Planning out the 2025 outdoor grow

[TomH]

With a plants having shown signs of stretch and now seeing groups of stigma pairs, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we’re in flower here!
If that’s accepted, end of week 1 of flower (different than stretch in my mind) will be today, 7/28.
End of week 10 will be 9/29 however, I’ll be out of town for a couple weeks.

Looks like harvest will be 10/10, middle of week 12. That indica should be good and stony at that point.

 

[freezeland]

With a plants having shown signs of stretch and now seeing groups of stigma pairs, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we’re in flower here!
If that’s accepted, end of week 1 of flower (different than stretch in my mind) will be today, 7/28.
End of week 10 will be 9/29 however, I’ll be out of town for a couple weeks.

Looks like harvest will be 10/10, middle of week 12. That indica should be good and stony at that point.

Stigma pairs are always present. It’s the presence of preflowers at their bases is what to watch for.

 

[TomH]

Stigma pairs are always present. It’s the presence of preflowers at their bases is what to watch for.

Yeah, the super blue dream have had them all year, now they are coming in groups of pairs. I think that’s the beginning of setting buds. I expect more, so she will be getting some foliar feeds during stretch and the first weeks of flower. I’ll probably give it two more foliar feeds.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Canna control is supposed to be for most flies, worms, caterpillars, mites, but its not really for grasshoppers.
nothing I can find will affect those MFs

Does soaps like Safer’s help?
I know it kills the eggs from one of my sunflower bugs. Smothers them so they don’t hatch.

Caterpillars and inch worms are our current battle.

 

[TomH]

Does soaps like Safer’s help?
I know it kills the eggs from one of my sunflower bugs. Smothers them so they don’t hatch.

Caterpillars and inch worms are our current battle.

The only thing that I’ve seen for certain to deal with grasshoppers is a shoe!
Those little SOBs are ironclad! Supposedly, there are certain plants that keep other bugs away (rosemary, marigolds, etc.). Grasshoppers eat them!

One of the most effective bug sprays is made from an extract from chrysanthemums. I’ve found the little bastards eating the buds from the mums! It’s like they have no off switch.

I do the grasshopper dance at least 5 times a day! It’s like the green apple quickstep only you’re aiming for the jumping bug rather than trying not to crap on your own feet!

Maybe I need to spark up another bowl!

 

[Zen_seeker]

The only thing that I’ve seen for certain to deal with grasshoppers is a shoe!
Those little SOBs are ironclad! Supposedly, there are certain plants that keep other bugs away (rosemary, marigolds, etc.). Grasshoppers eat them!

One of the most effective bug sprays is made from an extract from chrysanthemums. I’ve found the little bastards eating the buds from the mums! It’s like they have no off switch.

I do the grasshopper dance at least 5 times a day! It’s like the green apple quickstep only you’re aiming for the jumping bug rather than trying not to crap on your own feet!

Maybe I need to spark up another bowl!

We get the occasional grasshopper I notice in the yard. Haven’t seen one in a few years. Wife said she saw one last week but I think it was a type of cricket.

Moth caterpillars, leaf hoppers, aphids are the usual problems. I’ve only used Safer’s this year as I see the bugs but it’s been a pretty easy fight this year. I think the lack of rain might even be helping.

We still get a lot of cicadas but not like a couple years ago.

Around 2000 we had a big bloom of praying mantis. Big green one I saw on the subway hanging off the door and a couple of 1” and 2” green or brown ones around the bushes in our yard. Don’t remember seeing them as a kid in the city and I haven’t noticed any since. To bad, I’m cool with them and don’t just spray poisons around the yard. So not sure why they are so scarce.

 

[Tremojem]

The Praying Mantis rules.

 

[TomH]

All plants are in full stretch mode.
Indica, Blackberry moonshine is 54”x39”x39”
Hybrid, Super blue dream 1 is 56”x36”x32”
Hybrid Super blue dream 2 is 62”x39”x36”
Sativa, KC Wolfenstein is 66”x48”x36”

I think all but the indica are finished stretching, but I could be mistaken.

I can see bud sites adding mass now, very early but definitely changed mode.

14 hours and 6 minutes of light in the day. It’s only about 39 minutes less than the longest day of our year.

 

[steamroller]

I have always thought 14 hours is the trigger point.
It is amazing to me how short our days really are compared to how we run lighting.

