Medscientist's Outdoor Lab 2024

[MedScientist]

WooHoo!

i have been wanting to start a Journal for my summer outdoor tent grow. I have recently posted stuff about my growing style and decided to just cut and past it here, cause i am Lazy!

I plan to talk about their journey to this point, as of today, 7-02-2024, they are 126 days old. Then continue from here, forward!

________________________________

WooHoo!

I have grown in soil, coco, perlite, and all forms of Hydro. It seems there is a learning curve to each form of medium. I am Absolutely convinced that using Turface MVP is by far the Best, cheapest, and easiest medium to use, along with a ph stable, all inclusive nute program like Jacks Hydroponics and Calcium Nitrate made specifically for Cannabis. I run it with H202 added which keeps the roots healthy and kills bugs that try to invade the medium.

Turface does not interact with the nutes, it is just rocks. If you run a recirculating feed system with microfiber wicks, you don't have to worry about overwatering. You can run the same res for every stage of growth. For about $100, you could feed your entire garden for YEARS, and wash the Turface after each harvest and use indefinitely!

I don't run bubblers in the res, the top feed pulls fresh o2 to the root zone with each feeding. Your only job is to reset the res to proper ph and ppm as needed. NO res changes needed!

The only Downside to going this route is EXPLOSIVE GROWTH! So you will need to stay on top of Training and Defoliation.

This year's Outdoor tent, I decided to strip my system and run as a Swick only. It is a bit more work checking each sites res but so far no problems, just top off res by pouring through medium.

You Could achieve this type of Growth with other Hydro Systems, but it would require alot more work!
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Hi, my name is MedScientist, and I have been a closet Swicker for a while now! Although, in the closet, I run a recirculating, top feed system, and use the microfiber wicks to primarily pull the PWT out of the buckets, so I can top feed every couple hours for Explosive growth!

Last year, or so, with recreational laws allowing outdoor grows, I bought a tent and tried soil. To ME, soil just complicates things, and the results were just OK? So this year, I modified by bucket system so each site has its own reservoir, removed the top feed and Master res, lengthened my wicks, and stuck with Turface as my medium, in 1 gal fiber grow bags, in a bucket, in a bucket, in a bucket!

I am still working out some kinks... reducing air gap, adding additional wicks, and manually drawing from the res to top water daily, to keep up with demand!
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I could have just used the grow bag over a res bucket, like many do, but by putting it in the red bucket, it adds stability, and gives me something to tie to. As my plants tend to get Large.

I added the grow bags, instead of just using the red bucket for medium because... I don't need all the extra medium, and it will give a little flexibility to the root zone space. I usually use 1/2 gallon plastic containers, but the root zone gets pretty tight, restricting flow after 8/9 weeks veg and 8/9 weeks 12/12.

I use a 2 gallon bucket with many holes, inserted into 4 or 5 gallon bucket to separate medium from the Res, Instead of using risers. (the white buckets)

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My Simple SWICK for Seeds and Clones...
Not sure how well it would work for soil?

Enjoy the Show!

 

[Carmen Ray]

Woohoo! I'm glad to have spotted the link to here. This is going to be good!

 

[Jon]

Wow. Killer setup and organization. Excellent start. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[InTheShed]

 

[MedScientist]

Woohoo! I'm glad to have spotted the link to here. This is going to be good!

Wow. Killer setup and organization. Excellent start. Thanks for the heads up!

WooHoo!

Thank yous'e for stopping by! I am learning HOW to post, multi-post, add pics... etc, but I thought I should learn Now, before I pull out the LED'S in the fall.

I started 11 seeds late February in damp paper towel, in a zip lock bag. I noticed most people here do also. But I prefer to put the zip lock bag in a cd case, and stand it vertical so the roots grow downward. It makes it so much easier to put in the medium.

3 weeks from sprout, I switched to 12/12 to sex them, a couple days later I topped more than half of them, the ones that had a solid 4 sets of branches. It took 17 days to confirm the sex, and I culled all the males, and switched the light back to 24/0 on the 5 girls.

On day 63, I started noticing 1 blade leaves, meaning they were reveging! So I kicked the nutes up to half strength and started pinching and bending to promote lower branches.

On day 86 (5-23-24), I transplanted into the 1 gal fiber bags with 1 microfiber wick, inside the red buckets for stability. Then by putting those into a solid (no holes) red bucket, it gave me about a 1 inch res for swick action.

I Schlepped (thanks @InTheShed!) till June 1st, when I set up my Outdoor tent, and left them outside.

On 6-7-24, I set up the white buckets and filled the res's, leaving about a 3 inch airgap. The next day I noticed the tops getting droopy, so I raised the res's leaving only about 1 inch airgap. Which worked fine for about 1 week, then I started noticing the droop again. So I jammed 2 more wicks from the side holes about 6 inches upward. They must Love it because they stated growing like crazy.

At that point, I cleaned out the inside and lower growth, and topped every main to try to slow them down. I kept 7 cuttings and gave 12 to a local grow friend.

