Mono Goes Outdoors - Summer 2015

[420Amard]

I dunno about canna plant but what im doing with mine right now is using biobizz light mix for the first two weeks then making a kinda buffer zone where I'm gonna mix light and all mix then just straight all mix. But it really depends on the strain and e.c of the soil i know the all mix is 2.4ec which can fry younger plants sometimes.

 

[Kushtie]

Aye, biobizz light seemed like the safe bet out what's available locally but had considered a layered mix with all mix too.

 

[420Amard]

I dunno I'm always a fan of experimenting with a few soils i got a philosophers cheesy autoflower just two days old the what buffer zone thing is what i was thinking but then again mine is going to be getting sun light and a few hours under a 30w 6400k light til it gets to far across for the light.

 

[420Amard]

Starfoam Anti-frost / Insulation Blanket - Growers Supply

As for heating you could either be a butane portable heater or make a mini greenhouse over each plant for at night or just do what people do here and throw a blanket over the plant at night to keep in the heat. Here we do that in the winter just at night tho and it should keep out the frost as well.
Kinda like in the link above only we just use any old blanket you can also do it to make it flower but removing it say at 7 and covering it again at 7 but thats a job and a half to cover and uncover. I was at a buddy's house and he had an automatic one on rollers which did his whole greenhouse.

 

[CA215]

Little late, going to slide on in the back for now. Will catch up later bud
Positive vibes Mono!

 

[cavalocansado]

I dunno about canna plant but what im doing with mine right now is using biobizz light mix for the first two weeks then making a kinda buffer zone where I'm gonna mix light and all mix then just straight all mix. But it really depends on the strain and e.c of the soil i know the all mix is 2.4ec which can fry younger plants sometimes.

I'm kind of doing the same, but maybe a bit simpler. Straight out of my journal:

I'm using Biobizz All-Mix mixed with perlite (approx. 2:1).
...
After filling the pots with soil/perlite mix, I hollowed out the middle (about 10cm deep/7cm wide) and filled it with regular peat/perlite mix. By the time roots find their way down to All-Mix, the little girls will be (hopefully) be strong enough.

We're at day 10, the girls look quite healthy.

Cheers!

 

[GrizzWald]

12/12 is irrelevant outdoors unless force flowering.. Flowering will start with still 14-16 hours of light... Are you worried about heat and your outdoor girls? Forget about it, unless your in a early frost or a snow area.. Doesn't even need to be thought about. Controlling the environment outdoors is, minimal shade, at least 8 hours of direct sunlight, so think about where the autumn sun sits. Watering, can go weeks unless your in a dry/ desert area. Pest? Treat at appropriate times. Flick that caterpillar off. Don't treat your plants for every pest when you see them. Share and controll the ones that get boisterous, lol....If you want to grow stress free plants, grow outdoors. I know you can grow, now allow your plants to show you how they grow, honestly... Shit, I thought that was a question, went back and read, opps...

 

[Kushtie]

12/12 is irrelevant outdoors unless force flowering.. Flowering will start with still 14-16 hours of light... Are you worried about heat and your outdoor girls? Forget about it, unless your in a early frost or a snow area.. Doesn't even need to be thought about. Controlling the environment outdoors is, minimal shade, at least 8 hours of direct sunlight, so think about where the autumn sun sits. Watering, can go weeks unless your in a dry/ desert area. Pest? Treat at appropriate times. Flick that caterpillar off. Don't treat your plants for every pest when you see them. Share and controll the ones that get boisterous, lol....If you want to grow stress free plants, grow outdoors. I know you can grow, now allow your plants to show you how they grow, honestly... Shit, I thought that was a question, went back and read, opps...

We had balls of ice falling from the sky a few minutes ago! Rain throughout the growing season is about 6cm a month but I don't think that'll bother Mono in his poly tunnel. Think it's more like 6cm an hour today though.

I'm sure if photos worked well outside up here I'd probably have smoked more of it over the years but I have never had any that I know of. Maybe that's a sign? I'm hoping that autos fare better in Scotland since they have been bred with something that can survive in Russia.

 

[GrizzWald]

Well that's another big miss on my behalf, Scotland, wow.. You'll have to force flower to finish. This changes so much. Um yeah, I'll shut up now. This will be so interesting to watch and see how you do this.

 

[Mono]

Little late, going to slide on in the back for now. Will catch up later bud
Positive vibes Mono!

