First time grow. Outdoors. UK

Another quick update...
This small problem with Slugs was annoying me. So I moved a woden frame I'd built to my location and propped the plants onto it raising it up with a few piece of wood. I cut the grass under it and there is a good few inches of clearance.
Got a few other small marks on the leaves but will leave them a few days before posting pics to see if they get any worse.

Hope it works, mate, but I have some doubts. Slugs are incredibly agile for what you'd think - they get in my kitchen at night and climb up onto the stove, the washer, etc. I'm sure they could make it up that frame if they fancy the gear bad enough.

All about slugs :

Slugs

The ladies are looking beautiful, at any rate - big, strong, and healthy from the sight of things!

Went and had a look at my plants today.
I last saw them sunday evening after that week of stunning weather and they looked good. Since then all it has done is pour down with rain but somehow they have grown an extra 6" in that time!!!
As you can see from the pictures below I have bought some copper tape and wrapped it around the pots to keep off slugs... It seems to be working on all but one of the plants, but the slug that got to that one couldn't have been hungry. I guess it's expected with wet weather. If the rain carries on I will try a few other techniques...
The blocks of wood are to shield the black pots from direct sunlight as when I saw them last the pots were roasting. I may tape some white paper once the sun comes back!
No nutes today as I want the rainwater to drain before the next feed. So thety're still on a weekly feed of full strength Canna Terra Vega.
Still no sign of sex yet but I think it's not far off. If nothing happens in the next 7 days I will shock them into sex by putting in a shed for 36 hrs, if anyone thinks this is a very bad idea let me know. I'm only considering because the strain takes about 9 weeks to flower so that takes me to October!

Some pics

Day 68

Im at 44.4 n lat here in the states, and my plants just started showing sex in the last 8 days. If you are getting alot of sunlight, or are located signifcantly farther south than me, youre just fine. most outdoor plants will show sometime in aug. some even wait till early sept.
Keep a good eye on em in the next 2 weeks and kill those males
unwanted pregnancys cost you budweight and seeds taste like ass LOL

goldenchips said:

Im at 44.4 n lat here in the states, and my plants just started showing sex in the last 8 days. If you are getting alot of sunlight, or are located signifcantly farther south than me, youre just fine. most outdoor plants will show sometime in aug. some even wait till early sept.
Keep a good eye on em in the next 2 weeks and kill those males
unwanted pregnancys cost you budweight and seeds taste like ass LOL

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Have just looked on a map and I'm 51.5 n. Surely that means you are getting more hours of sunlight each day than I am...
Then how come my plants still haven't started showing sex!

I'll keep you guys posted over the next few days...

plants are looking good dude.as for the slugs....have u tried sand around the base of the plants? slugs hate it.also, human hair.it's sharp and spiky to them and they realy realy hate the stuff.works on other plants that slugs love..like hostas for ex.
just a thought bro.

Staropramen said:

Have just looked on a map and I'm 51.5 n. Surely that means you are getting more hours of sunlight each day than I am...

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Nope, it's exactly the other way around (and one of the reasons why outdoor growing is difficult in northern latitudes). During the summer months, the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, meaning that the further north you go, the longer the days get until you reach the north pole (where the sun is up 24h a day). At 50° latitude you don't hit a 12h day until about September! 40° is getting just over 14h and change right now, 50° is still getting about 15h. In the winter the reverse is true - shorter days at more northern latitudes. The switch doesn't happen until the spring and fall equinoxes, so further north gets longer light than the sounth after Easter and all the way until the autumn equinox, which is usually around the third week of September. In fact, days have been getting longer until just about 11 days ago. I think your plants will probably start naturally flowering a couple of weeks behind someone like goldenchips.

Wow
Nice info Jay. Well that conjours up thoughts of my plants getting 6 feet tall... But what about when it comes to flowering... The buds won't be ripe until so late on... What sort of problems will I be facing? Frost? Mold? any others?

No idea, man, I've never grown outdoors save for normal garden crops like potatoes, carrots, peas, etc, and never in the UK at that. The only thing close has been tomatoes and those I've always done in a greenhouse.

jayzero said:

Nope, it's exactly the other way around (and one of the reasons why outdoor growing is difficult in northern latitudes). During the summer months, the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, meaning that the further north you go, the longer the days get until you reach the north pole (where the sun is up 24h a day). At 50° latitude you don't hit a 12h day until about September! 40° is getting just over 14h and change right now, 50° is still getting about 15h. In the winter the reverse is true - shorter days at more northern latitudes. The switch doesn't happen until the spring and fall equinoxes, so further north gets longer light than the sounth after Easter and all the way until the autumn equinox, which is usually around the third week of September. In fact, days have been getting longer until just about 11 days ago. I think your plants will probably start naturally flowering a couple of weeks behind someone like goldenchips.

