PeeJay's Prudent Home-Brewed Organic Soil - Outdoor Out of Sight Deck Grow

Thanks ill have to check all of those out. I have had a nice bit of free time the last couple days with just me and the dogs. Spent some time reading some cool journals. This guy bud grant is into TLO like I am and his journal is hilarious. I bet that guy is really funny in real life. Wife has been in Denver. She is now on her way back and we will be doing some camping by a nice lake in a spot nobody knows about.

I may be able to harvest critical kush when I get back. :)
 
Bud is funny indeed! Have fun camping. Sadly, I'm chained to the computer for the immediate future. Have some major adventuring scheduled from the middle of July through the middle of August planned, and a trip to Aspen the week after Labor Day, W00T!
 
praying.jpg


I moved the pepper plant over by the cannabis. If Ms. Mantis wants to move onto the weed that would be fine with me!

Awesome photograph. Awesome challenge your way. Wanted to take a peek at what single rH looked like in real life. I have a question about a photo from wayyyy before, like page 1. :) Was there a dianthus in among st your pot pots? If you don't mind my being a true ass instead of a pretend one,is a koi pond or some asparagus ferns out of the question at your place?

This is me trying to imagine a way to raise the humidity by way of photosynthesis. Forget the fish pond, I musta been smoking something.

:cheer:

Sorry for barging in.
The ever modest Marion
 
:welcome: Swanga.

Marion, yes I have a couple of dianthus. They've been blooming continuously - most of the winter in the greenhouse and the whole time they've been out on the deck. I chopped them way back about three weeks ago and they are really putting on a show now.

I have a little pondless waterfall, trees that partially shade the deck, and many plants around. Overnight the humidity will increase to around 35%, but as soon as the sun starts blazing in the crystal clear high desert sky the rH plunges. Right now it is almost 6:00 a.m. It is 67 degrees and 36% rH out on the deck. By 10:00 it will be high 80's and single digit rH. Fortunately the winds have diminished in the last week or so. When it's breezy in those conditions it only increases the evapotranspiration rates further. In a few more weeks the summer weather pattern changes and we get increased rH and late afternoon rain showers frequently with bright sunny mornings. It will be ideal.

Growth rate is good right now. The leaves are not able to hold onto much water, however, and lack the bright deep green color, shiny waxy cuticle and fleshy look that are the hallmark of very healthy plants. Part of that may also be attributed to the 137 days of torture veg...
 
PeeJay said:
:welcome: Swanga.

Marion, yes I have a couple of dianthus. They've been blooming continuously - most of the winter in the greenhouse and the whole time they've been out on the deck. I chopped them way back about three weeks ago and they are really putting on a show now. I was trying to wrap my head around a climate that would produce such gorgeous dianthus and yet be so hot and dry.

I have a little pondless waterfall, trees that partially shade the deck, and many plants around. Overnight the humidity will increase to around 35%, but as soon as the sun starts blazing in the crystal clear high desert sky the rH plunges. Right now it is almost 6:00 a.m. It is 67 degrees and 36% rH out on the deck. By 10:00 it will be high 80's and single digit rH. Fortunately the winds have diminished in the last week or so. When it's breezy in those conditions it only increases the evapotranspiration rates further. In a few more weeks the summer weather pattern changes and we get increased rH and late afternoon rain showers frequently with bright sunny mornings. It will be ideal.

Growth rate is good right now. The leaves are not able to hold onto much water, however, and lack the bright deep green color, shiny waxy cuticle and fleshy look that are the hallmark of very healthy plants. Part of that may also be attributed to the 137 days of torture veg...
Click to expand...

Thank you kindly for your gracious welcome. I grew up in Pittsburgh Pa and moved a whole 100 miles north a few years ago, so I've no real life experience with any drastic zone change.

I have a couple of weird ideas. The first one, the first gardener thought I had was to stake it up. Total gardener to gardener reaction. Those poor, dear girls, having to use the energy to lift themselves up all the time just seems so hard! Then I went on a little google trip to learn about transpiration. Here is a suggestion, totally out of left field, but here it goes. What if you put a tomato cage kind of thing around your girls, then put cheescloth over the whole shabang when it starts getting filthy dry? Or a dry cleaning bag? The last part of my idea has to do with cooling the roots. Set the pots on ice packs. Or something like that.

Forgive me, I did not read your whole journal, so if anythng I've said is obviously out of the question, I'll send you a gallon of wine.

