SACReDHeRB
Well-Known Member
got some bagseed around the 90th day flowering as well, dank tho, pretty dense
Countryfarmer's outdoor grow
- Thread starter Countryfarmer
- Start date
doublejj
Well-Known Member
Lack of light, I think your right on country.
Last year I tried a second grow in my greenhouse. I had a dozen plants already started indoors & about 3' tall when I put them out the end Of Oct. Because of the shorter days & the change in sun angle, I had the same result as you. Grew a bunch of frosty leaves but no solid buds. Sounds exactly like what happened to you. I just made hash out of it all. I feel you bro.
peace
doublejj
Last year I tried a second grow in my greenhouse. I had a dozen plants already started indoors & about 3' tall when I put them out the end Of Oct. Because of the shorter days & the change in sun angle, I had the same result as you. Grew a bunch of frosty leaves but no solid buds. Sounds exactly like what happened to you. I just made hash out of it all. I feel you bro.
peace
doublejj
Countryfarmer
Active Member
As the title says, I got ripped! Two weeks away from harvesting the last two plants and someone found them!
Luckily for me it was either a kid or the ripper got scared and left without taking all of the plants. The ripper cut the top two colas on the big bud but left the rest of it. And he (she?) took about half the other mexican strain plant.
Obviously I harvested the rest of the plants even though they weren't completely ready. Just spent 5 hours trimming up the big bud and still am not done. I am really slow as I have only trimmed a half pound so far and still can't see the bottom of the bag.
Anyway, not happy about being ripped, but it could have been worse. Could have been the cops waiting for me at the site, or the rippers could have taken all of the remaining two plants. They left me far more than what they took.
Luckily for me it was either a kid or the ripper got scared and left without taking all of the plants. The ripper cut the top two colas on the big bud but left the rest of it. And he (she?) took about half the other mexican strain plant.
Obviously I harvested the rest of the plants even though they weren't completely ready. Just spent 5 hours trimming up the big bud and still am not done. I am really slow as I have only trimmed a half pound so far and still can't see the bottom of the bag.
Anyway, not happy about being ripped, but it could have been worse. Could have been the cops waiting for me at the site, or the rippers could have taken all of the remaining two plants. They left me far more than what they took.
SACReDHeRB
Well-Known Member
at least theres a good part amongst the bad. 
Countryfarmer
Active Member
Yeh man. I would love to openly grow outside, but there are just too many pressures involved with guerilla growing.
From here on out it is all inside for me. I have already started work on my grow room. Having to do some carpentry work to get it right. Then have to run a 100 amp box to it for the electricity. Already have the main lights (5 600W air-cooled Sun Shield set-ups). I still need to get my secondary lighting (going to run some reptile lighting for the UV-B and a T5 for the clone room). Also, I need to get my air-conditioning unit, carbon filter, CO2 burner and some other items. All inside from here on out.
Uncle Ben
Well-Known Member
The only decent (but risky) way to grow is on your property where you can monitor and act on the pressures.
Make sure you use high quality side reflecting panels. Mine were moveable to gain maxiumum efficiency, especially for lower level buds. 3 thinned coats of Behr Ultra white latex makes for a blinding reflector that cleans easily, doesn't tear, etc. I used large furniture packing panels on 1x4 supports.
Good luck
Make sure you use high quality side reflecting panels. Mine were moveable to gain maxiumum efficiency, especially for lower level buds. 3 thinned coats of Behr Ultra white latex makes for a blinding reflector that cleans easily, doesn't tear, etc. I used large furniture packing panels on 1x4 supports.
Good luck
Noballs
Well-Known Member
Its such a shame! Im sorry for all your bad luck. Ill miss reading your grow stories! Maybe just one little one outdoors? Ya know you wanna!
Countryfarmer
Active Member
Once I get done trimming up I will post a recap. I am just a slow trimmer and have to work my trimming around everything else. The rippers didn't take everything, and it is funny as to how my perception of the plants have changed as I have trimmed.
