Desert grow

I've been growing in the high desert of Southern California for about two years now, and when I started out there was really nothing out there on the Internets on how to start a desert grow. I just wanted to share some of the stuff I've learned, and if anyone had any questions or suggestions they can log 'em below.

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SUNBURN - The heat out here can be between 100° F - 110° F in the summer, and at night it stays between 75° F - 80° F. Winters can be cold as well, daytime temps hover around 45° F and night temps drop as low as 25° F. There is of course very little moisture. The highest I have ever seen the humidity (outside of when it has actually rained) here is 42%. That's insanely high. Your biggest enemy is the sun. Cannabis loves sun, but here it can wither a seemingly healthy plant away within hours.

What I do to beat the sun burn is when roots begin stretching out of the peat pots the seedlings are in, I plant them in 2 gallon black plastic pots - the kind of cheap pots you get when you buy flowers and shrubs and stuff from nurseries. Yes, black will not reflect sunlight. Yes, the roots will heat up and die. How I beat this is by saving old plastic grocery bags. Ours are white - so I cut out the bottom and leave a flap there. I place the bag over the pot, and stake the bag handles into the potting mix. The flap on the bottom that you cut out gets tucked under the drain pan.

Another thing you can do is to buy garden fabric and use it to shade your plants when they need it. I use this, it works better than cheesecloth and costs about the same: Summerweight Garden Fabric | Buy from Gardener's Supply

So to manage the sun exposure while ensuring your plants get the sunlight they need means moving them (maybe) several times a day. Mine get placed on the side of my home, where I have a 7 foot privacy fence. the whole grow area is largely shielded from very nice, really clueless, and somewhat distant neighbors. The whole grow area gets all morning sun, with shade (as the sun moves over the house) starting around 1 pm (it starts getting really hot around 11 am). I don't have to move anything. If you don't have this, then you can move them around as well to avoid over-exposure. I've done this, the plant does just fine. So avoid afternoon sun, which can burn the plants. The leaves will begin curling up and then drying up (with no chlorophyll present), and then falling off. The stem may lean, but not always. If more than 25% of the plant has lost leaves during early veg, I would trash it. Too much trouble, and I have seedlings ready to take it's place.

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AMBIENT HEAT - Even in the shade it is hot during the summer here. It starts getting Africa hot by the end of May and doesn't really quit until early October. Even during the nighttime it is hot! You need to help protect your pots and plants from heat buildup.

While the nice people at garden centers mean well - when they push mulch on you as a means of preventing unnecessary loss of moisture...they are helping you kill your plants. DO NOT EVER MULCH YOUR PLANTS ON AN OUTDOOR GROW. Bad! In pots (or in the ground), the medium needs to breathe! Or in the case, in pots, the potting mix needs to breathe - water in it not only feeds the plant, it helps cool the potting mix through evaporation. The top of the pot needs to be unobstructed, allowing some of that water to evaporate, courtesy of that ambient heat. Mulch can also cause rot around the base of the stem. It helps to keep the pots cooler by placing the pots on top of wooden pallets in the grow area. As the plants grow they will help add more of their own shade.

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WATERING AND FEEDING - I water on a three-day cycle. Water and fertilizer on the first day, water only the second day, and nothing on the third day (with exceptions). I use a 50/50 mix of soilless potting soil and perlite. That's it. The plants grow better and faster in that medium than any other for an outdoor grow.

I use three types of fertilizer. One is regular Miracle Grow, for the veg phase. Then I switch to Miracle Grow Bloom Booster for the flowering phase. At the last week of feeding I add hardwood fireplace ash to the feed. Mix according to the directions.

The only exceptions to the third day on the watering plan are sick plants, and plants in grow weeks 1-3, they get plain water.

If you grow outside in the ground, then it is recommended that you set up irrigation, and a timer. I set mine up (I no longer grow in-ground) with water every two hours

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WIND - Wind is ever-present here. Most days, there is a strong breeze, most nights that grows to a 15-25 mph wind. You need to shield your plants. Staking will not work. The wind will topple staked plants as easily as it will ones that aren't staked. It will bend stems around tomato stake rings. I am lucky, I have a 7 foot high privacy fence. Serious consideration needs to be given where the plants are during what time of day. 2-3 times a year here we have big wind storms. One threw my kid's trampoline (full-sized, with the complete netting on top) over 150 feet and impaled it on a fence and anchor line for a power pole. But seriously, most days you just need to be prepared to deal with a strong breeze. It is just that when the wind picks up out here, it REALLY picks up.

Underneath trees is good. just make sure there is enough room for vertical growth. The side of a house or a shed is best.

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Here are some miscellaneous things:

In all the time I have been growing out here, I have never seen a single spider mite. Not one.

I have seen no benefit to scrog on any outdoor grow (I tried it since I was in a confined space). Works great on indoor, though.

Tying down offshoots about 45° away from the main stem really boosts yield. I FIM a lot as well.

For those who might (maybe?) be thinking about aquaponics, the answer is no. I tried it (I grow home veggies and tilapia with aquaponics) and you cannot manipulate the fertilizer levels to any precise degree in an aquaponics system that you can with a hydroponics system. Hydroponics IMHO is the best way to grow indoor simply based on speed of growth. In aquaponics the only fertilizer is the fish poop. If you think you know of a way to tell a fish to only poop a half-teaspoon of shit every two hours, good luck. And mary jane grown in aquaponics takes FOREVER to grow.

Be patient - these plants evolved (at least sativas did) in an arid environment. They can handle the heat better than you think.

I dry my buds inside mesh bags. My garage is insulated, but not climate controlled. So it can get really hot in there. But if I hang the mesh bags with the buds in the garage for three to four days, then they go right into mason jars or ziploc over bags. It really seems to do the trick - I end up with some nice and crispy/spongy buds. But if I could dry inside my house I would.

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In fact, if you can grow inside, do. But growing outside is very possible, I know of a few people who grow most of their medicine outside in the ground. No pots. Good luck!