Growing in the Mojave

Hello, new here and first post.
Overall I'm new to this, have only tried growing a couple times before and was many years ago. I'm trying to be a bit more serious about it now, it's legal where I'm at and in todays world there's an almost overwhelming amount of resources for information and seed supply which is very helpful.

I had some reasonably good success last year with a couple of plants inside but now I also want to do it outdoors as well. I'm off to a good start so far with a couple plants looking good at three weeks.

The reason for this post is to seek any unique advice/experience from others who live in a hot, dry southwestern desert climate. I bought a small mister that helps keep some humidity blowing towards the plants. I'm likely to buy a larger mister that can sit on the back patio and tap into an unused line from my irrigation system.
I keep a watch on my water pH which runs a little high. RO water is clearly the best and we have an RO unit under our kitchen sink but the amount needed makes this source mostly impractical. I found that an RV type in-line filter knocks my pH down about .5 from the nominal 8 that comes from the hose while tap (post water softener) runs a little lower, about 7.3.
I normally fill a five gallon bucket from the hose, add a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide and leave sit open for 24 hours. I've been adding vinegar to get my pH down to 6.4 - 6.6 although I've noticed that pH seems to creep up again over time, kind of weird. Recently I also added a small air pump.

Otherwise I'm starting with the General Hydroponics Flora Series nutrients in accordance with one of the youtube videos I liked. We'll see how that goes.

Advice, ideas and/or suggestions from others growing outdoors in a similar climate would be welcome and appreciated!

Greg

Afghani indica varieties or mostly indica hybrids will do better in the dry heat with intense sun.

If you can put them under a shade cloth for midday through afternoon, they will like it.

Will you grow in the ground, raised bed, or containers? I would recommend raised bed.

How do you plan to prep the soil?

Tracker said:

Afghani indica varieties or mostly indica hybrids will do better in the dry heat with intense sun.

If you can put them under a shade cloth for midday through afternoon, they will like it.

Will you grow in the ground, raised bed, or containers? I would recommend raised bed.

How do you plan to prep the soil?

Click to expand...

Agree with everything said.

Id grow
Raised Bed
Promix BX
Gaia Green 4-4-4
Gaia Green 2-8-4
AZOMITE

As far as Indica Dominant, or 100% Indica Dominant seeds, Id look into these.

Jordan of the Islands
Afghani.-
These genetics originally came from the 1970s,. It original name is Afghani #1, and was also originally also known as M10. From Nevils Seed Bank. It became commercially available in 1984, from Nevils Seed Bank, as M10.
Heavy duty narcotic, day wrecker type of high, and is a heavy producer for an 100% Indica. Every plant looks alike.
JOTI have had thee since the 80s.
Same for their version of Northern Lights 5. This is Sensi Seeds version they won the cup with in 88-91, I think it was.

Empyrean Seeds has the best Worked Version of the USA clone only NL5, in Seed Form, vs European.
It is known as NL555.

Deep Ellum Seeds has real deal, unadultered NL2. Had it since the 80s, and is bred ore towards the Thai Pheno, but still has 2 phenos, and is still mostly Indica.

Hybrid??
Empyrean Seeds
Destroyer x NL555


Ace Seeds
Killer A5 Haze
Golden Tiger x A5 Haze


100% Sativa.
Destroyer
Seedheads S1-Feminized.

If you want Regulars??
Cabinet Of Curiosities Seeds has a open pollination of original stock of Destroyer from 2005-2010. Straight from the original breeder.

All of these will completely knock ones brains out, if all goes well, and will finish in your neck of the woods. Though its getting late.

For 100% Afghani. Those JOTI Afghani are really good seeds, especially for the money, and the best representation of the original, Afghani #1, you will find.

Another 100% Indica
NWSun/Strainly
Reproduction of Crickets and Cicada
Pacific Northwest Hashplant x Puck BC1 F2. These dont get real big, so Id grow as many as possible. And you will be rewarded with some of the best weed, to be found.

He also has Silk Road, which is also a C&C Reproduction of
Red Lebanese Hashplant x PNWHP/NL1.

Crickets and Cicada gear, usually sells out in minutes-hours after drops. They only dropped this one 1x, 3-4 years ago.

