First guerilla grow attempt...variety of Attitude fem freebies

[xebeche]

Hey folks, just thought I'd start up a log of my first attempt at outdoor growing now that I've got all my supplies and I've scouted out a few potential spots around the area for putting 'em. They won't be in the ground, just in either bags or rootpots. I started all of these kinda late in the season, since I wasn't sure if I'd have a place to grow indoors at our new place (I don't)...but I'm just growing pretty much for myself, so I don't need to grow trees and produce pound quantities. In fact, I'd prefer to keep 'em on the small side just so they stay relatively inconspicuous at the spots I'm considering.

Anyways, here's some pics of what's going on at this point. I've got eleven plants (at various stages) out on our roof at the moment. Most are in half-gallon pots, just soaking in the southern Cali sun and waiting to be moved to their new homes. Almost all of these are from feminized freebie beans that I received during recent Attitude promos.

This is TH Seeds Burmese Kush (on the left; just topped today) and two Neville's Haze Hybrid (not from freebie beans, but clones of a few plants I've been holding on to for many months, waiting to flower 'em; topped about two weeks ago).

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Next is a Dinafem Power Kush, Emerald Triangle Grapefruit Krush and TH Seeds S.A.G.E. (I don't remember which is which in the pic atm). Haven't topped any of these yet, since they're a little bit behind the others...and I haven't quite decided whether to top em or not anyways.

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Here's an Emerald Triangle Emerald Jack (on the left) and Seedism White Skunk (bottom right)...both topped last week. The dead plant at the top of the photo is/was a Seedism BLZ Bud that seemed to be doing fine but then suddenly died shortly after being topped, for some reason. Oh well, no big loss.

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Finally, the three autoflowering plants...not much to look at yet since I just germed them on a whim last weekend after I realized it probly wouldn't be too difficult to grow a few shorties on out roof without anyone noticing. I might need them to finish by mid-Sept, though...so I'll just play it by ear with them and see how things progress.



My plan is to put all but the three autoflowering plants out at two or three locations that I've been scoping out. Most will probly be put directly into 5-gal camo bags of roots organic coco-based soil mix (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/135740), and I'll also be trying out the roots "formula 707" in 5-gal rootpots with a few of 'em. I realize that 5-gal may not be much for an outdoor plant, but as I said, I'm not trying to grow large plants here...and, more importantly, a 5-gal bag of soil is the biggest that'll fit into the backpack I'll be using to haul plants, water and supplies to my grow sites. I'll be feeding with Pureblend Pro nutes, along with liquid karma, molasses and Cal-Mag (as needed). I can carry two one-gallon jugs at a time with my backpack, so I'm hoping one gallon per plant will be sufficient using the 5-gal grow bags.

I'll try updating this thread regularly as things progress...especially once I get them all situated in their new digs. I'm expecting this first attempt to be a learning experience, and would appreciate any comments, suggestions and/or recommendations along the way.

 

[doowmd]

Pretty late in the year...........but I'm interested.....
Scribed!

 

[xebeche]

Dropped off a couple bags of soil mix in location #1 today. Also found location #2, I think...gonna stop by again tomorrow with two more bags, then (hopefully) put four plants in these two locations later in the week. Just ordered the next four bags of soil mix, so that'll be next week's mission: four more bags, four more plants. The NHH gotta go in their bags first, since they're starting to look almost too tall to carry in my backpack. They took really well to the topping, though.

Was thinking today...I usually use molasses with nearly every watering, but that's indoor growing. I'm not sure if it would be wiser to skip the molasses with these outdoor plants. I'm thinking that the sweet smell might attract critters. My nute solution smells exactly like sweetened iced tea after I mix it.

Anybody have opinions/experience using molasses in outdoor grows? Should I use it or lose it?

 

[doowmd]

I use/d dry molasses. I sprinkle it like I do the fert. It seemed to make the buds SUPER frosty last year. I only applied it after the 1st of Aug. tho.

 

[xebeche]

Busy week. Got six of eight plants in their locations. I found a pretty decent third spot this morning, and hauled two bags + plants + water out there this afternoon. Pretty close to my second patch, and pretty easy to get to...but I'm not super confident as to how much sun they'll actually get there, since I haven't been able to check much due to time constraints.

