2 Girls & 1 Kit: Major PITA Takes High Brix Outdoors, Summer 2015

[Duggan]

Hey Scrubbs...ya dude...you got it....she'le be just fine. Little tip when supercropping....gently warm the area up a little by rubbing and squeezing....try to get it nice and warm and soft...then bend it .They rarely crack like that if you sqeeze first and break the internal membrane. Oh ya btw How bout those Wings Scrubbs ...come on dude.....they're up 3-2 now. It must be Babs eh ....

 

[Major PITA]

There ya go dude! Clear cracks and im sure theyll be fine by the morning...Tuesday morning at the most

Thanks, man.
No worries here. I'm sure they will be fine.
I remember Doc saying the HB plants have stronger stems. I bet that makes them more difficult to bend w/o cracking.
I squeezed mine really good and then bent it back and forth some, moving it more down with each bend until it stayed where I want it.
Cheers!

 

[scrubby]

Hey Scrubbs...ya dude...you got it....she'le be just fine. Little tip when supercropping....gently warm the area up a little by rubbing and squeezing....try to get it nice and warm and soft...then bend it .They rarely crack like that if you sqeeze first and break the internal membrane. Oh ya btw How bout those Wings Scrubbs ...come on dude.....they're up 3-2 now. It must be Babs eh ....

Who just took their series homey?!?! Hahahaha!!! Im rootin for the wings too tho bro! I was a fan back in the lil stevie days

 

[Duggan]

Who just took their series homey?!?! Hahahaha!!! Im rootin for the wings too tho bro! I was a fan back in the lil stevie days

Fuck sakes brotha....they had them at 3 games to 2. What the......? Ya ...the Habs look good with Price in there for em!Wings have to pull off a game 7 win in enemy territory now.....not good. I'm really hoping Pavel and Z will come thru. Hope Kronwall doesn't get suspended for that hit last night.....the guy got Kronwalled....

 

[Major PITA]

No idea what is going on with my Pitbulls. They no longer look vibrant. Instead, both are flaccid and droopy.
They are in different soil mixes but have the same problem. If I didn't know better, I'd say they are over or under-watered. The Ace of Spade cuttings seem to have taken off in the same soil so I'm at a loss to explain it. I'll try to post some pictures later today in my weekly update.

A question for anyone who has grown outdoors in pots -
What do you do to control soil/root temperature? Is it even a problem? I feel like the black pots, sitting in the sun, could be cooking the roots. When it is 85 degrees outside, the pots in full sun feel like they could be well over 100 degrees! Eventually, when up-potted, my 25 gal. pots are buried so it won't be an issue.

 

[flowerfarmer]

When I grew in containers outdoors I would stack rocks or something around the pots to shade them from the direct sunlight. I can tell you from my experience, plants do much better in the ground when grown outside.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Doc Bud]

No idea what is going on with my Pitbulls. They no longer look vibrant. Instead. both flaccid and droopy.
They are in different soil mixes but have the same problem. If I didn't know better, I'd say they are over or under watered. The Ace of Spade cuttings seem to have taken off in the same soil so I'm at a loss to explain it. I'll try to post some pictures later today in my weekly update.

A question for anyone who has grown outdoors in pots -
What do you do to control soil/root temperature? Is it even a problem? I feel like the black pots, sitting in the sun, could be cooking the roots. When it is 85 degrees outside, the pots in full sun feel like they could be well over 100 degrees! Eventually, when up-potted, my 25 gal. pots are buried so it won't be an issue.

Yep. The rootballl can really heat up.

I've stapled burlap to the pots and kept it wet, put ice on the soil....all kinds of thing to keep the roots cool. They like to be at 68 degrees.

 

[Major PITA]

I'll see what I can come up with to shade and/or reflect the sun to keep the pots cooler. I may have to transplant earlier than I want.

The weird thing is the AoS plants are probably getting just as hot but they appear perky. When they need water you can see them begin to wilt. After a drench, they reach for the sky. The only way I can tell the Pitbull girls need water is by lifting the pots to see how light they've become. After their drench - no change.

 

[Doc Bud]

I'll see what I can come up with to shade and/or reflect the sun to keep the pots cooler. I may have to transplant earlier than I want.

The weird thing is the AoS plants are probably getting just as hot but they appear perky. When they need water you can see them begin to wilt. After a drench, they reach for the sky. The only way I can tell the Pitbull girls need water is by lifting the pots to see how light they've become. After their drench - no change.

Sounds like root damage.

You mentioned you're in a different soil mix? What type of soil are you in?

 

[Major PITA]

Sounds like root damage.
You mentioned you're in a different soil mix? What type of soil are you in?

In the HB kit soil I am growing one Pitbull and one Ace of Spades. In an organic soil mix (not HB), I'm growing the same, one each of the two strains. So a total of four plants; two HB and two not HB.

The only issue I've had with my Ace of Spade plants is I had to stake them up. We've had some pretty strong wind for the past week, or so. The HB soil is quite light and after a drench, the soil is fairly "fluid" for a while. With the wind, the plants were moving around and creating a hole in the soil. When they dry out a bit that hole wasn't providing as much support as they needed. After staking, they seem fine. I hope to remove the support when I up-can them.

