Planning out the 2025 outdoor grow

[BlueCollarBob]

That’s just heart breaking. There were stories from people not many miles from us that got that treatment last year. Some of the pictures just made me sick! A gorgeous yard looked like post Armageddon when it was over!

There is apparently a very effective and reliable substance made from a bacteria that turns off something in the gut of the nymph hoppers. Its spread with cornmeal to get them to eat and they just shut down.

However, the only place that made the stuff, burned down in 2023. I’m not sure if they have been able to restart or ??? But I couldn’t buy the stuff last year when I was looking. Used garlic oil. It works sorta, and smells awesome!

Squash bugs have been the most difficult insect for me to deal with, this year. Most recently, I've tried using diatomaceous earth. Early signs point towards it being effective. I actually struggled with trying it for a while. I read about it being harmful to pollinators. When I decided to go for it, i kept it away from blooms and only dusted soil around plant bases and broad leaves. Google says it can be effective against grasshoppers (particularly nymphs). I also watched a soil building video for vegetables where diatomaceous earth was mixed in as an amendment, instead of surface application as a pest control.

Maybe DE is an option, until the bacteria becomes available. The only reason I had a bag of DE on hand is I mix it with peat moss as a dust bath for our chickens. So, I'm new to using it against insects.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Squash bugs have been the most difficult insect for me to deal with, this year. Most recently, I've tried using diatomaceous earth. Early signs point towards it being effective. I actually struggled with trying it for a while. I read about it being harmful to pollinators. When I decided to go for it, i kept it away from blooms and only dusted soil around plant bases and broad leaves. Google says it can be effective against grasshoppers (particularly nymphs). I also watched a soil building video for vegetables where diatomaceous earth was mixed in as an amendment, instead of surface application as a pest control.

Maybe DE is an option, until the bacteria becomes available. The only reason I had a bag of DE on hand is I mix it with peat moss as a dust bath for our chickens. So, I'm new to using it against insects.

I’ve used it against carpenter ants, they don’t bring poison baits back to the queen.

Diatomaceous earth (DE) generally needs reapplication after rain or heavy dew. Water reduces its dryness and abrasive powdery texture, which is what damages insects’ exoskeletons and causes desiccation. After rainfall the powder clumps or washes away, lowering effectiveness.

 

[TomH]

I’ve used it against carpenter ants, they don’t bring poison baits back to the queen.

Diatomaceous earth (DE) generally needs reapplication after rain or heavy dew. Water reduces its dryness and abrasive powdery texture, which is what damages insects’ exoskeletons and causes desiccation. After rainfall the powder clumps or washes away, lowering effectiveness.

On a positive note, it’s awesome for adding silica to you base soil!

 

[TomH]

All plants are drinking like sailors on leave.
Four waterings a day, they drink it dry in an hour or two.

The sativa, KC Wolfenstein, is thin and straggly like a heavy sativa might be. Also really slow changing over to flower. It was building buds, slowly. I don’t know if this thing is going to need more than 12 weeks, but I’m excited to see what it does.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

I had to look up KC Wolfenstein. I think I need to start letting you pick my seeds or just copy your grows, lol. Sounds like it's gonna be a good one. Everything looks great. Your have a lot of chopping and trimming heading your way

 

[TomH]

I had to look up KC Wolfenstein. I think I need to start letting you pick my seeds or just copy your grows, lol. Sounds like it's gonna be a good one. Everything looks great. Your have a lot of chopping and trimming heading your way

If you hold me to that level, remember that these were seeds from other wonderful growers here!
The quality has been phenomenal!

 

[TomH]

Blackberry Moonshine, indica.
Day 22 I think.

Losing a yellow leaf or two every day or two but this is similar to last year.
I think it’s a high temperature and low humidity that drives the plant hard. If they get even a little dry, they’ll drop yellow leaves faster.

As long as they get their three drinks a day, they’ll reach for the sky. Hotter days, I’ll add an occasional splash if the soil is dry.

 

[TomH]

I think these pictures are all KC Wolfenstein, sativa.

It too is at 22 days but the sativa genes are clearly on display. Thin, straggly, spaced out buds. I’m hoping it’ll thicken up but there’s a lot of growth to go.

 

[TomH]

The above post has mixed photos of both super blue dream and KC.

The thicker plants are SBD the taller and skinnier plant is KC.

 

[TomH]

I think I have the “constant yellow leaf drop” issue by doing the following:

1 - 3 waterings a day
2 - 1 feed per day, at 1/2 strength
3 - continue grow nutrients (7-9-5) @ 1/4 strength along with bloom nutrients (3-12-9) @ 1/2 strength Along with ca-mag, golden tree and fulvic acid.

