Into The Mist

Since moving west I have really come to respect outdoor growers and I am amazed by the amount of work it takes to pull off a successful harvest. Growing indoors is certainly not for the lazy but those that grow under the sun are truly farmers in every since of the word.
Getting up before sunrise and working late into the evening is a daily routine here and everyone does their fair share. This garden provides yearly meds for 16 people so there is a lot riding on their efforts and they take it very seriously.
Dioxide a TGA crew member introduced me to Pat last year and I was impressed immediately by his knowledge and attitude about growing. At the time he was working for Advanced Nutrients and listening to him give advice I could tell he was very passionate about Cannabis. As I got to know him better I started to think of him as the Bill Nye of grow rooms and nutrients seemed he had a detailed answer for any question asked of him.
As he got to know me better and study TGA his curiosity about Super Soil grew and this year he decided to use it in his outdoor medical grow. Drew a friend of Pat's who is also a Photographer, was nice enough to document the progress in the garden before I arrived and the first part of this story will feature his photographs. I am very impressed with this young mans skill with the camera and hope you enjoy his work as much as I do. Long before I even knew of this gardens existence and crew of dedicated care givers did the hard work of prepping the holes.
Two pallets of soil, a ton of worm castings and boxes and boxes of dry amendments were mixed together to create the mother load of all Super Soil batches. Heavy machinery like a hole boring rig and a back hoe were used to help dig the holes and so much work and care was put into each area that would hold a plant. Once all that work was completed it was time to transplant the clones that had been growing indoors under artificial lights. Pat seems to be a master at soil biology and his soil web created by the mycrohase was amazing, in Drew's pictures you can see the amazing root growth as the plants were removed from their containers and placed into the ground. Like you guys I am lucky that before I got involved such good documentation was done so we can all see the evolution of this medical garden from the start. I will always be amazed at how fast cannabis grows outdoors under good conditions. From my experience with the Garden of Weeden I had seen the phenomenal growth that can occur when cannabis is planted directly into the ground.

I was even more excited to see how the garden would perform using my soil recipe and asked Dioxide to ask Pat if I could visit and take some pictures to document everything and do a story on it once the harvest was successfully completed and Pat happily agreed.
Dioxide picked me up early one morning and we made a drive up into the hills of Oregon. It was a foggy morning and it got worse as we drove up. My first look at the property was shrouded in a dense fog I called Mist and this became the un-official nick name, The Mist.
The Mist is a long narrow property that slants uphill and the garden is located on the back of the lot nestled up against some trees. From a distance the green house looks like any of the hundred you see driving through Oregon but once inside that all changes. Planted directly into the ground are ten plants, one TGA Bloodwreck, one Jack Herer, two Snocaps, two Orange Velvet, three Hawaiian Hindu Kush X Heavy Duty Fruity and one Sage X Afghani. Situated in between are rows of Jack Herer planted into smart pots, these will be moved into a second tent as the main plants get bigger and take up the full greenhouse. It was August 10th the first time I saw the plants and already they were taller than me. Just like with Weeden seeing plants so large made me feel very small. The beauty of this magnificent species in its natural setting is truly awe inspiring. When cannabis plants are grown to this size and in groups like this they seem to create their own climate. In between the rows the temps can be as much as 15 degrees cooler than on the sunshine side. One thing that stands out fast as you walk through this garden is how neat and tidy everything is kept. Drew not only took the amazing shots featured in this story but did a good share of the work as well. The first day I visited there was work going on everywhere and they only took a break so I could shoot video. The plants were trimmed and trained properly and discussions were taking place on the best way to support the side branches once the bud weight started piling up. Pat was actually meeting that day with a building inspector to have an electrical upgrade installed to provide power to the commercial de-humidifiers he had ordered. It was still kind of weird when a county worker came out to inspect while we were filming 10 foot reefer plants but that's Oregon for you.
So there you have it the first look at the start of an amazing season and some of the behind the scenes work that goes into a medical garden. Early mornings and late nights sounds like any other farming to me and you will see more hard work and dedication in part 2 of this story of the Garden in the Mist.