Marion
 
Excellent suggestions, Flwr! They merit some reflection. First of all, there are thing I know I can do to improve the situation. For example I could swaddle the containers in a couple of layers of burlap and keep the burlap damp. That would go a long way towards increasing the rH in proximity to the plants. I should also probably mulch the top of the soil with straw or something and keep that moist... But heck, I meet my medication needs just fine. It is more fun for me thinking about what strains do well in dry climates. I think the Mama Mia from my first grow would be a champ. Unfortunately it stinks like skunk to high heaven! Mama Mia is Mazar-i-Sharif x Early Skunk. The Mazar genetics seem to like the dry conditions... I've also grown Darkstar which is Mazar x Purple Kush. That weed is a real ass-kicker with all indica genetics. It will put you on the couch and make you too lazy to even change the channel. It did really well here. That reminds me, I need to pop a bean of that and get it going inside. I would like to see how it does in a porta-scrog... Here are some pictures of Darkstar:

P1030071.jpg


P10300831.jpg


notm13.jpg


Your most interesting observation is the one about framing and keeping the plant tight! It doesn't have as much to do with the energy the plant needs to keep itself upright as it does with how it affects the humidity and temperature in the immediate vicinity of the plant. It also has a ton to do with the concepts of "opening a plant up" and defoliation. I flat out refuse to comment on defoliation in anyone's journal. It's a situational management decision with a ton of variables - and one that pulls dogmatic pundits out of the woodwork like almost no other...

Let's say it's hot outside and you and I are going to set a couple of chairs in the shade and pull on a gallon jug of cheap pink wine. We have two choices; we can sit in the shade of a wall or set out chairs under a big shade tree. Which is going to be more comfortable? The dense shade tree is transpiring. The breeze moving through the leaves adds some evaporative cooling to the mix. Lets sit under the tree, shall we? Yes, let's do. Have a slug of the wine. Here you go, have some of this. :passitleft:

There are two plants on the deck. One was opened way up, and one was left tight. Guess which one is doing better? Right! The one that is compact and dense. The environment is more humid around the dense plant. Ok, maybe folks will say that the stress from bending the other one down and opening it up accounts for the difference. I don't think that, though. I feel that the plant creates it's own micro-climate - is cooling and moistening itself better than the opened-up one.

In a moister environment where mold is a bigger issue, a defoliated or opened up plant would be more desirable. So, you see, I have a little experiment going on. I could add more variables to the mix by mulching, burlap swaddling, etc... More variables only add more confounding factors to the end result. Since I meet my medication needs comfortably and grow some decent weed, why muddy the waters?

As far as the warm welcome; you deserve it. I adore your delivery and sardonic sense of humor. You are a thinking and shrewd individual. It will be fun to see how you grow as a grower, and fun is the operative word.
 
It's 79 degrees and 47% here at the moment. :cheesygrinsmiley: It's not that nice 6 months from now, though.

Do you have any idea how that RH translates to dew point in your climate? That's a better, unrelative, measure of humidity. My dewpoint is 57, but that might be 1% rh at 104 degrees.
 
The official reporting station undoubtedly has more accurate equipment than I do. According to them, and where the recording station sits (may be farther down in the valley) the humidity is currently 9%. Whatever is the real number, the temperature would have to fall way below freezing for the atmosphere to give up any moisture in the form of dew ( picture a few small ice crystals dancing in the sun on a frigid blue bird day.) It is BONE DRY.
 
PeeJay said:
LOL

It's 4:00 p.m. here. The thermometer is in the partial shade of the ratty locust trees.

montemp.jpg


:party::tommy::rocker::theband::goof:
Click to expand...

I am so jealous, it never gets above 80 here although 104 is a little on the hot side. Always easier to get cool versus getting warm imo.
 
#22 lol...
 
I spent several years in Seattle, Dyold. I know what you're talking about. The heat of the day can get a bit much here sometimes, but now that evening has rolled around it's very nice. I'm sitting out on the deck with my tablet reading some Bill Bryson and checking out the forums right now. Temp has dropped to 78 - puuuurrrrrrfect. No matter how hot it gets during the day, we have great sleeping weather.
 
PeeJay said:
Great question, Gray. According to the current conditions for my zip code, NOAA says the dew point is 24 degrees.
Click to expand...

Heheh, if you can't get dew to form until you get below 24 ... yup, that's certifiably bone dry. :straightface: You won't even get frost until 24 degrees.

So I guess cold glasses don't sweat much in your climate? :laughtwo: That's handy, at least.
 
<---passing the bottle of wine back atcha, and wiping my mouth with my other hand. Just being polite and all that. But, HOO, wee, it sher is hot visiting out your way. Back where I come from we always say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."

You guys and your dang power tools! Like it's not enough to open a window, you gotta call up satallites and some such. I know there is some kind of ratio between humidity and temperature and figgered with your lack of humidity we'd have to be living in an icebox.. Can't imagine strolling around comfortably in my underwear in a freaking ice box...oh no, I just got another idea. Call out the Mounties! What about this?

Though I have never been in a desert with or without coffee, I do, of course, know the key to survival there. ::blushing modestly:: If ya get really, really thirsty, getting a drink is a snap! Really, I know this. All you have to do is get a tarp kind of thing, rig it up on a few stakes, put a rock in the center of the tarp, put a water glass under the rock, then run like hell to the nearest bar!

I still like the idea of a loose stake because no matter what the science is, if I were a plant, my arms would get awful tired doing jumping jacks.

Off to my page. I am getting thirsty and I need to have a new anxiety attack in my room
:love:
Marion
 
Lets put it this way, Gray. I stuck a can of beer in the freezer earlier and forgot about it. It froze, dammit. The can of frozen beer is sitting on the counter thawing, and there isn't a drop of condensation on the outside of the can. That will change, hopefully, in a couple of weeks.
 

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