Countryfarmer's outdoor grow

[Countryfarmer]

I envy you for being able to grow outdoors. Way too risky where I live, even though I can grow legally, neighbor's houses are too close and there would be no way to hide it from them. I just don't want them to know, lol. One knows already because he's a smoker and recognized the smell when I was curing some in the veg room and he happened to walk by my garage door right after I had checked on everything so the garage was all stinky.

He seems cool but I still don't like the idea of him knowing.

Oh this ain't a legal grow. I live in the deep south. This isn't on my property and is a guerilla grow site I located early this spring.

 

[odbsmydog]

I envy you for being able to grow outdoors. Way too risky where I live, even though I can grow legally, neighbor's houses are too close and there would be no way to hide it from them. I just don't want them to know, lol. One knows already because he's a smoker and recognized the smell when I was curing some in the veg room and he happened to walk by my garage door right after I had checked on everything so the garage was all stinky.

He seems cool but I still don't like the idea of him knowing.

Why man? the times are changing. even people that don't smoke don't care about it. you live in california too? that's like not wanting your neighbor to know you occasionally drink a beer or something. not really a big deal.

 

[potpimp]

Man look at those stanky bitches!!! I got a hard on looking at two of those pix, #16 and #21. All the hard work, money and risk is about to pay off. I know how much you hate those helicopters; I couldn't take another damn fly over myself so I bought a 1,000w light and ballast and finished off indoors. I just finished trimming this morning; man my freaking shoulders and neck are killing me. Looking forward to some pix of the finished product. I gotta tell ya, smoking your own stuff, that you planted and grew, it pure sublime.

 

[Countryfarmer]

Man look at those stanky bitches!!! I got a hard on looking at two of those pix, #16 and #21. All the hard work, money and risk is about to pay off. I know how much you hate those helicopters; I couldn't take another damn fly over myself so I bought a 1,000w light and ballast and finished off indoors. I just finished trimming this morning; man my freaking shoulders and neck are killing me. Looking forward to some pix of the finished product. I gotta tell ya, smoking your own stuff, that you planted and grew, it pure sublime.

Really looking forward to smoking this grow. Should keep me in my own weed for quite some time with plenty to trade out for other strains of smoke. As well as a little to sell, which will hopefully cover the costs I have already sunk into this grow. Totally not looking forward to the trimming though.

But you want to know something? That damn pothead deer may have actually done me a favor. By knocking off branches throughout my grow it has helped me dial in how to correctly trim, dry and cure. By experimenting on the premature buds he put on the ground, he probably saved me from destroying my grow during the dry/cure phase.

Karma really is at work.

 

[veggiegardener]

Beautiful grow!

I've always liked how some Mexican sativas finish with long, heavy kholas.

 

[Countryfarmer]

Well, had today off so I went back out there early this morning to inspect and spray insecticide. Although only the 6th, I do not see the big bud finishing before first frost so sometime this week I will need to build a pvc frame and get a tarp. The big bud has yet to begin to plump, still has some airiness to the bud sites and is still growing green and white pistils with just a hint of trichome frosting on the sugar leaves. My opinion it has another 3+ weeks to go, but I am willing to be proved wrong if it suddenly decides to finish.

The larger of the two mexican strain indicas is the furthest along. It has the genetics for the purple coloration of the resin sites. Most of the pistils are still whitish in coloration, but out of the three plants the sugar leaves on this one are the most heavily frosted. I think it should be finishing sometime next week.

The smaller of the two mexican strain indicas is next in line to finish. The bud sites on it are still composed of popcorn bud, but they are beginning to fill out some. Still not worth the effort of trimming all of those leaves, so it will go into the hash pile.

59 days since flowering began.

 

[Countryfarmer]

I went to the site this morning to give the girls a good drenching. All look good, but none are ready for the cutting tool yet. 61 days since flowering began.

 

[Countryfarmer]

All three got another drenching. I gave the runt mexican strain and the big bud another dose of triple phosphate (0-45-0). Both are looking to go another two weeks at least, so this should be their last feeding. The larger of the two mexican strain plants just got water today. She should be ready for harvest by Monday of next week; Wednesday at the latest. I'll put up some new pictures this week sometime. These are some slowly developing indicas. 64 days since flowering began.

