My second outdoor grow:

First time 20# containers with the plants outside for the first time in early june (seeds started 3/13), this time plants were outside by ~late march and are into the ground (tilled, added compost, etc.). Shoving 6 plants into an area that is roughly 7' x 9' with a curved hoop style roof that peaks at ~11 feet.this space is not ideal, but I wanted to see how they did in close proximity to one another and was curious how tall they'd get / if they'd break through the plastic or spread out more. E.g I didn't want to have to expand the growing area by using 20' pvc pipes, or taking out bushes/ bolting more than one set of 2x4s in an L shape to the house / fence (possibly the neighbor's fence at that, but since we replaced most of the boards on this segment, think that counts as a wash )

6 strains are:
2 Sannie's Sugar Punch
1 Sannies' Jack Herer
1 Delicious' Cotton Candy
1 blue hulk [(nyd x true blueberry) x (chemdog x true blueberry)]
1 Lemon Thai x cb99

The LTC is (in test grows) my favorite smelling plant possibly ever. The Jack Herer is from last year (I'm a cloning fool) and did fantastically then, with the end result being the strongest (almost pure) sativa I've ever had. One of her is more than enough. The Blue hulk in testing turns a lovely shade of blue, is smooth, and has a nice punch (she's also my only nearly pure indica) .While she's never been outside before that hasn't stood in her way and she's the largest bush in my collection. In fact I'm shocked with how well she's taken to things... thankfully she's also by far the quickest finisher, so I won't likely end up with 63 square feet of hulk

Pictures to come in the not so distant future when I get off my ass and sort through them / take them.

Sorry for the delay, here's the current pictures of the crop. In the future I will start a hell of a lot later. It's the 22nd of flipping may.... Even the early finishing hulk is unlikely to start flowering until late june or july unless I go out with a blanket

To give one an idea of size, the trellis you see at the top is 6.5 feet above the ground. The short (4' is short?) one you see on our front left is the lemon thai, it's been annoyed since planting and the windstorm did it no favors. However, it's still growing and is very.... dense. So we'll see what she does. Really, since every other plant is around 6' already I don't think I'll be hurting for meds this year.... Just oh my flipping lord.

Oh, and my back patio now smells of weed. It's may. that's not a good sign. Well, it's a good sign for the crop, just not so much for summer bbq for those who don't like the smell of cannabis. On the bright side, I like it

Still, time to add a fan guiding the air upwards instead.

looking good healthy looking plants

Thanks mygirls, they do seem to love it out there, and we're just now starting to get into the intense/full sun

I am going to guess that my take home message from this grow will be, DON'T MOVE THEM OUTSIDE IN MARCH! Kinda curious to see how they do being confined and running out of growing space. I have a feeling I'm going to end up with a solid hedge of cannabis. If this happens, it will make harvest unique since there's a range of a minimum of 7 weeks and a maximum a bit north of 13 weeks spread through the varieties. Really glad I've hooked the plants into the irrigation so I only have to go into the jungle once a week for feeding them as it's really hard to get around back there now.

Note: Adding the fan did help with the smell, now it only smells of pot above the ground floor

Are you prepared for the heat we are suppose to get this weekend? Looks like Sunday will be in the 90's. Been in Oregon for 50 years now, LOVE it!... I am on the West side.

My money is on us hitting the triple digits early this year (in the next 10 days wouldn't surprise me...) In theory (or at least from last year's experience) the diffusing cover helps keep the plants cool(er), but we'll see how they take to it. They really didn't mind the near freezing temps early on and in all honesty though I wouldn't mind them slowing the hell down with the whole massive growth thing... As it sits my fear of having a fairly solid 7'x13' hedge of cannabis seems to be coming true (with a few branches attempting to make a run for it out from the hoop house even) Harvesting is going to be.... unique. Though unless plain view includes tree trimming, I'm safe from any prospective legal hassles, but I have a feeling I'm going to need to add a couple box fans to keep my neighbors from gathering torches....

I can safely say that I now understand why people are such fans of outdoor growing despite not being able to play god as effectively.

bring on the heat I have h2o for my girls

Great thread! I'm looking for Oregon growers as well to aid and guide me in my outdoor this legal year!!

Good stuff here!