They're all pretty small for going out so far into the summer, but nearly all of 'em would barely fit in my backpack. In fact, I made a few walks down busy roads with the tops of plants sticking out the top of my pack, lol. Very few pedestrians, though...just traffic, so I doubt anyone even noticed.

Decided to include the molasses with the feedings after all. I watered all the plants in with a 1000 ppm mixture of molasses, Liquid Karma, Protekt, and Pureblend pro grow. I actually used a weaker solution (750 ppm) for the NHH plants, since they were the only ones that had darker green leaves and didn't seem to need a feeding like the rest did.

On Monday I'll scout out a nearby location for the last two plants, so with any luck I should have all my ladies in their new homes by Wed or so. Once they're all in place, I'll probly make a visit to all the sites and give 'em a washing with a neem oil/detergent mixture. Up until now, they've been living on the rooftop here -- and I guess there's not a lot of mites that make it up there, since I didn't see any evidence of mites on any of the plants yet. I'm sure the likelihood of insect damage will be MUCH higher out in the wild. I figured it's best to get a neem treatment in before they start flowering.

I'll also get a chance to see how long a gallon of water lasts in these locations. Unless these gals start drinking (and growing) dramatically, I think I should be able to get away with a once-a-week watering...but I'll play it by ear for now. I really like these 5-gal bags of Roots soil. One fits perfectly in my backpack, so setting 'em up at the sites was pretty easy. I'm guessing they'll be more than enough for this late-in-the-season planting. Not sure the 5-gal bags would be big enough if I'd put them out a couple of months ago...but I do wish I'd gotten these plants out sooner. Most of them look so small atm...even after being on the roof (with great sun exposure) for a few weeks. Oh well, it's an experiment after all. Depending on how this one goes, I might try getting some out next year in early June rather than July.

Anyways, here's some pics of the six ladies in their new homes.

 

[xebeche]

My one Power Kush girl has a bunch of dying leaves...some totally brown and crispy, some partially so. At first I thought that spraying the plant with neem/detergent solution in full sun might be the cause...but I treated all the plants pretty much the same way (including same nutes, etc), and this is the only one that looks like it's dying. I misted the whole plant with a dilute humic acid solution today...not sure what else to try, so I guess I'll let mother nature decide her eventual fate (unless anyone here as suggestions). Never seen anything like this when I've grown indoors. It happened pretty fast, too...I just transplanted them all about five days ago, and she was fine at that point. Gonna water them all tomorrow, so maybe a good flush will help.

 

[xebeche]

The White Skunk plant got ripped or (more likely) eaten. She was completely gone when I checked on Monday...so she lasted three days at most in this spot. Down to seven plants now, since I got the last two transplanted to my fourth spot yesterday.

fwiw, she was the smelliest plant out of the bunch...even though she wasn't very big, she did stink up the car during transport. I guess I would have thought a skunky smelling-plant would be LESS tasty to a rabbit or other critter, but maybe I was wrong. Heck, in our old place we used to have possums digging through our garbage cans looking for cat turds to eat...so who really knows what's tasty to a wild animal?

 

[Icculus]

Why dont you just plant those bitches in the ground. I feel its a lot easier to grow and plants are less finicky with nute burn/deficiencies.

 

[xebeche]

Why dont you just plant those bitches in the ground. I feel its a lot easier to grow and plants are less finicky with nute burn/deficiencies.

It really wasn't feasible to dig large holes in the places that I'm growing. The 5-gal bags were the only route that made sense at the time. It's my first outdoor attempt, so maybe next year I can find more secluded locations. This year I had only a few weeks to find a place for all eight. Not planned very well, I know...but it's just the way things worked out.

 

[Icculus]

oh alright just wondering. i mean its not too much extra work. I just took the plant in my profile pick straight out of the pot dug a very small hole just to fit the plant in and filled it in with a little extra soil. You should maybe try with one or two just to see how it works lol. I think its treating mine pretty good.

