Hasbro's Desert/Outdoor/Mandala/ Fox Farm/Organic/ Grow Thread

Sorry for lack of updates. Photobucket won't download from My Pictures on my new computer. Will get it figured out.

I was dissapointed with the lack of feedback to my queeries re. desert growing but I guess there aren't a lot of people trying to grow in 110 degree conditions, understandably. I chickened out last year. I have found a couple of local guys with strong outdoor desert experience that also grow organically and have been very helpful. Hopefully this thread will help others that are reluctant to try desert growing.

I'm going with:
About 25 bags of Happy Frog Potting Soil,
two bags of HF Soil Conditioner,
two bags of Wiggle Worm worm castings.
Bags of a local compost to top coat when 100 degrees approaches and after plants are 4 or 5 weeks old.
Teas for the fertilization. Will make a really neat brewer with one of those blue water bottles.
Will most likely make my own soil after this grow. I wanted a controlled definable soil to keep things simple and more predictable.

The bed has increased to about 5x9x12-16" so at least 45 cubic feet.
Galvanized poles and stretched wire for security and holding shade cloth on sides and top.
Diamondback and Mojave rattlesnakes for security (bet that got your attention!!!). More on that later, lol.
Flower/shrub bed in front for camoflage.

3,5, or 7 plants - still not sure yet, on a triangulated pattern.
Will pot up to 1 gal. pots and move outdoors daily and set in planter with soil around containers to keep roots cool until ready to plant in bed.

That's all I can think of. Again, sorry about no pics, will rectify soon.

Haz

From my experience, the 2008 edition of Krystalica thoroughly enjoyed the heat. It seemed to thrive in it. A friend and I had two 600's in a small closet with only a box fan for exhaust and it loved it. I can't wait to see your outdoor Krystali. We plan to put the new 2012 edition out this year. I've never ordered direct from Mike and Jasmin before. Please let us know how it went.

Still haven't figured out how to download the pics to my laptop or to get Photobucket to play nice but taking lot's of them.

End of day two, put eight seeds (four Krystallica/four Rishi Kush) in Light Warrior. However many females I get will go in the planter. Even two will be fine. Picked and dug to the 8" level tonight. 4-8" to go.

Installed Growonix 100 reverse osmosis two days ago. Brought ppm down from 492 ppm to 23 ppm. Tap pH is very high and used pH DOWN to bring it down to about 6.5.

Oh, decided to use CocoPure coir fiber as a top dressing to help insulate and cool the soil. Will use my laser thermometer to do a temp comparison.

Day 3 1/2

Four of eight were up this morning, seven of eight this afternoon. As of day four (tonight, 96 hrs.) tallest one is a touch over one inch. True leaves are out on all four Krystallica, one of Rishi Kush. Mandala said they would pop in 3-5 days and they did. Very pleased! Taking pics.

Area under HPS lamp is about 95 degrees with fan on. Soil surface is 75-77 degrees. Footcandles about 900. Not sure about how high I should be going yet but it will get much hotter. Any suggestions? With lights off room is 85 and will drop to about 70-75.



Day 4

Last seedling is up this morning. Put them under hps for first two hours, then under partial shade at 900 candles for a couple more, then under shade with 2,000+. Watered a small amount from the bottom this afternoon.

If I get about four females out of the eight I might put two in the outdoor planter and two indoors just for a quicker learning curve and a sooner harvest from the indoor plants. Then grow another batch and plant two more outside in a few months so they don't grow as big. Krystallica wants to be about 9' and I really need to stay below 5'. Hate to keep it that small as the head bud supposedly gets very large but so do the side buds.

Here's Mandala's sight. It's excellant and very informative. http://www.mandalaseeds.com/Catalogue/Krystalica-2012

Day Six, 4/11

Will only be about 80 degrees today. Winds are pretty rough, 20-30 mph. I have bricks holding the little seedling tray down. I figure they better get tough now not later! Plus it helps to keep plant shorter. I'm trying to water as little as possible but with the little soil, heat, low humidity, and wind, they dry out pretty fast. Gave each plant about 1/4 tablespoon this morning and will give them their first saturation watering (1 tablespoon) around noon. The constant wind and fan has kept them at the same height as yesterday, around 1 1/2-1 3/4" (40-45 mm), that's a good thing. A little trivia; in college (many moons ago) I did a research paper on wind movement of plants and it's affects. In a still air greenhouse shaking plants for 30 seconds a day kept them almost exactly half the height of the non shaken plants. The study also used windy testing with similar results. So maybe I can keep them much shorter by doing the same. We'll see, lol.

Water was closer to 7 pH I realized and dropped it to 6.5 today.

Washed and bleached some used Monrovia 1 gallon pots to be ready. After sexing in these pots they will go into the ground. Some will go into larger pots and grown indoors, I think.

Noticed one of the eight wasn't moving with the sun (phototropism). Watered and it eventually started moving. No lack of turgidity but it was perhaps too dry to respond? Too much free time today...

Day 7, 4/12

These little plants really like the heat. Cold front moved in last night and they have hardly grown. Might just leave them inside where it's toasty untill it warms up again.

Three Krystallica are 2", one is 1 1/2". I'm pretty sure the little one was the one that sprouted a day later than the rest. Rishi Kush are all 1 1/2".

Reserved for pics.

Day 9, 4/14

Cold and windy, had to move them in all day. Wind bent one yesterday, flopping back and forth at the base. Figured it was a gonner but wired it up and seems to be fine. Went up to 24 hours lighting last night.

Have the lamp at about 3,000 candlepower on the leaves, leaf temps around 90, soil surface around 80. Can I move lamp closer?

Goofed and started plants in the little trays, should have started in 4" pots. Easier to keep moist and since Mandala suggested planting seed .6"/15mm deep, the root growth area is very small - about 1/2 the depth of the soil. Annoying. Will probably shift tomorrow so roots can develop down. Any feedback is appreciated.

Are these somewhere you can easily get to them, like a backyard. I think that makes a big difference in outdoor-are we talking TLC or every plant for herself?
I would consider a shade cloth to give the plants 75% sun or something-the sun is really direct where you are. I too live in the desert-in NM, but I don't do outdoor.
What is this guard rattlesnake? Is he on a leash or what?
I would consider some coco coir or something real absorbent in your soil for water retention. Even those plastic pellets that expand, if you will have any difficulty getting water to them on time.
I would think holes in the ground would be cooler than a raised bed-and hold water better.

Yeah, it's very accessable and the bed actually is sunk 8"+ with the dug out soil used in a surrounding planter of 4", so it is fully ground level. I'm going to use shade cloth on the sides and top, the top being removable. Coco coir will be used as a mulch.