Note to self: either raise the roof some 6 feet, or start a heck of a lot later next time around. Here are three pictures showing the current progress, do note for scale that the gate you see is just under 6 feet tall and all 6 girls are directly planted into the soil. The three pictures show: The entrance to my (nearly) solid hedge o' herb, pic of the start of the canopy looking into the hedge, and finally a picture of the formerly broken base of the plant (sannie's jack) that was damaged in the wind storm. She's no where near as large as the largest (she's further in and is roughly the size of a soda can.

Curious to see how the upcoming 110+ weather will treat the girls. There are two fans in the hedge at the moment: one inside it pointed up and one normal oscillating fan just outside of the hedge on the far side. I have standing by a 20" box fan (or two if it absolutely comes to it) and another large oscillating fan, but I'm ok with the plants being tortured a tiny bit as retarding the absolute tops would be ok at this point.

As far as I can tell nothing has entered full on flowering, but there are preflowers like woah on at least the sugar punch girls... Upside of such a thick top layer is the base of the plants are staying (relatively) cool not to mention the soil below. Roughly 14 hours after watering the top of the soil was still semi moist in 92F weather with a humidity of 14%. I'd say the plastic is worth the loss in prospective height so far (it also keeps it out of "public view").

So, how did they do with the heat?

I'm in the middle of my first outdoor Oregon grow. I was asking around a lot about when to start, we had such a mild winter it really was confusing. I put two in the ground around the third week in April, and two into 100 gallon smart pots mid-May. I think putting them out early caused them to stretch during the first overcast cooler weeks, and even though they've filled out, they could have been more compact if I had planted them during stronger sunlight. I've topped mine a couple of times and netted (scrogged) them, one has two layers going. I'm still not sure if I'll run out of vertical room.

I also intend on starting later next year. I am anticipating my (six now, altogether) outdoor plants smelling enough to draw more attention than I want. So in that ever growing list of things I'll do differently next year, I imagine that I'll only grow two full sized ones, and then maybe two smaller ones in 10gallon pots.

110+ degree heat? 14% humidity? You must be on the east side, eh? I guess that's why no one is giving you the talk about PM and all that...

Heya, they're actually doing phenomenally (these girls can take some shockingly high temps outside once they're settled into the dirt), or rather at least the bits that aren't pressed into the plastic greenhouse sheeting are doing phenomenally, the bits that are have pretty much withered (about 3 inches worth or so on each top) however the rest of the (respective) plant is fine, so I'm not too concerned about yield. I now have several branches growing outside of the sheeting (apparently they didn't mind the high temps and intense sun either....). Unfortunately several of these now free branches are the Sannie's jack, which concerns me a bit since by oct or nov we should get some serious moisture and some snow (last year I cut jack down on election night) but really I suspect I'll be fine in terms of harvest as I really just want about 4 ounces per plant so I can take the next year or two off (any more will be given away as tips/gifts, turned to hash, or depending on how the rules finally worked out, sold/given to the local medical disp if it is actually allowed to open.) When I cut off a small broken bottom branch of one of the girls, after taking it out of the garden noticed it was larger than most of my microgrow plants, so I think I'll be fine yield wise

I really need to take some more pics, but it's such a jungle in there, I'm not sure the pics will show much of anything.... the harvest pics however should be amazing. Basically all of those branches that look like they're coming out of the cover are now at least as tall as the covering...

As far as location, you've got it, far far far east side out where the tumbleweeds roam free (seriously, right after I moved here and sent a friend an email about how it wasn't really THAT desolate, a giant tumbleweed rolled past my car... still beats the heck out of idaho, and for outdoor grows, the lower moisture means by and large bud rot and mold are non-issues (knock wood)

Out of curiosity, how much head room have you given your girls?

Small update, the easiest to measure (read, accessable) plant is my favorite from last season, my sannie's jack herer, it's 11 feet tall and a whopping 7 feet wide (and it's not supposed to finish for at least 3 more months... omfg)

It looks like one plant is starting to flower in the back (cotton candy), but nothing else is obviously starting to flower despite the fairly fragrant air coming up from the garden (uh oh). The sannie definitely smells like the dried nugs when you put your face in it (say while you're trying to tie back the branches so they don't start growing over the side fence into the neighbor's yard...)

despite the frequent high heat, the overcrowding on the top of the sheeting, the plants look incredible, the leaves that are starting to die and fall away are the ones you'd normally expect to and the rest of the plants are a vibrant green that even I notice.... I'm looking forward to a very pleasant thanksgiving

stsin said:

Out of curiosity, how much head room have you given your girls?

