Dream grow - any advise?

Hello

Currently planning an outdoor grow, location southern France.

will be starting the grow at the end of April, but right now I have a dilemma between one huge photo farm or have a couple of runs ofoutdoor autos.

If anyone can let me know what they think, also if you have any tips in general for outdoor growing.

i have a good amount of experience with indoor grows, both photo and auto.

set up will be 20 gallon pots in soil

aim is quantity with good quality.

just putting the feelers out so any advice is welcome,

happy growing

Hi buddy, I grow outside normally, both guerrilla and garden grows. I would always go for the photo strain, as I have tried both photo and autos but have best success and yields photos! As they say “go big or go home”!
I’m in the south of England and due to the climate need hardy strains that tolerate the inconsistent weather. I’d say research strains and grow big, for huge yields! Also, if you are thinking about setting up a guerrilla grow make sure you have several locations in place to ensure you reach harvest, as growing outside can be tricky due to pests, people and the inability to check on them daily! Good luck buddy! Keep me posted on how you get on! Great to keep learning from different growers!

Thanks for that mate, always good to get as much knowledge as possible.

we own the land in France and are planning on staying there the full 6 months. I love the idea of huge bushes, I’m glad you think it’s best too. How much you pulling from a plant down in the south of England?

I will post on here updates of grow.


thanks again bro

Photos.

Sounds like a ideal situation mate, good land to roam around and pick best spots to grow! although do you think 6 months is enough time to fully grow big plants plus another month to dry and cure? Maybe need a short flowering strain? What months are you there?
Last year I grew Autos and was disappointed with the yield at around 10-18grms per plant.
This year I’m trying a sea of green method, and have been growing them from the beginning of April. I’d expect around 2-3 oz each.
The big plants I’ve pulled around 8-10 oz from them, but it depends so much on strains, genetics, weather and growing style.

Well my advice for you if you want MASSIVE yields is to go bigger then 20 gallons. The bigger the pot size the bigger the plants and yields.

For instance ..... this is my 100 gallon grow (and you can see other plants in the background.

This is my 400 gallon grow


Huge difference!

Also if I may add...starting them indoors early then transplanting outdoors helps a lot. I start mine in early feb and transplant late may.

Make sure you have at least 14.5 hours of sunlight outdoors before you throw them outside or there will be issues.

Good luck.

ganga gurl420 said:

Well my advice for you if you want MASSIVE yields is to go bigger then 20 gallons. The bigger the pot size the bigger the plants and yields.

For instance ..... this is my 100 gallon grow (and you can see other plants in the background.View attachment 4651203

This is my 400 gallon grow
View attachment 4651206

Huge difference!

Also if I may add...starting them indoors early then transplanting outdoors helps a lot. I start mine in early feb and transplant late may.

Make sure you have at least 14.5 hours of sunlight outdoors before you throw them outside or there will be issues.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Growing just a few grams then?

Jesus H Ganga... how do you keep the middle of those monsters from being a haven for wild life or bugs? Out of curiosity.

My Name is Mike said:

Jesus H Ganga... how do you keep the middle of those monsters from being a haven for wild life or bugs? Out of curiosity.

Click to expand...

Clearly has shares in bug spray!!!

Just a couple of thoughts, I am at a similar latitude and climate but in Canada. Farms generally try to contain their nutrients. Using 400 gallons of manure per plant may not be realistic for long term land management. P and K builds up, and so do toxins and salts. Then it leaches.

Traditional cannabis farming uses very little nutrient. The farmers often report quality goes down if they start adding to much fertilizer, especially the chemical variety. Its easier to go organic and it certainly makes a better product.

Growing big balls on raised beds California style is impressive, but over a few hundred acres sounds like alot of work. Having workers to manage is work in itself.

I would look at growing a line of sativa, something that grows big and sturdy, and finishes later than the hemp so that it doesn’t get too seeded. Something that makes people laugh and dance and sing and cry, and gets you soaring high for hours with no ceiling or tolerance. Breed for these qualities right on the farm. There is enough sleepy kush on the market.

My Name is Mike said:

Jesus H Ganga... how do you keep the middle of those monsters from being a haven for wild life or bugs? Out of curiosity.

Click to expand...

Oh they are loaded with bugs. Tons of spiders and lady bugs and if you want to call nematodes bugs then yes them too lol.
Pests aren't really a major issues here like in other places thank GOD!

ganga gurl420 said:

Oh they are loaded with bugs. Tons of spiders and lady bugs and if you want to call nematodes bugs then yes them too lol.
Pests aren't really a major issues here like in other places thank GOD!

Click to expand...

Good way to control them bastards! Mother Nature knows best!

ganga gurl420 said:

Oh they are loaded with bugs. Tons of spiders and lady bugs and if you want to call nematodes bugs then yes them too lol.
Pests aren't really a major issues here like in other places thank GOD!

Click to expand...

Most beautiful piece of nature I've ever seen.

My Name is Mike said:

Most beautiful piece of nature I've ever seen.

Click to expand...

I snapped this last week. A spider killing some kind of bug on a leaf!

ganga gurl420 said:

I snapped this last week. A spider killing some kind of bug on a leaf!View attachment 4651347

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Both beautiful and deadly! The circle of life!

Freedom seed said:

Just a couple of thoughts, I am at a similar latitude and climate but in Canada. Farms generally try to contain their nutrients. Using 400 gallons of manure per plant may not be realistic for long term land management. P and K builds up, and so do toxins and salts. Then it leaches.