The larger of the two mexican strain plants, and what I thought would be my largest producer turned out to be extremely leafy. I am going to have no choice but to trim it to bud shape (while getting rid of the larger leaves) and let it be what it is ... leafy weed. I have quick dried a "nugget" and tried it and while it tasted like quick dried weed (in other words crap) it got me stoned. I didn't really like the stone, as it was pure couchlock. I guess I could appreciate it as a before bedtime smoke as I imagine it would make me sleep like a baby. No idea on the weight.
The smaller of the two mexican strains I have already completed trimming, and I got a half pound in wet bud from it. The buds are tiny and that plant was a pain in the ass to trim, but after the larger one turned out the way it did I figured I couldn't just throw it in the hash pile, so my aching hands trimmed it. The rippers got about half of her, so she would have given me around a pound in wet weight. Her buds, while small are much nicer than the larger mexican strain plant. Has a greater flower to leaf ratio. And the high is not a couchlock. It is a heavier body buzz, but doesn't slam you into your chair for the rest of the night. It also doesn't even have a bad taste when quick dried. No taste at all actually. I would call it nuetral. I'm hopeful the spicy aroma the plant had on the stalk will come back during the curing.
The big bud I am not done with, but I am guesstimating based on how much I have done so far that it will give me around 1.5 -2 lb in wet weight, even with what the rippers took. The buds on this plant are much stickier than the other two, easier to trim, fuller and the smell that was present on the stalk is still present during the trimming/drying.
Anyway, that will have to do it for now for an update. I need to get back to work trimming. And I am slow. Also, one pic I took real quick. This was the smaller mexican strain.
View attachment 1221847
potpimp
Sector 5 Moderator
Man that's like a punch in the stomach hearing that news; that sucks so badly. Glad to see you got the experiences you did and came out as well as you did. It's been a long growing season and a LOT of challenges for you; I'm really glad to see you taking it indoors; you'll never regret that.
filmore
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear someone got lucky and found yours. I've got mine trimmed and curing, but still not sure what I started with. Learned a lot this year and will know what I start with next Spring. I only got less rhan 1/4 pound for all that work for 4 months, but I enjoyed the heck out of it. I am going to post my finished product pics, but definitely am a bit disappointed. Thanks for your help, CF.
Countryfarmer
Active Member
I am glad to have been of some help to you filmore. Really, my pleasure.
As to what I managed to get out of this harvest; the small mexican strain plant gave me 5 ounces dried, which was decent considering the small buds and the fact the rippers took more of it than the other remaining plant. The big bud gave me 1 LB 9 oz dried. And while I did trim out some of the "buds" from the larger mexican strain plant, I grew frustrated with how leafy the buds were on this plant (really more leaf than bud, just densely packed), so while I did trim out 14 ounces of dried "bud", the remainder of this plant is waiting for my bubble bags to arrive.
Sort of funny how I ended up trimming the smaller of the two plants (it did have buds, they were just smallish) and the one plant I was proudest of turned out to be such a disappointment. I still plan on writing up a final update for this thread in case anyone digs it up in the future. I may even copy and paste that "final" post to another separate thread to help as many new growers as I can. I should also point out I put final in quotes because if anyone asks me questions or advice in this thread I will of course give them what little aid my limited experience can provide.
Take care to all, and to those who have enjoyed reading my journal as much as I have enjoyed writing it, I hope I have been of some help. Or at least entertaining.
As to what I managed to get out of this harvest; the small mexican strain plant gave me 5 ounces dried, which was decent considering the small buds and the fact the rippers took more of it than the other remaining plant. The big bud gave me 1 LB 9 oz dried. And while I did trim out some of the "buds" from the larger mexican strain plant, I grew frustrated with how leafy the buds were on this plant (really more leaf than bud, just densely packed), so while I did trim out 14 ounces of dried "bud", the remainder of this plant is waiting for my bubble bags to arrive.
Sort of funny how I ended up trimming the smaller of the two plants (it did have buds, they were just smallish) and the one plant I was proudest of turned out to be such a disappointment. I still plan on writing up a final update for this thread in case anyone digs it up in the future. I may even copy and paste that "final" post to another separate thread to help as many new growers as I can. I should also point out I put final in quotes because if anyone asks me questions or advice in this thread I will of course give them what little aid my limited experience can provide.