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My apologies for the delayed response, somehow I missed this question.

I started a thread a while back about "growing with limited sunlight", because my yard only gets around 6 hours of direct sunlight, and I was wondering how that much light would produce. So the spaces I planted in were in anticipation of having "half height" plants, slow growing stretchy plants that I trained diligently to keep them compact. Not what happened, at all.

I built an odd 5' x 10' structure, something that eventually could be turned into an actual greenhouse but this year just has some plastic pulled over it. It's about 5'5" tall at the edge of the roof, up to about 7' tall at the peak. The two plants in there -- before stretching -- are 5 and 6 feet tall at this point, but since they are in partially submerged 100 gallon pots, they sit taller. I'm afraid they are going to cram their way into the peak, and having buds up against plastic could be bad if condensation forms.

The other space is under an old kids play thing, which has horizontal rungs at about 6' and long bars running perpendicular at about 7'. I'll cover those upper bars with pipe insulation and then pull plastic over that whole unit come fall. But in the mean time, my wife planted grapes which run up the side and over the horizontal bars directly over the girls... so the buds and the grapes will no doubt meet up before this is all over.

We've tried to have fun with the whole thing, and think of the girls as part of the garden in general. I know a lot more now than I did four months ago. Sorry for the long response.

stsin said:

Small update, the easiest to measure (read, accessable) plant is my favorite from last season, my sannie's jack herer, it's 11 feet tall and a whopping 7 feet wide (and it's not supposed to finish for at least 3 more months... omfg.

It looks like one plant is starting to flower in the back (cotton candy), but nothing else is obviously starting to flower despite the fairly fragrant air coming up from the garden (uh oh). The sannie definitely smells like the dried nugs when you put your face in it (say while you're trying to tie back the branches so they don't start growing over the side fence into the neighbor's yard...)

despite the frequent high heat, the overcrowding on the top of the sheeting, the plants look incredible, the leaves that are starting to die and fall away are the ones you'd normally expect to and the rest of the plants are a vibrant green that even I notice.... I'm looking forward to a very pleasant thanksgiving

Click to expand...

Those are some huge girls you've got going. I'm in a neighborhood situation where if mine got that big, I'd be in serious trouble. I have a six foot fence, I'm 200 yards from the police station, and my plants can't legally be seen from the street. Two of my six were in 10 gallon pots, so when they got to be about 4' tall and I could still fit them in the car, I gave them away. As it is I should have more than we need and enough to draw too much attention (in terms of budding smells).

How this year finishes will tell me whether I grow outside again next year. I've already been hearing about buds being ripped off locally, and they were buds that were not even nearly ripe yet. I'm not sure that knowing that the thieves were idiots who didn't know what a bud looks like when its ready to be harvested, is a good thing or a bad thing in the big picture, but either way I'm not OK with it.

Anyway, don't mean to be a bummer. Sounds like you're going to have a great fall! I look forward to seeing more pictures.

Very nice garden stsin. I love outdoor gardens, but I have yet to have any good luck with an outdoor cannabis grow. As mentioned above by humanrob, one of the things that make outdoor tough for me this year is SECURITY. I am in a fairly private suburban subdivision, with a big hedge along one side of the garden, and a six foot fence to a downhill back yard along the adjacent side, and the uphill slope and house nearly blocking the view to the garden from the street. My outdoors plants were thriving, with three of them starting to flower pretty early, and putting on trichomes like fairy dust. Then they got whacked by a night crawling pot thief. There have been several return visits since then, and every plant but one has had the top and several branches hacked or broken off. The stuff that is left is still flowering out nicely, so I may still get a decent crop. Not sure how to catch the creep short of camping in the backyard, and I've never been prone to violence, so the booby traps are out. Thought about some video surveillance, but you need some money for that and I am a little short right now.

Anyway, you have to think about keeping your outdoor grow secure if you want to deter the crooks. My garden next year is going to be locked up somehow, and a watchdog isn't out of the question.