Traditional cannabis farming uses very little nutrient. The farmers often report quality goes down if they start adding to much fertilizer, especially the chemical variety. Its easier to go organic and it certainly makes a better product.

Growing big balls on raised beds California style is impressive, but over a few hundred acres sounds like alot of work. Having workers to manage is work in itself.

I would look at growing a line of sativa, something that grows big and sturdy, and finishes later than the hemp so that it doesn’t get too seeded. Something that makes people laugh and dance and sing and cry, and gets you soaring high for hours with no ceiling or tolerance. Breed for these qualities right on the farm. There is enough sleepy kush on the market.

Click to expand...

There is truth to what you are saying but I have some input.
When you think about what your goal is as far as weight at harvest what is the difference between having 10 20 gallon pots or having 1 400 gallon pot? I usually only grow 12 plants, with those 12 plants averaging anywhere say 5 pounds (tho some were much bigger being over 7) that is 60 pounds at harvest.

I do not use even half of what you are suppose to use as far as nutrients go, truth is I only use between a 1/3 and half of the suggested amount of dry ferts in my soil. After that it's just top dressed. Soil will be reused yr after yr with just adding a little more compost and top dress. I'm fully organic and use no synthetics.

As far as leaching into the ground... I won't grow by water supplies ever. I'd be more concerned about the synthetic growers who are using bloom boosters with levels like 0/30/50.

ganga gurl420 said:

There is truth to what you are saying but I have some input.
When you think about what your goal is as far as weight at harvest what is the difference between having 10 20 gallon pots or having 1 400 gallon pot? I usually only grow 12 plants, with those 12 plants averaging anywhere say 5 pounds (tho some were much bigger being over 7) that is 60 pounds at harvest.

I do not use even half of what you are suppose to use as far as nutrients go, truth is I only use between a 1/3 and half of the suggested amount of dry ferts in my soil. After that it's just top dressed. Soil will be reused yr after yr with just adding a little more compost and top dress. I'm fully organic and use no synthetics.

As far as leaching into the ground... I won't grow by water supplies ever. I'd be more concerned about the synthetic growers who are using bloom boosters with levels like 0/30/50.

Click to expand...

I’m certainly not saying that what you are doing is a problem. It’s your garden, and your business how much manure you use imo.

Multiplied over acreage could cause serious issues though. It is possible to wreck land over the long term by adding too much manure. I’ve seen it happen.

It’s the value of the farm, sustainability, and the workload that I’m pointing at. Without a plant count it would make the most sense to just sow seed into poor ground and make everything into hash except the choicest tops. Cannabis farming is an old practice. It’s just the damned regulations that are new.

I agree with GG here, bigger pots in photos are best for me, especially outdoors in mass.

I also only grow a state legal limit of 6 per person / 12 per house max this year I had 9 or 10 I think, and few of them were just small pot stuff,

My main legal 6 were 100 gals as well, Build my own soil of mostly compost / perlite / ewc / and other kelp/bone/fish/blood meals etc, They take care of all the work, I just go by every couple hours and make sure they're happy, keep tying them down/up where needed, and keep an eye out for herm/def,/disease and mold and after the initial labor of preparing everything, the bigger pots are so much easier to maintain. My native soil is too much clay to plant in ground without excavating, so I use fabric pots, the 100 gals hold enough moisture where I've only watered thoroughly about 4-5 times total The rest of the time the rain has been coming perfectly on schedule this year.


As for yields, I cant give you numbers, I dont even guess until they're dry just because its too unpredictable, for example, having to cull a herm last week would've affected any yield guess significantly... So no point in it for me really other than just a fun guess. In the past I've gotten anywhere from 2 lbs on a bad year from 6-12 plants up to 35+ on a good year, sometimes even more.


Theres a limit to height Ive found though, its becoming a pain to drag a ladder around/set up scaffolding and check the tops thoroughly, so finding that medium of least maintenance / best quality / most yield is key for me. Heres a pic for scale from last week of one of my gorilla glues that I havent topped (got 3 experimental plants that I havent topped the main shoot on, just side branches, I've been bending them over here and there but not much at all, mostly just a slight curve to them to expose more branches to the west/east/south sides of the plant.) This one is the shortest of the 3 the others are about a foot or so taller. This was taken sometime last week and they're in their stretching period now.




To OP: Have you given any thoughts to what strain(s) you want to grow? Would be interested to hear your thoughts... What is your local climate like btw? If I havent mentioned already btw, photos over autos every day of the week...

This is a gorilla glue #4 s1 untopped, unfimmed, planted in the ground. Its about 8’. I sprinkled a bit of cow manure around as a topdress, maybe a half of a wheelbarrow load. A good comparison of how they grow to the size and the shape of the pot.

Manure, potting soil, etc. all organic matter either needs to be produced on farm or imported. That is why they call it dirt farming. There is just never enough organic matter around. It’s precious stuff.

I’d like to hear from the op as well, I looked up the area 43 ish latitude with a mild fall.

ganga gurl420 said:

Well my advice for you if you want MASSIVE yields is to go bigger then 20 gallons. The bigger the pot size the bigger the plants and yields.

For instance ..... this is my 100 gallon grow (and you can see other plants in the background.View attachment 4651203

This is my 400 gallon grow
View attachment 4651206

Huge difference!

Also if I may add...starting them indoors early then transplanting outdoors helps a lot. I start mine in early feb and transplant late may.

Make sure you have at least 14.5 hours of sunlight outdoors before you throw them outside or there will be issues.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Is that 400 gallon one plant or two?