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23.09 which is the date of a fall equinox applies for the whole northern hemispher, 40*N or 55*N regardless. so 23.09 is the natures 12/12 in the northern hemisphere

Staropramen said:

Wow
Nice info Jay. Well that conjours up thoughts of my plants getting 6 feet tall... But what about when it comes to flowering... The buds won't be ripe until so late on... What sort of problems will I be facing? Frost? Mold? any others?

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Frost will be your main concern if you are flowering into late October.
You can never be sure with british weather. if your plants are easy enough to get at, one way of inducing flowering is to cover them with black bags a few hours before sunset so that they think the nights are longer. Use some bamboo sticks or something to support the bags.
The idea of the shed for 36 hrs should be ok. Personally I did mine for 24 but I am growing indoors, The only thing is if you do the 36hr and dont go into 12/12 after, they might still not go into flower. It doesn't "shock them" it just makes them think the nights are longer and it's the right time of year.
It is possible for plants to go back into veg after they have started flowering.

Check out satman rocks journal, he has put a plant back into veg while flowering.

lovely looking plants though strapo' looking forward to seeing how they do.

Edit: ps you can take the bags off once it gets dark.

Do you have a link for that journal?

Hey Staro, how's things? I missed a lot when I was away and am gradually getting caught up with everyones' gorw journals. I was really sorry to hear about your nosy neighbour. But your plants look happy in their new home and I must say they're looking incredibly healthy and coming on well. You've obviously been looking after them - great job mate. My girls have been showing their sex for about four weeks now but haven't really started flowering proper. Like you I am a little worried about them finishing on time, especially my Cinammons which can take 11 weeks apparently. If they don't show signs of moving along soon I'm definitely going to black out the garage and start putting them in there 12 hrs per day. It should do the trick. Keep up the good work

those plants look fantastic, for uk outdoors!

whats on man
black out the garage and start putting them in there 12 hrs per day i think is a great idea mate!!
but movin em all the time will do ya nut in...

oh n my ak outside died i forgot about it lol aww but shit happens

UKcyrus said:

whats on man black out the garage and start utting them in there 12 hrs per day i think is a great idea mate!! but movin em all the time will do ya nut in... oh n my ak outside died i forgot about it lol aww but shit happens

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Hi UK - I have to move them at night anyway so they'll get the morning sun (did I say "sun"?) so it's no big deal, although my back is screwed LOL. Plus I only need to do it until the nights shorten sufficiently (early September). However, I just realised a few minutes ago it might be the answer to my frost worries as well should they not finish on time. My back will just have to suffer. Sorry to hear about your dead plant btw. Shit does indeed happen.

lmao mate thats why all these old men walk with arched backs
na im sure u'll be fine bud..
i would do it to if my plants looked like urs

UKcyrus said:

lmao mate thats why all these old men walk with arched backs

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LOLOLOL - love it UK!!! Old man walking with an arched back - describes me perfectly at the moment.

Well a quick update...
Copper does not deter slugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having tried 2p's on the soil and copper tape around the pot the plants are still getting eaten by slugs. All this rain is bringing them out and enticting them to my green!
Sooooo.... Slug pellets!
Have put down so many around my plants, we are talking loads! I put a very very small amount on top of the soil as a last barrier but will remove them if the others work as I want to keep my plants as organic as possible.
No feeding today so will wait till the weekend for their next. Soil is damp as you can imagine!
I'm seriously considering putting them in a shed 12/12 as there is still no sign of sex. Think thats my best bet. Will have a good think over the next few days...
Anyway, a couple of shitty pics... They've grown prob another 4" but don't look much diff

Day 76

Looking awesome Staropramen, lovely condition and nice and green and healthy. They look really like my Purple Powers btw (see attachment). Nice one anyway, you're doing a super job mate

Strange how those slugs are bypassing all that copper - they must be acrobatic slugs in your part of the world LOL. We have a hedgehog living at the back of our garden so I've hardly seen slugs or snails this year. If you go into the garden in the early hours you can watch him go about cleaning the place up. Their eyesight is crap, so as long as you're reasonably quiet you can go right up to him and he doesn't know it Hopefully the pellets will work for you.