Rain protection? Ideas?

[RPsmoke]

Hey guys. Have a small outdoor grow going on (journal is going on, just hoping for more response here).

Anyway... forcast is for some light rain. Maybe only two days or so. Trying to organize a better plan to cover the plants. Think I'll be heading out and getting some wide, thick visqueen and do a make-shift tent/canopy.

Wondering what other people do?

These plants are in the ground... so moving them is not an option.

 

[SnowBender]

What i have used in the past...

 

[ptg701]

I don't get it.

Whenever I grew outside, I was happy when rain fell on my plants.

The plants were even happier.

 

[RPsmoke]

SnowBender - Genius sir! haha Never would of thought of doing something that easy! Always got to make it harder on myself.

Ended up buying some visqueen. Some 20' x 100' so I'll have plenty. I have rebar and pvc pipe laying around, going to make a make-shift tent. It's not suppose to rain much at all.

ptg - Some strains are more mold resistant then other. The type of weather always plays a large role. I have lost entire plants after a rain and lack of care (on my part). Bud mold takes over and makes it worthless. The water can work it's way into the buds and make for a great breeding ground for mold and fungus. Not every time, and like I said, some strains do better then others.

FWIW I have also had plants rained on, with no negatives... but after losing a good chunk of the harvest... you can call me over-paranoid! lol Also, rain can make the buds super heavy, and can bring down already stressed out branches. I have trellis and support, but with wind and rain, you can still lose some.

 

[SnowBender]

Light to moderate rain is a blessing, its those nasty long downpours followed by warm sunshine that will rot colas faster than speedy gonzales on crack.

 

[GreenLove]

SnowBender - Genius sir! haha Never would of thought of doing something that easy! Always got to make it harder on myself.

Ended up buying some visqueen. Some 20' x 100' so I'll have plenty. I have rebar and pvc pipe laying around, going to make a make-shift tent. It's not suppose to rain much at all.

ptg - Some strains are more mold resistant then other. The type of weather always plays a large role. I have lost entire plants after a rain and lack of care (on my part). Bud mold takes over and makes it worthless. The water can work it's way into the buds and make for a great breeding ground for mold and fungus. Not every time, and like I said, some strains do better then others.

FWIW I have also had plants rained on, with no negatives... but after losing a good chunk of the harvest... you can call me over-paranoid! lol Also, rain can make the buds super heavy, and can bring down already stressed out branches. I have trellis and support, but with wind and rain, you can still lose some.

word. If you watched my progress this summer you know what one good rain storm can do. I feel ya and gl

 

[RPsmoke]

Light to moderate rain is a blessing, its those nasty long downpours followed by warm sunshine that will rot colas faster than speedy gonzales on crack.

You got it. Turned out not tooooooo bad I think. Was pretty cruddy wether all weekend long, but now it seems back to normal.

The visqueen with 10' tall "tent poles" worked out pretty well. Kept everything fairly dry. A couple plants still have a few weeks, so hopefully they'll come around. Definitely took some abuse.

word. If you watched my progress this summer you know what one good rain storm can do. I feel ya and gl

Sorry to hear man. I must have missed it, sorry. I have pics of plants I lost 2 years ago to rain. It hurts throwing away budding plants... I feel for ya bro. Hopefully you have backups or other grows? Not left dry? Wish this Cannabis atmosphere was more open and friendly... where we could all share and help more freely. Wish you only the best!

 

[SnowBender]

You got it. Turned out not tooooooo bad I think. Was pretty cruddy wether all weekend long, but now it seems back to normal.

I was in lake county this weekend and it rained fairly hard from there north, but south of there it was fairly light. So nice to see all the roadside grows up there! we played 'weed slug bug', instead of VW's we got to punch each other for each grow we could see from the road.

-leaf blowers work great for getting rain water off plants.

 

[RPsmoke]

I was in lake county this weekend and it rained fairly hard from there north, but south of there it was fairly light. So nice to see all the roadside grows up there! we played 'weed slug bug', instead of VW's we got to punch each other for each grow we could see from the road.

-leaf blowers work great for getting rain water off plants.

HAHA awesome. That's pretty funny. I love walking around this time of year. You can just smell the gardens as you pass by! Next time I'll have to make a game of it.

Leaf blower - great idea.

 

[kushybuns]

Just another quick idea for rain cover if your grow area is not too large. I use the clear plastic, too. But I start out early putting 4 posts in the ground--easier to do this when the plants are still small, so I'm not damaging them while I'm doing construction! I have to keep my plants to under 6' so they don't peek over the neighbor's fence here in the subdivision! Into those posts, I screw some large eyehooks near the top of the posts. I build a frame with cross supports out of 2x2 and 1x2 lumber (cheap to get at Lowe's) that fits between all the posts. I usually don't put the frame piece up until it is getting close to time for rain. Then I secure it to the posts with the eyebolts and tiewire and cover the frame with the clear plastic sheeting. Makes a quick makeshift greenhouse and saves the buds from mold. If you have power nearby, you can even put a couple fans in the "greenhouse" to keep the humidity down.

 

[RPsmoke]

kushybuns - thanks for posting. That is a dang good idea! I figure next year I will definitely not grow as large. It's fun and all, but a lot of extra hassle. I'll be keeping them smaller, and will be building little frames around each plant for extra trellis and a make shift rain protection like you described. Would definitely come in handy and look a lot cleaner then the mickey mouse visqueen tent I set up! lol Thanks again for posting your tips.