Maine Outdoor 2020 (first timer)

NewEnglandFarmer

Well-Known Member
Got lucky with the hail yesterday couple miles south of me they got 4in of pingpong size hail.
Glad you guys didn't suffer any damage. No hail here--seems like the last couple thunderstorms just nicked us in the midcoast. Maybe Mother Nature will settle down a bit for the second half of the summer and fall. But I have a feeling it's going to be a doozy of a hurricane season. Just what places like Houston or Florida need right now--a natural disaster on top of a raging pandemic.
 

NewEnglandFarmer

Well-Known Member
Just came back from being away for 5 days, it's the end of week 13. Funny how much more dramatic the growth looks when you're not checking on them daily. The Orange Blossom Special grew 10 inches last week, closing in on six feet tall and the Copper Chem's right behind it. Others should break 5 feet this week.

garden-week-14.jpg

Saw a wilted leaf on the Tomahawk, what do you make of this?
tomahawk-wilt.jpg

Overall though the Tomahawk looks OK:
tomahawk-week-14.jpg

Funny how this particular plant is the one with issues, others seem fine.

Got some proper trellis netting finally, will install that this evening.

I could use some pruning advice. Here in Maine my major issue is avoiding bud rot, so improving airflow is key. But I'm totally new to this. Any guidance? How do I decide what to remove? Show I start removing all the lower stuff now? How about the middle?

Figure I've got 2-3 weeks to thin before flowering starts.

Also planning to get some phosphorus and potassium-heavy fertilizer down now so it has time to start decomposing and becoming available to the plant come flower time (good tip Ganja Girl!).

Hotter than hell here right now--hope everyone is doing well.
 

Seawood

Well-Known Member
Plants look great! Some leaves will die for no apparent reason...as long as the problem isn’t widespread and doesn’t continue to affect more leaves, don’t worry. Some plants are just more finicky than others, even of the same strain. I have one plant that I cannot keep from showing a calcium deficiency every few weeks.

Regarding defoliation, you will get various opinions. I take out a lot of the inner and lower sucker branches that will just end up being larfy junk and it helps with airflow and mildew prevention. Your plants don’t look too congested in the middle/lower areas. It’s really your call but I don’t like removing anything that I don’t feel is necessary. You can stress your plants cutting a bunch of stuff off. Also, you will typically see rot on the upper/bigger buds first so defoliating won’t help much with that.
 

NewEnglandFarmer

Well-Known Member
Plants look great! Some leaves will die for no apparent reason...as long as the problem isn’t widespread and doesn’t continue to affect more leaves, don’t worry. Some plants are just more finicky than others, even of the same strain. I have one plant that I cannot keep from showing a calcium deficiency every few weeks.

Regarding defoliation, you will get various opinions. I take out a lot of the inner and lower sucker branches that will just end up being larfy junk and it helps with airflow and mildew prevention. Your plants don’t look too congested in the middle/lower areas. It’s really your call but I don’t like removing anything that I don’t feel is necessary. You can stress your plants cutting a bunch of stuff off. Also, you will typically see rot on the upper/bigger buds first so defoliating won’t help much with that.
Thanks for the reassurance and advice. So far I've just been removing mostly lower inside leaves that are turning yellow. I'll follow your lead and remove the sucker branches a few at a time.

How's everything going up your way? We had some pretty stiff wind gusts this morning (front moving through later today to break this godawful heat wave), pushed over some tomatoes and a couple young corn plants in the vegetable garden, but fortunately the ganja garden is fairly well sheltered so no damage there. My gut tells me we're in for a ferocious hurricane season coming up here soon, but hopefully this far north (and in your neck of the woods) it won't be anything too dramatic.
 

Seawood

Well-Known Member
Things are chugging along here. Weather has been nothing short of spectacular. Fingers crossed that it continues. I waited too long to put my supports up and a bunch of my plants started splitting stems and branches already. I taped, supported and tied them so I should be ok now. Didn’t lose anything so I got a break there.

