Keeping the Emarld Isle green

[KenAbyss]

The outdoor pursuit referred to is the never ending pursuit of grade A weed.

I live in a part of the world that is 95% hash smoking and good weed is hard to come by. As I am not a great fan of the slab, I decided about six months ago to do something about the situation and began to grow my own. I am just finishing off an indoor grow (which turned out "successfulish"with the much needed help of UK420 and similar sites, I had some problems with temperature over the winter months) and I will be doing a final harvest in about two weeks. With the harvest I hope to keep four peoples stash in a healthy condition (on average we smoke an eight per week each).

Although I am quite happy to continue growing indoors I've taken a keen interest in the growing of weed, to the extent that it has become a kind of hobby as well as a means of supplying good herb, and therefore I would like to try my hand at the great outdoors.

I have absolutely no experience of growing outdoors and I'm looking to all you experienced outdoor growers, that grow in similar climates, for any help you can offer.

Below are a few questions that spring to mind but I would be grateful for any information that you feel is important or relevant.

I have located a very secluded spot by a lake in the west of Ireland where I intend to do a spot of guerilla growing with some Durban Poison seedlings.

The ground is peat bog so I will most probably dig holes, fill them with Miracle Grow compost and then sow my plants.

How big should I make the holes and is there any further treatment the ground needs?

When should I sow the plants, bearing in mind that once in the ground they will be there until harvest?

What should I feed the plants and how often?

What type of animals, birds, insects will harm the plants and how can I prevent this happening?

Should I build a fence around the plants to protect them, and if so, how high?

What growth per month can I expect (to control height of plants)?

Should I top them?

What yield should I expect per plant ( to decide how many to sow)?

Any help on any of the above would be greatly appreciated, and apologies for invading your space on a sunday afternoon

[Mr Devil]

Hi Ken,

I tried growing in the same circumstances last year, in a bog, but on the east side.

The biggest problem was the amount of midges that are found on the bog, during the summer. Not sure what the seeds were, but they got to about 7ft. I had no access to any info at that time and allowed the males to pollenate the females thus getting them FUBAR.

Peat bogs are full of localized contaminates and fungal spores(according to the local garden center experts) and I had planned to try again this year, using large square pots bedded in the peat bog, filled with sterilized topsoil not compost but knowing the flies will cannibalise the plants, I decided to go for an indoor grow.

I'm still at the learning stage but am sure that our brethren from across the water can help with any problems you may have.

I have found that reading past posts on this top site, answered a lot of questions I had wanted to ask.

Mr D

[KenAbyss]

Hello Mr. Devil,

thanks for the reply. 7 feet is a good size plant. Despite your concerns I'm still determined to attempt an outdoor grow. Have you come across a plant spray called Buzz Off? They say it does the bizz. If you can get it here will you let me know where?

What I intend to do is dig a large hole in the bog, line it with plastic, fill it with compost, and put the "MaryConway" plant into it, that should keep it free from the contaminates you mentioned. I haven't had a reply yet from any of the top gardeners out there but I'm not giving up hope yet,

slainte

P.S. Where do you get your square pots and how much are they?

Edited May 17, 2003 by KenAbyss

[oldtimer1]

Firstly cannabis is not a plant that likes its roots in a place where there is a high water table, ie it needs well drained soil to do really well.

Second thing it does not like very acidic conditions.

So look for a raised area. Basically you need to know what the soil/peat is like in the area you want to grow in, often sphagnum peat has a ph below 4.

The test to see if the site is suitable is to dig a hole 12 inches deep with a bit of board covering it, after a few days there should be no standing water in the hole especially if there has been rain.

A way round things if the ground does waterlog a little is to make treated ground as below into mounds 18 inches to 2 ft above the normal soil and grow your plants on the mound.

Thoroughly dig an area 3 ft x 3 ft for each plant, then fork in half a kilo of fine ground dolomite lime, leave this for a week to react and then fork in a quarter kilo of blood fish and bone fertiliser.

This will grow some very fine plants.

I would not grow in pots plunged into the soil, they work like a sump and draw water in if the surrounding water table is wet and dry out very quickly, the pot acting as a barrier if the weather is hot and the water table drops.

Miracle Grow compost is just peat with fertiliser and lime added, don’t waste your money.

Main things that will harm your plants are slugs, snails, rabbits and deer. If you have these in your area you need to protect against them.

Buzzoff works fine for insects should you have a problem with them.

[KenAbyss]

Thanks for the reply OT1. I took a soil sample and measured the ph at 4.3. Will the dolomite lime raise the value and where do I get the lime and the blood, fish and bone fert? I've found a good raised area where the soil doesn't hold water.

[oldtimer1]

I can't tell you where you can get things like dolomite lime or blood fish and bone in Ireland.

You should be able to get both from any good garden centre or farm supply wholesaler. If you can’t get dolomite lime, garden lime will do but you will need to add some epsom salts as a source of Mg if you use this. Any balanced base fertiliser will also do instead of BF&B, Q4 is also very good! If you don’t mind the ferts being totally chemical Growmore will do, but its just npk and does not have all the macro/micros that the organic based ones do..