High desert growing question:

Hey all, I'm pondering if to grow in the high desert (ultra low precipitation/humidity, tons of sun, and what I consider very high heat in the peak of summer) on my upper deck with or without a greenhouse. The plants will be irrigated and fed so I can make up for the distinct lack of water (AVG percip per month in this neck of the woods is < 0.50 inches between june and oct, and it's been a dry year so far). Due to cost concerns the greenhouse I would use would be one of those "portable" 6.5 foot tall jobbies so the plants would need to be limited to 6' (including pots). I'm thinking to manage that I'll do the 8 or 16 colas route in a 4 (or 5) gallon container.

The advantages i see of the green house are:
1) it's a bit harder to see the plants (though I am legal, and the house is taller than the majority of surrounding houses so being on the second floor deck makes it fairly hard to be seen anyways)
2) it's a bit harder for bugs to get at the plants (not a lot since I can't afford a proper greenhouse, but a little, likewise having the planters up off the ground will help so this is ever so slightly true without a greenhouse too)
3) the smell is more contained
4) the plants only get wet when I want them to (VERY minor concern given the lack of moisture here)
5) at the end it's easier to keep the plants warm

The disadvantages:
1) the smell is contained so I have to in theory figure out a way to add carbon filtration exhaust to a plastic greenhouse without causing the greenhouse to fail when it's windy
2) height issues
3) have to figure out how to cool the greenhouse since the plastic ones are really designed for use when you want to keep plants warm, not when it's 110F in the sun.


Anyone want to chime in to say I am missing other Pros and cons etc?


My thoughts are since I'm limited to 6 flowering girls I will grow 2 or 3 outside and 3 or 4 inside for the first year. Most likely 2 out 4 in since I should be able to get nearly 3 harvests indoors during the one harvest outside (though, knock wood the outside harvest will be massive.)

Thanks for the input

Carport!...........

LMAO, I love your creativity (does costco still sell those? On their website they now only list an item that's over a grand) but for two (or 3) plants i'm thinking anything 12+ feet long is a bit overkill and will make the deck somewhat unusable (note to self, measure deck.) But frick if you didn't grow yourself some amazing trees planted into the ground I do have too much grass in the back yard.... I will have to ponder that for a long term option as I *think* the yard is pretty well shaded (for now!)

However, for the first year at the house the goal is to not take over too much of the deck so people can still access it and go down to the main level of the yard from the second floor. At the moment I'm thinking if I do do a greenhouse to do the "Palram HG5304G Harmony 6ft x 4ft" hobby greenhouse as it's not too much more than a plastic one of the equivalent height, has a vent and should withstand hail and having a stoned caretaker more... But really, you're right, I could just build my own of whatever size and cover it in solexx for the top and sunshades on the side for airflow...

Anybody have advise for stsin. I really do want to hear peoples thoughts on this one. I could benefit greatly from this. Where I live hits 115+ and humidity drops to 16. I will most likely rock some outdoor this year as a test. Insight is always good though.

You can easily leave out some pieces and make a smaller carport to fit your deck. You can pick up used carport frames off craigslist for $50.
Carports work better than greenhouses for mj.
Good luck......https://www.rollitup.org/outdoor-growing/634073-doublejj-carport-greenhouse-discussion-thread.html

IIRC a user here grows in the high desert doing winter grows....read about it a while ago...cant recall who...(sorry)

Well, while at the local home depot buying locks and paint I saw this cute little thing cheap as chips and think I will start with it and work my way up to something proper. Should work for my limited number of plants and has stake holes that I can instead bolt to the deck if need be as I'm pretty sure the actual yard is too well shaded. Sadly there were no carport frames on CL within driving distance of my location for < $500 and most were >1k, so I opted for the $100 temporary solution. Due to height restrictions (6'5" at the most) I am definitely planning on topping / mainlining. Now I just have to decide what strain(s) will live outside....

I saw a stack of carports at Costco yesterday, $229.........

That was me who voted greenhouse, as you are in arid condition to be near and nurse your plants is what its all about, veg in the sun in spring and summer move to the green house come early to mid summer, plants don't grow over 85f, ensure the plants have some shade at midday or too hot? .. grow at night under T5 or HPS

$229 Costco carport........this is what your looking for.

I tred to vote for carport.

vostok said:

That was me who voted greenhouse, as you are in arid condition to be near and nurse your plants is what its all about, veg in the sun in spring and summer move to the green house come early to mid summer, plants don't grow over 85f, ensure the plants have some shade at midday or too hot? .. grow at night under T5 or HPS

Click to expand...

Plants don't grow over 85f? weird....
We had 100f+ for weeks, mine did awesome (2000 sq ft canopy).