 

[Countryfarmer]

One other thing. The section of the small mexican strain that broke back on 9/27 didn't repair itself. It basically continued to wilt, and dry out, so I went ahead and harvested that one branch and let it finish drying naturally. I made an alcohol tincture out of the majority of the branch, but practiced my trimming on about a third or so of it.

I've had it in a jar curing for 10 days now and just this morning decided to take it out and smoke a section. While the buds were not ready for harvest, they still gave me a nice high with a spicy taste on the back end of the smoke. Really better than I expected out of that plant, especially out of premature bud, but a nice smoke. Still not going to trim that plant. When harvested it is going to hash along with the trimmings of the other plants. Trimming those popcorn bud sites is an exercise in frustration.

 

[DST]

Hey CountryFarmer, luckily enough I was having a doob, scanning riu and there's your thread, so of course I had to take a peak and boy I was not disapointed bru. Really good work and "tlc" on a different level. Even doing a guerilla where I am gets the heart racing when you are out there (especially if you are doing it in a city, hahaha) so I can appreciate the effort and trouble you are putting in. I sadly have neglected my guerilla and will return to it soon to laugh at my own lazyness.....

Peace,

DST, "the guerilla neglecter",

 

[Uncle Ben]

All three got another drenching. I gave the runt mexican strain and the big bud another dose of triple phosphate (0-45-0).

I'd be curious as to how the leaves hold up from now on. That's enough P to cause a serious lock out of N and the micros, unless you went real light with your dosage.

 

[Countryfarmer]

I'd be curious as to how the leaves hold up from now on. That's enough P to cause a serious lock out of N and the micros, unless you went real light with your dosage.

Leaves on all three have just begun to really start to yellow in any significant number. The big bud more so than the other two. With the one mexican strain being about a week out from harvest and I am projecting about 15 days for the other two, this is right where I wanted them to be in the nitrogen game. Actually, I would be happier if the one I am harvesting next week was showing more yellowing than she is.

As to a lock-out on nutrients, I doubt it will happen. I didn't go overboard, and clay soil is the worst on holding onto phosphate. The triple formulation I put down was to help combat that problem; clay ions attaching themselves to the phosphate. It will still happen, but with a larger percentage of phosphate to inert material, I should at least get some of it down to the root zone.

But if I do see burn on the leaves, I will drench the ground good and warn others not to make the same mistake. Pretty sure I dialed the dosage in correct though for my soil type, but we shall see.

I'm still just amazed at how long these plants are taking to finish. I am pretty sure I will be harvesting the one on Monday, so that will be 71 total days in flower for it. The other two will finish up somewhere around 80 days (+/- 2 days). I mean we are getting into the flowering range of sativas, and two of these are most definitely indica dominant.

I am just curious as to why they are taking so long to finish up. I guess it could be genetics or due to the native clay soil, but I think it probably has more to do with the quality of the sunlight they are getting. This time of year they are getting direct sunlight on the entire plant for only about 5 or 6 hours a day. Indirect they are getting for much longer, but the level of direct sunlight is important and may be stretching out my growing season.

They are all still going to finish up before first frost. It is just taking them a long time to get to where they need to be for me to harvest them.

 

[Countryfarmer]

New pictures of the bud sites. I think I am going to be harvesting before my estimate. All three plants have accelerated in their ripening. At the current rate, I plan on harvesting the largest of the mexican strain plants on Friday. Pictures below.



I think I will harvest the other two plants, the big bud and smaller mexican strain, sometime next week based on their ripening.

 

[Countryfarmer]

Went out to the site and looked at the plants again today. I think the largest of the mexican strain plants is ready and so I went ahead and harvested her. Just weighed her up on my scales at the house, and without any trimming done whatsoever she weighs in at 10.25 pounds. Obviously, once I cut out the branches I brought home, stems, fan leaves, etc and then let her dry out the bud sites will weigh significantly less. Still pretty happy with the result.