Take care to all, and to those who have enjoyed reading my journal as much as I have enjoyed writing it, I hope I have been of some help. Or at least entertaining.
Countryfarmer
Active Member
Ok, as promised here is my final update for this grow thread. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. While I will no longer be updating this thread, I will respond to anyone who has a grow related question in this thread.
In brief, this was an amazing grow for me. I learned a lot more than I expected starting out. And by the end of the grow realized just how little I knew at the beginning and how much more I have yet to learn.
Even with all the trials and tribulations I faced in this thread (some self-inflicted), I still garnered about 2 and a half pounds in dry weight in trimmed out bud. While I am in the curing phase at this point, I can tell that once completely cured I will have a product I will not be ashamed of.
At this point, dried but not yet cured, all three of the plants give a more than satisfactory high. And while none of them have any taste, I am hopeful that will change as the buds complete their cure.
Ok, first I am going to address some concerns of other posters that were brought up in this thread:
Amending my soil:
I did it wrong, plain and simple. I should have simply planted large grow bags in the ground with adequate holes for the roots to escape into the natural soil. Instead, I used an auger to drill my holes into an extremely "clay-ee" soil, did not fracture the sides of the holes, and probably ended up somewhat stunting my plants. While the three plants I ended up with all reached heights in excess of 6', they could have been taller.
Using Miracle Grow soil and fertilizer:
All the doom and gloom projections on using this commercial product are bupkus. They have no grounding in my observable grow and the smoke of the finished product.
Unlike what one poster claimed, the smoke of the finished product did not end up burning like a lump of charcoal and leave a solid black mass at the end. I once again assert, as I did to that poster when they made that claim that their issues were not related to MG, but more likely to a poor dry and cure. The buds I have from my grow burn as any other bud I have ever smoked.
MG also did not burn my roots. I am sure it could if you misused it, but so could any fertilizer. That claim too has no observable basis in my grow.
The taste of the smoke (different from the burn comment I addressed above) also does not appear to be harmed by using MG. In all honesty, as I already stated earlier the buds of all three plants have no taste whatsoever. I have read this can be common in the curing stage and hope that as the buds complete their curing they will develop a pleasurable taste.
Lighting:
One poster in this thread stated that he thought I needed more direct lighting for my grow. I couldn't agree more. While the lighting seemed to be more than adequate when I planted this grow, by the flowering stage it had proven to be barely adequate. I believe this is why on two of my three plants the buds turned out "airy". An important lesson to learn from this is selecting your grow site during the fall or winter when sunlight will be at its shortest duration over your proposed grow area.
Security:
One poster brought up concerns with overflight of my grow. Another brought up concerns with leaving a trail. And then the general concerns about someone finding out.
Well, as to overflight I made a mistake there as well. I selected a grow area that is evidently in a normal flight path for hobbyist pilots who fly to a very small rural airport. A lesson learned is before you plant ensure you know if you are in a flight path.
I did pretty well in not leaving a trail until September. At that point the surrounding foliage was beginning to die off and I could no longer hide my entry path into my grow site. This is how I believe my site to have been found and why I got ripped off. I am only lucky that the rippers took part of my grow and not all of it. Even with the surrounding die off, I should have done a better job of concealing my entry, even if it meant having to plant concealing plants myself.
As to someone finding out, at least I didn't do the single biggest grow mistake many new growers make. I didn't tell anyone (besides you fine folks here). No one knew. Not my best friend. Not my sister. Not my brother. Not my wife. Not one of my dealer buddies who I know grows. No one. I lived by Ben Franklin's rule: "Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead".
Now, some other hard won lessons.
Do not fall in love with your grow site. Really observe it objectively. Determine that it meets all your needs. My grow site did not.
Take all the equipment you will need to your grow site and conceal it. I got damn tired off hauling crap in and out of my grow and it took me a few weeks to ask myself why the hell I was doing it. Conceal your grow site and conceal the tools you will use at that grow site.
