Outdoor Auto and Photo Grow up North - Light Deprivation Party!

[G.Leave]

If you are looking for absolute monsters, next year dig a hole 6 feet X 6 feet, or even bigger!! You dont have to dig deep in your northern climate(in fact a shovel full deep of loose worked soil i find to be ideal, as it warms quickly)

 

[G.Leave]

Are you 54N north america or europe?

 

[TheMongol]

of course i'm in bro!

 

[Koalabeer]

Thaks for the kind words bud! Appreciate it. Yeah 54 and its long daylight hours(coupled with hasty winter onslaughts) will certainly make photos a challenge!! How many hours of daylight do you have on the 21st of june and how many minutes of daylight do you lose daily after that? When does winter like conditions rear up?(october 1st?)

Are you 54N north america or europe?

Well, I am fortunate enough to say that my ladies do not need to experience the extremes as they would in (central) Canada. They are enjoying a coastal climate in Europe with temperatures usually above 0°C from May the first on with frost possible until May 20th. I envy growers from southern Europe and the US A LOT for the strengh of the sun though.

BUT not this year, the sun is fired up with temperatures constantly above those of Portugal
On 21st of June, there is 17 hours of daylight with 1 minute less each day in the beginning leading to 15,5h of daylight on August first. Photos usually start flowering beginning to middle August.

(though i would like to really edit the maximizing photos guide)

May I ask: What do you think would be the single most important edit?
@TheMongol happy to have you =)

 

[Koalabeer]

@912GreenSkell never had I thought that cannabis develops such a wide root system :-O

And what I forgot to say: The first frost is usually mid October-mid November. The coastal climate keeps temperatures as constant as they may get in northern latitudes. In the past 7 years, there have only been a couple of days with more than 4cm snow snowdepth (except for this winter)

 

[G.Leave]

BUT not this year, the sun is fired up with temperatures constantly above those of Portugal
On 21st of June, there is 17 hours of daylight with 1 minute less each day in the beginning leading to 15,5h of daylight on August first. Photos usually start flowering beginning to middle

Yep those are long daylight alright!! Ours is 15.5 hours of daylight and we drop 2-3 minutes daily.

Our fall/winters come fast...first frost usually in the last week of sept, though some seasons its the first week in october. Mid october it falls to pieces quickly.

May I ask: What do you think would be the single most important edit?

It needs a full rewrite really, lots of errors!! Biggest addition would be the reverse supports section i have been working on.(supports to stop stalk splitting on large limbs in high winds or torrential rain)

And what I forgot to say: The first frost is usually mid October-mid November. The coastal climate keeps temperatures as constant as they may get in northern latitudes. In the past 7 years, there have only been a couple of days with more than 4cm snow snowdepth (except for this winter)

Sweet!! That sounds awesome!! Yeah europe is very different than much of north america in northern latitudes. How is your humidity during flower being coastal?

never had I thought that cannabis develops such a wide root system :-O

Last year i needed a couple of handfuls of soil, so I was digging up some soil in the point that was the furthest away from every plant i could get(about 10 feet), and when i got to 2-3" down there was roots like crazy. One of the benefits of such a wide root base is stability versus high winds. Shallow worked soil(12") means less compact soil, in turn resulting in easy root penetration.

Not really recommended for those in arid regions though.

 

[Koalabeer]

Oh man, I think we have to deal with very different challenges climate-wise with you struggling with frost while I am mostly concerned about the power of the sun in late flower plus awful humidity. Humidity in late flower is around 80% on average meaning that I need all the wind blowing from the coast to keep my ladies healthy and sexy :/ Last year constant rain during September did not cause a mold-problem at all since the wind was always close to stormy. Then one day the wind and rain stopped ... BOOOM mold was there and forced an early and dissappointing harvest.

Aaaaand... This is where the sexy autos come into play. Summer with humidity lows of 30-40% in early afternoon make up for 70% humidity in the night

At what latitude are you growing?

 

[G.Leave]

Oh man, I think we have to deal with very different challenges climate-wise with you struggling with frost while I am mostly concerned about the power of the sun in late flower plus awful humidity. Humidity in late flower is around 80% on average meaning that I need all the wind blowing from the coast to keep my ladies healthy and sexy :/ Last year constant rain during September did not cause a mold-problem at all since the wind was always close to stormy. Then one day the wind and rain stopped ... BOOOM mold was there and forced an early and dissappointing harvest.

Aaaaand... This is where the sexy autos come into play. Summer with humidity lows of 30-40% in early afternoon make up for 70% humidity in the night

At what latitude are you growing?

Actually you would be surprised what i deal with....ultra high humidity is a problem for me depending on the season...any autos i put in that finish in july-august deal with 70%+RH. "Some" seasons, we get a wet autumn, where temps are warm, but fall rain in sept and october is very frequent. Last season i ended up throwing many of the main colas away due to mold on this plant. Still the weed that was mold free was a huge yield,and the toke is awesome...have to try again!!

Yes with 80%+ RH sea air, you need mega circulation for sure!! 80% is very tough to deal with absolutely!! Some strains are going to fall apart as they become mold ridden. Make sure you dig around and do lots of research on your strains, especially from UK outdoor growers.

I can recommend dinafem AWW XXL for outdoors in harsh conditions....I planted one last season after reading in my own research so many UK guys saying how good it is in harsh climates...it rained 35 of the first 45 days after i planted her in the ground(so the majority of the plants flowering), and by far it was my best producer of 8 different strains. She pulled 5 ounces dry(the next best pull was only 2ounces) and the toke was great! Mold resistance was quite good, only lost a quarter ounce or so, when many other strains fell to pieces and some over 50% of bud was trashed.

43" tall on the main stalk

 

[Koalabeer]

Wow man... that plant is ginormous, you seem to really be pushing the limits
Speaking of pushing the limits: This May is officially the warmest and sunniest May in history with 12 hours sunshine/day on average

I am damn impatient for the harvest as this will hopefully be the first good yielding autos I have planted. All the other grows where 100% noob stile.The fact that I can only see and please my ladies every other weeks makes the waiting time even worse! I hope the yield will be above 1 ounce/plant!

Btw: The insert quote option does not work properly for me. I will probably give dinafem AWW a try. Your results on that strain are amazing!!! Also I would love to add some proven regular outdoor mephistos for some crossing

 

[Koalabeer]

Long time no see... I will be back with a comrehensive update in the weekend... Prior to that a tiny update

The good: I saw them for 30 minutes in the weekend and got a small impression from their growth process: The larger plants exploded by more than 3cm/day and most autos are also doing well!

The bad: Two autos are showing clear defiencies. I will nurse them back to health next weekend by adding 1ml/l Biobizz Fishmix and hope it will fix the defiencies. Also, I will start feeding the other autos and the photos with 0,5ml/l fishy liquids! In two weeks time, I am planning to increase the dosage to 1ml/l for every single plant. The allmix should start loosing its power as the plants have been feeding from it for 4 weeks time - What is your opinion on that plan?

The bugly: I found aphids on the tallest auto, a NL at 48cm, 26 days after germination :/ I did not have time to deal with those plantfuckers yet, but neem oil is already set for attack