Plot Preparation - Hole demensions

Salutations. First, lets give thanks to the earth :leaf::clap:

I have good experience in and outdoor. Mostly helping with others' grows and the yearly crop that I do for myself outdoors. I have read plenty books and spent time doing extensive research on all aspects of marijuana, but find myself wondering about a very basic idea that I have a hard time finding a safe calculated and proven approach to solving.

In a few months when the growing season comes around in the Mid-West USA:clap: I plan on starting the 3-4 meter Black Jack and Super Lemon Haze strains that I have had the pleasure of growing before, but without the stunning sizes in both height and width. I have had very stable pheno's come from the batch of seeds that I ordered and trust that with the same seed batch that I could pull off some of the trees that are seen growing here and there that are 3+ meters tall AND just as wide shedding pounds at a time.

I have reasoned/read/heard that a damn big hole needs to be dug. How big People?

What are some known sizes that have proven to give rise to gargantuan trees?:weed:

High Fives all around and Much Love to the folks livin' honest and treading lightly-
Peace Ya'll!! :bigjoint:
 

dangerouseknowledge

Well-Known Member
larger, than 3'X3' minuim for large plants and if u want trees and your gurrila growing make sure u start them a mouth before u plant in a greenhouse ur somthing simaler (frost blankets proped up work)
 

sodalite

Well-Known Member
where are you growing? some places your just not going to achive that no matter what. can you harvest late oct? if so the super lemon will be a go and i'm not familiar with black jack, but i take it to have some jack heror in it? anyway the bigger the better if you can dig 2.5'x2.5'x2.5' deep your going to find that it's going to begin to be alot of work if you have lots of plants. that being one per hole for max output. so if you can do that and fill them you'll get pounders easy if you can reasonably enlarge it then by all means do so in all directions. you must realize filling these in proper is going to take some cash. deep is just as important than wide, more so i think. whatever you do make sure you have good sun,soil,ferts, space them apart,and you keep quiet or all else will not matter at all.
 
I can harvest late october, the past 3 years I have had great success with leaving them out past the first frost which is always pretty mild. I guess to answer the question about "where", I am fortunate enough to have acreage on the crest of the highest point for about 20 miles. So when it is forecasted to frost, it rarely frosts unless it is late fall and by that time the early november indica hazes are already in. Black Jack is a cross of Jack Herer and Black Domina, making an absolutely great strain that has proven to be tough and resiliant, not to mention world class quality.

Thanks for the consideration of my approach. I always have dug some sort of hole, and experimented with digging 32 gallon trashcan sized holes and actually had the trashcan in the ground holding the roots. That, I have found alot of proof in. Even though its alot of space, and the biggest container I've witnessed grows in, it doesn't compare when coming across the medical grows in Cali that have 200 gallon grow bags, and it's apparent when they get 3 up to 4 pounds a plant and I'm pulling about 12-14 Oz off a winner. I have the space and the ferts, and I couldn't ask for more sun. This is why I'm thinking that if I offer the roots more room with a custom medium, it will up production.

I don't have the guts to try for more than two plants in my spot when aiming for monstrous trees. In previous years, I have had 5 go into flowering, but they were in 5 gallon buckets and that kept them from getting obnoxious. With the prevailing winds, the airflow is on my side- not blowing the smell into dangerous territory, but even across 3 acres, about 20 fresh oz's of bud keeps a hint lingering near the road during windy 90 degree days on which I make sure to mow. I wont dig more than two holes, and I will be sure to make them at least as big as the trashcan's hole but this time I will leave the trashcan out.
 

hic

Well-Known Member
the health of the root system is more important then the size of the hole you dig. 2 by 2 by 2.5 is good enough for me....if the roots are healthy.
 

sodalite

Well-Known Member
up on a limb, yea i tried growing just one super lemon haze outdoors where i'm at. it needed about two more weeks when it got cut around first week oct. but it still stunk and tried hard to be a good plant.
anyway the bigger the better when digging holes. i fill most of mine with sunshine mix bales, compost, earthworm castings, some guano and they can get pretty big here and i have less of a season. don't tell a soul, work hard and use good nutes and they should be monsters. myself i wouldn't use the liners. big roots will go even further without it 32 gallons is less than you think. with the perfect spot, seeds, soil, ect they would outgrow 32 gallons. so monsters=big holes. have fun
 

dangerouseknowledge

Well-Known Member
i only use liners to keep moster in and let them become slightly root bound so they can colect the fertilizers i aply for budding
yess i have teribal spelling bear with me
 

