2024 Massachusetts Outdoor Growers

stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
Yep... false spring for sure, always huge swings in the greenhouse this time of year. Yesterday it hit 89 degrees in there without the exhaust fan going. Temperature-wise I could prob move out anytime with a bit of heating at night... the problem though is daylight hours. A few years back I moved out in mid-april and a few strains began to flower, and then I had to deal w reveg. They never really recovered and weren't worth saving after that... I'm going to move out early this year but plan to use some light to extend daylight hours until at least mid-may. Once they go out I'm going to pull a clone of everything I have and switch my indoor setup to 12/12 to sex everything upfront. I figure that way I'll have a much better idea of what I want to keep and let go full term.

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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
Nice set up,lucky you have a g.house to transfer,plants grown inside for a month+ usually get shocked by wind and don't react well unless tempered by alternating in/out by putting them in the sun on nicer days.
 
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p59teitel

Well-Known Member
Glad to see you back, stealth! Totally agree about the difficulty of growing here and the need to select strains that can beat the mold and other threats. Last year I kept mold somewhat in check but fighting the septoria leaf spot battle all summer long really limited what my Afghans produced. But the Himalayas were unaffected and got huge although late to flower.

It’s always going to be a matter of pounding the square peg into the round hole hereabouts lol
 
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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
p59teitel said:
Glad to see you back, stealth! Totally agree about the difficulty of growing here and the need to select strains that can beat the mold and other threats. Last year I kept mold somewhat in check but fighting the septoria leaf spot battle all summer long really limited what my Afghans produced. But the Himalayas were unaffected and got huge although late to flower.

It’s always going to be a matter of pounding the square peg into the round hole hereabouts lol
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What's up,I'm in SE Mass,been doing it since a kid ,now 50's,only probs. I've had in 35+ yrs. is some bugs and botrytis,after yrs. of this I use a habenoro pepper spray I make to make interested animals LEAVE ALONE,come June add gentle Murphy's Lemon Verbeena/Chamonille Soap to my pepper spray mix and hit the plants at dusk ev 2 wks or so,End July I might add a little insecticide that's reasonably natural(Prythrin) made from the Chrysanthemum but not always,only if I actually see bugs , if not just the soap/pepper mix preventively as needed Late Aug/Beg. Sept. I'll add BT to the pepper/soap mix,this stops any egg/larvae from moths that turn into the bud worms we all hate. Ideally I so this 10-14 days into flowering,From then on ,I won't spray anything on my plants again and just watch for PM/bud rot.I'll pick off rot a bit but if it starts being a habitual thing it's chop time for that plant,botrytis is a rain/humidity issue and all you can do is shake your wet plants,no spray or decent thing to stop bud rot,some people use h2o2 hy.peroxide but it's usually time to salvage your plant by the time rot is a prob, you have thick enough bud,why keep losing it,and I don't really want anything applied to the actual flowers the last 5-6 weeks. Fert, wise I use phos. tea and will use a phos. synthetic fert at 1/2 strength twice,some Mammoth p,after Sept 14 the plants get nothing but water because I plan a 1st wk. Oct chop,weather usually determines,so I'd rather be sure my plants properly flush clean rather than have them nasty by fertilizing later thinking Oct is going to be good 2-3 wks in then being forced to chop unflushed plants by nasty weather.
 