 

[xebeche]

Yeah, I hear ya. We just moved here at the end of July, and this spot is the first one I picked...and my least favorite, since it's a bit exposed (there are several houses in view, if I'm standing up). My other locations would be better candidates for digging, so if the plants survive this season, I'll give it a go next year. I've had good results using this RO soil mix indoors, so I figured it would work outdoors as well. Maybe I was wrong...we'll see.

 

[asag]

I agree; I would consider myself still a novice, but...

Sounds like you're already going to a good amount of work for the girls; why not just a little more. If you think carrying around a shovel is too obvious, why not a spade? I like to mix the freshly dug soil with a potting mix, then plant them.

I hope yours turns out well, best of luck!

 

[Icculus]

Yeah, I hear ya. We just moved here at the end of July, and this spot is the first one I picked...and my least favorite, since it's a bit exposed (there are several houses in view, if I'm standing up). My other locations would be better candidates for digging, so if the plants survive this season, I'll give it a go next year. I've had good results using this RO soil mix indoors, so I figured it would work outdoors as well. Maybe I was wrong...we'll see.

Yeah i deffinatly understand if they are close to residential areas why you wouldnt want to go around digging holes everywhere, but if your feelin a little adventurous try like one and only use a small hand spade like asag suggested. It would be an interesting experiment lol.

 

[xebeche]

Well, I do have a small shovel that could be transported in my backpack without being too obvious. I've already hauled the bags out and transplanted, so the hard work is done for now. If I see problems develop with any of my other plants, I may just have to dig a hole and try moving her into the ground. So far, though, the other six seem to be doing okay in the bags.

The Neville's Haze Hybrid girls are the nicest-looking of the bunch right now...but they were grown as clones and not from seed (and also got a little head start on the others). Still, I can't say enough good things about the vigor of this strain. It's the only strain out of a half-dozen different packs of seeds that came with us when we moved across country a few years ago. Seven days packed in a trailer in the middle of the summer...and all five beans sprouted and grew really well, while most of the rest didn't do anything. Wish I could have saved a few cuttings from each of the original five plants, but I could barely keep these two alive and undetected during the move. So far, I really like the way this strain grows...easy to clone, responds very well to topping, and stays really green without a lot of attention.

Supposedly it's a cross of Nev's Haze and Grapefruit. Sure hope I get some bud out of at least one of these two...but I did root the cuttings after I topped them, so I have two mini NHH plants on the rooftop right now, too. I might just let them grow up there for the season and see what I get.

 

[xebeche]

End of another busy week. Things should get easier now that all the plants are in their places. Hopefully I should be able to cut the number of trips out to my grow spots to once or twice a week now.

Unfortunately, one of my NHH girls got half eaten (well, more than half...more like two-thirds) since I last stopped by on Tues. Oddly, a lot of the leaves were still there...on top of the soil. Maybe whatever critter munched on it found the taste of the neem oil unpleasant, I dunno. I don't really understand why it had to tear up so much of the plant if it wasn't really eating it. Anyways, I spread some urine and garlic-hot sauce mixture around the site and left the plant the way it is. I'll keep taking care of her as long as she's till got some leaves.



Also, the PK still looks pretty gnarly, but she's still alive and hasn't gotten worse since earlier in the week, so...we'll see.




The rest of the girls:

Buku (kinda wish I hadn't topped her, since I read somewhere here that Buku fems tend to go hermie from the stress of topping...she seemed to take it in stride, so I'll just keep an eye on her if she survives into flowering time.



EJ (tied down a bit this morning) and GK (untopped):



The other NHH and SAGE (untopped):

 

[xebeche]

The half-eaten NHH plant at my first location was completely gone by Wed. I don't feel too bad about it since that was the only spot with one plant remaining and it was a bit of a hike to get to (and more exposed...and occupied by hungrier critters I guess). Makes things quite a bit easier now that I'm left with two at each of three locations. Besides, I still have two small NHH clones growing on the rooftop, so I'll def get something from the three remaining NHH plants. I'd be happy to get a taste of each of the remaining strains from this first outdoor grow attempt. That was pretty much my goal from the start, so...we'll see.

