The Great Outdoor Group Grow: Beastly Buds To Honor Bonsai

[KingJoe83]

Which would also add valuable silica to the soil for strong branches to support the riot of blossoms.

Shelle sends her love and appreciation.

I sent the link to her yesterday and she’s quietly peeking in. She wanted me to share how touched she is to see the outpouring of love for Bonsaiweed, and hopes everyone has a banner grow.

Yup also another one can do is add rock stone for about two inches over top or some kind of rock/ stones this would help keep ants away as well. Oh and silica silica ! Lol

 

[Amy Gardner]

Hey Dabber! Great thread and thanks for the invite (even tho i missed it completely - i saw the thread mentioned at Sue’s place). I got pretty excited here and made an epic post! Hope y’all enjoy

I had some great times around the mag with Bonsai And his spirit lives on here, and in all our memories of him


@Tunkers I had no idea you were on this continent. I’m so impressed and envious that you haven’t had any critters get in there . Around here, things have to be covered all the way over the top or nocturnal critters get in and munch out! Also, a question (or 3 ) - when did you germinate? Do you start indoor and move them out? Or is it all outside from the get go?

SO here’s me: Amy Gardner - I grow on the east coast of Australia.

Last season I was able to grow out in the bush on my property and thought this thread would enjoy some pics of the bush pod I built for them.

For that grow I built the soil myself using a blend of living soil and high brix approaches, a heavily mineralised living soil: vermicompst and mixed used soils from the veggie garden, biochar, some local clay, a 6/5/3 mineral blend of CaC03/Soft-rock phosphate/gypsum, kelp meal, neem meal and insect frass. I used homemade seaweed and stinging nettle FPJs for feeding (non-aerated teas) and seaweed and casuarina (local equivalent to horsetail) for alternating foliar feeding. I kept the organic matter in the soil lower than usual and used the plant-based ferts to suplement,

I also made a lactobacillus serum that I recommend to anyone using organics in soil. A very small amount of it will add lots of beneficial bacteria to your teas. You can also use it around the house to unclog drains and eatup smells! I have a guide to making it - will post back with a link if anyone is interested.
Here’s some snaps from last year

Critical Mass x Afghani in Bushpod.

And finished...

Washed and hanging

In our vegetable garden enclosure I have a small corner where I grew the CBDCC and a Professor Chaos - plus a couple of training practice babies planted at the summer solstice

The big ones finished quite well

CBDCC

Professor Chaos

I am yet to grow a really enormous outdoor plant and may never do so.

I need to keep them to a manageable size and I’m still experimenting with when to start them. Mostly I plant a bit later in spring than folks say and am happy with these small-med sized plants.

Tunkers and Smeegol do inspire with their gardens of massive splendour tho’! I’m not sure I’ll ever be equipped to handle that size. I’d need too much paid help!

Building your own soil for outside is really rewarding. It also takes a lot of physical work and sometimes a lot of research (depending on what you know already). I was inspired by the results that I got from leaning toward the high brix methods so this year I had my soil tested for use with Doc Bud’s High Brix Blend products. I then had a custom ammendment made by Doc for me and am now doing all my grows inside and out with his ‘kit’. This is not only an awesome product, it also saves me a huge amount of physical grunt and frees up my mind to thing ab out other things - knowing the soil and drenches ect. are all balanced.

Here’s a few snaps of this years grow at various times - in the same rasied bed (now custom amended for the DBHBB kit products) is a Candida CD-1 (left) and a Critial Mass (right). Sun angle is to the right - the north and is low at this time so i trained the CM low with that in mind.

Occasionally, if you take photographs early or late in the day - you can get those flash effects pics that indoor growers get to show off a lot ... buds do catch the flash well!

This was Critical Mass about 3 weeks ago

I’m also growing a White Widow in a pot. Growing in pots outside is tricky and this is only a 13.5gal pot. There were times when it needed water almost every day. It’s about 2 weeks from finish now - it’s gonna make it!

The great outdoors indeed...