Thanks for these replies, I'll take a look at those strains and follow up.
We have a couple raised beds but they're reserved for our veggies and such per my wife so I'm primarily using grow bags on stands/elevated. I'm using a little bit of a mix on soil but it's mostly Happy Frog and Ocean Forrest. We started a composter so eventually a little of that will get mixed into my soil tote.
The outdoor plants are already looking reasonably good at three weeks but I brought them inside tonight because we'll be gone for a few days. I believe I've got a good setup for keeping them watered but also have a friend who can come by and help out if needed.

In the desert southwest as well and in my experience they will definitely need to be shaded from the +110°F sunshine. Maybe just me but my outdoor desert grows never did well once that heat came on. Still live in Arizona but now at 5000 ft elevation and indoor grows are the current norm.

Greg_Midi said:

Hello, new here and first post.
Overall I'm new to this, have only tried growing a couple times before and was many years ago. I'm trying to be a bit more serious about it now, it's legal where I'm at and in todays world there's an almost overwhelming amount of resources for information and seed supply which is very helpful.

I had some reasonably good success last year with a couple of plants inside but now I also want to do it outdoors as well. I'm off to a good start so far with a couple plants looking good at three weeks.

The reason for this post is to seek any unique advice/experience from others who live in a hot, dry southwestern desert climate. I bought a small mister that helps keep some humidity blowing towards the plants. I'm likely to buy a larger mister that can sit on the back patio and tap into an unused line from my irrigation system.
I keep a watch on my water pH which runs a little high. RO water is clearly the best and we have an RO unit under our kitchen sink but the amount needed makes this source mostly impractical. I found that an RV type in-line filter knocks my pH down about .5 from the nominal 8 that comes from the hose while tap (post water softener) runs a little lower, about 7.3.
I normally fill a five gallon bucket from the hose, add a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide and leave sit open for 24 hours. I've been adding vinegar to get my pH down to 6.4 - 6.6 although I've noticed that pH seems to creep up again over time, kind of weird. Recently I also added a small air pump.

Otherwise I'm starting with the General Hydroponics Flora Series nutrients in accordance with one of the youtube videos I liked. We'll see how that goes.

Advice, ideas and/or suggestions from others growing outdoors in a similar climate would be welcome and appreciated!

Greg

Click to expand...

I've grown in Southern California for 50 years both in the scorching hot inland valleys and near the beach where temps are far more moderate.
Above ground bags dry out fast due to all the surface area exposed and will need constant watering. In ground or large plastic SIPs (self irrigating planters) will do best at keeping roots cool and well-watered. Critical in low humidity desert conditions.

Hose water (8.5ph) does fine in my outside grow. I've learned to add a bit of sulfur dust between plants to help fight the PH push the out of range water eventually causes.

You may find as my friend living in Joshua Tree did that it was simply to damned hot to grow mid summer but he could get 3 harvests in off season with lights and some planning. I used to squeeze in 4 harvests a year as my little grow was supplying several high-volume users. I don't need push near that hard nowadays but I still run off season to keep cycling my clones and growing is a hard habit to break.

Aug 1st = take cuts off still veg state plants for clones.
Oct 15th = Harvest, set out clones you took on oct 15th to flower
Jan 1st = Harvest, set out clones you took Oct 15th
March 15th = Harvest. set out clones you took Jan 1st
June 1st Harvest, Set out clones from March 15th.

14 days to get a rooted clone left me 7 weeks to veg them up to about 3 foot tall at setout. 10 weeks in veg and 10 in flower. Over and over and.

Wicking cups have slit sides to admit water. Fill pipe has notched base.



Homemade 20 gallon SIPs.

My first grow (2021) was photos until I drowned not one but two sets of seeds. That cost me calendar time so I found these "autoflower" plants that only take 70-80 days. That was important because I'm in SoCal and, even though I'm about 10 miles from the ocean, my grow is in a garage so I wanted to "beat the summer heat".

Came to find out that growing autos in a res that holds 28 gallons takes about a month longer than 70-80 days and, with summer fast approaching, I had to do something.

"Something" is a 14k BTU Whytner A/C unit. I bodged together a cover for the exhaust hose and was able to cool that corner of the garage.
It was great to turn it on and get a good blast of cool air but I discovered that it was pouring money into PG&E's bank account at a very high rate, as well. Yeh, 1200-watts-running-12-hours-a-day worth of money.

Once was enough.

After that goat rope, I just do two grows a year, a Fall grow that starts in September/October and a Winter grow when I get the tent cleaned up from the Fall grow.