I actually had this grow journal started over at 420magazine; until I got banned for spamming. Which, by the way, I never did and had no intention of doing. So, peace out to them. You all will get my free stuff instead!
I am a little late for this but I will do my best to play catch-up with my progress here even though my little experiment is nearly finished.
My theory, which I have now all but proven, is that outdoor weed can be vastly improved by proper light, or more correctly, "darkness" management. The upshot being there is far too much emphasis on fertilization; and far too little on a very simple, but very important fact concerning flowering marijuana plants.
What is that fact? The hormone that promotes flowering is only produced during the hours of darkness. And light kills the hormone. Therefore, light pollution at "night" hammers hormone production and diminishes quality and yield. Simple; yet incredibly powerful. Ever wonder why indoor and weed grown out in the countryside is so much fuller and heavier? It's not the ferts brother - its the darkness! Or should I say, the quality of the darkness.
Just how important is the quality of darkness, i.e., the absence of light pollution, to a flowering marijuana plant? I’ll let you be the judge! Please compare the pictures below.
In my view, the fundamental nutrients are, not should be, but are, NPK-D (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Darkness). So, I challenged myself at the beginning of summer to eating my own words (cause I’m usually full of shit) and set out to come up with a brand new approach to outdoor growing.
I camped in my backyard, often too excited to even eat, and came up with 3 new outdoor growing systems. The summer of 2010 has been one I'll never forget – better even than being a kid again.
One of my systems, I call it the Bloom Bud, I hope to tell you about here. The other two systems, a tree growing system and an “off-the-grid” system, will have their own threads when the time is right. Nothing to buy (except your materials); you can build this stuff yourself.
My goal was to come up with a very simple system, based on NPK-D, that the average person could use at home - without the hassle and immobility of an attention-getting greenhouse.
I’m happy to report that I’ve been successful beyond my wildest dreams. Not only did I come up with a system that grows indoor-quality buds - the system also has an added plus. Now, anyone can harvest premium bud, completely outdoors, as early as May or early June. You can too; it's really easy.
Take a look at these pictures. Believe it or not, you are looking at identical twin clones. Both clones were taken from the same mother on the same day. Both have been grown outdoors in the same section of the yard and are on the same watering and feeding schedule.
There are only two key differences between the plants. The first difference is the type of vegetation-control used. My experimental plant was grown using a specialized tie-down method that I call “racking”; where the top is leaned down as a rooted clone or mature seedling. And as the branches grow, they are tied out and away from each other (like a medieval torture rack). This restraining system triggers increased production of natural hormones in the plant that keeps it small and bushy. It also prevents excess movement during the flowering phase, think reduced mechanical abrasion, greatly diminishing smells.
The control plant was grown using the FIM (Fuck I Missed) topping technique and then tied-down. Both plants were grown in my specialized tie-down pots using the same soil (I know because I made the soil myself). I mention this because the tie-down method is less stressful on plants and that should be taken into consideration when looking at any results.
The other major difference between the plants being the flowering method used. My experimental plant received a lot of extra love and care in that regard. And the results I'm seeing now are friggin staggering. I know in my heart the lots of people just like me are going to want this. The good new is (and my prediction), a lot of you will be building your own systems in time for the coming spring.
Anyway, I got to musing there...
...here’s a comparative picture of bud development for both plants taken earlier today:
Experimental plant (26 days into flowering - trichomes 75% clear, 25% cloudy):
Control plant (trichomes, such as they exist, crystal clear):
You gotta get yourself one of these! I will be posting more stuff as the days continue. I hope a lot of you will be building and enjoying these yourselves in the upcoming season. Growing outdoors is a tremendous hobby in same sort of way that golf is a sport; your outdoors doing something fun. And I think growing outdoors is about to see a huge renaissance. In my view, the taste, texture, smell, flavor, and smoke-ability (think Cuban cigars) of outdoor is going to gain more and more popularity...especially when the quality gains to par. And I know I'm not alone in thinking that way.
BTW. I understand if you think I'm full of shit - I might too if the situation were reversed. This will be fun! Feel free to lurk and watch as I either become a hero to the downtrodden outdoor grower or get my silly ass kicked by the more veteran growers that surround us all here! lol...