Once I had everything off of her I went ahead and pulled up the main stem to see how the roots had done. Surprisingly, they had managed to penetrate the clay soil, so while my amending the soil may have hurt the plant some it appears as if it managed to compensate for my mistake. Several areas of the root zone had developed roots that were easily as big around as my thumb with lots of branching roots off of those larger sections.

Now to the trimming ......

 

[bill4588]

nice! post some trimmed pics later!

 

[Countryfarmer]

Well, about whipped, so heading to bed .... but I am less than thrilled with the trimmed buds on this plant. While each bud site on the plant harvested were full and dense, once I began the trimming process they ended up being more leaf than bud. It was absolutely amazing. I would trim out a section of leaf material only to find more leaf material under that. In the end I had to just trim out all fan and large single leaves and then sculpt the sugar leaves into a bud shaped section.

Very upsetting that a plant that could look and feel so good on the stalk ended up being less than stellar once trimming started. Reminds me of that time I went to bed with a fox and woke up with a dog.

 

[bill4588]

that sucks man but at least you got a lot of it! i harvested my first plant a couple weeks back and it looked huge in the dirt but after trim it looked kinda puny. and since i pulled a little too soon it ended up being kinda airy after it dried out. ended up with less than 20gs when I thought for sure I'd have over an ounce but its all good, it's top shelf shit! not too bad for a first timer eh?

 

[Countryfarmer]

This is too damn funny.

Go back a few posts and look at the images of a couple of those bud sites. Looks pretty good huh? Well if I clipped all of the leaves out of those sites, there would be almost nothing left. Seriously, those big beautiful colas are nothing but different sizes of leaves packed on top of one another.

So what happened?

Well, from the bit of internet researching I have done it appears people blame this condition on a few reasons, genetics, lighting and soil. Genetics I can do nothing about, and that could be the answer, but both of my other two plants have airy buds as well.

The smaller of the mexican strain plants couldn't hide it as well as this plant has, and I had determined that I would be sending it to the hash pile. It probably will give as much bud as this one has, so I have changed my mind concerning it. If I can spend all this time trimming this plant, I can trim it as well. The big bud has consistently grown light and airy as well.

So, with three plants exhibiting the same kind of bud area growth, I would say genetics is probably not the problem, or at least not the entire problem. That leaves soil and lighting as common reasons other growers give for garnering leafy bud.

Soil? It could be. But, while the plants did extend their roots into the native clay surrounding the holes I dug for them, they did also have excellent soil to work with. The amended soil I added was a combination of Miracle Grow Organic Choice (the high end MG soil), processed and composted bovine manure, mushroom compost and peat moss. So could the soil have been the issue? Perhaps, but I sincerely doubt it.

That leaves lighting. And lighting I believe to be my problem even though I have been growing outdoors. The reason? Well, while my lighting seemed more than adequate when these plants were moved off of my deck and planted at the grow site, it has become less adequate as the growing season progressed. The grow site is surrounded by trees, with one small evergreen being in the grow site. As the year has progressed and the angle of the sun has changed, the direct sunlight has dropped off significantly due to the tree cover surrounding the grow site. I would estimate the remaining plants are getting no more than five hours of direct sunlight. It is this lack of direct sunlight during flowering that I think has led my plants to underperform in producing those dense clusters of flowers.

I could be wrong as this is all supposition based off of numerous other peoples' similar problem. And since I plan on going indoors after this grow, the number of hours of direct lighting should no longer be an issue.

But how is the leafy bud? I know that is the question the true stoners want answered.

Well, harsh as shit when quick dried, but that is to be expected. But the high is quite nice. A bit more of couchlock than what I really like, and I have already found if I smoke too much of it I can expect to look at the clock and wonder what happened to the day. I am concerned about how the cured taste will be since I am basically forced to leave a lot of sugar leaves just to give some form to the bud sites. Hopefully a lengthy cure will help the plants taste adequate.

So, for the plant I was probably proudest of even though it was an unknown strain from some mexican brick bag seed, this plant has turned into a huge disappointment at harvest, but has taught me an additional grow lesson. I imagine I will run into the same issue when trimming the other two plants, as they have shown their "airiness" better than this plant did.

Still proud of what I accomplished this season. And more importantly, I go into my indoor with a lot more knowledge than I owned just five months ago.