I removed these grasshoppers by hand as needed - i don’t kill them. Just throw them out of the zone.

Who’da thunk that stink bug eggs had smiley faces on them!

IPM (intergrated pest management) is really important outside. DO EVERYTHING! I spray regularly, as a preventive, with something containing neem (its a good foliar feed as well). I inspect by eye and hand all the time and I do everything i can to encourage beneficial predators to the garden. All of that and keeping the plants as healthy as possible stops pests from taking over. They’re there, always, they just dont get a hold. It takes diligence tho’ - in my environment at least. Main thing... most spiders are your friend.

And finally a bonus bud shot. The Candida is making the most beautiful flowers.

I hope that was entertaining enough. Outdoors isn’t for the faint hearted My best bits of advice are these:

• If you have a spot that gets excellent sun, work that soil grow in the ground
• If you have to grow in pots make them big and be sure to keep them cool on the hot days - I wrap a sack around permanently now (thanks Graytail) to keep the sun off the black plastic.
• You can also put ice cubes on top of the soil on really hot days to ease the stress on the roots.
• If they’re in a fixed position consider what the angle of sun will be as the season gets into autumn. I am quite south so now as the season ends the sun is low in the north. I lean my taller plants back so their skirts open up in that direction. Think of it as training to the light inside, but you have to consider where the point the light is coming from and and where it will be late in the season, depending on where you are.
• Try to have have something really good in place to protect them from the rain when it comes - especially in time for the flower period. Pre-empt this if you can. You don’t want to be building it in the rain - like I did
• Inspect for pests a lot.
• Plant predator-attracting and/or pest repelling plants (plenty of info about this online)
• Don’t kill spiders

I like to spend time just sitting in the garden near the plants, sometimes while I have a cup of tea and a toke. The White Widow actually gives beautiful shade and I’ve spent times just sitting in her shadow enjoying the sound of the wind in her leaves and the play of light under the canopy. I think growing outside brings us into more regular connection with the earth and environment - the sounds, the smells, the feels... the weather! and then we can bring this energy back into our indoor gardens in our energies (for want of a better word), our ‘vibe’ if you like. As we like to say, cultivating the cultivators

RIP Bonsai man blessed buds always
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[Tunkers]

In response to your questions @Amy Gardner I germinated October last year in seedling trays under a dome outside, then transferred to pots until a decent size.

Also, I recall when you first joined 420mag and I introduced myself as a fellow Aussie but I won't hold it against you lol

 

[Amy Gardner]

introduced myself as a fellow Aussie but I won't hold it against you lol

Buried in my subconscious somewhere until I saw your post here today no doubt!

And thanks - that’s 4-5 weeks earlier than I started this season. Gives me something to think about.

 

[Pennywise]

Super job outdoors Amy!

 

[Preston9mm]

Although I will not be able to join y'all in the great outdoors, I felt it was definitely appropriate to dedicate one of my ladies to the group.

It seemed fitting that it should be one of the beans that was gifted to me by my homie Dabber.

Without further adieu...

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• Preston9mm
• Apr 2, 2019

This Grape Krush F3 will be grown in the Temple of Bloom, under 3) Mars Hydro SP 250's. Pot will be 3 gal (for now) with coco. I'll be using Protekt and Foliage Pro through veg.

I'm already confident in the success of this plant, just from the name.


Here's to a successful grow!

 

[Bode]

It's me again, MD. I was at fort wainwright for about 1-1/2 years, then went to Delta Junction for the same time. Went to Eilson for a trip to Galena hunting for a machine gun lost in a river during maneuvers. Broke up the monotony of Army life for awhile. The pic must be the Tanana river? Cool. Brings back some memories.
Cheers to you growing that far north.

 

[TheMadDabber]

It's me again, MD. I was at fort wainwright for about 1-1/2 years, then went to Delta Junction for the same time. Went to Eilson for a trip to Galena hunting for a machine gun lost in a river during maneuvers. Broke up the monotony of Army life for awhile. The pic must be the Tanana river? Cool. Brings back some memories.
Cheers to you growing that far north.

