesterday and it's already got cow shit all over it.
The next two shots just show the size of the Bone Meal and Blood Meal that I purchased yesterday at Peavey Mart. I doubt it'll be enough of either.
And this is an essential part of the well-dressed pot farmer's wardrobe. Rubber boots.
This is the size of the bag of Black Earth that I purchased from Canadian Tire as the base for my soil.
And this is how wonderful that Black Earth looks after I've added some perlite to it for drainage. I've been using this to transplant my seedlings and my clones into so far. When I transplant them outside, I'll of course be adding the Blood and Bone Meals, the Bat Guano, the Mycorrhizae (great for root development, and we do like our big strong roots, don't we?), etc.
So there you have it, my pictorial journey through my morning. Are we having fun yet? I hope so.
It is my wish that we can all learn so much this summer from this grow. We seem to be great repositories of knowledge regarding how to grow indoors, but so many of us haven't got a clue how to grow outdoors. That's because we're never faced with the possibility of being able to grow in the great outdoors, right? But wouldn't it be fun to learn how it's done, anyway. Well, hopefully we'll figure that out along the way.
Here's to the (bumpy) ride!
Best of luck with the outdoor endeavor, you got this! Hopefully the weather gets warmer soon to get them babies outside.
our first date! Smelt like limburger cheese after that! Thank God she didn't throw me back! I am one reason some of Michigans' fishing laws were rewritten. The DNR did not like my legal methods although once I was arrested for being ignorant of the fishing guide. You need a lawyer to explain the rules here! I plead no contest and that didn't go well with the judge! My mother-in -law had issues with the guide rules too but she would disappear before the DNRs' eyes before being apprehended. She would hear and smell them coming! Good times. Peace
But now I've got 8 Pineapple Express clones which have survived their first transplant into dixie cups and 10 Big Buds that have done the same. I've got 2 more PE clones that show roots emerging from their Rapid Rooter cups and another 2 BB clones doing the same thing. That's at least 18 plants just in clones this year! Jeezus -- what will I do with all this weed? Hmmmm. Well, I can think of one thing I can do... 
