Outdoor Clyde outside - seed to jar in the woods

[Clyde Puffer]

Well, it's that time of year, folks. The snow is gone from these highland hillsides and we now have to move fast or autumn will be upon us.

Scottish summer... my favourite day of the year!

Geographical location: Scottish Highlands, 56 Lattitude.
Local conditions: Clearings in mixed forest, heavy acidic clay soil.
Mental state: fragile/delusional.

For various reasons, this year I have to grow completely outdoor or not grow at all. I've chosen to grow.

Seeds are sprouted indoors then after that it's out to the woods....

Here's a pic of the seeds in their hatching jars:

 

[Clyde Puffer]

Right, so. I made a post there to check I can upload photies and all seems well, so here goes...

I dug some wee holes in several spots a few of weeks back. Just turned over the soil and added a mix of seaweed meal, volcanic rock dust, dolomite lime and chicken shit pellets. I've got seven plots in total with between four and eleven holes in each.

Two weeks ago there was still snow on the ground but I put out the first sprouted seeds just to see how things would go (I got a lot of seeds): 2 Super Cali Haze, 16 Pink Salad and 4 Speedy Gonzalez. Both Super Cali Stiches survived. All the rest died. Lesson number one.

Here's one of the SCHs:

You can see I'm using wee plastic fruit boxes as mini guerrilla greenhouses. Seems to be working. I put the box back over the seedling. In the next week or ten days I'll go and remove them and put wire cages around the plants and some slug protection (no slug pellets - no animals will be harmed during the project).

I've got a bunch of Purple Mazars on the go too:

They are also showing above ground. I put them close together as they are smaller and I want to get a good selection for breeding purposes (I have a plan for that but we'll come to that in time).

Also in the pipeline are Dinafem Auto Cheese, some more Speedy G, LBH's Sour Diesel Haze and Stitch van Kush. I have some early photos too (Danish Gold popping their heads up already next to the Purple Mazars).

And that's about enough for an intro I think. I'll try to update regularly with photos where possible. In the sprouting jar at the moment are Speedy G, Midtjysk Pot (Danish early ruderalis cross), and Purple Maroc (Early photo).

 

[Captain Howdy]

Great stuff dude,

I'm just getting ready to start an outdoor grow this year, I was a bit worried of the weather atm but considering your another 300 or so miles north of me I think I should be fine to get going asap.

Have you grown outdoors before where you are?? If so, what kind of results did you get or do you expect from this one if not?

The wee lil fruit punnets are a good idea, I was gonna use drink bottles but was worried of them looking rather conspicuous all stood to attention in a field so that'll help no end.

Looking forward to seeing how things go for you.

Good luck bro.

Peace

 

[Captain Howdy]

Yo, sorry to ask dude, it's driving me bananas trying to think.... who's the guy on your profile picture??

 

[Clyde Puffer]

Thanks, Rival fish. I've grown outdoors in Scotland before, but just bagseed and that was a long time ago. I lived abroad for many years and have done a lot of outdoor and indoor grows. I've got over thirty years of cannabis-related mischief under my belt and since returning I've done a lot of research into suitable strains for northern climes so I'm confident I'll see a positive result of some kind. But mistakes are going to be made for sure. It's a steep learning curve for me - I couldn't find much info on guerrilla growing from seed - for autos particularly there's a dearth of information. But, hey, if I can add to the knowledge pool then that will be a bonus.

 

[Clyde Puffer]

That's Para Handy, captain of the Vital Spark....

 

[Captain Howdy]

Oh yeah, thank you, thats been driving me mad lol. Clyde Puffer.... why didn't I get that.

"the smertest boat in the tred"

I've just started some from Seeds of Life who claim to use something called Epigenetics..... (I'm still rather clueless as to what this means)
Here's a write up on one of the seeds, they may interest you being in the same situation as myself..... Too far north lol.

The Hindiana Genetics (F1) of April '12, is an Original
100% Autoflowering Feminised Giant.
Result of crossbreeding and selections of lines indica dominant, of our Big Low with Hindu Kush, a pure indica, evolving with the epigenetic theory. A project to stabilize the indica line of the Big Low and at the same time to obtain an Hindu Kush of the highest quality, that in Automatic version can flourish also outdoors above the 42 ° N. With good conditions of the environment , is like a normal strain, but ready in less than two months. Hindiana is stable, very resinous, with strong odor, powerful and between the most productive in a short period of time. Medical.


Hindiana appears mainly with Indica phenotypes with a height of 1,20m.
With 18-20 hours of light per day plants will begin to flower in 21 days approximately and will be ready for harvest in 55 days after germination, taking a few more days if grown outdoors depending on the number of hours of available daylight. Multiple harvests per season are possible.
Strong structure, branched with compact buds, copious resin and with a strong characteristic smell.

 

[Clyde Puffer]

Sounds good, Rivalfish. Be interesting to see how it does in the north. 'Above 42 North' sounds a bit vague - there's a big difference between southern UK and northern. But there's only one way to find out how they perform and that's to grow them. A Hindu Kush cross is gotta be good smoke though...

Haven't a clue what epigenetics is...

 

[Clyde Puffer]

I forgot to mention that when I plant out the seeds, I don't put them straight into the soil, but dig a hole with a trowel and fill it with good quality compost, and put the seed into that.

I germinated the seeds in jars coz I thought it would be easy to transport them to the grow site - just pop the lid on and away we go. It turned out to be difficult to get the seeds out of the jars, due to the shape and with muddy fingers, so on the following trips I took the damp tissue out of the jar, loosened the roots that had grown into the tissue and gently rolled the paper up and put it into a wee tupperware box. Much easier to work with on site.

Lesson number two: I discovered that if some seeds are sprouting faster than others or if I have to delay planting by a day or so, I can slow the growth by putting the sprouted seeds in the fridge.

 

[Captain Howdy]

Nice advice dude, I'm just germinating mine so that'll come in handy if I have one that starts to rocket before I'm ready, think I've started a few too many lol.

I thought about starting them in small pots before moving them to their outdoor spot.... would you suggest just germinating and planting straight into the ground?

Just had a warning of possible overnight frost so I'm gonna have to wait a few days and see what happens, keep your eye to the sky just in case.

Looking forward to seeing how yours are doing so far dude.

Peace