GreenOps' Forest Fun 2011

Hey every one, I have been debating for a long time wether or not I should do an outdoor grow this year or not. It has ben quite some time since I have gone geurrilla I think not since 2004. When I was thinking of doing it this year I wanted to start my own plants early and put some out at the start of june with them starting at a verry good size. Because of my procrastination and undecisivness I cant grow the plants that I wanted to and now I have to revert to getting some clones.

I have access to some Blueberry x Hashplant clones so that will be my strain for the summer. I have made an agreement so that I can get them at a pretty good size, defenitly not as big as i wanted to have mine but it will have to do. I will be putting them out sooner then origionaly planned as well.

Over the next 2 weeks I will be preparing my site. the last time I grew outdoors I just stuck to basics, dug a hole planted the plant visited to water when needed and what not. This year I plan on doing things a little different to make it a little easier for me. Hopefuly this year will be a good trial run of my new system and I will be able to make any fine adjsutments to improve it for next year when I will grow my own plants and do it Like I wanted this year. When I go out to do work I will take some photos to keep you guys updated on the status of the site and how its looking. But I will give you a brief description of what will be happening over the next 2 weeks.

My site is just one of what are probably many random openings in the middle of a dense forest. mostly cedars with some pines and other trees scatered about. my peticular opening is surrounded with all cedars except at one end of it there is a pretty big pine tree. what I plan on doing is setting up a self watering system out there so I dont have to visit as often. I want to get a rain barrel out there and hide it below the big pine tree to be my water resivoir. i dont realy have any water sources to close to my site so if i can do this it will make my life so much easier. I have a battery operated digital watering timer that I will be hooking up to a spout I will be making on the bottom of the rain barrel. I will have a hose that goes from the rain barrel and around the plants. I will poke holes in the hose where it will leak out to water the plants so all i have to do is set the time for when i want it to be watered in the morning and or night. This way I can jsut keep the rain barrel full and it will catch water when it rains to help keep it full. I thought that maybe the pine needles could fall in the water and i dont know if it would mess with the PH of the water or not so i think i might throw a layer of screen on top of the barrel to help keep them out as well as any bugs who would be attracted to it and drown in it.

For Soil I think that i am going to use a mix of compost, manure, black earth, and worm castings maybe some peat moss as well. If I remember correctly I believe I can get 10 plants in my site.

I think thats all I got for now so just a quick recap

10 Blueberry x Hashplant clones
Growing in compost, manure, worm castings, black earth, maybe some peat moss
Setting up watering system and preparing grow site
Aim to plant in approx. 2 weeks

Wish me luck and il keep you updated. Thanks for coming by, hopefuly you choose to stick around.

Good luck dude. Glad you decided to grow with us outdoors-men this year. Keep us posted

First off that strain sounds uber delicious, and im liking the sound of your spots. this looks like its going to be a killer guerilla grow bro cant wait for all the updates as well as pics , def. subd and +rep

Hey guys,

So I found myself a free rain barrel today, some guy was taking a pond out of his back yard and didnt need/want it anymore the only thing its ever held is water so its all good to go no chems or nuthn ben used in it. its got a spout of some sort sticking from the top but i can probly find some way to work it into my design lol.

Next i gotta head out to my spot figure out where my babies are goin and take some measurements as to where the hose will need to be punctured to let water drip out when the timer goes off for it to open.

Thats the part iv ben think about alot tho. I have to figure out how many holes i need to put in the hose so that the plants get enough water in the 15 minute time frame it will be going every morning. but i dont want to put to many holes in and cause my barrel to drain to quickly. i need to get it exact, but dont realy know how to figure it out. Things such as water pressure, im not sure how much there will be so i dont know how hard it will be pushing out.

how much water should each plant get per morning if it gets watered every morining. cause lets say for easy maths sake its 1g per plant per morning, i have 10 plants so 10 gal a morining. i could do trial and error runs in my basement filling the barrel half was full of water then making a mark then adding 10 gallons of water in it and let it go for 15 minutes and see how close it is to the halfway mark again, if it doesnt drain enough add another hole at each plant and run it again until i get the 10 gal per 15 min mark.
I was thinking doing it at half full barrel would be best cuz barrel wont always be full giving max water pressure.