Hey there Bode and welcome!

Indeed it is the Tanana. My wife works in the mental health clinic on Eielson . Been here 2 years and love we love it. We have 2 more years here but are hoping to extend our stay via an instructors position my wife has applied for.

I've done some golfing and snowboarding on Wainwright, but have yet to make it down to delta. The base owns a campsite on birch lake so we spent most of last summer camping there and renting a boat to fish.

Its gonna be a challenge growing outside but I hope to manage something of a decent harvest. The idea is do a few plants at a few locations to give them slightly varied environments.

Fingers crossed!

 

[TheMadDabber]

Ahhh @Amy Gardner thank you for that great post and abundance of advice! Luckily I have some of the IPM breeding in my worm bins already.

This is my pot in flower now.

Mites everywhere...
But luckily they're predators.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Fantastic! I have never ventured into getting predator mites or anything like that. Did you buy them or have they just populated it on their own?

 

[TheMadDabber]

Fantastic! I have never ventured into getting predator mites or anything like that. Did you buy them or have they just populated it on their own?

I bought a bag of black gold natural and organic and it came with gnats and these. As the gnat population began to rise so did they. But now the gnats are pretty few and far between so I think they are just looking for more food.

In the worm totes there are a few flies so I assume they are keeping those in check as well. I'll definitely be looking up what to feed them, but I assume their populations are pretty well established and will only thrive more outdoors?

Another thing I'm almost 100% set on are nematodes. In the greenhouses aphids and thrips can be brutal. It will be nice to have a couple weapons. However, I need to first be sure the 2 predators wont eat eachother! Cause I just thought about that and that sure would be counterproductive

 

[Pennywise]

I'll be watching how they work out for ya.

 

[TheMadDabber]

Hopefully well. I've heard better things about them than lady bugs... sue said @conradino23 had some good info on IPM maybe we will be graced with some info.

@Preston9mm welcome and thanks for being here. Honored. Arctic bowl got the original grape krush Dj short beans and line bred them. I took a few and did so again so I hope she goes hard for you. Cool to keep it in the 420 family. She (we hope) looks amazing so far!

And its important to remember it's just as much about outdoor as it is our friend bonsai! So I'll encourage @TurboBucket to post some of his great looking tents when he is feeling froggy :frogsmile:

 

[TurboBucket]

Well the girls are always happy to show off haha.

These were grown under a light build that bonsaiweed helped me out with. If you've ever tried to troubleshoot over the phone it's nothing compared to via a forum, bonsai, fresh to the site stuck through it with me. He even managed to teach me a little bit about PCB manufacturing during that exchange.

IMG_20190401_081855198.jpg

• TurboBucket
• Apr 1, 2019

And these are the next tent done in a few weeks

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• TurboBucket
• Apr 2, 2019

Gone but not forgotten, enjoy that primo stuff your tokin on Bonsai.

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• TurboBucket
• Apr 1, 2019

 

[Pennywise]

Cool pic Turbo!

 

[Amy Gardner]

Cool pic Turbo!

Yeah! What penny said

 

[TurboBucket]

Thank you!

 

[TheMadDabber]

Yeah great memory turbo. I recall that exchange as well. He was really sharp with that sorta stuff! I just sat back and tried to absorb some of the information but most was above my pay grade.

That's a pretty great picture. I hope you are considering submitting that beauty!

 

[lazyfish]

Thanks for that Turbo. What is PCB?

 

[Amy Gardner]

I was going back over Bonsai’s contributions to my outdoor last season and remembered he was very fond of the old wallaby who has been our regular visitor for many years. Almost fully blind and deaf, the old fella has lived very close to our house the last 3 years and was featured in my journals a lot. We haven’t seen him for about 7weeks, twice as long as the longest time between sightings previously. We wonder if maybe he has laid down somewhere and died quietly. If so, then he and Bonsai are blissing out together somewhere, I’m sure of it. I’ll drop this photo here in honour of them both

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