 

[TomH]

I have always thought 14 hours is the trigger point.
It is amazing to me how short our days really are compared to how we run lighting.

Yeah, it makes me now know why things can go south quickly with lighting changes, even though they were staying over 12 hours. It seems more like the decrease in light over time is important too!

 

[steamroller]

I have slow flipped many times changing time by only an hour a week going from 18 to 12.
In the 6 weeks that takes you don't notice as much of a stretch as compared to a better stockier grow IMO.
I have slow flipped much faster than 1 hour a week and still think it adds something.

 

[TomH]

I put this in the wrong location initially, moved!


Plants are still gaining mass. The Super Blue Dream (x2) and KC Wolfenstein are about 10“ higher than my fence Now.

I dropped scrog nets over them after laying down across them (minimal hyperbole), I was literally arms up, leaning over on them as I gently bent the tops over. Now about 6” Below fence, so that helped but they pop through the nets regularly and gain altitude rapidly. I’m pushing it under the net a few times a day.

They all have that rich green look in the growth points, rapid growth look where nitrogen can’t get to the new growth rapidly enough and it just looks BRIGHT.

This past Sunday I trimmed about 5 lbs of mass from the three largest plants. Can’t even tell anything happened now! They are rapidly gaining mass. I’ll need to scrub the lower legs to get rid of stragler buds that are out of the light zone. I guess that’ll come about mid Aug.

 

[TomH]

Flower stage fully engaged.

I had to do some serious crunching on the sativa to keep it down. It’s a tall plant by nature. It wants to get big.

Super blue dream clones are the furthest along but all solidly in week two.

Indica, on the hill, suddenly got very puffy little buds. Fun to watch grow.

All doubled their hydration requirements for the stretch.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Umm... Damn! Big, healthy plants everywhere. Looks like you're heading towards a big Fall harvest.

 

[TomH]

Umm... Damn! Big, healthy plants everywhere. Looks like you're heading towards a big Fall harvest.

I’m hoping so.

The Super Blue Dream are clones from the plant on the hills last year. It’s our main smoke for both my daughter and me and we still have move than a pound left. I’m hoping I can get a few more percent of THC if they go a week or three longer. I don’t expect that the two plants will provide as much as the plant last year, but it was a monster. The aroma of this stuff is like a fresh baked blueberry muffin. I’ve never encountered any weed with this powerful of an aroma. Great daytime weed.

The KC Wolfenstein (sativa) and Blackberry Moonshine (indica) are just making my drool thinking about.

A lot of grasshoppers earlier in the season, I haven’t seen any for a week or two. That helps a lot, those SOBs can turn trees into toothpicks quickly. It’s amazing how much one of those things can eat.

I’m spraying regularly to keep bugs at bay. Canna control, BT, Spynosad. Worms/caterpillars were a problem last year. I really want to avoid that issue again.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

I’m hoping so.

The Super Blue Dream are clones from the plant on the hills last year. It’s our main smoke for both my daughter and me and we still have move than a pound left. I’m hoping I can get a few more percent of THC if they go a week or three longer. I don’t expect that the two plants will provide as much as the plant last year, but it was a monster. The aroma of this stuff is like a fresh baked blueberry muffin. I’ve never encountered any weed with this powerful of an aroma. Great daytime weed.

The KC Wolfenstein (sativa) and Blackberry Moonshine (indica) are just making my drool thinking about.

A lot of grasshoppers earlier in the season, I haven’t seen any for a week or two. That helps a lot, those SOBs can turn trees into toothpicks quickly. It’s amazing how much one of those things can eat.

I’m spraying regularly to keep bugs at bay. Canna control, BT, Spynosad. Worms/caterpillars were a problem last year. I really want to avoid that issue again.

That Super Blue Dream is one that I've never been around, but sounds right up my alley. Just getting started and there are so many seeds I'd like to try. I can see how easy it can be to collect more than you can grow, if you don't show restraint or just grow more, lol. Ideally, it would be nice to land on some keepers and get to know them very well.

To be 2,800 miles apart, it seems our seasons are pretty similar. Not grasshopper damage here, but I have been trying to stay ahead of the caterpillars, too. Septoria was my biggest fail. I could have stayed ahead of that, but dropped the ball.

Are the grasshoppers something you have to deal with every year? I've seen some here, but in low numbers. Some years there are a lot. Especially a type we just call "flying grasshoppers". I've never tried to look up their real name, but they can be thick on some years.