Hey CA, glad to have you here my friend. Hope all is well with you? Stay safe brother

 

[Mono]

for all the info on soils guys

 

[Mono]

12/12 is irrelevant outdoors unless force flowering.. Flowering will start with still 14-16 hours of light... Are you worried about heat and your outdoor girls? Forget about it, unless your in a early frost or a snow area.. Doesn't even need to be thought about. Controlling the environment outdoors is, minimal shade, at least 8 hours of direct sunlight, so think about where the autumn sun sits. Watering, can go weeks unless your in a dry/ desert area. Pest? Treat at appropriate times. Flick that caterpillar off. Don't treat your plants for every pest when you see them. Share and controll the ones that get boisterous, lol....If you want to grow stress free plants, grow outdoors. I know you can grow, now allow your plants to show you how they grow, honestly... Shit, I thought that was a question, went back and read, opps...

Well that's another big miss on my behalf, Scotland, wow.. You'll have to force flower to finish. This changes so much. Um yeah, I'll shut up now. This will be so interesting to watch and see how you do this.

Awesome info! The daylight hours and flowering were something I was really needing confirmation on. I live 30 odd miles from the centre of Scotland, have seen snow on the ground at the end of May before. So certainly an area for early frosts and snows.

Heck, I never do anything that's easy but it must be possible to pull an outdoor crop in Scotland. Since this is under plastic I will be able to heat them if needed the last month or so of flowering if needed. That said, I don't think temperature is too big a deal if they get used to it.. had good yields with plants that had night time temps of 3 degrees Celsius for the whole flowering cycle.

Main pests we get is white fly, slugs and pesky moulds from tomatoes...

 

[Mono]

We had balls of ice falling from the sky a few minutes ago! Rain throughout the growing season is about 6cm a month but I don't think that'll bother Mono in his poly tunnel. Think it's more like 6cm an hour today though.

Haha the four seasons in a day keeps things interesting. Yeah no way could have gone 100% outdoor with all the rain we get, plants would literally be rotting at the stems.

 

[Kushtie]

Haha the four seasons in a day keeps things interesting. Yeah no way could have gone 100% outdoor with all the rain we get, plants would literally be rotting at the stems.

I'm willing to gamble 50 quids worth of materials on having autos done by early to mid September. I'll hopefully have good drainage but I guess if it rains for long enough, and it probably will, they'll get over watered and go droopy at times. Just gotta roll the dice and take my chances I guess.

 

[Mono]

I'm willing to gamble 50 quids worth of materials on having autos done by early to mid September. I'll hopefully have good drainage but I guess if it rains for long enough, and it probably will, they'll get over watered and go droopy at times. Just gotta roll the dice and take my chances I guess.

Autos will definitely be done within three months of planting the seeds. Why notbtry use a slightly sheltered area to protect them from the rain a bit?

 

[Mono]

Mixed the soil and planted the three Northern Lights Autos into their final pots. 20 litre square tubs. I usually only use 10 litre pots for autos and the tubs for photoperiod plants but figured I'd give the bigger pots a go.



Started with some canna terra professional soil and perlite

Mixed it together roughly 30% soil to perlite

Planted the seedlings

And finally top dressed with gravel for no reason other than stopping the cats digging around in the pots

 

[Kushtie]

Autos will definitely be done within three months of planting the seeds. Why notbtry use a slightly sheltered area to protect them from the rain a bit?

Aye, picked spots as sheltered as I can. The kind of place that makes a good spot to stop and roll a fat one on a shitty day lol

 

[Mono]

Aye, picked spots as sheltered as I can. The kind of place that makes a good spot to stop and roll a fat one on a shitty day lol

Nice one! Fingers crossed for a great summer!!

 

[Kushtie]

Nice one! Fingers crossed for a great summer!!

I'll toke to that.

Not sure I'd say growing indoors is easy as I've far from mastered it but growing outdoors is exciting in new ways. I'm looking forward to seeing a weed plant in natural light for the first time as I've only ever seen indoor grows. That would be a nice start. If I get a harvest at the end of it it'll be a bonus and it'll tell me I don't have to create so much work for myself indoors fannying about with buckets of water while the wee yin sleeps and getting it in the ear from the mrs about the leccy bill. Space outside is pretty much just limited to whatever I can get out and harvest within a limited window of opportunity, if we get good summers hopefully.

 

[SevenVeils]

Hi, I'll be reading along as well. I've learned a lot from your two previous journals, and I'm fascinated to see how it goes for you to grow outdoors in your climate. Hopefully all goes well and easily, with no outside interference this time!