Should you LST outdoor plants?

[Slippy One]

@Revive, one day, even you’ll be too old for this watering lark.  

[Bram Toker]

22 hours ago, Slippy One said:

Why autos though? Surely regular genes would yield more. Some autos are tiny and won’t stretch much.. 

 

I don't really know. My impression is the risk of bud rot (and other bad things happening to the plants) is much higher in the UK if your plants are finishing in late October rather than late August. It's a preference based on nothing more than a vague perception. If I can achieve my target harvest with autos it just seemed to be more logical to go down that route. Does this approach have any merit? There's still time to jettison any misconceptions before any seeds are potted. When you're doing a GG with perhaps a few dozen plants I'm guessing you assume some plants will be lost to rot, pests etc. I want every one of my plants to cross the finishing line because I won't be growing many. Do you have any particular "goto" photoperiod suggestions for a modest garden grow?

Edited February 4 by Bram Toker

[Revive]

10 hours ago, Slippy One said:

@Revive, one day, even you’ll be too old for this watering lark.  

I already creak when the wind blows brother

[Slippy One]

@Bram TokerMy observations are that summer rains ruin them, most don't get very big for the effort, and the lower they are the less air exchange happens (just a theory but there's a damp microclimate near the ground, so the higher the flowers are, the drier the air). This is autos in the wilds, at home it's different. 

 

 

[MindSoup]

3 hours ago, Bram Toker said:

My impression is the risk of bud rot (and other bad things happening to the plants) is much higher in the UK if your plants are finishing in late October rather than late August

 

Makes sense on paper, but in reality that's not always the case.  IME autos are usually more prone to bud rot than photo's, so that can undo any of the benefit of them finishing earlier. On the other hand I've had some really late finishing photos with no rot at all even though they spent the last 3 weeks of flower in fog! 

 

Weather is different every year, sometimes it's wet in July and fuck all your early autos and warm and sunny in September/October . Best thing to do is have multiple harvests planned throughout the year, that way with one of them you'll hopefully hit the sweet spot in the weather. 

[Idicanna jones]

I've started beans. in the drobe and had it finish in the garden in may.... Then had stuff turn to brown mush in July.... Roll of the dice Mon capitan. I'd always advise throwing some photos out later on. To quote @OldFord"more is betterer"...

[Bram Toker]

Thanks again for your input guys. I've got quite a few indoor grows under my belt (to be fair nothing to shout about and I don't think I ever hit a gram per watt but I managed to keep myself in weed which was the whole point). I was under the (false?) impression that auto varieties were specifically bred to permit early finishing ie in the Summer when growing outdoors. I freely admit most of my information about outdoor growing is several decades out of date. I'm persuaded to mix things up with a couple of photoperiod varieties. Does anyone have any suggestions for varieties (photo or auto) that in your opinion tick all three magic boxes

 

1) potency

2) mould resistance 

3) yield

 

If you had to choose just one auto and one photo to grow outdoors (in a garden grow), based on your direct experiences what would you pick?

[Crow River]

@Bram Toker That question is almost impossible to answer. If you get a hot, dry summer then most strains will be fine. Except you'll need to water a lot. If it's a cool, wet summer then it's sheer pot luck. Also latitude and your local microclimate will influence results. 

 

My limited experience suggests that sun grown weed is generally quite potent, but yield may not be as high as indoors and the bud may be leafier if the weather is wet. This seems to be how cannabis flowers adapt to conditions. You actually want a looser bud structure outdoors, or high humidity will cause rot in denser nugs.

 

Anyway, if I were you I'd not worry about yield too much. The energy cost saving means outdoor weed is nearly free. So whatever you get is a pure bonus! I had over forty plants out last season, mix of autos, semi-autos, fast versions, early versions and full season photos. So staggered harvest from July onwards. I lost six plants to rot, and six to rippers. Bits of mould here and there on others, no big deal.

 

Anyway the upshot is that despite a shit, wet summer I now have so much weed I don't know what to do with it all.  Might not even bother growing at all this season. Well, maybe a tiny wee one.....keep my hand in and all that.

[childofmelee]

On 29/01/2024 at 23:47, MindSoup said:

Yeah it's worth doing, one of my favourite techniques is to wait until you see them start flowering and then bend the main stem towards the north (providing your in the northern hemisphere). That one simple bit of training gives you a much more even quality of flower accross the board. 

 

Of course you can get more technical if you want, some people even use scrog screens. 

What do you use to tie down the main stem after bending to the north?

[MindSoup]

Whatever I have at the time. Rope, ratchet strap, whatever really. 

[Bram Toker]

16 hours ago, Crow River said:

@Bram Toker That question is almost impossible to answer. If you get a hot, dry summer then most strains will be fine. Except you'll need to water a lot. If it's a cool, wet summer then it's sheer pot luck. Also latitude and your local microclimate will influence results. 

             .....

Anyway, if I were you I'd not worry about yield too much. The energy cost saving means outdoor weed is nearly free. So whatever you get is a pure bonus! I had over forty plants out last season, mix of autos, semi-autos, fast versions, early versions and full season photos. So staggered harvest from July onwards. I lost six plants to rot, and six to rippers. Bits of mould here and there on others, no big deal.

 

I completely understand yield, potency and mould resistance are not completely dependent on variety but will also be dependent on climatic and environmental factors during the course of the grow eg a "mould magnet" might not have any issues during a hot, dry summer and a supposedly mould-resistant variety might still turn to mush if conditions are too wet/humid. Undoubtedly much of it is a dice throw. Were there any that particularly impressed you in the 40 or so varieties that you grew outdoors (particularly with regard to autos)? I'll be taking a thorough look thorough the diaries for ideas.

 

@Idicanna jones

 

Was the plant pictured in this post grown outdoors?

 

 

[Guest]

On 03/02/2024 at 23:28, Slippy One said:

@Revive, one day, even you’ll be too old for this watering lark.  

Just get a big enough container and you won't need to worry about water runs

[Idicanna jones]

Must say the Dutch passion Auto euforia were bullet proof and rather strong. Could be a tad loud, but banging stuff. That and anything by @brock1

[Idicanna jones]

@Bram Toker yes the cookies and cream was a garden effort matey

[Crow River]

@Bram Toker I didn't grow forty varieties. Quite a few plants were clones. Because I'm fairly far north, semi-autos/fast/early versions did best for me last year. I think autos would have done better outdoors if June had not been so cold, and July not so wet. In the polytunnel my autos did just great. Full season photos didn't work so well, they either finished very late (or not at all) or rot set in with the autumn weather. Kush varieties did well in terms of being robust and rot resistant. Ducksfoot strains also proved very hardy.

 

So a lot will depend on your latitude. A grower further south can probably see full season photos finishing in October. In any case, varieties with an earlier finishing time will do best in these islands IMHO.