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p59teitel

Well-Known Member
CCGNZ said:
What's up,I'm in SE Mass,been doing it since a kid ,now 50's,only probs. I've had in 35+ yrs. is some bugs and botrytis,after yrs. of this I use a habenoro pepper spray I make to make interested animals LEAVE ALONE,come June add gentle Murphy's Lemon Verbeena/Chamonille Soap to my pepper spray mix and hit the plants at dusk ev 2 wks or so,End July I might add a little insecticide that's reasonably natural(Prythrin) made from the Chrysanthemum but not always,only if I actually see bugs , if not just the soap/pepper mix preventively as needed Late Aug/Beg. Sept. I'll add BT to the pepper/soap mix,this stops any egg/larvae from moths that turn into the bud worms we all hate. Ideally I so this 10-14 days into flowering,From then on ,I won't spray anything on my plants again and just watch for PM/bud rot.I'll pick off rot a bit but if it starts being a habitual thing it's chop time for that plant,botrytis is a rain/humidity issue and all you can do is shake your wet plants,no spray or decent thing to stop bud rot,some people use h2o2 hy.peroxide but it's usually time to salvage your plant by the time rot is a prob, you have thick enough bud,why keep losing it,and I don't really want anything applied to the actual flowers the last 5-6 weeks. Fert, wise I use phos. tea and will use a phos. synthetic fert at 1/2 strength twice,some Mammoth p,after Sept 14 the plants get nothing but water because I plan a 1st wk. Oct chop,weather usually determines,so I'd rather be sure my plants properly flush clean rather than have them nasty by fertilizing later thinking Oct is going to be good 2-3 wks in then being forced to chop unflushed plants by nasty weather.
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I grow Central Asian landraces from Afganistan, Pakistan and the Himalayas, mostly for hash. My grows are fully organic and I use Monterey B.t., Monterey Complete and 1% peroxide for caterpillar, mold and disease control. I can sometimes get the Afghans from Balkh Province to finish by mid October but the mountain strains take longer. I chopped the last ones down on November 20 after they made it through a half-dozen frosts down to 26 degress with only some leaf damage - and they could have used another three weeks of flowering. Not a spot of septoria or botrytis on those; had some manageable rot on the other huge Himalayas I grew that were chopped a week and a half earlier and produced well.

I’m used to fighting botrytis and by spraying can slow it down to a war of attrition that usually starts right around Sept. 10th, but the septoria started messing with my plants in late June. Last summer was the first time it was such a problem - I used Bonide copper to control it but started like a month later than I should have. So while the plants hit normal heights, losing so many leaves in turn impacted their ability to flower vigorously so the colas were sparse - and the septoria was slowed but not stopped by the copper spray right until the end.

If it’s a damp cloudy summer this year I’ll hit the Afghans with copper as a preventative to try to get a leg up on it.
 
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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
p59teitel said:
I grow Central Asian landraces from Afganistan, Pakistan and the Himalayas, mostly for hash. My grows are fully organic and I use Monterey B.t., Monterey Complete and 1% peroxide for caterpillar, mold and disease control. I can sometimes get the Afghans from Balkh Province to finish by mid October but the mountain strains take longer. I chopped the last ones down on November 20 after they made it through a half-dozen frosts down to 26 degress with only some leaf damage - and they could have used another three weeks of flowering. Not a spot of septoria or botrytis on those; had some manageable rot on the other huge Himalayas I grew that were chopped a week and a half earlier and produced well.

I’m used to fighting botrytis and by spraying can slow it down to a war of attrition that usually starts right around Sept. 10th, but the septoria started messing with my plants in late June. Last summer was the first time it was such a problem - I used Bonide copper to control it but started like a month later than I should have. So while the plants hit normal heights, losing so many leaves in turn impacted their ability to flower vigorously so the colas were sparse - and the septoria was slowed but not stopped by the copper spray right until the end.

If it’s a damp cloudy summer this year I’ll hit the Afghans with copper as a preventative to try to get a leg up on it.
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Wow that's a battle.I do a big grow,never had septoria,I do about 12-15 strains from all over the place as long as they are indica or indica dom. hybrid that relatively finish flower before 60 day's ,I prefer 56 or less. I top for multi topped plants w/50% or more of bottom/middle branches cloned.It gets pretty rad. so I spray preventively BEFORE I see issues,just like gplf course supers do(I work at a g.course and have a pesticide turf licence). Telling you,not much bothers plants w/habanero pepper + gentle soap sprays. Just have enough time to care for the plants but a lot of plants I can't get carried away. That's why I have a kind of system to approach this developed over time, work hard/work smart.My job is physical,I'm 59,still work out pretty religiously,so I need efficiency and can't blow 2 hrs a day on the garden. Hell.if I didn't have a winter layoff,I'd never be able to do all the trim.
 