Understand your soil type. If you are growing in a loamy soil, well you are lucky. I was not. I grew in a heavy clay soil and did not understand until I had lost a few plants what this soil type needs. I could have done a better job of preparing my heavy clay soil for a marijuana grow.
For other mistakes and lessons you can scroll through this grow thread. I have headed them up with a title "lessons learned", so if you put the thread on maximum posts per page you only have to roll through about eight pages at this point.
If you are a new grower and would like to ask me questions in this thread, please feel free. I am FAR from an expert, so if I do not know the answer I will tell you so. This grow has been a true success for me. I harvested around $6K worth of quality marijuana and had a lot of fun learning a brand new hobby. I look forward to my next grow. Take care all and thanks for reading.
In brief, this was an amazing grow for me. I learned a lot more than I expected starting out. And by the end of the grow realized just how little I knew at the beginning and how much more I have yet to learn.
Even with all the trials and tribulations I faced in this thread (some self-inflicted), I still garnered about 2 and a half pounds in dry weight in trimmed out bud. While I am in the curing phase at this point, I can tell that once completely cured I will have a product I will not be ashamed of.
At this point, dried but not yet cured, all three of the plants give a more than satisfactory high. And while none of them have any taste, I am hopeful that will change as the buds complete their cure.
Ok, first I am going to address some concerns of other posters that were brought up in this thread:
Amending my soil:
I did it wrong, plain and simple. I should have simply planted large grow bags in the ground with adequate holes for the roots to escape into the natural soil. Instead, I used an auger to drill my holes into an extremely "clay-ee" soil, did not fracture the sides of the holes, and probably ended up somewhat stunting my plants. While the three plants I ended up with all reached heights in excess of 6', they could have been taller.
Using Miracle Grow soil and fertilizer:
All the doom and gloom projections on using this commercial product are bupkus. They have no grounding in my observable grow and the smoke of the finished product.
Unlike what one poster claimed, the smoke of the finished product did not end up burning like a lump of charcoal and leave a solid black mass at the end. I once again assert, as I did to that poster when they made that claim that their issues were not related to MG, but more likely to a poor dry and cure. The buds I have from my grow burn as any other bud I have ever smoked.
MG also did not burn my roots. I am sure it could if you misused it, but so could any fertilizer. That claim too has no observable basis in my grow.
The taste of the smoke (different from the burn comment I addressed above) also does not appear to be harmed by using MG. In all honesty, as I already stated earlier the buds of all three plants have no taste whatsoever. I have read this can be common in the curing stage and hope that as the buds complete their curing they will develop a pleasurable taste.
Lighting:
One poster in this thread stated that he thought I needed more direct lighting for my grow. I couldn't agree more. While the lighting seemed to be more than adequate when I planted this grow, by the flowering stage it had proven to be barely adequate. I believe this is why on two of my three plants the buds turned out "airy". An important lesson to learn from this is selecting your grow site during the fall or winter when sunlight will be at its shortest duration over your proposed grow area.
Security:
One poster brought up concerns with overflight of my grow. Another brought up concerns with leaving a trail. And then the general concerns about someone finding out.
Well, as to overflight I made a mistake there as well. I selected a grow area that is evidently in a normal flight path for hobbyist pilots who fly to a very small rural airport. A lesson learned is before you plant ensure you know if you are in a flight path.
I did pretty well in not leaving a trail until September. At that point the surrounding foliage was beginning to die off and I could no longer hide my entry path into my grow site. This is how I believe my site to have been found and why I got ripped off. I am only lucky that the rippers took part of my grow and not all of it. Even with the surrounding die off, I should have done a better job of concealing my entry, even if it meant having to plant concealing plants myself.
As to someone finding out, at least I didn't do the single biggest grow mistake many new growers make. I didn't tell anyone (besides you fine folks here). No one knew. Not my best friend. Not my sister. Not my brother. Not my wife. Not one of my dealer buddies who I know grows. No one. I lived by Ben Franklin's rule: "Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead".
