Late Outdoor Grow '09

Ok so my brother and I want to start an outdoor grow where we live (West Texas desert,) but because of the extremely poor conditions of the soil, we are going to have to make some modifications to the grow site. We are going to dig 7 holes, all about 2-3' deep, about 12" in diameter, and place a 5 gallon bucket in each, with holes drilled all over the bottoms of the buckets. Those will then be filled with a premium custom made, enriched soil mix, and then covered with a layer of topsoil comprised of the surrounding dirt & rock mix, for a more stealthy look. My brother goes to the grow site every other day or so, so watering wouldn't be a problem. Our location allows us to start a grow so late in the season, because although summer is winding down, our area will still have between 14-16 hours of daylight at least until mid-late September, so we've got at LEAST 6, maybe even 8 weeks of veg left before flowering begins. Our goal is to get 7 females out of 28 plants, but if we get more that's cool too. Anyway, I have a question for all you outdoor growers out there: How do you control pests? We don't really have to worry about animals messing with our stuff because there's never any around where we're planting, but I'm sure that we're going to have problems with insects. Any help would be useful, so please POST AWAY!

I can't help you on the insects and animals since I'm from Michigan, but I can tell you that in dry climates, watering every couple days will not suffice. I have a plant in the ground and that still is barely enough for her

Dude you forget when winter starts. First freeze below 28F and your plants will die.

neem oil, safer insecticide soap, both at lowes they will work

Buster 420 said:

Dude you forget when winter starts. First freeze below 28F and your plants will die.

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Thanks for the concern dude, but we won't get our first freeze here until well after harvest...it usually stays in the mid-upper 50s, even at night, up until the middle or end of November, but occasionally it does freeze a little sooner, but because they'll still have a decent veg period, I'm sure we can still harvest anywhere from 3-5 Os of dried bud from each plant. Trust me on this one...we still have plenty of time.

pinkjackyle said:

neem oil, safer insecticide soap, both at lowes they will work

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Hell yea! I had already bought the insect soap for my indoor grow, just in case I needed it, as my cousin was having big problems with insects with his grow, but now I'll just save it for my outdoor plants!

Has nothing to do with the temps where you live. Its dependant on the light vs. dark light cycle. Even if its 60 in November at night for you, the light/dark period will be at 12/12 at that time. Flowering begins with MJ outdoors around 14/10 (this month). So the veg phase will be cut off...I know you can grow indoors 12/12 from seed, so I'd guess the same applies to outdoor. But you'll only yield >28 gr. per plant, finished.

jonboy30 said:

Has nothing to do with the temps where you live. Its dependant on the light vs. dark light cycle. Even if its 60 in November at night for you, the light/dark period will be at 12/12 at that time. Flowering begins with MJ outdoors around 14/10 (this month). So the veg phase will be cut off...I know you can grow indoors 12/12 from seed, so I'd guess the same applies to outdoor. But you'll only yield >28 gr. per plant, finished.

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I wasn't trying to say that we have time because of the temps...an earlier post said that I wouldn't have time because of the amount of time between now and our first freeze, but right now where I am, the sun rises at about 6, and goes down around 8 or 830, so I will have between 13-15 hours of light per day, if not for the next month, at least until DST begins. So with that in mind, I have a MINIMUM of 4 weeks of veg. In my understanding of outdoor growing, that's a pretty substantial amount of time this late in the season...besides, I thought that flowering only takes place once you get down to 12 hours...not 13 or 14. I mean, I know that's not much difference, but it's still not 12/12...