Arizona Outdoor Growing

[HyphyNstoneD]

I am about to start planting some marijuana outdoor in Arizona and I could use any help I can get. It will be very hot so does anybody know any ways to help my plants work through the heat??? Or any other help would be nice.

[Racefan]

avoid the sun during the hottest part of the days and use those water retention polymers. Your going to need to either container grow or dig holes and change out the sandy desert soil for a good potting soil. I grew up in Yuma for a while as a kid. Loved the desert.

[HyphyNstoneD]

Yes I am going to use pots and a good organic soil and I will add perlite which I think is what you are talking about, theyre little white balls that hold in water. I think I will take them out of the sun in the middle of the day though thats a good idea thx 4 the help.

[greenmonkey]

using a good mulch will help with retaining water. also if you can, use pots that arent colored black. im sure you know wearing black on a hot day is brutal.

[HyphyNstoneD]

Yesss very good idea what exactly is mulch though??? The soil mix I was planning on using is a controlled mix of organic potting soil, perlite, masonary sand, worm castings, and a good premix. Does anyone have any experience growing in such hot and dry conditions??? Is there a chance that because it is so hot out that the plants will die??? I think that as long as i keep them nice and moist and spray around the plants once a day to simulate humidity they will be ok... I hope...

[TorturedSoul]

If stealth isn't a requirement, maybe a shade/"roof" no bigger than the canopy and placed right over the plant so it blocks or at least cuts down on the direct sun around "high noon" but still allows 100% at all other times?

Regarding putting your pot in pots, I have had plants die in containers & look like they were baked while the same (type of) plants thrived in my garden. I don't know if the earth provided any insulating value or not, I guess in AZ in August it's probably too hot to lay on naked but what about a couple of feet down? Oh, and I just realized that your soil is probably bone dry and would suck up a good portion of the water that you give your girls. Now I get it (I'm slow lol).

What about one of those evaporative coolers that they use at some sporting events to keep the crowd from going toes up? Swamp coolers or whatever they're called that throw a mist?

And... Have you ever considered setting up a hydro system outside? You could even do a simple "giant bubbling reservoir" that the roots grew directly into although you'd want to seal the top as much as possible so that your only loss would be transpiration and not evaporation. It'd be kind of like a grow room with the best light ever lol (and maybe a few bugs).

[HyphyNstoneD]

I kinda thought bout doin that but I dont want to spend alot of money in case the sun does kill them and I dont really know enough about the hydroponics and stuff to do that. Ya it is a really hot time to be planting them i wouldnt do this but I have to grow them over the summer b4 i go back to college kuz i cant grow at my apartments down there and i dont really want to either. The soil would be to dry tho ya, waaaaaay to dry lol. The mister is a good idea i will look into it if i can find a descently priced one and same with the canopy i think im just going to move them into the shade during the hottest time of the day though.

[SoupDizzle]

I would put a cover ( what is it called " sheepcloth" or something like that) over the soil and every container to keep the direct light off, and I would put wood chips or mulch on top of soil as well. This will help you retain water and I might think about getting an extra bag of the big chunk perilite and mix it in with your soil.
If your worried about the direct light on your plant you could go buy that camo netting from a army surplus store. You know the stuff they use over some of there bases. It has big holes in it. That is if you can depending on your spot.

[sharecropper]

check out jardiniercorp and their subirrigation autopots...

its basically a double bucket where the top is the soil and the bottom bucket is a reservoir and the reservoir supply is wicked up via capillary action...

will hold 2-3 weeks worth of water.. definetly recommend the shading, and misters to increase humidity..

also, look into non-circulating hydroponic methods in a trashcan... minimal expenses required..

finally plant as many plants as possible, expecting some to die, but experimenting the whole time to find the best spot...

dig whole for the pots and set the pots inside the ground . use as big of pots as possible...

cover the tops of the pots with landscape fabric material or coffee grounds w/ filters

putting the containers in an area of ur backyard that has increased humidity (by a water feature perhaps?)

[HyphyNstoneD]

Good ideas man thx alot those pots sound awesome ill check um out n look at the prices n ya i should b planting around 10 or 15. Thx again.

[Racefan]

the water polymers I talked about are not perlite. Perlite aids in drainage. The polymers are like what's in a babies diaper. They start out as little grains and swell to geletin types blobs when wet. They then slowly release their moisture over time allowing a plant to go days or even weeks without watering.
Adding Water Absorbing Polymers

[TorturedSoul]

Originally Posted by Racefan

The polymers are like what's in a babies diaper. They start out as little grains and swell to geletin types blobs when wet. They then slowly release their moisture over time allowing a plant to go days or even weeks without watering.
Adding Water Absorbing Polymers

Oh your poor babies!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist (believe me, I tried).

[HyphyNstoneD]

Arite kool i take a look at um n maybe add them to my soil mix but would that affect the amount of watering that i would do??? Like would I have to water it less because those would hold more water in???

[highya]

I live in the Mojave desert, but the Sonoran desert poses most of the same challenges for growers. I do an indoor-outdoor organic grow, with individual plants in 3 gallon pots, and the pots set down in rolling garden carts.

Each cart has a layer of river rock on the bottom, upon which I pour water to help add moisture around the pots.

I wrap wet newspapers around every pot, then lay wet crumbled newspaper wads on the top of the soil of each plant.

I then drape the sides of the rolling cart with shadecloth, and extend the shadecloth over the tops of the soil. This works splendidly to keep the soil moist during the heat of the day in the desert.

I have found no problem with multiple strains--both Indica and Sativa dominant--in handling the heat of the desert sun, as long as the soil was kept cool.

I do bring my plants in at dusk, as they are now on 12/12, and into flowering. Indoors, we have air conditioning, and I also leave a humidifier on in the grow room. On cloudy or overcast days (not many, but it does happen), I leave the plants indoors with fluoros and cfl's over them, and around them. I don't have HPS or HID lights, so I augment the sun with 2 banks of overhead T5 fluoros, and CFL's on the sides.

I currently have 18 plants in flowering, and all are thriving, flowering profusely at every node. They are only 2 weeks into flowering, and have a ways to go, but they really do well getting natural sunlight.

[TorturedSoul]

I bet that method of "in and out" gives you a nice harvest.

Are you at all troubled by insects?

Do you allow the humidity to drop towards the end of flowering?