Central Virginia outdoor grow

[smaccio]

This is my third year growing in pots outdoors in Central Virginia. I'm starting a couple of weeks later this year. 5 Girl Scout Cookie feminized photoperiod seeds germinated between wet paper towels and into Ocean Forest soil in solo cups. Keeping them in the plastic bin makes it easy to move them outside for acclimation when the time comes. In the meantime they'll sit inside the west-facing sliding glass den door.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Good to see you growing again. I too am starting two weeks later this year in Virginia

 

[smaccio]

Good to see you growing again. I too am starting two weeks later this year in Virginia

SubGirl - you OK down there? Pretty rough weather in VA Beach over the weekend...

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Yes we good. About 4-5 miles away. We were lucky no damage but did rattle the trees enough to make all the folks in my hood start trimming them away from the house. I had a giant limb fall out of a tree the week before the storm in my driveway and crush my 4Runner totaling it. We trimmed back too so I can park in the driveway without worry now…. Hope you’re doing well too

 

[smaccio]

Dang, the 1-2 punch. That stinks about the 'Runner.

Here's to a bountiful growing season!

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Dang, the 1-2 punch. That stinks about the 'Runner.

Here's to a bountiful growing season!

Thank you. Looking forward to watching your grow. Good luck as well

 

[smaccio]

Day 6. Leggy ladies. Water this afternoon then I'll be out of town for two days. They should be OK.

 

[smaccio]

Day 24...pretty similar progress as last year. Skinny legs and all. Probably replanting in the fabric pots next weekend.

 

[smaccio]

Day 30 - into Ocean Forest soil in fabric pots. Added Bio-Tone with micorrhizae to the hole. Plants look real healthy. 8-10 inches tall. I started a month later this year. Last year by early June the plants were 2' tall. I'm trying for more compact plants this year...maybe the later start worked out.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

They are coming right along

 

[smaccio]

Day 41, looking healthy, starting weekly bT spray to stay ahead of the caterpillars.

 

[smaccio]

Day 48 - starting FoxFarm Grow Big. Been relying on the nutes in the Ocean Forest up until this point. Spraying bT weekly for caterpillars. All good on the farm. We're getting rain and thunderstorms this week, so I'm keeping the pots up next to the house for shelter. They're not missing out on any sun this week.

 

[smaccio]

Day 55

So one of these turns out to be autoflower. Bud sites showing up and little baby flowers all over. Not what I was looking for, but we'll late fate take her fickle path. Will adjust nutrients accordingly...cal mag and Big Blooms from here on out. Everything else good and healthy.

 

[WeedHopper]

Freaking cool.

 

[pute]

Walk time

 

[smaccio]

Day 62

A little WPM, a leaf-hopper here and there, so far so good. The only real issue so far was self-inflicted - I sprayed full-strength Agrowlyte and it burned little pin spots on the leaves. Other than light plant stress, I don't think it's serious. The mystery auto is doing its thing, maybe 30" tall. The Girl Scouts are growing nicely. 3-4 feet tall at this point, big fan leaves, healthy trunks. Hot as blazes this week. Big Bloom and Cal-mag on the auto, Grow Big on the photos, every other watering.

 

[smaccio]

Day 70

All three plants are doing something, they look fine, and no two are the same.

Little bud sites or pre-flowers or whatever starting up on one GSC, Unknown Auto is flowering right along (getting 1 tsp cal mag / week, feeding Big Bloom every other watering). GSC have been on Grow Big, but maybe will move them over to flowering diet. I was surprised last year how early these things started to flower. 14 hour days are like mid-August here.

Spotty leaves...I'm still assuming it was my full-strength Agrowlyte spray. No evidence it's getting worse or more spots developing.

Hazy, hot and humid.

 

[smaccio]

Day 76

Spots of white powdery mildew on the more advanced GSC. I'm spot spraying with Agrowlyte. Flower sites coming along nicely. No idea why this plant would be so far ahead of the other GSC, which is just starting to look like bud sites are forming.

I'm giving all three plants cal mag and Big Bloom every other watering.

It's been pretty hot and humid, but the next ten days the forecast is for a tad cooler and less humid.

The laggard GSC...just growing. That's all. Nothing exciting.

Mystery auto...still doing her thing. I've given this plant a couple of spray-downs with Agrowlyte to see if that helps with the bud rot.

 

[smaccio]

Day 83

Happy Hump Day, y'all. Temps in the 90s and muggy here. Typical of our summers. Because of heat stress, I thought I'd cover the soil with straw for a little insulation and put the big plants down the hill a little, off the pathway. We'll see if that does anything. Sposed to be around 100 here for a couple of days. The little runty autoflower sits in the shade, so I reckon it'll be OK.

Still some WPM. Agrowlyte hasn't knocked it out, so I'm trying Potassium whatchamacallit ...KHCO3 ...potassium ...bicarbonate - that's it. 1TBSP / gallon of water, spot sprayed.

On the farm you want a tight calving season. All of the calves born around the same time, weaned around the same time, and off to "greener pastures" at the same time. It's way better than dealing with all that work spread out over a long time. But here I find myself with three plants all on different tracks. They were supposed to be the same. Note to self: buy seeds from somewhere else next time. I'll be curing from August to October. (Do the neighbors wonder why the windows are blacked out and I have a window AC in my garden shed??)

 

[smaccio]

I forgot to mention the copperhead, or as the case now is, copper-no-head, who was nestled in a stack of bricks out there this morning. Was gorging itself on a nest of skinks. I kid you not. I don't enjoy killing even a snake, but since our son's puppy got bitten on the nose by one in our yard Sunday night, my serpent sympathy runs shallow.