Any one got a better idea or is that the best thing to do?

The Rain Barrel
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Its ben super rainy and shit here as well as many other places i hear on the forums so i havnt gone out to my plot at all. hopefuly this weekend will bring some sun.

Another quick update to throw at you, one that I am very pleased to give.

There has ben a slight change in line up of the ladies. Instead of growing 10 blueberry x hashplant I will only be growing 7 because I managed to get instead 1 purple kush, 1 barneys sweet tooth, and the third one is not decided yet, either critical mass or BC big bud.

The one that got me realy excited about the change is the sweet tooth. after seeing and reading the reports from last years grows on the forums when i asked him if there was anythign else he would be able to throw at me for variety when he mentioned it my eyes lit up like light bulbs on christmas lol.

The weather is still looking up for this weekend so i should be able to get out there and get some work put in. i should be able to update with some pics by sunday night.

Hey Green I came to see what you have going.

My first thought is don't water at night. It can cause issues.

The other thing is watering everyday may be too much water. I usually wait until the soil is dry about an inch down. I'm thinking like every third day. Every other day if it's been scorching hot. Less often if it's been rainy.

Being in a dense forest, the humidity factor could also cut down on the watering neccessity.

I hope this helps you out a little. Good Luck with this grow.

I definately like the self watering idea. I carried out 25 gallons every three dayz last year. Ugh. Unfortunately, I'm not as good a DIY'er to set up something like what you've come up with.

Haha, thanks for your kind words and wisdom buzz, glad to have you here

The only reason i was thinking of maybe watering at night is that they soak it up more cuz it doesnt dry out as fast as it would through the day. from my past years i have always found that it is always dry and crispy whenever i went there to water. and usualy in our summer we go through pretty long droughts with high heat, I have no worries of over watering them whatso ever. i jsut need to get the proper ratio for water per plant for 15 minute period morningly. my water timer isnt THAT advanced that i can tell it to water some days and not others. the smallest time frame is 15 minutes for the time i have set in the AM, so its what i have to work with.

Im going ORGANIC!

Sorry, but i thought that needed its own window now i will work on my real update



Edit: .... the word " Organic " was supposed to be in big letters. i guess it didnt want to.

Edited by GreenOperator, 26 May 2011 - 02:02 AM.

The sun finaly starts shining, I throw on my gardening shoes and head out armed with a bottle of water and my camera. Let me tell you it felt realy good to be walking out with all the quiet peacefullness of nature all around me, going past all my familiar yet slightly changed sights since the last time i took the walk 7 years ago. It was kind of funny, a long ways before i even started geting remotely close to my grow site i came across some ones grow from what i assume was last year, they didnt clean up after themselves very well, stalks were still out of the ground and it was easy to see thier planting pattern, maybe they will return and do it again this year and i can snap a picture of it for you to see, i wouldnt touch thier plants, i have no desire to rip any one, but it would be cool to see how they come along compared to mine when we are growing in the same area more or less.

There was a large amount of overgrowth at my site but nothing a little land scaping couldnt take care of. after placing out my holes i have enough spots for 8 plants at site 1, i do have another site but i didnt have enough time to make it over to that one yesterday so that will have to be saved for another day. i have done 2 trail runs there the last 2 years i grew outdoors so i am confident that i can put some out there knowing they wont disapear.

The soil out there actualy looks pretty good if anything i might just need to mix some peat moss in with whats already there. in the pictures i havnt actualy dug the holes iv only scraped the grass and stuff off the surface so i could take measurements to figure out where i need to put holes in my hose for watering and also so that you guys could see better my plot layout.

