Hey Dabber! Great thread
and thanks for the invite (even tho i missed it completely - i saw the thread mentioned at Sue’s place). I got pretty excited here and made an epic post! Hope y’all enjoy
I had some great times around the mag with Bonsai
And his spirit lives on here, and in all our memories of him
@Tunkers 
I had no idea you were on this continent. I’m so impressed and envious that you haven’t had any critters get in there
. Around here, things have to be covered all the way over the top or nocturnal critters get in and munch out! Also, a question (or 3
) - when did you germinate? Do you start indoor and move them out? Or is it all outside from the get go?
SO here’s me: Amy Gardner - I grow on the east coast of Australia.
Last season I was able to grow out in the bush on my property and thought this thread would enjoy some pics of the bush pod I built for them.
For that grow I built the soil myself using a blend of living soil and high brix approaches, a heavily mineralised living soil: vermicompst and mixed used soils from the veggie garden, biochar, some local clay, a 6/5/3 mineral blend of CaC03/Soft-rock phosphate/gypsum, kelp meal, neem meal and insect frass. I used homemade seaweed and stinging nettle FPJs for feeding (non-aerated teas) and seaweed and casuarina (local equivalent to horsetail) for alternating foliar feeding. I kept the organic matter in the soil lower than usual and used the plant-based ferts to suplement,
I also made a lactobacillus serum that I recommend to anyone using organics in soil. A
very small amount of it will add lots of beneficial bacteria to your teas. You can also use it around the house to unclog drains and eatup smells! I have a guide to making it - will post back with a link if anyone is interested.
Here’s some snaps from last year
Critical Mass x Afghani in Bushpod.
And finished...
Washed and hanging
In our vegetable garden enclosure I have a small corner where I grew the CBDCC and a Professor Chaos - plus a couple of training practice babies planted at the summer solstice
The big ones finished quite well
CBDCC
Professor Chaos
I am yet to grow a really enormous outdoor plant and may never do so.
I need to keep them to a manageable size and I’m still experimenting with when to start them. Mostly I plant a bit later in spring than folks say and am happy with these small-med sized plants.
Tunkers and Smeegol do inspire with their gardens of massive splendour tho’! I’m not sure I’ll ever be equipped to handle that size. I’d need too much paid help!
Building your own soil for outside is really rewarding. It also takes a lot of physical work and sometimes a lot of research (depending on what you know already). I was inspired by the results that I got from leaning toward the high brix methods so this year I had my soil tested for use with Doc Bud’s High Brix Blend products. I then had a custom ammendment made by Doc for me and am now doing all my grows inside and out with his ‘kit’. This is not only an awesome product, it also saves me a
huge amount of physical grunt and frees up my mind to thing ab out other things - knowing the soil and drenches ect. are all balanced.
Here’s a few snaps of this years grow at various times - in the same rasied bed (now custom amended for the DBHBB kit products) is a Candida CD-1 (left) and a Critial Mass (right). Sun angle is to the right - the north and is low at this time so i trained the CM low with that in mind.
Occasionally, if you take photographs early or late in the day - you can get those flash effects pics that indoor growers get to show off a lot ... buds do catch the flash well!
This was Critical Mass about 3 weeks ago
I’m also growing a White Widow in a pot. Growing in pots outside is tricky and this is only a 13.5gal pot. There were times when it needed water almost every day. It’s about 2 weeks from finish now - it’s gonna make it!
The great outdoors indeed...
I removed these grasshoppers by hand as needed - i don’t kill them. Just throw them out of the zone.
Who’da thunk that stink bug eggs had smiley faces on them!
IPM (intergrated pest management) is really important outside. DO EVERYTHING! I spray regularly, as a preventive, with something containing neem (its a good foliar feed as well). I inspect by eye and hand all the time and I do everything i can to encourage beneficial predators to the garden. All of that and keeping the plants as healthy as possible stops pests from taking over. They’re there, always, they just dont get a hold. It takes diligence tho’ - in my environment at least. Main thing... most spiders are your friend.
And finally a bonus bud shot. The Candida is making the most beautiful flowers.
I hope that was entertaining enough. Outdoors isn’t for the faint hearted
My best bits of advice are these:
- If you have a spot that gets excellent sun, work that soil grow in the ground
- If you have to grow in pots make them big and be sure to keep them cool on the hot days - I wrap a sack around permanently now (thanks Graytail) to keep the sun off the black plastic.
- You can also put ice cubes on top of the soil on really hot days to ease the stress on the roots.
- If they’re in a fixed position consider what the angle of sun will be as the season gets into autumn. I am quite south so now as the season ends the sun is low in the north. I lean my taller plants back so their skirts open up in that direction. Think of it as training to the light inside, but you have to consider where the point the light is coming from and and where it will be late in the season, depending on where you are.
- Try to have have something really good in place to protect them from the rain when it comes - especially in time for the flower period. Pre-empt this if you can. You don’t want to be building it in the rain - like I did
- Inspect for pests a lot.
- Plant predator-attracting and/or pest repelling plants (plenty of info about this online)
- Don’t kill spiders
I like to spend time just sitting in the garden near the plants, sometimes while I have a cup of tea and a toke. The White Widow actually gives beautiful shade and I’ve spent times just sitting in her shadow enjoying the sound of the wind in her leaves and the play of light under the canopy. I think growing outside brings us into more regular connection with the earth and environment - the sounds, the smells, the feels... the weather!
and then we can bring this energy back into our indoor gardens in our energies (for want of a better word), our ‘vibe’ if you like. As we like to say, cultivating the cultivators
RIP Bonsai man
blessed buds always
