I originally posted this in the wrong thread (sorry for the newbie mistake!) So here is my basic grow set up and I have 2 questions that still remain unanswered even though I have looked all through the threads for it. So here is my re-post... Hey all! I'm a new grower, and one of the outside variety only. I have done gardening of my own in the past, now I plan on applying the skills to the art of cultivating fine green herb. My current outdoor grow plan is pretty solid I think but one can always use good advice from those that know best! For starters, I plan on growing Australian Blue and Medijuana, then crossing a male medijuana with a female Aussie Blue and seeing what happens. If anyone has already done this cross, tell me if it turned out ok! I live at roughly 40 degrees N latitude, so my grow season isn't perfect for pot, but I think I can make it work. The soil I have to work with is beautifully dark, already grown with lush vegetation, so I can hide the plants well. A mountain fed creek is about 50 feet away. This is all in a nice half acre clearing in the middle of dense forest that is already sitting well inside 60 acres of family owned land (its posted against trespassing too). I have all my gardening tools at my disposal, and know the drill pretty well when it comes to harvest time (look for cloudy trichomes on the sativa, and amber on the indica for best harvest). I know, intellectually if not via experience, the basics about outdoor growing. I know how to germinate the seeds, know which ones are viable, how to transplant them into the soil once sprouted, all that jazz. There are two things that I have not come across in my readings that trouble me. First question: tilling the ground itself. For security reasons, I realize I shouldn't use my trusty rotatiller, as it makes the ground too obvious from the air. That being said, how do I prepare the soil without it? The surrounding tall grasses might choke out my budding buddies if they arent tilled under I would think, so suggestions on that. Secondly, this question is about cross-breeding. I want exactly one male Medijuana to reach the point of pollination, but I dont want it to pollinate more than one branch of a female Aussie Blue. I know I can use a big Ziploc bag to collect the pollen from the male then shake it over the branch on the female. But in order to do this, the male must obviously be making pollen. How do I prevent that pollen from reaching the fertile females before I get the chance to control it? Do I just chop off all the male buds save one, and keep it covered at all times? I have no clue, so some light on that will be wonderful. Happy growing to all!
WoW thats a big post, you might think about doing an edit on it and make a few paragraphs, just to make it a little easier to read. awww MY EYES are burning
well first goodluck with ur first gro. ne way i gro outdoors and i use containers, so that eliminates the problem of soil and other plants choking out yours. You can even bury the container except a few inches so it stays hidden better. and the best thing to do (in my opinion) is use containers and then when you ID a male, you can move him far away from the females. If its in the ground, u could try keeping it covered but i never done that.
I have read that pollen will travel over a mile under good conditions. I had one male that I allowed to live a few years ago and moved it to the opposite side of the house (growing in containers) thinking I could fertilize a few buds for seed...I wound up fertilizing every female I had. The pot was still smokeable (really old school dope and I even broke out the album covers to de-seed) but disappointing in spite of the hundreds of seeds that I am still using. as for tilling, I'd suggest digging holes (2 X 2 X 3) instead. The advantage to using containers is of course portability. The down-side is the plants won't grow as large as they would in the ground. In my circumstance, portability is important so I sacrifice yield per plant for the ability to bring the plants inside if I have to allow access to the growing area, (and also when tropical weather threatens as it is now).
Yes, I understand about portability for security reasons. Luckily, my family owns about 60-65 acres of just awesome land, and I have a great plot in mind in field clearing in the middle of dense forest, creek is about 50 feet away, and it sees sun literally ALL day long. Soil is great (the tall grass grows there in the worst way! Shit grows about 6 inches a day, no lie!). And the property is posted, additionally, the plot is well within the property line, so no snoopers (hopefully - nearest neighbor lives about 2 miles away). That being said, no pots for me! Yay! I really like the individual hole idea, I didn't think about that - do you think that other weeds would be an issue since I'm not using pots? Next up, the male issue. Hmm, since you can tell sex fairly early, you think I could re-transplant the male into a pot and take it far far away without too much worry? Maybe keep him pruned and under control till I'm ready for his studly self? Thanks for the tips and advice, by the way! I will have to get a camera and post some pics of my grow sight asap.
it gets harder to transplant from the ground the more mature the plants get. by the time the males show sex, the roots will be spread out if its in the ground. and hard to transplant. in pots, u can move easily. but since it would just be males and not the precious ladies, i would say its worth a shot and if u chop some roots the plant will survive unless u chop a shitload of roots.lol
Oh didn't consider the root spread. Hmm, well like you said, it should survive as long as i dont chop too many roots. I can dig a pretty wide path around the male I wanna keep too, as I'm spreading out the grow sites pretty far.