The plants look good colorwise and stopped dopping leaves from the bottom.
Buds on the indica and hybrids are beginning to get chunky, sativa is the slowest growing plant possible. It doesn’t look stressed, in fact it looks awesome just grows at a different rate than the others.

 

[TomH]

Just a quick mid-offweek update from the foothills.

plants are doing well, about half way there, maybe a little less but looking good.
I’m going to need to hit them one more time with a moderate nitrogen feeding when I return this coming Sunday. I detect just a little early yellowing taking place, I’d like to hold that off a few more weeks before letting them go autumn.

The Sativa/hybrid, KC Wolfenstein, must be at the far end of the sativa spectrum for it’s genetic line. The leaves are incredibly narrow and buds are slow forming. Getting there, but mass-wise they look and feel weeks behind the Super Blue dream.

SBD and Indica (Blackberry Moonshine) are putting on good weight and size.

We had an electrical storm of biblical nature here on 9/2. Fires everywhere in the vicinity. The closest got less than a mile and on the same side of the hill as us, so it wasn‘t a comfortable evening. Calfire and inmates from a local state prison (conservation center) did amazing work to put the fires out. We lost one historic town (Chinese Camp) nearly totally destroyed but most towns and structures were saved elsewhere.

More weather coming this weekend and next week so don’t know what the next update here will hold!

Weird year!

 

[Tremojem]

I had to bring one of my ladies inside to finish in the tent. She is now in for several days of darkness, then into the DIY Cannatrol by Koolatron, lol.

 

[TomH]

Looks like some big ole fat colas. Those look yummy.

 

[TomH]

This is the indica update, Blackberry Moonshine, in soil with full sun exposure all day.

She’s getting sugary now. Still need to pack on some weight.

Plenty of time to gain weight, still has about five to six weeks left.

 

[TomH]

Sativa: KC Wolfenstein all of a sudden got big. Bigger than the two blue dream plants combined.

It got taller and fatter in every direction.
Starting to get some sugar on the buds but not as heavy as the indica.

Super Blue Dream twins are gaining weight rapidly. Still no sugar but they’re not genetically prone to be sugary. Just good buzzy smoke.

Everything changed dramatically in the week I was gone. I’ve not seen this kind of growth spurt in a long time. Everything exploded.

 

[steamroller]

That's a great shot Tom~!

 

[TomH]

The stretch drinking binge has ended. I’ve reduced the irrigation duration from 4 min to 2 min. Continue 3 x daily (8:30AM, 11AM and 2PM).

I spent about 30 minutes this morning bending colas on the Sativa to get her back below the fence line. I can’t believe the explosive growth this plant went through in the last 7 days. It was slightly taller and thinner than each of the Super Blue Dream plants, now it was (until I bent her) 8 to 10 inches taller than SBD and as broad as the two SBD plants combined. The colas are numerous and gaining weight well. I can tell already, all the work I’m doing now to hold her down is going to be accompanied by an equal effort to support the weight, they already sway in the wind and it’s only the last day of week 4!

 

[BlueCollarBob]

This is the indica update, Blackberry Moonshine, in soil with full sun exposure all day.

She’s getting sugary now. Still need to pack on some weight.

Plenty of time to gain weight, still has about five to six weeks left. View attachment 113099View attachment 113100View attachment 113101View attachment 113102View attachment 113103View attachment 113104

Frame that last photo

 

[TomH]

I haven’t shown much of the garden this year so here’s a few quick pics.

Most of this is in and around our gazebo or arbor or whatever they are called.

Much of the yard looks like this. If I have my way.

 

[stonemason]

I haven’t shown much of the garden this year so here’s a few quick pics.

Most of this is in and around our gazebo or arbor or whatever they are called.

Much of the yard looks like this. If I have my way. View attachment 113137View attachment 113138View attachment 113139View attachment 113140View attachment 113141View attachment 113142View attachment 113143View attachment 113144View attachment 113145View attachment 113146View attachment 113147View attachment 113148View attachment 113149View attachment 113150View attachment 113151View attachment 113152View attachment 113153View attachment 113154View attachment 113155View attachment 113156

So cool thanks for sharing

 

[BlueCollarBob]

I haven’t shown much of the garden this year so here’s a few quick pics.

Most of this is in and around our gazebo or arbor or whatever they are called.

Much of the yard looks like this. If I have my way. View attachment 113137View attachment 113138View attachment 113139View attachment 113140View attachment 113141View attachment 113142View attachment 113143View attachment 113144View attachment 113145View attachment 113146View attachment 113147View attachment 113148View attachment 113149View attachment 113150View attachment 113151View attachment 113152View attachment 113153View attachment 113154View attachment 113155View attachment 113156

I always love when you share these photos. Everything is beautiful and all of the succulents are exotic to me.