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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
CCGNZ said:
Wow that's a battle.I do a big grow,never had septoria,I do about 12-15 strains from all over the place as long as they are indica or indica dom. hybrid that relatively finish flower before 60 day's ,I prefer 56 or less. I top for multi topped plants w/50% or more of bottom/middle branches cloned.It gets pretty rad. so I spray preventively BEFORE I see issues,just like gplf course supers do(I work at a g.course and have a pesticide turf licence). Telling you,not much bothers plants w/habanero pepper + gentle soap sprays. Just have enough time to care for the plants but a lot of plants I can't get carried away. That's why I have a kind of system to approach this developed over time, work hard/work smart.My job is physical,I'm 59,still work out pretty religiously,so I need efficiency and can't blow 2 hrs a day on the garden. Hell.if I didn't have a winter layoff,I'd never be able to do all the trim.
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Forgot to mention,I picked up some Balkh Hashplant seeds this winter,but as usual eyes are bigger than stomach and I can't fit them into my line up this yr. How many weeks flower are your strains,seems like 10-11 weekers,I'm in MA and am done by mid Oct. the latest,I'm not even trying to grow ANYTHING in MA in November. I will say that when I was a kid doing bag weed seeds it took longer maybe Halloween-ish,but never Nov. that's too much Sativa to successfully bring in finished bud in this area.
 
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p59teitel

Well-Known Member
10-11 weeks is about right for Balkh strains. I’m willing to push the envelope with slower strains because most of it goes to hash anyway.
 
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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
p59teitel said:
10-11 weeks is about right for Balkh strains. I’m willing to push the envelope with slower strains because most of it goes to hash anyway.
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Makes sense,my experience is that in October if plants take a beating over a few days they kind of shut down after the stress of say 2 windy cold rainy days/nights,after plants go through that even a little nice weather afterward doesn't benefit it as much . After a beatdown or 2,there's a point where it's like is this really improving the look,especially if your growing for flower.
 
stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
Making some progress in the veg closet. I narrowed the keepers down to these 24. I'll continue to cull them down to the best dozen females, plus any keeper males I find for making the next generation. 10 of these are 5 other strains I've never grown and 14 of the strain I've been working on for a while. The plan is to move them out to the greenhouse in about a month under supplemental lights to keep them in veg until the days get long enough to do it naturally. At the same time I'll pull a clone off of everything in here, veg them about a week to get a headstart rooting, and flip the closet to flower by 5/1. I'll know right away the sex of everything, and by early July I'll have a good idea of what I'm working with outside. There's also a good chance I let the keeper male flower and just make all my seeds in the closet.... then selectively pollinate some of the keepers in the greenhouse.

I have most of the big ones on the right already topped to 4 or 8 tops and they'll continue to get topped at every node until i move them to the greenhouse. I'm looking for bushes this year that I can keep to 6-8 feet through topping and supercropping.

The greenhouse is still a mess. I need to spend a good day out there getting it ready, and it's beginning to give me anxiety because I'm so busy w other things right now. I haven't fully committed yet, but I'm 90% sure I'm pulling the 4 raised beds on the left side out. The plants just get way too big directly in the ground, and I'm not interested in dealing with 12 footers in there again this year. I'm thinking of using 25g pots on drip irrigation instead, but I don't have a ton of experience with pots that big (or drip irrigation). I'll fit what I reasonably can in the greenhouse and likely put the others somewhere outside on the property or in the veggie gardens. I may put one in a 4x4x3 raised bed I have out in the garden and just let it go wild. I have low expectations of ever harvesting anything from it, but it'll satisfy my appetite for growing giants.

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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
stealthfader508 said:
Making some progress in the veg closet. I narrowed the keepers down to these 24. I'll continue to cull them down to the best dozen females, plus any keeper males I find for making the next generation. 10 of these are 5 other strains I've never grown and 14 of the strain I've been working on for a while. The plan is to move them out to the greenhouse in about a month under supplemental lights to keep them in veg until the days get long enough to do it naturally. At the same time I'll pull a clone off of everything in here, veg them about a week to get a headstart rooting, and flip the closet to flower by 5/1. I'll know right away the sex of everything, and by early July I'll have a good idea of what I'm working with outside. There's also a good chance I let the keeper male flower and just make all my seeds in the closet.... then selectively pollinate some of the keepers in the greenhouse.

I have most of the big ones on the right already topped to 4 or 8 tops and they'll continue to get topped at every node until i move them to the greenhouse. I'm looking for bushes this year that I can keep to 6-8 feet through topping and supercropping.