From here forward, it gets kinda boring. I check them for bugs and top off res's. The ph drifts up slowly to about 6.1 between top offs, so when I add more nutes, I reset ph to about 5.6, they the drift!

Here's where we are today...

 

[Carmen Ray]

WooHoo!

Thank yous'e for stopping by! I am learning HOW to post, multi-post, add pics... etc, but I thought I should learn Now, before I pull out the LED'S in the fall.

I started 11 seeds late February in damp paper towel, in a zip lock bag. I noticed most people here do also. But I prefer to put the zip lock bag in a cd case, and stand it vertical so the roots grow downward. It makes it so much easier to put in the medium.

3 weeks from sprout, I switched to 12/12 to sex them, a couple days later I topped more than half of them, the ones that had a solid 4 sets of branches. It took 17 days to confirm the sex, and I culled all the males, and switched the light back to 24/0 on the 5 girls.

On day 63, I started noticing 1 blade leaves, meaning they were reveging! So I kicked the nutes up to half strength and started pinching and bending to promote lower branches.

On day 86 (5-23-24), I transplanted into the 1 gal fiber bags with 1 microfiber wick, inside the red buckets for stability. Then by putting those into a solid (no holes) red bucket, it gave me about a 1 inch res for swick action.

I Schlepped (thanks @InTheShed!) till June 1st, when I set up my Outdoor tent, and left them outside.

On 6-7-24, I set up the white buckets and filled the res's, leaving about a 3 inch airgap. The next day I noticed the tops getting droopy, so I raised the res's leaving only about 1 inch airgap. Which worked fine for about 1 week, then I started noticing the droop again. So I jammed 2 more wicks from the side holes about 6 inches upward. They must Love it because they stated growing like crazy.

At that point, I cleaned out the inside and lower growth, and topped every main to try to slow them down. I kept 7 cuttings and gave 12 to a local grow friend.

From here forward, it gets kinda boring. I check them for bugs and top off res's. The ph drifts up slowly to about 6.1 between top offs, so when I add more nutes, I reset ph to about 5.6, they the drift!

Here's where we are today...

You've really got it going on! Nice work!

 

[Azimuth]

3 weeks from sprout, I switched to 12/12 to sex them, a couple days later I topped more than half of them, the ones that had a solid 4 sets of branches. It took 17 days to confirm the sex, and I culled all the males, and switched the light back to 24/0 on the 5 girls.

A number of us have now tried a hack for early sexing from The Rev, and highlighted in his new 'True Living Organics' book, with consistent success.

Seeds are sprouted under 12/12 lighting for the first 10 days above ground and then the lights reverted to 18/6. Seedlings show sex within 30 days with this method so a bit earlier than what you did and the plants don't have to reveg which can be a stressor.

 

[InTheShed]

They certainly have taken off, and it's nice to have someone to hand off the clones to!

 

[MedScientist]

You've really got it going on! Nice work!

Thank you Carmen Ray!

A number of us have now tried a hack for early sexing from The Rev, and highlighted in his new 'True Living Organics' book, with consistent success.

Seeds are sprouted under 12/12 lighting for the first 10 days above ground and then the lights reverted to 18/6. Seedlings show sex within 30 days with this method so a bit earlier than what you did and the plants don't have to reveg which can be a stressor.

I that! I will probably try that so I now how to time next year's crop!

They certainly have taken off, and it's nice to have someone to hand off the clones to!

They really have! If they keep stretching, I may top all the mains again. I thought about pinching all tops, but I didn't want to make them any wider. But then again, it will send energy lower down.

Here is the view from outside the tent in the morning!

I spread them out so they don't touch, and started to wonder where the seven clones will go? I may have to get creative!

WooHoo!

 

[InTheShed]

What's the percent reduction in PPFD/lux from the greenhouse cloth and why are you using it?

 

[MedScientist]

What's the percent reduction in PPFD/lux from the greenhouse cloth and why are you using it?

WooHoo! WHAT?

I don't know, and it really doesn't matter to me. The tent provides shelter from the rain, and it is the only spot in my yard that can't be seen from the street. It also gets alot of shade most of the day because I live next to a tall wooded Forrest! But I Lemonade!

There are only a couple neighbors that can see the tent if they were in their back yard, so I have 2 layers of opaque plastic running up the back wall to diffuse their view.

Again, that Lemonade, but I will take what I can get, with the circumstances I am in!

 

[InTheShed]

Weather and stealth, gotcha! The lack of direct sunlight might be part of the stretch you're seeing.

 

[MedScientist]

Weather and stealth, gotcha! The lack of direct sunlight might be part of the stretch you're seeing.

WooHoo!

I agree.

Lemonade!

I look forward to whatever the outcome, hopefully a year's supply for ME and friends! Then the fall/winter LED, tent stuff to try to grow Pretty and Potent plants like most of You'se!

With Crazy Roses Fast Version on Deck!

 

[InTheShed]

Summer = a year's supply
Fall = another year's supply
Wont be long before you're as far ahead as I am.