 

[Zen_seeker]

I haven’t shown much of the garden this year so here’s a few quick pics.

Most of this is in and around our gazebo or arbor or whatever they are called.

Much of the yard looks like this. If I have my way. View attachment 113137View attachment 113138View attachment 113139View attachment 113140View attachment 113141View attachment 113142View attachment 113143View attachment 113144View attachment 113145View attachment 113146View attachment 113147View attachment 113148View attachment 113149View attachment 113150View attachment 113151View attachment 113152View attachment 113153View attachment 113154View attachment 113155View attachment 113156

So when’s viewing hours again?

 

[TomH]

I had to do more tie downs to keep the girls hidden. I broke a couple branches but mostly just made them lower and wider.

Super blue dream has the most amazing smell, but it’s different from their clone mother. I don’t quite understand how, but they are strong blueberry smelling. Their mother had a strong blueberry muffin smell. The muffin smell is absent this year. They also are beginning to show sugar/ trichomes which the mother had none of.

They get less direct sunlight, this has been a cooler year and I’m using a different nutrient line; don’t know why they are different but we’ll have to see what we end up with.

 

[TomH]

It’s a 4 grinder morning! Not out of necessity, but expediency!
Godzilla Glue
Green Haze
Maui Haze
Super Blue Dream

It’s going to be a smokin day! All this stuff is really tasty! I didn’t grow the GG nor the Maui Haze, but those are really good too!!!

 

[Tremojem]

Not nearly as impressive as TomH, cuz his garden is most excellent for sure.

But, here is plant one from outdoors. I had to finish in tent. NY is just not a good place to finish, unless we have an extended and Dry, Fall Season.

I have one left outside now and she is twice the size of this one. She will finish in the tent soon. The only way I could get them into tent, was to train or tie them downward, to fit. The top cola on this plant was tied down. After a week, the weight of it succumbed to gravity, as you can see, lol.

This is a Sativa, not sure of the strain. She produced seeds, not many, but of high quality. I had a male that I collected pollen from, for use at a later date. That is my only explanation for the seeds. Additionally, there were two seedlings growing in the pot. They must have fallen from her, into pot and then germinated. I dont know, as it was a shock to me when I found them growing. They are about two weeks old. Doing very well, by the way.

I did a wet trim and loaded the DIY Cannatrol by Koolatron. There is a six inch rule next to each picture of each shelf. The bags are golf ball sized buds, and will go into fridge for the Lotus Drying Methodology.

Here are the pics. They actually are heavy too. I did find a couple odd small spots on two larger buds, that looked like a combination of dead brown leaves and seed pods, that were suspect. Didn't present as mold, but I dissected the area and removed. After the inspection, it still didn't present as mold. But fuck it, I removed it.

Biggest, stacked and sweet smelling buds I have ever grown.

My apologies for the shifty picture of the branch laying on my work bench, as it is a poorly taken image.

 

[TomH]

I see an equitable trade possibility! Those look great! That’s going to be some awesome smoke!

 

[Max]

Are you in the desert bro…

your cabbage grows funny over there

 

[TomH]

Are you in the desert bro…

your cabbage grows funny over there
View attachment 113286

It’s a very hot, dry location that gets too much rain in winter to be considered desert.

Summer is definitely desert. Yeah that cabbage has given me plenty of trouble

 

[TomH]

Blackberry moonshine getting a little frisky in its 6th week of flower.
Our temperatures this year have been about 10 to 15 degrees below the previous three years (my only history here). I get the feeling that without the hadean midday temperatures, sugar builds quickly. Although not pictured in this update, I’ve noticed even clones of a plant that had no visible trichomes last year, have trichomes in week six this year. Kinda blows my mind.

 

[TomH]

KC Wolfenstein and the super blue dream twins are getting very aromatic, in a very good way.

SBD both smell strongly of blueberries, if I rub a branch, it elicits a taste of blueberries in my mouth

KC wolfenstein has a great citrus flavor/aroma. Not as strongly as the SBD aroma, but certainly noticeable just being near it.

 

[TomH]

All the plants in the yard are growing amazingly well. With more comfortable temperatures they are really making a lot of progress daily. They are getting watered 3x daily and for the middle flower weeks, fed a light feeding daily. Mostly flower boosters with ca-mag/iron, and fulvic acid. They are adding weight well.

I’ll be top dressing them with flower girl bud booster as I’ll be away for a while, the irrigation system can feed them with each water cycle.