Now, some other hard won lessons.
Do not fall in love with your grow site. Really observe it objectively. Determine that it meets all your needs. My grow site did not.
Take all the equipment you will need to your grow site and conceal it. I got damn tired off hauling crap in and out of my grow and it took me a few weeks to ask myself why the hell I was doing it. Conceal your grow site and conceal the tools you will use at that grow site.
Understand your soil type. If you are growing in a loamy soil, well you are lucky. I was not. I grew in a heavy clay soil and did not understand until I had lost a few plants what this soil type needs. I could have done a better job of preparing my heavy clay soil for a marijuana grow.
For other mistakes and lessons you can scroll through this grow thread. I have headed them up with a title "lessons learned", so if you put the thread on maximum posts per page you only have to roll through about eight pages at this point.
If you are a new grower and would like to ask me questions in this thread, please feel free. I am FAR from an expert, so if I do not know the answer I will tell you so. This grow has been a true success for me. I harvested around $6K worth of quality marijuana and had a lot of fun learning a brand new hobby. I look forward to my next grow. Take care all and thanks for reading.
Uncle Ben
Well-Known Member
Nice job! I'd like to comment on some of your points.
Excellent wrap-up - should be a sticky. You've learned some common sense stuff, good on ya! Consider yourself a Master Grower - I do.
UB
As a farmer, you've learned how humiliating farming can be no matter how big or small. Mother nature controls. If you're like me and need to be in control of life's dealings, taking the losses can be tough.
Damn nice. BTW, I've already sold some of mine, folks really like it. I only sell to friends, and at a very cheap price. Sometimes I just give it away.
I believe I commented on this, perhaps too late. When you dig a hole in clay, it becomes "glazed". I break up this glaze with a hand pick, kind miners use. In commericial production, I make up to 8 passes with a 3 pt. subsoiler, even when planting shade trees for the yard. Works wonders. Often I'll dump a tractor bucket of horse manure on the spot and then start the criss cross passes. Don't know if you saw my photos of this year's root system, but it was a typical tight mass of roots with thick ones growing out of the drain holes into native soil.
Yep. There's nothing wrong with MG foods although I prefer Peters. Really like the Walmart brands. They seem to have a surfactant in them. I don't trust cannabis specific foods regarding quality, representation, value. I've seen more people get into trouble with such products, few when using off the shelf foods from Walmart or nurseries.
Yep, but you'll not convince the masses, mostly noobs, that buy into the cannabis specific hype. When it comes to cannabis growing, popularity reigns over fact. "Their loss" I say although I try my best to give fair warnings.
I've found airy buds to be a genetic issue, on the sativa side. My plant got full sun all day and was airy. That's just typical sativa bud and better for outdoors. Dense indica type colas can be a PITA regarding rot pressures. Folks put too much emphasis regarding what they feel is a direct relationship between lighting and bud density/production. They also put too much emphasis on high light during bud development and "ripening". They aren't thinking "mama nature". During the fall when the plant is flowering in its natural state, there is far less light received by the plant than during veg. Folks will burn the heck out of their plants with too much light and heat and then blame a harsh palate on the plant food or not "flushing" correctly. "Flushing" is another one of those false paradigms that just won't die. It's a feel-good thing that's really hard to shake.
Smart!
Excellent wrap-up - should be a sticky. You've learned some common sense stuff, good on ya! Consider yourself a Master Grower - I do.
UB
brandon4200
Member
Sorry for bringing up a old thread, but after reading through it all, one thing is in my head. I am also in Ga... and have to deal with the clay.
If you could re-do this grow, how would you have done the planting into the ground? I was just going to dig a 2x2x2 hole and replace it with MG+the native soil like 50/50. Any tips would be great. Honestly, our conditions match almost perfectly. So I feel there is alot I could learn from you. Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
-420
If you could re-do this grow, how would you have done the planting into the ground? I was just going to dig a 2x2x2 hole and replace it with MG+the native soil like 50/50. Any tips would be great. Honestly, our conditions match almost perfectly. So I feel there is alot I could learn from you. Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
-420