Subcool
www.tgagenetics.com
Pictures by Drew


http://www.youtube.com/user/subcool420 Key Word "Mist"

Stay Tuned for Part 2

I am driven up to the location early in the morning and arrive to see the land clouded in a dense "Mist" that seems to almost hide the property. I drive up a gravel road through a security gate that has been left open just for our entry. A nice home sits on the front of the property well kept and the lot rises upward to the rear of the land where nestled in the trees is a long Tube style green house open ( for now) on each end. Shrouded in the heavy mist the whole seen is very surreal and I am almost giddy with excitement at what I am about to see.
As Part two of our story unfolds, the plants have been in the flowering phase since about August 20th. This is when the old timers in the area have taught me the days are short enough for just about any strain to start budding. I learned at the Garden of Weeden that the Kush plants tend to start sooner and finish a bit faster. In this garden in appears the Jack Herer may be quickest out of the gate in that aspect and even on my first visit I can see the first start of buds setting in. The larger plants already tower over my six foot frame and the weight of the limbs had started to drag the plants down. Pat and his care takers are discussing the best way to support these already massive plants. While they talk I walk through this amazing garden where the plants have already started to create shaded areas to hide from the suns glare. It's hot in the green house and I work up a sweat as I go from plant to plant snapping pictures and then setting up a few ladders to shoot some video.

The main difference I can see at first glance is how neat and organized the garden is. The plants are laid out in a grid pattern and it looks almost symmetrical through my lens even though there are multiple strains in the garden. There is a 4 man crew tending this garden all day every day and as always I am amazed by the amount of work these growers have put in. Outcast by society do these appear to be lazy people with no work ethic? I think not!

I wasn't able to return to the mist for almost 3 weeks and man what a difference that time made. To start with the workers had come up with a brilliant way to support the plants. Using large bamboo poles and 15x15 Canopy nets they formed large net boxes to support the side buds and a series or plant yoyo's to support the upper colas. From the looks of the garden it looks like they had been at this project the entire time I was absent. Literally thousands of bud sites had been trussed or netted up to form these massive "Box Plants" you see in the pictures. As I walked into the massive shaded area under the canopy I was delighted to feel the temperature drop as I walked into the rich oxygen enriched air. Large cannabis gardens like this always amaze me and almost make me feel giddy with excitement. The smells of all the strains combined to create one amazing smell and the one word that screams into my brain is "Dank".

Third Visit
I wasn't able to return to the mist for almost 3 weeks and man what a difference that time made. To start with the workers had come up with a brilliant way to support the plants. Using large bamboo poles and 15x15 Canopy nets they formed large net boxes to support the side buds and a series or plant yoyo's to support the upper colas. From the looks of the garden it looks like they had been at this project the entire time I was absent. Literally thousands of bud sites had been trussed or netted up to form these massive "Box Plants" you see in the pictures. As I walked into the massive shaded area under the canopy I was delighted to feel the temperature drop as I walked into the rich oxygen enriched air. Large cannabis gardens like this always amaze me and almost make me feel giddy with excitement. The smells of all the strains combined to create one amazing smell and the one word that screams into my brain is "Dank". The sun came up above the trees my 10 am and I was able to get some really nice shots using the sun and the blue sky as a back drop. At first these plants were being watered each day but it was recommended by Dioxide to actually not water the plants so the root systems would go in search of water forming a much larger root system. I saw no negative effect when the watering schedule was reduced to allow the roots to expand. You can see how full and lush the canopy is in these over head shots of the garden.

I tried to be consistent in my timing of every two weeks, and I made my third trip up to The Mist in mid September. The temperatures in the area had finally started dropping in the evenings and the plants were all starting to form bud set. The Jack Herer that I mentioned as being a faster budding strain was well into budding and even small cola formations were visible. The smell coming from the buds was a lemon mint smell that reminded me of a natural toothpaste and it was quite intoxicating. I took the time to document the growth that had taken place over the two weeks but I was more excited for more return trips when I knew things would really start to happen in a big way.

There was a great deal of growth between Sept 15 and Sept 30th which you can see in the comparing shots between the two visits. The garden was a thing of beauty but everyone was waiting for some real heavy buds to start forming. At this point its time for the work crew to remove the Jack Herer plants that are placed in smart pots above ground and in between the rows. A separate tent was put up behind the main tent to accommodate the smaller faster finishing Jacks. Air flow will become crucial as the temperature drops and the garden is more susceptible to mold and mildew. Already a few spots of Mildew were appearing and this required constant attention to prevent its spread. When I would head back to my indoor garden I'd strip down and shower washing my clothes and not wearing the same shoes into my indoor garden.

Sub

Thanks for sharing this experience, this is what I aspire to be one day & these guys set the standard pretty high and show how it should be done

Just an dream garden

Thanks

T

wow. I wonder what those trees yield. Has to be amazing. The pictures are amazing I can only imagine seeing it in person.