 

[someone else]

This is too damn funny.

Go back a few posts and look at the images of a couple of those bud sites. Looks pretty good huh? Well if I clipped all of the leaves out of those sites, there would be almost nothing left. Seriously, those big beautiful colas are nothing but different sizes of leaves packed on top of one another.

So what happened?

Well, from the bit of internet researching I have done it appears people blame this condition on a few reasons, genetics, lighting and soil. Genetics I can do nothing about, and that could be the answer, but both of my other two plants have airy buds as well.

The smaller of the mexican strain plants couldn't hide it as well as this plant has, and I had determined that I would be sending it to the hash pile. It probably will give as much bud as this one has, so I have changed my mind concerning it. If I can spend all this time trimming this plant, I can trim it as well. The big bud has consistently grown light and airy as well.

So, with three plants exhibiting the same kind of bud area growth, I would say genetics is probably not the problem, or at least not the entire problem. That leaves soil and lighting as common reasons other growers give for garnering leafy bud.

Soil? It could be. But, while the plants did extend their roots into the native clay surrounding the holes I dug for them, they did also have excellent soil to work with. The amended soil I added was a combination of Miracle Grow Organic Choice (the high end MG soil), processed and composted bovine manure, mushroom compost and peat moss. So could the soil have been the issue? Perhaps, but I sincerely doubt it.

That leaves lighting. And lighting I believe to be my problem even though I have been growing outdoors. The reason? Well, while my lighting seemed more than adequate when these plants were moved off of my deck and planted at the grow site, it has become less adequate as the growing season progressed. The grow site is surrounded by trees, with one small evergreen being in the grow site. As the year has progressed and the angle of the sun has changed, the direct sunlight has dropped off significantly due to the tree cover surrounding the grow site. I would estimate the remaining plants are getting no more than five hours of direct sunlight. It is this lack of direct sunlight during flowering that I think has led my plants to underperform in producing those dense clusters of flowers.

I could be wrong as this is all supposition based off of numerous other peoples' similar problem. And since I plan on going indoors after this grow, the number of hours of direct lighting should no longer be an issue.

But how is the leafy bud? I know that is the question the true stoners want answered.

Well, harsh as shit when quick dried, but that is to be expected. But the high is quite nice. A bit more of couchlock than what I really like, and I have already found if I smoke too much of it I can expect to look at the clock and wonder what happened to the day. I am concerned about how the cured taste will be since I am basically forced to leave a lot of sugar leaves just to give some form to the bud sites. Hopefully a lengthy cure will help the plants taste adequate.

So, for the plant I was probably proudest of even though it was an unknown strain from some mexican brick bag seed, this plant has turned into a huge disappointment at harvest, but has taught me an additional grow lesson. I imagine I will run into the same issue when trimming the other two plants, as they have shown their "airiness" better than this plant did.

Still proud of what I accomplished this season. And more importantly, I go into my indoor with a lot more knowledge than I owned just five months ago.

I have to empathise with you Country, because I had the same thing happen to one of my G13/Haze's this year. I tried to induce male pistils on a female by applying a diluted solution of Gibberellic acid. This caused the plant to turn all of its limbs upwards, as if they were stretching for light...even though they were in the middle of an open area and received max light.

Anyway, my point is many of the buds from this plant ended up having many leaves curled on top of the bud, and the bud itself was very small in places. There was a lotta fluffy, THC covered leaves, but they weren't buds. I harvested a cola off of it a week before the major harvest, and it smokes really nice. I get a little burned out, but I think that's because it needs to cure a lot more.

Just thought I'd add a different but similar prospective in agreeance with your findings.

 

[objektiv]

a little tip that works to 110% against deer problems,we use to save the hairs from the dog when we brush her and put the doghairs in wifes old nylonsocks or stayups, and hang them about 100-140 cm from ground around your plantation ,,about 15 to 20 meters between the sacks with doghair,they last for about 3-4 weeks before the dogsmell is to low but its time to brush the dog again so its free and works for 110% because deers dont like dogs and your dear buds will not be eaten or destroyed again,, otherwise a deersteak is not so bad =)

regards from sweden
objektiv