Oregon Outdoor, 2021

MAGpie81

Well-Known Member
I guess I'll start the Oregon thread this year, look forward to hearing from Oregonians on their outdoor grows. So far, I hope we get some more rain! Otherwise this could be a bad fire season, and obviously that's bad for far more than just the plants in our gardens.

My grow is evolving a bit this year, I built what could be called a "high tunnel" or "rigid hoophouse", because it's not fully enclosed and so I don't think it would fit the definition of a Greenhouse. Primary purposes are to hang bug netting on to keep the worms away, and to keep any late season rain off. New structures and methods always have a learning curve, so we'll see how this goes.

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@graying.geek , @BlazinDucks , @Sir Napsalot , @Houstini , @xtsho , @tef162 , @Dougnsalem , @petert
...and everyone else :)
Nice house!
There’s this yellow heavy duty screen winter- and UVprotective- mesh cover I’ve used for a breathable, warmth-holding, cover that also helps slow and disperse rain if put over a dome like that. Good for allowing in nightime moisture and keeping plants from getting pummeled during heavy seasonal downpours, plus helps trap heat and slow wind, as well as keeping the sun from drying your beds out too much. So- good in certain areas.
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Nice house!
There’s this yellow heavy duty screen winter- and UVprotective- mesh cover I’ve used for a breathable, warmth-holding, cover that also helps slow and disperse rain if put over a dome like that. Good for allowing in nightime moisture and keeping plants from getting pummeled during heavy seasonal downpours, plus helps trap heat and slow wind, as well as keeping the sun from drying your beds out too much. So- good in certain areas.
Thanks. This winter or next spring I'll probably redo the covers on this one, it was a learning experience.
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Got some trellis work done, better late than never. Lots of lower supports and tying down individual branches to get everything under the net.
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That's a great set up and very healthy looking plants! We got some rain here, did you get some? It's always good to have a solid roof overhead.

I get a strip about 6" wide of water inside on the east and west sides of my structure, so I have to move the girls towards the center away from those walls before the rain starts. Not a big deal, the biggest pots I'm running in are 10gal.
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
A progress report from an auto grower... Lots of experiments this summer, the biggest being the structure. Most of the way through this season, and I will need to completely rethink the cover. I originally thought having both ends and part of the sides open (just bug screen) and just the top arc sealed plastic would allow enough airflow so that the inside and outside temps and RH would be about the same. Wrong. The inside temps were 10-15º hotter, which could be OK, but realizing that the structure was trapping humidity, making the overnight RH go from around 75% outside to 85% inside, turned out to be mold inducing. I've already lost some of my biggest buds to rot.

The other lessons have been around growing outside in pots, which strains are mold resistant, and this summer -- which strains can take extreme heat. Autos with their added genetic line have a lot of diversity.

So here's some pictures...

A pic of the structure on this rainy morning, and the group of them. The one front center was partially harvested, I'm letting the lower branches 'cook' a little longer.

08.06.21_the-tunnel.jpg08.06.21_all.jpg

Autos can be small, they can be finicky, but they can also be frosty. Some people complain that the buds aren't dense, well, the ones I had with really dense buds got bud rot. This nice frosty RocBud Purple Scoop has an open bud structure that I expect will finish nicely.

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This is the largest of this group. A Dutch Passion Daiquiri Lime (in a 7 gallon pot) is about 4' tall, almost twice as tall as some of the others. The leaves just grow that sparsely, I haven't trimmed any leaves (that were still alive). This is one of the longer finish time plants, and might have 3-4 more weeks to go.

Most of the remaining plants are 1-3 weeks from finishing at this point, one and a half have already been taken down. I like the short season of autos, luckily I don't need the pounds that photos provide.

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postmoves

Well-Known Member
Cheers to all contributors for providing inspiration to this PDX backyarder! Always good to have the yearly OR thread.
I'm seeing new character from my batch (White Tahoe Cookies) that must be due to the environmental stresses - 40 degree daily temp swings and humidity seem to be the new norm - hopefully it makes for interesting, complex smoke.
Gotta make a decision on the one hermi seed from my Hazmat OG of last year. Found it late, put out just before the 115's, so it got zapped. Struggled through, looks female (but early, and not sure I need to worry if hermi itself) - thinking I want to give this little warrior a chance at bringing joy, but clearly too small for a flower, thinking I may just over-winter it in a moveable pot and see what happens. Thoughts?
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Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Some how I managed to dodge much of the rain over here in the south east , estacada area, my 4 autos are all flowering along , the green Crack is stacking the colas, I had a little bud rot on the Cinderella jack I cut those parts off and watching the rest closely, hairs are mostly all white and the trichs are clear though the loupe, the middle plant is starting to change leaf colors to fall , so it's the beginning of the end how deep into August can I go , we shall see20210807_162858.jpg20210807_162918.jpg20210807_162932.jpg20210807_162948.jpg20210807_162956.jpg20210807_163006.jpg20210808_100645.jpg
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
My smallish plant has gotten a little bigger and is stacking nicely- I set up my support system yesterday morning

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Nice set up and good looking plant, are you doing light deprivation? I knew a guy who had similar carts to yours, and used them to roll his plants into a blacked out space in his barn for 12 hours a day to force early flowering. Just curious, carts have lots of good uses.
 

