Massachusetts Outdoor Grow 2019

ScaryHarry45

Well-Known Member
This is why I am doing outdoors, but 100% in pots. Because of the creeping terrors of harvest time in Mass and last seasons traumas...

The rain and damp in October/September is a killer for some strains and at some point there is only so much you can do. It seems the best means for protection in my experience, is ALL the precautions you can possibly take including (just off the top of my head)...

- selecting mold resistant strains that dont have especially stacked tight buds
- early finishers designed for our climate (like getaway mountain offers)
- dew/rain shielding
- defoliating so airflow is generous
- an appropriate substance as a top soil under the plant
- training/topping/super cropping etc to keep the plant as open as possible
- if you are in the ground, selecting a spot that has good drainage, sun (obviously), and wind/airflow
- developing a healthy immune system so the plant can fight for itself (organic teas and beneficial microbes)
- dont overwater or overfeed
- if you do folar feed, do it in the morning so the moisture is gone by the time the sun sets and NEVER after buds develop (just don't add any moisture to the buds)
- MONITOR your plants! Inspect them often and thoroughly, especially after rain or when humid. More often the closer to flower/harvest you get
- learn the signs to spot rot/mold/pests early (leaf discoloration close to the bud site etc)
- learn to remove and treat infected areas (cutting rot away and treating stem and surrounding areas with rubbing alcohol)
- investigate and be prepared to deploy fungicides, eagle20, 3% hydrogen peroxide, and anything else you may need to stomp out any issue detected.
- Use the community here and other places. If you arent sure if there is a problem, take a picture and ask. Dudes here are basically wizards. There is always someone that can help or offer advice. If you inform yourself before there is a problem, potential problems will be easier to avoid, and WAY easier to handle if they do pop up.

Anyway, this is all why I'm in pots. I want to be able to move them inside if it gets hairy out there. In flower, towards the end, of our season, we tend to have "mini streaks" of good weather with a day or two of "crop killing" weather. If I can avoid those few bad days by bringing them inside, it avoids 95% of problems. It's like the stock market. You should be trading everyday, but the majority of your gains come from a few great days.

If you are in the ground, its not hopeless at all. Lots of people do/have done it successfully, including me. But you want to make sure you use every trick you can find...and then pray for a dry October!
Great advice up until the point where you suggest using eagle 20.
 

ky farmer

Well-Known Member
This is why I am doing outdoors, but 100% in pots. Because of the creeping terrors of harvest time in Mass and last seasons traumas...

The rain and damp in October/September is a killer for some strains and at some point there is only so much you can do. It seems the best means for protection in my experience, is ALL the precautions you can possibly take including (just off the top of my head)...

- selecting mold resistant strains that dont have especially stacked tight buds
- early finishers designed for our climate (like getaway mountain offers)
- dew/rain shielding
- defoliating so airflow is generous
- an appropriate substance as a top soil under the plant
- training/topping/super cropping etc to keep the plant as open as possible
- if you are in the ground, selecting a spot that has good drainage, sun (obviously), and wind/airflow
- developing a healthy immune system so the plant can fight for itself (organic teas and beneficial microbes)
- dont overwater or overfeed
- if you do folar feed, do it in the morning so the moisture is gone by the time the sun sets and NEVER after buds develop (just don't add any moisture to the buds)
- MONITOR your plants! Inspect them often and thoroughly, especially after rain or when humid. More often the closer to flower/harvest you get
- learn the signs to spot rot/mold/pests early (leaf discoloration close to the bud site etc)
- learn to remove and treat infected areas (cutting rot away and treating stem and surrounding areas with rubbing alcohol)
- investigate and be prepared to deploy fungicides, eagle20, 3% hydrogen peroxide, and anything else you may need to stomp out any issue detected.
- Use the community here and other places. If you arent sure if there is a problem, take a picture and ask. Dudes here are basically wizards. There is always someone that can help or offer advice. If you inform yourself before there is a problem, potential problems will be easier to avoid, and WAY easier to handle if they do pop up.