The greenhouse is still a mess. I need to spend a good day out there getting it ready, and it's beginning to give me anxiety because I'm so busy w other things right now. I haven't fully committed yet, but I'm 90% sure I'm pulling the 4 raised beds on the left side out. The plants just get way too big directly in the ground, and I'm not interested in dealing with 12 footers in there again this year. I'm thinking of using 25g pots on drip irrigation instead, but I don't have a ton of experience with pots that big (or drip irrigation). I'll fit what I reasonably can in the greenhouse and likely put the others somewhere outside on the property or in the veggie gardens. I may put one in a 4x4x3 raised bed I have out in the garden and just let it go wild. I have low expectations of ever harvesting anything from it, but it'll satisfy my appetite for growing giants.

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Good luck,you're gonna have A LOT going on,25 gal pots will still grow MASSIVE plants,I use 6-10 gallon pots and multi-top, and STILL get 7+ ft. plants,you could easily cut to 12 1/2 gal. save$$ on soil + work and STILL get big plants,unless watering is a prob. for you,I have 3-4 30 gal. plastic trash cont. and fill them up to let city water chlorine dissipate and from there water,compost tea from there using 6 gal buckets have to water ev. 2-3 days for a few months and yeah it's a task.
 
stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
That's good to know, I prob will look into cutting back the pot sizes then.... I do have a bunch of 7 gals I've never used but that just feels too small..... but yea, watering is a problem for me, and I'll need to use drip irrigation if I'm going to pots. I can say that I'll get out there every couple days to water, but I won't. That's the one thing I'll miss about growing in the ground, I almost never need to water. I've gone away for 10 days and they don't miss a beat. I use a couple 50 gallon drums to store water and a 15 gallon to make teas with, but I'll need some way to set it and forget it when it comes to the normal watering cycle
 
stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
... but in all honesty, my plans don't always win out when pitted against the reality of my schedule ... there's also a strong chance I change nothing and just put a plant in each bed and fight them back all year lol
 
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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
Yeah I figured you did the huge pots/bags because watering isn't as big a issue,I also like smaller pots because I can move/transport plants out of nasty weather,like to shelter when 1-3 wks from chop if some nasty is forecast,don't like my bud being poured on and while I have a strong back I aint moving around 25-45 gal. pots unless a chiropractor is on site.
 
stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
Quick Update: The plants are cruising along. All are getting continuously topped and cropped to build a nice frame work. I left two clones on the lowest node to pull cuts from. I'll pull those next friday and throw them in half gallon bags on the bottom shelf under the fluorescents to root up. The plan is to move the main plants out to the greenhouse sometime between 4/26 - 5/3 and at that point I'll move the cuts up to the top shelf and flip the closet to 12/12 to flower those right away to see what I got. Around the same time the main plants will get transplanted to 3 gallon grow bags and will get supplemental light in the greenhouse to extend daylight and keep them from flowering early. I'll prob run the lights through most of May. The plan is to land them in their final 30 gal fabric pots around 5/31or so.

Got some work done out in the greenhouse this week. I pulled three of the raised beds out on the left side and will pull the fourth out when the peas planted in there are done in late May early June.

I also built a PVC manifold to organize my watering needs and be able to pull water from the main water supply, my rain barrels, or my mixing barrel by just switching a couple valves. I'll be running drip irrigation on a timer to everything in the greenhouse.... it'll be nice not to need to worry about ever watering by hand... hopefully it's just set it and forget it this year.

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CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
stealthfader508 said:
Quick Update: The plants are cruising along. All are getting continuously topped and cropped to build a nice frame work. I left two clones on the lowest node to pull cuts from. I'll pull those next friday and throw them in half gallon bags on the bottom shelf under the fluorescents to root up. The plan is to move the main plants out to the greenhouse sometime between 4/26 - 5/3 and at that point I'll move the cuts up to the top shelf and flip the closet to 12/12 to flower those right away to see what I got. Around the same time the main plants will get transplanted to 3 gallon grow bags and will get supplemental light in the greenhouse to extend daylight and keep them from flowering early. I'll prob run the lights through most of May. The plan is to land them in their final 30 gal fabric pots around 5/31or so.:D

Got some work done out in the greenhouse this week. I pulled three of the raised beds out on the left side and will pull the fourth out when the peas
stealthfader508 said:
Quick Update: The plants are cruising along. All are getting continuously topped and cropped to build a nice frame work. I left two clones on the lowest node to pull cuts from. I'll pull those next friday and throw them in half gallon bags on the bottom shelf under the fluorescents to root up. The plan is to move the main plants out to the greenhouse sometime between 4/26 - 5/3 and at that point I'll move the cuts up to the top shelf and flip the closet to 12/12 to flower those right away to see what I got. Around the same time the main plants will get transplanted to 3 gallon grow bags and will get supplemental light in the greenhouse to extend daylight and keep them from flowering early. I'll prob run the lights through most of May. The plan is to land them in their final 30 gal fabric pots around 5/31or so.