You could hang a tire swing from those ladies..

I appreciate your passion and information and love reading your posts/ articles. I hope one day I can accomplish the things that seem like everyday events to you

As soon as you enter the green house you know what crop is growing inside as the "Funk" of all the strains. Each time I visit this garden has been transformed, both by the plants themselves and by Pat who is constantly tweaking things and improving the grow space. The green house cover was replaced with a double walled special plastic that can be inflated to provide a layer of insulation to help keep the temperatures even inside. A Large gas heater has been installed to warm the space and also dry out the moist air and condensation due to the temperature difference between dark and light. This difference causes condensation of the leaf surface and in the buds causing Botris or "Bud Rot" to start forming. In addition to the heater, six commercial de humidifiers were brought in and additional oscillating fans were installed. The plants were being sprayed to control mildew break outs and also a great deal of lower shoots were taken out to provide air flow. This is something I notice all good outdoor growers pay attention to making sure there plants are cleaned out so the garden has a free flow of air. The Orange Velvet plants, some of the largest in the garden were really getting hit hard with botris where the buds had grown over 14 feet tall and were near the moist plastic in the early mornings due to the due accumulation. One of the shorter Orange Velvets that only grew 8 feet or so was completely untouched by mold or mildew which really illustrates how important air flow is. I was sorry to see many of the largest colas had already been cut open or removed due to the rot. My theory was the humidity and temperatures were much higher near the peak of the green house were most of the rot occurred.
On a positive note this only effected about 10% of the total garden and everywhere you pointed the camera lens amazing buds were forming unscathed by anything external. The lower night time temps were causing the foliage to turn colors and the look of fall was everywhere with hues of purple red and orange starting to appear on the plants. I was able to capture many nice close up shots and I couldn't wait to return in 2 weeks with my Macro lens and ring flash to really get in close and record the resin production if High Resolution.

I made my last journey into The Mist for the year and by now the fog was heavy each day temperatures cooling and the garden was being harvested as fast as physically possible. There was large losses to mold and mildew but the word going around was it was a really bad year for everyone in that department. Maybe it was all the fog or the introduction of thousands and thousands of new grape vinards in the area. Even with the loss to me it was still one of the best run gardens I had seen. Its also funny that Dave over at Weeden had an exceptional year telling me that his 20 years experience serves him very well. This garden was incredibly expensive both it equipment and time put in by everyone involved. The pay off for me was all the amazing pictures and video I was able to capture and seeing a garden of this scale grown in Super Soil. The plants performed incredibly in that area and each plant seemed to have the perfect fade just prior to harvest. The buds are sweet and sticky and burn incredibly smooth which is the main reason to grow organically but also because its good for the earth as well. I am not sure that Pat will set up outdoors this year, as the story details this was a huge investment with large losses and in his particular area its just easier to control quality indoors. It was for me one hell of a ride and I would like to thank Pat for opening his place up to me like an old trusted friend and Dioxide for driving me up so many times. Drew provided us with some amazing shots before I came on scene and I think many of his shots are better than mine artistically.
I didn't get a chance to do a dry bud shot we had to plan the Cup trip and this was my last visit of the year but I am sure you will see many more amazing photo's from this talented grower and his awesome property "In the Mist"
Subcool

That is absolutely Amazing!!!
ATB!

WOW!!!! This is Incredible!!

Wow that is truly amazing! I am trying to set up a green house similar to this but I am having trouble finding the different kind of plastic that you have mentioned in this thread. What kind or kinds of plastics will I need to build a set up like that?

I am the journalist on this project I didnt actually set up or do any design I am an indoor grower sorry try that handle Google feature the net has

Sub

Any chance we will see some pictures come harvest time?

All ya have to do is read the article

"this was my last visit of the year but I am sure you will see many more amazing photo's from this talented grower and his awesome property "In the Mist"

Thanks sub awesome grow, man I wish I could do that here in MT, I'd have to chop or bring inside too soon. Thats cool you workd out a supersoil mix that worked perfectly outside, props. I've been using your supersoil for ages and now I finally have cracked a cheesequake for my first TGA strain. I had a Flav but it was a male and unfortunately I couldnt do anything with it at the time but kill it.

amazing sub

This is what I dream of awesome grow thanks for sharing it with everyone

did these guys feed with anything other than water and super soil? . . . compost teas? extra N? guano?

im about to do super soil next year

thank you