Sir Napsalot

Well-Known Member
Nice set up and good looking plant, are you doing light deprivation? I knew a guy who had similar carts to yours, and used them to roll his plants into a blacked out space in his barn for 12 hours a day to force early flowering. Just curious, carts have lots of good uses.
Thanks for the kind words

No I'm not light-depping, this plant just started flowering way earlier than any I've grown
 

BlazinDucks

Well-Known Member
So it's August 14th, no sign of flowering yet. It bums me out knowing that they'll be going to mid October this season as always. I always hope for a strain that kicks in on early August but they're hard to come by.

All in all the plants are looking very healthy. The stocks are massive and they've stopped growing taller for the most part. They're about 6' tall each which is nice. Easier to manage and do damage control when the time comes.

I put my first dose of fertilizer on them on Monday. I'm using advanced nutrients this season. I have the part A, part B grow. B52, nirvana, micro, and big bud. I'll be trying them out in stages with minimal use.

I was thinking about purchasing bug netting this season but I can't find an all in one piece that will fit over my plot, and building a structure will not work out due to then having to build my rain structure in mid September when the rains tend to return.

I hope for a bountiful harvest that's mostly caterpillar and rot free but that's probably too much to ask. I'm tired of the heat but at this point I hope the lack of rain continues into October for obvious reasons. Happy growing all.
 

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Humanrob

Well-Known Member
All in all the plants are looking very healthy. The stocks are massive and they've stopped growing taller for the most part. They're about 6' tall each which is nice. Easier to manage and do damage control when the time comes.
Nice Looking plants!

I was thinking about purchasing bug netting this season but I can't find an all in one piece that will fit over my plot, and building a structure will not work out due to then having to build my rain structure in mid September when the rains tend to return.
Not sure if this will help, but the link below is where I get some of my bug netting. If you scroll down, they have it 16' wide x 10'/20'/30' long. It can be challenging to figure out how to create something to hold the netting, and then how to additionally have rain protection, and all that without completely inhibiting access to the plants. That's how I ended out building my tall hoop house, and I'm already planning v2.0 of that.

I've been using bug netting for the last three summers, it works really well, I've had pretty much zero worms. The thing is, you need to put it up pretty early in the season, minimally before they start to flower. The moths have been laying their eggs for a while already. I learned that the hard way.
https://www.agfabric.com/collections/insect-netting
 

BlazinDucks

Well-Known Member
Nice Looking plants!


Not sure if this will help, but the link below is where I get some of my bug netting. If you scroll down, they have it 16' wide x 10'/20'/30' long. It can be challenging to figure out how to create something to hold the netting, and then how to additionally have rain protection, and all that without completely inhibiting access to the plants. That's how I ended out building my tall hoop house, and I'm already planning v2.0 of that.

I've been using bug netting for the last three summers, it works really well, I've had pretty much zero worms. The thing is, you need to put it up pretty early in the season, minimally before they start to flower. The moths have been laying their eggs for a while already. I learned that the hard way.
https://www.agfabric.com/collections/insect-netting
I've been searching constantly for those eggs, but never seem to find them. I can't stand it. The only strain I've ever grown that didn't have worm issues was an Obama kush. I might just have to bust out the sprayer this year and load them up with the BT
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
I've been searching constantly for those eggs, but never seem to find them. I can't stand it. The only strain I've ever grown that didn't have worm issues was an Obama kush. I might just have to bust out the sprayer this year and load them up with the BT
It is wild the way some strains attract bugs and others don't. I had one plant in my structure that was covered in some tiny bug that barely went near the others, or wouldn't go near them at all -- even plants that were physically touching the effected one.

The first year I grew outdoors, I had no worms, then every year after they got worse until I was losing about half my harvest. At least one time I recall losing an entire plant, the moths really went to town on that one. I tried BT and other sprays, nothing worked. My understanding is that BT is only affective for a week, so you have to hit them every single week while the buds are forming. That was a lot.

I really had no choice, it was either find a way to physically block them, or only grow indoors. There are downsides to bug netting, like accessibility, diminished sunlight (it filters around 20%), and it limits airflow which can trap more moisture. None of those issues are deal breakers, where I live, worms are. I haven't found a better solution.

Of course, the next issue is mold, and I'm still working on that...
 
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