 

[Zen_seeker]

All the plants in the yard are growing amazingly well. With more comfortable temperatures they are really making a lot of progress daily. They are getting watered 3x daily and for the middle flower weeks, fed a light feeding daily. Mostly flower boosters with ca-mag/iron, and fulvic acid. They are adding weight well.

I’ll be top dressing them with flower girl bud booster as I’ll be away for a while, the irrigation system can feed them with each water cycle. View attachment 113552View attachment 113553View attachment 113554View attachment 113555View attachment 113556View attachment 113557View attachment 113558View attachment 113559View attachment 113560View attachment 113561View attachment 113562View attachment 113563View attachment 113564View attachment 113565View attachment 113566View attachment 113568

Plants are looking great Tom. Making me miss my tree from a few years ago.

 

[TomH]

The outdoor plants did grow well they are middle of week 8 (plus or minus a week).

Blackberry moonshine, the indica is sporting good fall colors, probably a combination of heat and dry soil. Everything gets good watering this week.

Super blue dream colas and large, thick, long and heavy. Most satisfying is that they are sugary. Last year’s plant had very little. I’m hoping for a somewhat stronger buzz from this year’s harvest.

Kc wolfenstein, sativa, is big and heavy. I’m going to need to support the colas which are floppy because of weight and thin branches (dozens and dozens of branches). This plant is a beast.

If someone wanted a tree, this would be the on to use.

 

[TomH]

Everything outside got some “flower shield“ in shower form this morning because we’re really cloudy and I see some things that look like I might have a bug in the forest.

I see some white roadmaps on some peripheral leaves and some caterpillar dots in one area. Everything got doused good.


Gonna have to wash ‘em at harvest time anyway.

 

[TomH]

Well, heavy overnight thunderstorms dropped a bunch of rain here last evening (still some drizzle going now, but the big stuff stopped).

I’ll need to look at the results and check for damage once the sun rises.

It wasn’t overly windy, just heavy downpours so I don’t expect anything too bad, but I will need to shake the heck out of everything!

 

[Zen_seeker]

Well, heavy overnight thunderstorms dropped a bunch of rain here last evening (still some drizzle going now, but the big stuff stopped).

I’ll need to look at the results and check for damage once the sun rises.

It wasn’t overly windy, just heavy downpours so I don’t expect anything too bad, but I will need to shake the heck out of everything!

Watch for slugs and snails too. Found a few in the vegetables for the first time last weekend. All the rain and up/down temperatures must have agreed with them.

 

[TomH]

I hate them, we have a lot of slugs around here!
They love the rocks that we use for round cover and come out in the cool of night to chomp.

I might have to spill some rock salt!

 

[TomH]

Yesterday had a wild and wet start! Thunder and lightning around midnight yesterday with torrential rains.

I had to shake the heck out of all the outdoor plants (which smelled awesome), by early afternoon temps were in the upper 80s and RH was 33% so I’m really hoping all it did was wash off all the leaves and not introduce mold issues.

We’re now officially under 12:12 outside here! The times, they are a changin.

Enjoy life everyone. I’ll be popping in to see how everyone is but I probably won’t have much in the way of pics to post for a little while!

 

[Zen_seeker]

Yesterday had a wild and wet start! Thunder and lightning around midnight yesterday with torrential rains.

I had to shake the heck out of all the outdoor plants (which smelled awesome), by early afternoon temps were in the upper 80s and RH was 33% so I’m really hoping all it did was wash off all the leaves and not introduce mold issues.

We’re now officially under 12:12 outside here! The times, they are a changin.

Enjoy life everyone. I’ll be popping in to see how everyone is but I probably won’t have much in the way of pics to post for a little while!

Hoping for the best for ya.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Yesterday had a wild and wet start! Thunder and lightning around midnight yesterday with torrential rains.

I had to shake the heck out of all the outdoor plants (which smelled awesome), by early afternoon temps were in the upper 80s and RH was 33% so I’m really hoping all it did was wash off all the leaves and not introduce mold issues.

We’re now officially under 12:12 outside here! The times, they are a changin.

Enjoy life everyone. I’ll be popping in to see how everyone is but I probably won’t have much in the way of pics to post for a little while!

I feel ya on the weather. My plants took some damage from a pretty good storm on Saturday evening. The worst part was I had purchased stuff to rig up some cover and could have saved all of that. We had been in a dry stretch and I hadn't been following the weather. It's rained every day since, except for today, and calling for rain tomorrow. I got the cover rigged up in the rain on Sunday. So, hopefully all will be good until harvest. Definitely need to decide on a more permanent fix for the future.