Thanks guys! I'm curious (concerned?) as well how security goes this year. Had no issues the first year, but I also had just 4 ~6 ft plants (on the other hand, thieves could have actually gotten to the plants without strangling themselves on the ropes, fishing line, and trellises) this year we'll see if the crooks come... I'm not too worried as things are pretty secure (there's always room for improvements though) Access to the garden is via a padlock locked gate that is next to the room I spend the vast majority of my time in, and is in the far side of the back yard from the entrance to the back yard (so they'll trip several flood lights walking through there, as well as the front floods.) The front bit of the side garden is inaccessible as it is protected by the sharpest thorn tree I've seen (possibly a neem tree but I think the person who identified that was high...) some raspberry bushes, and a hand full of roses along the fence line. I had to deal with those thorns (the tree's) to tie up the plants a bit better early this season and even with thick deer skin gloves it was unpleasant to say the least. Toss in that I'm in my room next to the garden until like 5am most nights, in the yard for a bit each night and my hermitude (in the last 2.5 years I've left the house empty for a total of 3 days ) and it's unlikely I'll be ripped off without my knowledge (I'm also not prone to violence, but I'll beat you about the head with a shotgun if you try to take the meds I've been obsessing over for the last 6 months ) Really you never know as thieves are annoying in that way so we'll just have to see how it goes With the final harvest my plans are still to take my allotted amount (1.5-2 lbs depending on which lawyer you listen to) and give the rest away (assuming there is a rest to be given away). Unfortunately I get immunity to a specific strain *really* easily so need as many plants as possible, if not much from each one (that's why there are 5 different strains this year ) I think next year (if I grow) I'll source some CBD heavy plants, and finish off the sugar cookie seeds I have. This time perhaps not starting quite so early

Wow, human, that's a challenging grow, you've definitely earned the buds that the plants give you!! I share your concern about the buds against the plastic, in theory pointing a fairly large fan at the peak of the roof will help keep the condensation down (it definitely helped in my case perhaps helped by the plastic sheeting being "textured" which further encouraged any condensation to flow downwards but I've not flowered yet, we'll see then if it was enough or if I need to come up with another plan...)

Nuevo, depending on what lengths you're willing to go to you could just opt for the tin cans on fishing wire method of announcing someone is in your garden (if you do this, put it low enough that it doesn't catch the wind) But if you do have a little cash, the driveway alarm/alert devices would be your best option for notification ($15-$50 on amazon).... You could even toss up one of those bogus video cameras with the blinking light (~$20) if you wanted to give the illusion of security being beefed up. It of course utterly sucks that one (or more) of your close neighbors is that much of a scumbag!

Yeah, I really have to take more pictures, but it's rediculously hard to make it look like anything other than a bloody solid hedge of cannabis.... first world problems indeed.

Went out for the (maybe?) final neeming of the trees and discovered one plant is solidly into flowering (I am fairly sure it's the cotton candy), and one branch of the jack is in the 3rd or 4th week of flowering. yes, ONE branch...apparently it was receiving less light than the rest of the plant and the plant managed to only push flowering at that one branch. I've not seen that before (male bits on one branch, sure), but this is also the first time I've had so much varried lighting conditions and I suppose the jack has arguably been in veg for the better part of a year... The rest of her looks like it might be entering flowering, but this was the plant that finished last november after teasing me all summer so I'm not falling for it again!

Anyways, took a few shots, will go through them and update with pictures later tonight/tomorrow.

Two quick canna pictures from my cell phone, one of the first jack bud, and one of the view from the gate... And a bonus pic of our first grapes for HR's mrs

Quick update as I fed the plants, sprayed (needed!) neem, and was able to poke around a bit. Two plants are now solidly into bloom (the hulk / J and the cotton candy) plus the branch of jack is doing nicely. The main jack and sugar punches are still not in bloom but that's ok ATM Sadly I do think I am going to lose a ton of yield by not raising the roof / keeping the plants from overgrowing the area up top to the point where they've wilted/yellowed rather substantially up there. However, that was part of the expirement, I wanted to see what would happen if I left them wild. Answer: several escape, those that don't, deal with it

I expect the further along plant into bloom (cotton candy) will be done around the 2nd week of sept (possibly third depending on how it fills in), Hulk is about a week behind it but in my experience matures QUICKLY so that might be made up. I think sugar and jack will still be late oct / early nov respectively. Since my new limit is 72 pounds, that removes the worry that I'd totally crush my 24 ounce limit, so full steam ahead!

Next spring (or in the winter if it is mild) I'll attempt to raise the roof another ~6 feet and see how next round goes. For now I'm quite happy with the progression and am looking forward to trying cotton candy soon(ish).

Happy growing all!