Couldn’t see the girlfriend in the patch anymore so I had to sub in for her...can’t even see me now!F31F68B4-E115-42D5-B46C-82C2CEADCC9F.jpeg
 

NewEnglandFarmer

Well-Known Member
We had lime sized hail in out county and tornados! Lots of damage... but luckily no one was hurt and my plants were out of the strike zone
Damn, what's going on in Wisconsin this year? Sounds more like Kansas! Glad you were spared. Do you put up some sort of cover later in the year to protect the crop? I'm debating whether I ought to here to keep buds dry during the fall.
 

NewEnglandFarmer

Well-Known Member
Things are chugging along here. Weather has been nothing short of spectacular. Fingers crossed that it continues. I waited too long to put my supports up and a bunch of my plants started splitting stems and branches already. I taped, supported and tied them so I should be ok now. Didn’t lose anything so I got a break there.

Couldn’t see the girlfriend in the patch anymore so I had to sub in for her...can’t even see me now!View attachment 4629780
Looking might fine there. Next week I don't except to see anybody standing behind your garden...unless they're on stilts!
 

ganga gurl420

Well-Known Member
Damn, what's going on in Wisconsin this year? Sounds more like Kansas! Glad you were spared. Do you put up some sort of cover later in the year to protect the crop? I'm debating whether I ought to here to keep buds dry during the fall.
Yeah storms have been getting more severe every yr. No I dont put up anything. I want as much air flow as possible!
 

ganga gurl420

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately that's the story here too and will likely continue/get worse in coming years.

I would love to hear your recipe for keeping bud rot at bay. Do you use bT for caterpillars? If so when do you begin applications?
Caterpillars really are not a problem here so no I do not use bt.
This yr I'm giving this stuff a go to keep the rot at bay. Usually I use actinovate but I'm trying this instead this yr.
 

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thumper60

Well-Known Member
Things are chugging along here. Weather has been nothing short of spectacular. Fingers crossed that it continues. I waited too long to put my supports up and a bunch of my plants started splitting stems and branches already. I taped, supported and tied them so I should be ok now. Didn’t lose anything so I got a break there.

Couldn’t see the girlfriend in the patch anymore so I had to sub in for her...can’t even see me now!View attachment 4629780
Looks great! That must be tough growing with neighbor right on top of ya.
 

thumper60

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately that's the story here too and will likely continue/get worse in coming years.

I would love to hear your recipe for keeping bud rot at bay. Do you use bT for caterpillars? If so when do you begin applications?
I use BT first 6 weeks of flower cats are bad in maine,I use spinosad twice a week until early flower.
 

Seawood

Well-Known Member
Looks great! That must be tough growing with neighbor right on top of ya.
Yep. Sucks. I gave my neighbours a heads-up and they’re cool with it. The neighbour on that side said he likes it when the wind blows his way. Lol. I’ll give him some samplers after harvest to keep the peace. It’s not so much the neighbours, it’s the teenage punk kids I’m worried about. And now my own kids are older and know what it is...they don’t buy into the whole tomato plants and we have skunks under the shed story anymore. Loose lips sink ships and gets your plants ripped! I can only hope they keep it to themselves. You can smell the plants the next block over come September which doesn’t help either. Too bad they don’t make an outdoor carbon filter.
 
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thumper60

Well-Known Member
Yep. Sucks. I gave my neighbours a heads-up and they’re cool with it. The neighbour on that side said he likes it when the wind blows his way. Lol. I’ll give him some samplers after harvest to keep the peace. It’s not so much the neighbours, it’s the teenage punk kids I’m worried about. And now my own kids are older and know what it is...they don’t buy into the whole tomato plants and we have skunks under the shed story anymore. Loose lips sink ships and gets your plants ripped! I can only hope they keep it to themselves. You can smell the plants the next block over come September which doesn’t help either. Too bad they don’t make an outdoor carbon filter.
Been there done that with kids LOL,Now we all smoke together just gotta fool the grand kids now.It sure is nice to be on the legal side now bongsmilie
 
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