Lame-O Outdoor, 2019

[180]

Update, still lame-o ;)

So here's an update on my outdoor "when will they flower" project. As you can see, they've grown a little, and bushed out. The GWS is more inclined to grow branches, while the BG is content to SLOWLY grow taller. This plant is the slowest vegger I have ever seen...

As you can see from these shots of the apical meristems, they have not begun to flower yet (both plants preflower heavily).

Hoping they start flowering in the next two weeks. As I said above, the weather goes to hell here by October 1st...

 

[180]

Aug 8 update

Here's an update on the "when will they flower" outdoor experiment.

As you can see, they've bushed out a bit more. The Bubble Gum, which was stuck in a heavy preflower/slow growth mode, seems to be snapping out of it and growing some branches (Yay!).

The closer shots show the GWS juuuust starting to flower:

The BG is a little behind, but seems to be shifting gears; hard to say as of yet...

 

[180]

Some additional pertinent info: I'm @ 42.8 N latitude in southern VT. According to the interwebs, my daylength is 14:16 right now, losing 2 minutes a day. So I'm psyched that these two cultivars are starting to flower.

One thing I've seen in my limited outdoor experience - and I don't know if this is true across the board, or just with the cultivars I've run - is that the quicker they start flowering indoors (12/12), the earlier they start outdoors. Has anyone else noticed this???

 

[180]

Lame-O Update, end of August

Hello Cabana-ites, time for an update. The day length here is down to 13:18. The autumnal equinox (nominally 12/12) is on Sept 23rd.

I figure I have about five weeks left to git er done. I think the GWS will have time to be done; not sure about the Bubble Gum. Depends on the weather. Hurricanes and such.

Here's a couple of closeups to show how they're doing:

GWS

BG

 

[180]

One thing I tend to forget is how LEAFY outdoor plants get, compared to indoor. I removed a shit-ton of larf and popcorn from the lower branches, and they still look life leaf-monsters....

 

[DragNFly]

Nice 180, I love how they look in the sun, may roll till October for you

 

[Blackbart]

Looking good buddy .

Yes its hard to grow high flower to leaf ratio weed in New England . We just don't as many sunny days as they do in other parts of the country .Try using less Nitrogen and more P in your mix . Also give them as much sun as possible and prune everywhere inside the plants that don't get any light .

 

[nannymouse]

Mouse has noticed that some plants jump into flower much faster than others, and wondered about stated 'flowering times' if they are quoted as 'from time of flip' or 'from time that plant starts flowering'. Also wondering if type of lighting has anything to do with that. The 75%spacequeen25%blueberry strain that i've worked with seemed the fastest, with eager pre-flower. Never tried her outdoor, back in the grower daze. Outdoors is another world!

 

[BodhiSativa]

Nice 180!

 

[kushyman]

it looks like it had started to flower when transplanted then had to break flower and start again..by all those single and triple leaves

they should be getting good by end of sept and you are good way into october

 

[180]

9/11 update:

Both plants are bulking up with flowers.

Saw the first spot of botrytis on the GWS today. Just a tiny bit. I removed the affected tissue and sprayed it with dilute H2O2. No mold on the BG that I can see, but she's such a leafy beotch that it will be hard to spot.

I'm not surprised, it's been getting cool and nights are damp. I'm prepared to axe these gals if they turn into mold-monsters, wasn't expecting a huge harvest anyway.

Only time (and Mother Nature) will tell.

Edit: Daylength down to 12:42.

 

[Blackbart]

I'm getting bits of mold too on one of my Heri plants . Its fight to the finish when growing in New England

 

[barefoot]

reminds me of coastal growing Bart......every year was a struggle between the fog or storms hitting early.....Indian summers were a blessing.....ya know those “vintage” seasons.....thats when varietals that finished in November were King...and in limited supply...
Looks to be a rollercoaster in temps here next week+....maybe 100o then down 80’s.....nights high 50’s....no precip expected......never know what/when Alaska will throw down south.........

May the ganja gods bless all with dry hot weather..............

 

[180]

Sept. 19m update

So we're 4 days from the autumn equinox (nominal 12/12 outdoors), and the flowers are getting bigger but by no means done.

Here's the GWS:

Here's the BG:

Here's the top of the GWS (a little blurry):

Here's the top of the BG:

Some PM on the BG, but not a lot. No more mold so far (fingers crossed).

 

[Dirtboy808]

They do have a ways to go and they are looking great. Aloha

 

[alabaster]

Those really do look fantastic! I wonder..... I don't remember much about my experience with outdoor cannabis growing, & PM around here. I just remember the product I grew was much stronger than the Hawaiian that came in the Maui Flake Coconut cans at the time. This spring I studied up on growing tomatoes quite a bit. I discovered that dissolving a 325 mg aspirin tablet, and a quarter teaspoon of baking soda in a gallon of water, and spraying your tomato plants from top to bottom every 10 days with that mixture, would beef up their defenses to viral, molds, mildews and bacterial diseases. Mainly blight. I had my best crop of tomatoes to date doing this, and I will continue doing it next year. So it may be worth a try with cannabis plants too. Has anyone had any experience with tomatoes, and this mixture? I discovered this idea on youtube. The theory is that by spraying them with the mixture it fools the plant into thinking it's being attacked biologically. Thus the plant ends up putting out early defensive measures thru auxins, and hormones. The baking soda changes the ph of the surface of the plant. Besides moisture itself, I'd guess that leaf surface ph may be a very large part of what causes blight, molds and mildews to explode. I've got a buddy who's having problems with a Katsu Bubba Kush plant getting an odd mold on a southern facing branch. It's odd because this part of the plant gets the most exposure to the sun. He asked me how to battle the stuff. I'm going over to his house tonight, and we're gonna give this a try. It's a damn shame to have a plant grow so well all season, only to lose the fruits to botrytis, or other molds, & mildews.

 

[180]

Yeah, alabaster, you just summed up New England outdoor growing ("It's a damn shame to have a plant grow so well all season, only to lose the fruits to botrytis, or other molds, & mildews."). I have used smallish pots in all my outdoor grows. You lose some root mass and eventual yield as a result, but when the shitty weather starts, you can bring them into shelter. The biggest, most beautiful plant can be destroyed by one week of crap weather. Once the botrytis starts to really rage (when the daytime temps are low and the dew point is high), there's not much you can do except harvest and cry.

I've been bringing my plants into the basement for the night when it looks like rain. Found a couple moldy bits so far, it's inevitable. Just trying to keep ahead of the bot and hoping for sunny weather.

 

[180]

Harvest time!

Well folks, looks like the weather is going to shit, right when I said it would (Oct. 1st):

Here's the GWS, enjoying its last day in the sun:

Here's the BG:

I will bring them inside tonight and start the trimming tomorrow. If I had a greenhouse these ladies might've gone another two weeks, but I'm not unhappy with the results. Both plants are loaded with fat, resinous flowers and I figure I'll get around 12 oz +/- from the two of them. Not much mold that I can see, either. I would run either of these cultivars outdoors again.

ps: sunrise, 6:47 am; sunset, 6:35 pm. Daylength, 11:48

 

[180]

So the two ladies got their pre-trim (removal of anything not resinous) and are hanging in 60% humidity with a breeze. They are still soft to the touch, I figure another week or so til they're ready to break down. There was a lot of larf and also a lot of weird popcorn-y stuff that was not really worth putting in the bag, but which I will use for kief. Both of these ladies have potential but the two plants I worked with both started out rootbound and preflowering heavily from stress. Not surprised at the popcorn.