Heres some pics

Heres old rusty, my trusty broken shovel workin magic for years lol. still kickin hidden right where i had left it ( not where it is in the picture )
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Grow site front view before landscaping
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Grow site sideview before landscaping
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grow site back view before landscaping
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where the barrel will be hiding hidden in under the trees
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some lovely sunshining through the pine
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a little closer look at my soil, lots of worms looking pretty good.
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annd various pictures of my grow site after holes are spotted out and some of the weed clearing has ben done. some of the hole sites are in more then 1 picture but you see them all throughout theese pics

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Edited by GreenOperator, 26 May 2011 - 03:12 AM.

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good looking spot with some dank soil!
haha hope to see this turn out well for you.
subbed

Glad to have you willie

Looking good

Hey GreenOp,

Your spot looks real peaceful and like a nice place to be doin some work in the outdoors.

I run a drip system from a water barrel and timer on my outdoor grow, its the primary source for water since it doesn't usually rain at all during the summer. I can see how it could be a bit challenging trying to figure out flow rates and so on from poking the holes in the hose. Have you considered using 1/2" black poly irrigation tubing and a drip emitter to make the flow a bit more predictable?

If that doesn't work, I found on a website a way to measure your flow... take a 1 tablespoon measurer and put it in the stream coming from the hose and time how long it takes to fill up 1 tablespoon.

14 sec = 1 gal/hr
7 sec = 2 gal/hr
4 sec = 4 gal/hr

I think ideally you would skip a few days in between watering and soak them pretty good when you do water so the water penetrates deep and encourages the roots to go down. But, if you can't choose days then i would think at first you probably wouldn't want to water more than about 1/4 gallon per day? which would be 1.75 gal/wk.

What about elevation difference between rain barrel and plants? If you have at least 10 ft drop it would probably keep the flow coming out of the holes in the hose a bit more stable. If its level ground then u know the flow will decrease as the barrel empties

Good luck, thanks for stoppin by my journal and I hope to follow yours and see some success!

Looking good

thanks, and thanks for stopping in

Hey GreenOp,

Your spot looks real peaceful and like a nice place to be doin some work in the outdoors.

I run a drip system from a water barrel and timer on my outdoor grow, its the primary source for water since it doesn't usually rain at all during the summer. I can see how it could be a bit challenging trying to figure out flow rates and so on from poking the holes in the hose. Have you considered using 1/2" black poly irrigation tubing and a drip emitter to make the flow a bit more predictable?

If that doesn't work, I found on a website a way to measure your flow... take a 1 tablespoon measurer and put it in the stream coming from the hose and time how long it takes to fill up 1 tablespoon.

14 sec = 1 gal/hr
7 sec = 2 gal/hr
4 sec = 4 gal/hr

I think ideally you would skip a few days in between watering and soak them pretty good when you do water so the water penetrates deep and encourages the roots to go down. But, if you can't choose days then i would think at first you probably wouldn't want to water more than about 1/4 gallon per day? which would be 1.75 gal/wk.

What about elevation difference between rain barrel and plants? If you have at least 10 ft drop it would probably keep the flow coming out of the holes in the hose a bit more stable. If its level ground then u know the flow will decrease as the barrel empties

Good luck, thanks for stoppin by my journal and I hope to follow yours and see some success!

