stealthfader508
Well-Known Member
Hey folks ... sorry for disappearing for a couple years, but it looks like you guys have done a great job of keeping the Mass Outdoor thread alive! I never stopped growing, but dealing with things like running a business, teenage kids, and fighting cancer have all limited my ability to contribute here on RIU. With things finally settled down I'm hoping to contribute a lot more this season, and excited to share some of things I've learned along the way about outdoor growing in Massachusetts... but even more so I'm excited to learn what you all have learned about this incredibly challenging hobby we've chosen.
This year marks 25 years since I popped my first beans back in 1999, and I've learned a ton over the years... but my number one takeaway is that growing outdoors anywhere in New England is a massive challenge. The deck is stacked against us because we just don't have a suitable climate for growing cannabis... and without SOME luck we don't really stand a chance. There are millions of tips, tricks, and techniques that can increase the odds of landing a suitable harvest, but without some help from mother nature we're all toast.
My hope is that this thread can remain a place that we're all able to share our collective experience with what works (and what doesn't)... and hopefully tilt the odds a bit back in our favor this year.
I'd like to kick this year off by sharing what I've learned about a topic that is appropriately timed for this stage of the 2024 growing season.... strain selection. This is the time of year when most of us start digging through our seed vault, or searching seed banks for the varieties we want to grow this season... and in my opinion, this is where many outdoor growers make their first mistake.... they select their strains for the wrong reasons. People that are selecting their strains based on things like potency, yield, flower time, pretty bud shots on IG, could be setting themselves up for failure from the start.
The problem is that 99+% of the seeds available in most seed banks are produced from strains bred indoors under carefully controlled conditions . If the breeders want the climate to be like Jamaica, they can dial that in ... if they want it to feel more like Mazar-i-Sharif, they can also make that happen. So when you take those poly-hybrid strains... most of which have never seen a single day of real sunlight, shortening days, or rainfall in their generational history... and you grow them outside in the inhospitable New England climate, you have no idea what you're going to get. Most of the time you'll get something completely incompatible.
So the first tip is to try and choose a strain you've had success growing outdoors in the past. If a certain strain has already performed well and resisted the dangers of your specific garden and microclimate, there is a very strong likelihood that it will again. If you haven't grown anything that stands out or you're just beginning, look for breeders that breed somewhere in New England under the sun. I haven't shopped for seeds in a couple years but I know there used to be a few breeders from the area marketing their seeds.
An even better approach is to just make your own seeds each season. The idea is to selectively breed your best females with a strong male over several generations to continually produce seeds that are more likely to succeed in your garden. It's super easy to do, and you can selectively pollinate just one branch of your choice females. You don't need to grow a massive male that impregnates your entire crop. Flowering one or two strong males, and pollinating one female branch can produce all the seeds you'll ever need, with only a few minutes of effort dusting it with pollen at the right time.
There's no such thing as a landrace strain for New England. We haven't had fields of weed growing and open pollinating itself for hundreds of years like other parts of the world have. If we did, the choice would be easy and we'd all be growing that. So my opinion is the next best thing is to replicate nature and create your own. Everybody should be doing it if they can.
Well anyway, here's to a great season everyone! Did anyone learn anything new with all the rain last year?
My current status is a greenhouse that looks like a bomb went off... it needs a full top to bottom cleaning
.
This year marks 25 years since I popped my first beans back in 1999, and I've learned a ton over the years... but my number one takeaway is that growing outdoors anywhere in New England is a massive challenge. The deck is stacked against us because we just don't have a suitable climate for growing cannabis... and without SOME luck we don't really stand a chance. There are millions of tips, tricks, and techniques that can increase the odds of landing a suitable harvest, but without some help from mother nature we're all toast.
My hope is that this thread can remain a place that we're all able to share our collective experience with what works (and what doesn't)... and hopefully tilt the odds a bit back in our favor this year.
I'd like to kick this year off by sharing what I've learned about a topic that is appropriately timed for this stage of the 2024 growing season.... strain selection. This is the time of year when most of us start digging through our seed vault, or searching seed banks for the varieties we want to grow this season... and in my opinion, this is where many outdoor growers make their first mistake.... they select their strains for the wrong reasons. People that are selecting their strains based on things like potency, yield, flower time, pretty bud shots on IG, could be setting themselves up for failure from the start.
The problem is that 99+% of the seeds available in most seed banks are produced from strains bred indoors under carefully controlled conditions . If the breeders want the climate to be like Jamaica, they can dial that in ... if they want it to feel more like Mazar-i-Sharif, they can also make that happen. So when you take those poly-hybrid strains... most of which have never seen a single day of real sunlight, shortening days, or rainfall in their generational history... and you grow them outside in the inhospitable New England climate, you have no idea what you're going to get. Most of the time you'll get something completely incompatible.
So the first tip is to try and choose a strain you've had success growing outdoors in the past. If a certain strain has already performed well and resisted the dangers of your specific garden and microclimate, there is a very strong likelihood that it will again. If you haven't grown anything that stands out or you're just beginning, look for breeders that breed somewhere in New England under the sun. I haven't shopped for seeds in a couple years but I know there used to be a few breeders from the area marketing their seeds.
An even better approach is to just make your own seeds each season. The idea is to selectively breed your best females with a strong male over several generations to continually produce seeds that are more likely to succeed in your garden. It's super easy to do, and you can selectively pollinate just one branch of your choice females. You don't need to grow a massive male that impregnates your entire crop. Flowering one or two strong males, and pollinating one female branch can produce all the seeds you'll ever need, with only a few minutes of effort dusting it with pollen at the right time.
There's no such thing as a landrace strain for New England. We haven't had fields of weed growing and open pollinating itself for hundreds of years like other parts of the world have. If we did, the choice would be easy and we'd all be growing that. So my opinion is the next best thing is to replicate nature and create your own. Everybody should be doing it if they can.
Well anyway, here's to a great season everyone! Did anyone learn anything new with all the rain last year?
My current status is a greenhouse that looks like a bomb went off... it needs a full top to bottom cleaning
.
,and been bringing it home for 35+yrs. outside,being near the coast is a little better than inland and I find it OK,one more month of summer would be ideal like 2more wks in Aug. and 2 more in Sept. but all in all it's only from Sept 21 to Oct 10 that is worrisome w/ rain and botrytis. Sometimes wish I had another wk or 2 but always produce good bud.I fert earlier so that from late Sept. to ear. Oct. it's only water so I can chop if needed w/o any fert traces in the plant. Only light apps of synthetic phos ferts. and mostly organics at flower stage. A couple apps of a habanero pepper/gentle soap spray for insects and one w/ BT for any bud worms = no probs w/bugs. Strains w/56 day flower time are what I do w/ an occasional low 60/day and that's it.Only prob. is greedy pols. have flooded the market giving weed store licenses like shit through a goose,OVERKILL.I know grow more out of love and habit more than economic value,wish I had a GHouse like you but it'd stand out too much w/neighbors,I bring in 5-8 lbs. anyway of 10-15 strains,GOOD LUCK!!!!