Got some work done out in the greenhouse this week. I pulled three of the raised beds out on the left side and will pull the fourth out when the peas planted in there are done in late May early June.

I also built a PVC manifold to organize my watering needs and be able to pull water from the main water supply, my rain barrels, or my mixing barrel by just switching a couple valves. I'll be running drip irrigation on a timer to everything in the greenhouse.... it'll be nice not to need to worry about ever watering by hand... hopefully it's just set it and forget it this year.

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planted in there are done in late May early June.

I also built a PVC manifold to organize my watering needs and be able to pull water from the main water supply, my rain barrels, or my mixing barrel by just switching a couple valves. I'll be running drip irrigation on a timer to everything in the greenhouse.... it'll be nice not to need to worry about ever watering by hand... hopefully it's just set it and forget it this year.

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That's a beautiful GHouse you have,professional,you're flying a F-35,I'm in a bi-plane
 
stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
4/14 UPDATE: I stuck cuts of everything I have on Friday putting two in each pot to account for the inevitable losses. The plan is to root them on the bottom shelf for a few weeks then flip them on friday 5/3. By that point I expect all the mothers will be out in the greenhouse under supplemental lighting to keep them in veg. I culled a couple losers so I'm down to 22 mothers. I've also identified 4 or 5 males, with one of them the clear winner so far with outstanding structure and balance. Whatever male I identify as my keeper I'll pollinate the entire closet to cross everything I have going this season. After watching them grow outdoors, chopping, curing, and smoking them I should know which crosses I'll keep and which ones to trash.

In other developments I was finally able to run a permanent water supply into the greenhouse with 3/4 PVC. For the past five years I've just used a hose running out there... which was perfectly functional... but didn't do anything to satisfy my undiagnosed OCD. Next up will be extending the system to cover drip irrigation throughout the greenhouse, vegetable gardens, and the small nursery I have going out back. IMG_0676.JPGIMG_0675.JPGIMG_0669.JPGIMG_0668.JPG
 
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p59teitel

Well-Known Member
Looking good! Years ago I had to run PVC underground from the house spigot out to the fenced-in garden as a hose conduit, to keep one of my asshole German Shepherds from shredding the hose lol

My plants are mostly doing OK, started seeds 4-1. Here are two varieties from the Karakoram Range in Northern Pakistan that were gifted to me by Landrace Genetics, all 8 seeds popped and are doing well -

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On the left in this pan are 4 plants from Tashqurghan, Afghanistan via Baaba Qo Selections, also doing well. On the right are 4 Chitral, Pakistan plants with two doing well and a couple of runts that I repotted because the cups they were in were way too wet, hopefully there is enough live root left for them to stabilize and start growing again -

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stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
p59teitel said:
Looking good! Years ago I had to run PVC underground from the house spigot out to the fenced-in garden as a hose conduit, to keep one of my asshole German Shepherds from shredding the hose lol

My plants are mostly doing OK, started seeds 4-1. Here are two varieties from the Karakoram Range in Northern Pakistan that were gifted to me by Landrace Genetics, all 8 seeds popped and are doing well -

View attachment 5388181

On the left in this pan are 4 plants from Tashqurghan, Afghanistan via Baaba Qo Selections, also doing well. On the right are 4 Chitral, Pakistan plants with two doing well and a couple of runts that I repotted because the cups they were in were way too wet, hopefully there is enough live root left for them to stabilize and start growing again -

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very nice... those seeds have traveled a long way!
 
stealthfader508

stealthfader508

Well-Known Member
There it is.. below the line is what i've been looking for with consistently 40+ lows. I'm sure there will still be some frost and possibly a hard freeze still to go... but I think they'll be ok moving into the greenhouse this weekend. It also helps that they're running out of room in the closet and I have a very light schedule this weekend.

As they go out the keepers will get transplanted into 3 gal pots. I'm hoping the weather forecast holds true because that looks like some good hardening off temps.

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