Anyway, this is all why I'm in pots. I want to be able to move them inside if it gets hairy out there. In flower, towards the end, of our season, we tend to have "mini streaks" of good weather with a day or two of "crop killing" weather. If I can avoid those few bad days by bringing them inside, it avoids 95% of problems. It's like the stock market. You should be trading everyday, but the majority of your gains come from a few great days.

If you are in the ground, its not hopeless at all. Lots of people do/have done it successfully, including me. But you want to make sure you use every trick you can find...and then pray for a dry October!
getawaymountain beans they are not even close to being mold pruff or bud rot i grew his stuff last year for my LAST TIME and the beans was not even the strain i ordered hes a pollen chunker.he had some good strains at one time but crosed them out till i would not grow his no moor till he learns to breed good beans.
 

Black-Thumb

Well-Known Member
Great advice up until the point where you suggest using eagle 20.
That's why I said "investigate and be prepared to deploy..."

I've had bad luck from telling people "do this...dont do that...always do this...never do that..."

In general I try to share what works for me and what I've heard works for others. Any more then that gets sticky. I've heard guys who are very successful swear by Eagle20. I've heard people who wont touch it. I've heard people who like the idea but dont want to pay $50 for like, an ounce of chemicals haha

I figured if he was opposed to that level of defensive measures, the "investigate/research" part would be enough. Any other answer then that, and I'm telling the guy what to think, and what to do. Which I try to avoid.
 
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Black-Thumb

Well-Known Member
getawaymountain beans they are not even close to being mold pruff or bud rot i grew his stuff last year for my LAST TIME and the beans was not even the strain i ordered hes a pollen chunker.he had some good strains at one time but crosed them out till i would not grow his no moor till he learns to breed good beans.
There were a few guys last year that had great reaults with their genetics outdoors. And they advertise as having strains designed specifically for our climate.

I haven't tried them enough to have my own option, but I deff trust the opinion of the guys who I've talked to. But obviously, we could all order the same seeds from the same vendor and get different results. So that's a factor.
 

Black-Thumb

Well-Known Member
Also, I did/am doing the period of darkness before harvest thing. I am using all organic nutes so no flush. I wanted to see if the "48hr dark period" myth actually worked.

And the best answer I can come up with? It....can work. it worked noticeably for one plant of the same strain. And not as dramatically for the others. So I guess like most of the stuff we do, there are factors we dont understand that effect outcome. And what works for one, might not work for the other.

Growing these plants and studying medicine seem to have a lot of philosophical crossover.
 

Citylimits

Well-Known Member
WOW! Those things are beasts for not even July. Do you have those directly in the ground? Nice to see healthy mulch layer too .
Yes directly in the ground and were veging in 7 gallon pots since March 1st. Each plant got 4.5 cu ft of amended soil mixed with about the same amount of screen compost from my piles mixed with perlite for aeration once I put them in the ground. So about 9 cu ft of good soil. Water only with thick compost layer until the plants tell me otherwise.
 

deadjon

Member
Back with an update - got everything into the planters over this weekend. Couple pics below.

I was worried the HBB didn't take transplanting & topping well, but the yellowing bottom leaves have started recovering after I applied some nutrients (fox farms tiger bloom) suspecting possibly low nitrogen... tbd. Gotta decide when to prune or top a second time...
HBB_01.png

Here's a shot of the whole outside setup. 4 of the autoflowers in the raised bed planter. The pic is all labeled so you can see what's what.
All_Planted.png

I've got a 5gal bucket of boogie brew all worked up, going to cut that 3 to 1 with water for a bi-weekly dressings on the raised bed, but not starting that for another week as the soil should already be pretty juiced up. For the fabric pots, I'm going to use Fox Farms Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom in conjunction throughout the grow, kinda wanna see how the two different setups perform.

Not pictured here is the trellis installed, the netting for the lower right Smoothie (going to try and train it to grow low and wide... we'll see!). This whole setup is coming along... so what can I improve on? Looking forward to a week of sun & heat.
 