Re: carport prices and various people suggesting carport: Hmmmm, that will definitely be an option somewhere other than the deck. And once again, I like the ingenuity and when I have the room (non shaded) down below I'll think about the carport / canopy route seriously. I did find them "Caravan Canopy 10' X 20' Domain Carport Garage"
for < $120 shipped at walmart too. BUT I do not have the room for it on the deck. Even if it's separated into 4 pieces (it looks like the costco one is from that picture, as opposed to just 2 at wally world) it is still 10' in one direction to facilitate the car (width wise they're not sectional unless you remove the roof and seriously tweak the design.) So it really won't fit on the deck, there is no space for a 10 ft x even 5 ft enclosure without seriously inconveniencing the wife (who is already agreeing to a 40 minute commute so I can be legal so pissing her off is not in the game plan). The top floor of the deck is 12' x 12', there's a roof overhang along the house wall, and then there are built in benches on all three of the sides that I'd want to shove the carport in that drop available floor space down further. The middle floor of the deck is 95% full of an 8 person hot tub (+ it's shaded by a couple flowering mature trees even if I were willing to ditch the soon to be welcome back release), and then the downstairs deck is mostly covered by the upper deck. So for at least the first year in the new house, there will be no carport on the deck. There is however (barely) room for this 5' x 6' cheapo greenhouse that I can tweak as need be (e.g. keep the frame, recover it, add to the frame, whatever.) I'll lose a bit of height (unless I raise the roof) but since I'll be only doing 2 plants I'm planning on encouraging multi tops, and I think 5' width should be sufficient. If it's not, I'll be back here saying I figured out how to route everyone downstairs rather than on the upstairs deck and that I went with a carport after cutting out the benches or perhaps after cutting down the shade trees in the yard... However, I'm not willing to break out the chainsaw on either the trees or the deck at this moment. I'm just playing with outside growing to see what the results smoke like (I'll clone and grow the same strain indoors as well) by and large I'm planning to constantly harvest indoor my remaining 4 plants during the outdoor season, and bump it up to 6 when outdoor is not sufficient. We'll see if I change my tune after my first outdoor harvest.

Garden Boss said:

Plants don't grow over 85f? weird....
We had 100f+ for weeks, mine did awesome (2000 sq ft canopy).

Click to expand...

BTW beautiful canopy! And later, beautiful huge buds I'm definitely in the wrong state.... But it still beats the other surrounding states minus cali Perhaps if the plants outgrow the mini greenhouse I'll let them flap in the breeze as yours seem to have done ok... We'll see. Should be fun to play outdoors. I'm *really* hoping to grow out some Sannie's Jack Herer as I've loved most of his work, and JH leaning towards a "super" strong sativa interests me. Hopefully it will finish before mid/late October. We'll see if if that's the case. I'm hoping to move them outside in the middle of april and go from there... Next year I'll be able to do an outdoor grow of my current favorite seeds, but I don't think I'll have picked a winner and a female in time to get them outside early enough as what... you want to be outside and ready by at the latest mid may in this area (44 latitude)?

Actually that brings up another question. What size pot should I be thinking of using to grow 2 plants outside with 5'x6' of width? Since I'm thinking of mainlining in theory the plants will be nice bushes about 2.5' to 3' wide , and shouldn't reach more than ~5' tall each. If they grow more than this I'll likely have to ditch the green house and go back to the naked growing plans on opposite sides of the deck where they can be my quasi hedges. Mind you there's also a former fish pond with waterfall that would make an epic hydro container but I believe it is very well shaded

stsin said:

Actually that brings up another question. What size pot should I be thinking of using to grow 2 plants outside with 5'x6' of width? Since I'm thinking of mainlining in theory the plants will be nice bushes about 2.5' to 3' wide , and shouldn't reach more than ~5' tall each. If they grow more than this I'll likely have to ditch the green house and go back to the naked growing plans on opposite sides of the deck where they can be my quasi hedges. Mind you there's also a former fish pond with waterfall that would make an epic hydro container but I believe it is very well shaded

Click to expand...

2 plants outside ...3-5 us gallon aero pots sounds good

Because of your high heat, go with the biggest pots you can manage. They will hold more water. I'd go minimum 10 gallons.

you don't think you may have heat problems indside the greenhouse? i'm going to admit i don't have that kind of heat here so i don't know but i would guess that the plants set right out on the porch would work best. especially with no exaust fan it will get hot and with no breeze it will be hell. i do know a few things about greenhouses as i work in them, we have units the are fully capable of exausting themselves otherwise they wouldn't work when it gets even in the 90s. my guess is naked on the porch with maybe even a removeable shade cloth 75% transparent that you can put up and down at will may be the best option. that way the breeze will hit them but they would also have protection for days that get over 100.

also that would solve your height issues as well.

go with huge pots since your legal go with the biggest you can cram in your space with no worries. as the guy stated above bigger pots less watering but even better less restrictions of roots =big yeilds.

45gl smart pots, you won't be sorry.....