Fed all the plants on Wed and Thurs this week. Wanted to wait longer, but Wed was the only day I could find three hours uninterrupted. Also sprayed all of 'em with neem/soap mixture, since it was our first cloudy morning in quite a while. Most of the plants had a pretty ragged appearance this morning when I stopped by for pics. I'm pretty sure it's from overwatering...but I guess I can't rule out a reaction to the neem oil. I'll check on all of 'em again on Mon or Tues, but hold off on watering until next Fri most likely, since these 5-gal bags seem to stay moist for at least a week. In fact, I usually add a significant amount of perlite when I use roots organic soil in pots...but added nothing to the mix for this outdoor grow, so I think it's holding more water than I'm used to. Not a good excuse, for sure...but they did look much better on Wed, so I think I'm just gonna need to be more patient - and get a better handle on when to water the plants in these 5-gal bags.

I did notice a decent amount of growth on most of the plants in the last week or so, however. A few of the un-topped plants have nearly doubled in height since first being put outside.

Anyways...here's the latest pics

 

[xebeche]

Went to check on the plants today...and was glad to find none of them missing like the last few weeks. Wish they looked better, however. Lots of gnarly looking leaves on pretty much all of 'em now. Most of the plants grew quite a bit this past week, so they're now about 18-24" tall...but a lot of them don't really have a lot of healthy leaves, so I'm losing confidence that I'll get much bud from 'em. We'll see. Seems like the new growth looks good on all of 'em...it's the older leaves that look pretty ragged. Didn't see signs of flower formation on any of them yet.

Anyways, here's some updated pics:



Took some pics yesterday of the plants living on our rooftop at the moment. An I decided to upcan the two NHH clones into 3-gal wastebaskets. I was planning to flower them out in the half-gal pots they were in, but the one remaining NHH that I have in a 5-gal grow bag is actually pretty large, so I'm kinda hoping that these two on the rooftop will do the same in a 3-gal container. In general, the plants on the roof look MUCH better than the one I have going in the remote locations. It's the same soil mix and treatments have been very similar, so I'm not sure why my others look so beaten up while these look so good.

Anyways, the two auto plants are both well into flowering now (it's been about a week). They're both pretty small (less than a foot tall), but they seem pretty happy up there and I haven't had to do much with them since I put them in the 2-gal pots. They're both just about a month old now.

 

[mugan]

well those look nice, i have always wanted to guerrilla it seems like it be fun
what happened to that one plant with black leaves

 

[xebeche]

well those look nice, i have always wanted to guerrilla it seems like it be fun
what happened to that one plant with black leaves

That one was the Power Kush. It's still alive, and seems to be recovering. The gnarly leaves either fell off or I clipped them off, and the new growth seems healthy. It's one of the plants with not a lot of healthy leaves overall, so I'm not too optimistic about my final results. If I see some flowers start to form soon, I'll fell a little better about it. Right now it's just a tall, gangly looking plant with one main stalk and very little side branching. I probly should have topped all of them but since I got them out so late in the season, I was afraid that snipping them would stunt their growth...esp since I didn't think I'd have too much time for veg growth before they started to flower. Turns out none of my plants (besides the autos) are flowering yet, so I probly could have gotten away with it.

This is my first attempt at outdoor growing. I can't say it's been "fun" at this point...def much more work than growing indoors, since it never rains here in the summer and there's no water source available - gotta haul all my water and nutes to each site. Also, the risk of losing plants is much higher (obviously)...I already lost two out of eight to critters, and I worry each time I visit the sites that another one will turn up MIA.

That being said, I'll def continue trying to grow a few guerrilla plants in the future, even if this one doesn't work out. I can see the potential already, just based on what my current plants have done so far. I've never used a lamp larger than 250w indoors, so I'm impressed by the growth I've seen under the sun. The ones I've got on the rooftop are by far the best-looking of the bunch, for some reason. Not a lot of critters and/or bugs make it up there, I guess.

I would def recommend trying a guerrilla grow yourself sometime. Especially if you've got a few bagseeds around that you can risk losing. I used freebie seeds for this grow, but I'll probly run some clones outdoors in the future.

 

[nanaimosco]

any luck this year?