Noballs

Well-Known Member
When I dug up my plants this year the roots were'nt that deep, may be 1 1/2 feet. They were about 2 1/2 feet wide though. They like to spread their toes!
 

katwoman2012

Well-Known Member
I'm going to be planting my first one in the ground in the spring. Does anyone know how much taller one would grow in the ground vs. like a 16" pot? I'm thinking of putting in a Black because the ones I've grown in pots have been short and squat, but a lot of good pot. Is the only way to keep them shorter after they take off growing is by LST? I just saw a pic of a plant that was twice as tall as a grown man and I don't want that. Do you guys know how tall a purple kush would be in the ground? Ty.
 

sodalite

Well-Known Member
katwoman, there will be a considerable differance between a plant grown in a 16" pot and one grown directly into the ground. can't realy say how much, to many factors. if takin good care of they can get quite large. people do trim plants to keep them smaller but this is a poor approach, especially outdoors as they will finish later becouse of it. if you don't want them so tall tie them down using some strong supports. make sure to tie them to something that will keep them tied up whem they become full of bud so they don't fall over. if you can start when they are young and every couple weeks tie them again and again. you can create a plant almost horizontal to the ground with the side branches going straight up, you can tie the biggest of these also. it's realy not a whole lot of work people give it fancy names and make it sound hard but thats all it is is tieing the plant down.
or your other option i can think of is to start them later so they don't reach their full height. less bud but less stress if your worried. also use plants that are known for being smaller and bushy in stature. happy growing, good luck.
 
Sodalite, Thanks for the input. I find alot of sence in your advice and have been sorting out the details to mass produce soil additives that would prime the soil. From the experience I have had with S.L.H, I have had the chance to hold a comparison with the times at which I harvested. I have the fortune to have a very powerful magnifying glass, and pulled them when nearly all the tops of the flowers' trich's were on the amber side, down to the first real feeder leaves were poking out the side. -Sooner than letting the amber stages in development to reach down the length of the cola's, but enough time to find some smaller flowers that had been exposed to the weather all the way amber/brown. For mine and everyone else's information, (experimentaion took place), I left about a quarter oz on the stalk and alot of the surrounding plant intact until the second week of November or after 2 maybe 3 hard frosts including rain. After close examination, the stuff was still healthy, although mostly dead. (What I mean is how there wasn't any fungus or mold/sickness attacking the remaining plant). And for the smoke report: Fast temperature spike, very thick dry smoke, slow and I mean slow but steady expansion in the lungs all the way to choke. Mellow on the throat on the way out, and not disappearing but still being there to have some casual style (if you will) as you exhale. There was almost no difference in the burn time, and last but not least it out tasted the stuff that had been taken care of curing for the past weeks! I could not believe it. I felt as if I would have had an easier time fooling with the stuff off the plant.. if I would have left it on the plant until it was near total death. Of course the smoke/high was different, and properly cured buds are second to none, but it was like having a different yet identical stronger tasting bag to reach into. I hope you find this as interesting and a useful tactic to have different bud to smoke, off of one plant. I have a blast kickin' it and brainstorming the results.

With thoughts in line with Noballs' comment about the roots, It makes me want to put some added work into the process and provide a hole with an inverted or upside down cone shape. I like the connections I'm making with the idea of this and I'm aware that most of the roots use the upper portions of their tap root for "branching". Good call Noballs, ..Now you make me want to have a stealth tiller with a quiet exaust. I wonder how well that would market??

Katwoman, sodalite is right on with the advice. In addition to the things you could use from his suggestions, a screen of reasonable construction could be made to guide the plant to horizontally and provide somewhat of a solution to your situation. Much is to be learned about "screen of green" or "SCROG" grows. Amazing things happen this way-

The input is appreciated! Peace!!
 

sodalite

Well-Known Member
when doing scrog type grows outdoors they get so big i've grown them using a trelllis with better results than a screen. they fill the underneath of a screan to thick. with a trellis they can keep growing upwards but you can train them to look quite unlike a mj plant. i wish i had some of my old pics to show you. it was done in my back yard with two large plants one summer no problem.
 
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