Thanks GB! that is some great info. i even posted a thread about the question and this is the only helpful respond iv gotn to it + rep

I have thought about elevation difference to increase flow and i have taken into consideration the fact of pressure changing as it loses water, im just gunna fill the barrel do the test you gave me and see the results and if i feel i need to make some changes then i will. Thanks for checkin out my grow

Update! i was getting a little worried for a few minutes there my computer wouldnt recognize my camera for some reason i didnt think id be able to get the pics up but i figured it out

So i made the Big trek today, drove out as far as i could dropped off and hid my plants and my barrel then went and parked somewhere. walked back to where i hid them and walked the plants to the grow then i had to go back and walk the barrel out there. Let me tell you, a barrel is not that heavy but it gets heavy after over an hour of bushwackin with it trying not to leave a trail lol. mistake number 1 was not spraying myself with the deep woods off, the mosquitos are fuckin crazy out at my grow and along the way, not to bad right now but when summer realy hits its like walking through a fog theres so many, a mosquito netting hat is a necessary. i even happened to get a bite on my upper eyelid while walking with the barrel, now thats annoying!

But im glad the worst of it is over...well after i get the barrel filled all of the worst will be over.

There are some changes in the line up of ladies once again, like i said at the beggining of the thread i couldnt start my own and so im not realy garunteed what i want but here is the line up now.

Blueberry Skunk --1
Hash plant --------2
Purple Kush -------1
BC Big Bud --------6

I got 8 holes at my grow site so i got 2 extra incase i have a casualty or 2, and if not then off to plot #2 they go. im in the middle of looking for something nice for plot 2. it can only hold 4 or 5 plants so i wanna get some nice ones in there.

Speaking of wich since i love grasscity and i think i owe it to you after all my treking i went for another little walk and snapped some photos of plot #2...but no good deed goes unpunished. i got a serious soaking on the way back from it with a few mis-steps through the swampy area, almost up to both my kneecaps.

But without Further Delay here are the Pics!

From left to right we have Blueberry skunk, Hashplant #1, Hashplant #2
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from the top
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All plants in coloured cups are BC Bigbud, the white cup is Purple Kush
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from the top
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My barrel refirbished and ready to go ( minus the screen to go over its opening )
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Water timer
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Barrel tucked away...not fully tho, i have a tree to go infront of it il take a pic next time
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The hose inside the barrel waiting to be rigged up.
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more pics inc on another post.

The girls in their temporary places. put them a little in the earth and packed dirt around them to hold them up incase some winds come.

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Some pictures of plot #2

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Next time i go out i will be putting all the girls in thier homes for the season and topping them as well, maybe a little LST as well. I need to grab a few supplies first tho like blood and bone meal, Fish ( hopefuly catching this weekend ) , some netting to throw around the grow site so no little bastards can mess with my plants after i get all the good stuff mixed in the soil. and probably alot of water lugging. getting the hose rigged up and in proper order having it covered so you wont even know its there unless you trip on it lol.

hope you enjoy.

Edit: Keep in mind the 3 bigger plants had a little bit rough of a ride, i tried to keep it smooth they look just fine, but if you wonder why they look a little floppy on top that is why.

Edited by GreenOperator, 03 June 2011 - 03:38 AM.

Hey GC, I got all the rest of the supplies i need today, all my organic soil additives, my fencing to keep critters away, all i gotta do is get some fish to throw in the holes and il be good to head out again.

Im realy glad i buried those babies a little bit and packed dirt around them to hold them in place, we had a realy windy day today and even tho my area is densly surrounded with trees you never know.

should be able to head out monday to tend the garden and get some more pics to show off the finalized version of plot #1. Stay tuned

Well we had a hell of a storm today green skies and all, couldnt be happier that no hail came through because it did in other areas. hopefuly the babies are ok, im aiming to go out friday to do all the rest of the dirty work. should have some pics up friday at some point.

Hey guys i got a few pictures of the BC big bud from the person i got my clones from, theese are just little indoor plants taken from the same 2 mothers that my clones are from. they are 2 differen phenos if you cant spot the differences , just a taste of whats to come this fall. enjoy.

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The plants that have your basic normal look to it have a piney almost pinesol and earthy smell to it while the plants that have buds that seem to be growing out in every direction like a firework has more of a earthy almost fruity pleasant smell to it, no pine at all.

il be able to sample some within a few weeks they will be coming down in a couple days and il give a smoke report.