 

[scrubby]

Get some old white towels and wrap em around that pot and keep em wet? Walfart or dollar ungeneral would have some for cheap if you dont have spares around the house dude

 

[scrubby]

When I grew in containers outdoors I would stack rocks or something around the pots to shade them from the direct sunlight. I can tell you from my experience, plants do much better in the ground when grown outside.

Just my 2 cents.

I agree! My greenhouse gets over 90 but that lil auto is loving life!!! Shes buried in soil. I thought about putting her out there in a smart pot...glad I didnt

 

[Major PITA]

OK my friends, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly. I was dreading this week's update but I figure what the heck! I'm learning and with some 420 assistance, I'm feeling confident about turning things around.

This is day 16 for my Ace of Spades cuttings and day 18 for the Pitbulls. AoS are all doing fine. I added some (temporary) support because of high winds. They get up-canned tomorrow into 1 gal. pots. In addition to the wind, we have had crazy warm weather - near record highs. For Oregon to hover between 85 and 90 degrees in April is ... nuts.

The High Brix girls all got their usual foliars this week (one each Brix and De-Stress). In addition, the HB PB got an extra De-Stress when it started to fade. The drenches have been three days apart.

I blame our hot weather and my lack of experience for the droop in the Pitbulls. I likely let the roots get cooked some. My solution was to up-can them from 1 gal. to 7 gal. pots. I would have waited another week to get them more root bound, but wanted to get a look at the roots and I figure the added soil will help buffer the temperature. In addition, I have an idea for a "cannabis cozy" to help keep the bigger pots cooler (more on that tomorrow). Finally, we are going to be seeing some seasonably cooler weather in a couple of days, so hopefully the worst is behind me.

All plants grew only about 1" this week, but I'm OK with that because the PBs were topped and I could see good branch development ... until the poop hit the fan.

Here we have some pretty happy AoS cuttings that have rooted and are still in their original pots (HB soil).

Here we have two very sorry Pitbull puppies in 1 gal. pots. One is HB and one is an organic soil mix.

Here is my attempt to save the Pitbulls - a move to 7 gal. pots. You can see the roots, both good and bad. Sorry for the crap photos. My phone is acting weird - not focusing most of the time.

Prepping the hole

Plenty of Roots!

Nice white roots across the bottom (not as hot), but more brown as they go up the pot.

More Roots! Scoring isn't visible. I didn't do a lot but it is there.

Done and in its new home. Time will tell. Hopefully next week will look much better.

Hopefully the larger pots was a good idea. I'll update again tomorrow once I get the AoS cutting up-canned and try out my 7 gal. cozy.

for the help!

 

[Doc Bud]

Yep, the roots got too hot. Simple as that.

If you're going to have a heatwave again, try to

1. Shade them
2. staple burlap or some other cloth to the outside of the pots and keep the cloth wet. Evaporation will keep things cool
3. place ice cubes on top of the soil

If it were me, I'd top those pitbulls to take strain off the roots and give the plant a chance to recover. There's still time for it to heal up and grow.

 

[Duggan]

Mornin Major ....ya ...roots don't like those black pots outside.Sounds like Doc and Scrubbs had a few good ideas there for ya. The white towel way ,or the burlap sounds good. Look like they needed to go into bigger pots anyhow eh? Next week after they hook up to those big pots your gonna love em...they'le look great! Cheers and have a great day pal.....another lucky one that gets to have fun outside....

 

[Major PITA]

Thanks for the feedback guys!
Today is the day I would normally give Brix. Since I just up-potted and the HB PB is droopy, should I NOT to go ahead with my usual schedule or just keep on keepin' on?
Believe it or not the Pitbull in HB looks a little better already this morning. Supposed to get up to about 80 today. I'll try my idea for cooling the pots and see how it goes. I still need to up-pot the AoS today.

 

[Major PITA]

The AoS girls made it to their new temporary home (1 gal.) with flying colors. This is my down and dirty solution to keep the pots cooler in the warm weather. We have white trash bags that are just about the perfect size. They are tall enough to keep sun off the top of the soil and loose enough I can pack them with wet towels or rags if needed. I am also putting the pots on 2x4 scraps. That keeps them off the hot ground and lets air circulate under them. Hopefully that will do the job until the end of the month when they go in the ground. Most likely the heat wave will end today or tomorrow, anyway. I went ahead with Brix for the HB plants.

HB AoS on the right and OG AoS on left with the recovering HB PB in the back. It already looks a little better.

 

[MaxYields]

Lookin' great man

 

[Duggan]

Hey Major....your right on track eh,lookin good. They're gonna be massive at the end of the summer.Are they gonna get lots of sun?

 

[Major PITA]

Hey Major....your right on track eh,lookin good. They're gonna be massive at the end of the summer.Are they gonna get lots of sun?

Thanks Dugs! Two days in the new pot and the HB Pitbull looks great. The other is much better, but lagging a little in its recovery.
We live in a river valley so early and late is shaded by the surrounding mountains. They will get full sun the rest of the time, but the first and last two hours of each day will be indirect sun I'm afraid.