Finishing the 2022 outdoor season in SW Virginia - gonna be a challenge

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
These are a MB15 and a OG Kush photoperiod clones a great buddy gave me, they’ve been growing outdoors for a couple of months. I have them in 5 gallon square cloth bags in milk crates (go figure, i think I have around 15 milk crates now - gotta love ‘em). they are encased in square tomato cages that are anchorEd to the tops of the crates. I pulled lateral branches under the rungs of the wire cages to get buds out in the sun that woulda otherwise been hidden inside the canopy, and they are all growing well with tons of developing flower sites.

just checked today’s weather forecast, sunny all day and in the upper 80s. But, relative humidity right now is 100%, and the dew point is 74 degrees. I just checked them and they are saturated with dew, and might not fully dry out today even in full sun if it stays this humid. I’m gonna start searching for stand mounted outdoor fans today…

I used to use 15 Sep as my target for harvest of the last outdoor grow and calculate back from there to set the germination day for the last outdoor crop, using the breeders upper number when describing their varieties — a 70 day plant would need to germinate on 7 Jul to finish on 15 Sep. based on what conditions are now, I am gonna use 15 Aug as the new harvest target for the last outdoor grow - a 70 day plant would need to germinate on 6 Jun to harvest on 15 Aug. Late Aug to mid-Sep are when we get shorter daylight hours and the sun is less radiant, and my growing patio starts to fall in the shadows since the sun is lower on the horizon. Tons of caterpillars show up in late Aug thru late Sep too, so best to avoid that period.

the clones will get another misting of Monterey this morning before the sun hits them - and I will douse all the surrounding plants at the same time. Based on flower development as they sit today, I think they are gonna run at least another month, if not more. That puts them into early/mid Oct, so it’s gonna be a struggle to keep them pest free and dried out…

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bubba73

Well-Known Member
Ummmm … your 70 or 60 day is the time it starts flowering not from seedling or clone “start” 1st day of fall is 12/12 light cycle . Northern states a 60 day will be fine , unless there a late frost then you mite get away with a 70 day … of course shade plays a part too …
 

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
i was referring to auto flowering plants and they can go from seed to harvest in as little as 60 days- that’s what I grow since i can squeeze 2 harvests in one outdoor growing season, and don’t have to obsess over light leaks. My patio has some solar lighting I don’t want to sacrifice, and I can’t achieve 12 hrs of total darkness in my indoor grow space.
 

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
The 3Bears OG I just grew at the GF house have a claimed harvest period of 60 - 70 days from sprout. I took mine down at day 65 and they were not huge by any means, but had well developed bud sites and were coated in trichomes. This was my second harvest from her place this summer; what I miss out on in size I make up by harvesting 8 plants vs 4 that need to grow longer over the summer months.

 

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FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
In for the pictures!! They're going to push into later October I'm betting, especially the motorbreath 15. The OG Kush, I don't really know, but MB 15 took almost 12 weeks indoors. I did run it longer than most would and 10.5-11 would have been fine to chop. It will be worth the struggle though for that nice, gassy bud. It's becoming a favorite of my wife for night time pain medicine. I think I may have rescued a cutting so I'll still have a mother plant going somewhere. The same with the pre 98 bubba kush, it's in much worse shape but I think it's going to be able to be saved. Great job on your training as always!
 

Retired engineer

Well-Known Member
These were taken in the golden hour today, after they were in full sun from 0840 to1800 today. My patio runs due East-west along its long axis, so once the sun clears the back side of the house, they are in full sun all day and the sun passes directly overhead.

they are on the NFTG Roman schedule with adjuncts along the way. mammoth P, SLF100, Recharge, Fish Shit and a silica additive add to the menu.

I got the branches from the first and second nodes running horizontally and they are extended well beyond the foot print of the milk crates, out in full sun. I have them cinched down with pipe cleaners attached to the plastic grow platforms on which they sit. Each of these horizontally trained lower branches are growing flowers along the exposed length of the branch, and the ends of them have made the 90 degree turn upwards to the sun.

further up the stalks, those branches are trained to grow underneath the first lateral rung on the tomato cages, and then further up, those branches are trained to grow under the third rung. They’ve all made the turn 90 degrees upwards and have tons of flower sites full exposed that would otherwise been inside the canopy.

I have them about as twisted and sculpted as I can at this point. One of the ingredients in the NFTG regimen is comprised of crab and shrimp shells to streghten branches, and I add in Silica once in a while, so aint too much left that can be bent.

First Cav, source of the clones, advises that based in his experience with this strain, they might go all the way into mid/late Oct. praying for an Indian Summer I am!

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