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Helltownhero

Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone,

It feels like I just finished jarring up 2018's crop.... and it's hard to believe...but it's time to kick off the 2019 season. I've been reading this site for years. There's some great growers on here and tons of info. When I have a question I typically search it first on rollitup... and almost always find my answers. I've never really posted much (or at all) but I've always wanted to document one of my grows... so here goes ... hopefully along the way I can get some feedback from the community.

I GROW MY OWN ... I've been growing on and off for almost 20 yrs now. Along the way, I've learned a shitload, but also made every mistake possible. I started out growing indoors, but I've found I don't enjoy it anywhere near as much as growing under the sun. I like to grow huge plants, keep the best for myself, and give the rest away. I've never sold a gram and I never will. It's a hobby, and even though it's legal in MA now... I'll never set foot in a dispensary.

2019 ROSTER
... We're allowed 12 plants in MA per household... so you guessed it... I'm growing 12. I ordered my seeds from Seedsman this year, all feminized. I used Seedsman last year and overall I was happy with them. My favorite strain was Galaxy and that will the only returning strain this year. The rest of the strains I chose are supposedly early finishing (sept/oct) varieties, but I've never grown them before so only time will tell.
  • (3) Galaxy (Pyramid Seeds)
  • (3) LSD (Barney's Farm)
  • (1) Sweet Zkittlez (Royal Queen Seeds)
  • (2) Jack Herer (Seedsman freebie)
  • (3) Blue Funk (Expert Seeds)
I originally ordered 5 Blue Cheese seeds, but they sent 10 Blue Funk seeds instead.... I have a feeling they may have been out of the Cheese, and replaced it with twice as many Funk... but it's all good, I'm not a whiner... ill just roll with the Funk. I buried the seeds indoors on Sat 2/9, in an organic seedling mix, on a seedling heat map, and under a 4ft flourescent . As of today 7 of the 12 have popped... so far so good. (see photos)

2019 GROWING PLANS ... In the past I've grown plants everywhere ...in the ground, in raised beds, and last year in 25 gallon pots. Anybody that's grown in MA knows the weather is incredibly unpredictable. The last couple years have had great summers for veg.... but the sept/oct weather has been horrendous. We've had torrential rains, hurricanes, and 100+ humidity. Every year come sept/oct I'm a slave to the weather... rigging tents, humidifiers, fans, dragging plants into the garage, hydrogen peroxide, daconil, etc.... it sucks and I know there's no way to avoid it altogether... but this year I'm fighting back! The biggest change I'll be making this year is a greenhouse. I've ordered the 14.5' x 24' Gothic High Tunnel from tunnelvisionhoops (see attachment). It arrives in 2 weeks and in the meantime I'll be building the foundation, plumbing, wiring, drainage, etc for it. I think this will allow my plants to finish much better and hopefully help me maintain some of my sanity come September.

I'll be putting in 2'X2'X12" raised beds for each plant. The existing soil below the beds is already pretty good, but I'll still be amending that about 18" below the beds before filling them. I haven't figured out exactly what I'll use for soil yet, but I'm sure it will include some good compost, worm castings, and some kind of sand for better drainage. The highest point in the greenhouse is about 8.5' high, so I'm sure I'll need to top, trim, and shape the plants throughout veg to keep them all reigned in.

Well I guess that's it for now, but I'll try to keep this post updated as often as possible. Next time I'll post pictures of the outdoor location and progress on the greenhouse installation.

- Stealthfader


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Im also a mass hole born and raised just moved baxk here from san diego after 10 years i got a few outdoor plants and they are doing great!!
 

bruno8437

Well-Known Member
Welcome back. Best of luck with your grow. If you don't remember the weather here is juuust a little different than San Diego.
 

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
This is in Mass dubekoms ? If so when did you start them inside ?
Yup mass, they were started around mid March indoors and transplanted outdoors first week of june. I'm starting to wrap the first layer of fencing around them and when they get bigger i might do another wrap.
 
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