Getting Really Nervous...

Hi all,

OK this is my first outdoor grow and due to not thinking far enough ahead, I planted in my backyard. I only have one plant left after animals and weeding out males, but it is definitely female, which is good.

My big problem right now though is security. I got a late start (around June 7th) and my girl is already about as tall as me and I'm 5'10". Our wood privacy fence only has a few more inches to cover her. I have neighbors that park their car in their driveway which is literally inches away on the other side of the fence. While I know they are the super religious, I also feel they are rather naive. But if it gets much taller, they would have to be complete idiots not to notice it.

My biggest questions...

1. Can I bend it somehow to keep the height down?

2. How much further will it grow based on when I planted it?

3. For that matter, when should it begin to flower based on the June 7th date?

I appreciate any advice and thanks

P.S. Due to the awful location I planted, it only gets about 4 hours of direct sun and I live in the midwest, if that matters.

it flowers as soon as it does, outdoors, more based on sunlight....

and since you know it is a female, it has already started ;)

yes you can tie the plant down, GENTLY, bend it down

no one knows how tall your plant will get, but judging from it's growth already expect a monster...

you may want to consider topping it, if the bending isn't enough

Could you explain "topping it" ? I am rather new and would hate to ruin something so good.

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GENTLY, bend it down

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lol or snap the branch in half and let it heal up, it will do so without losing much growth.

in half meaning so it bends over but is still attached, dont rip the branch off the plant.

topping is basically cutting some of the top off to make the sides grow more, i dont think its advisable if you started flowering but i aint sure... :S

topping is always a good idea, i do it every plant i have thats a female, what it does is it makes most of the time and extra 1 or 2 tops start to grow and the plant becomes bushy, you can do this to as many internodes as you want but becareful

right now you best option is probably bending it over and either tying down or bending it by crushing the stem while the stem will still be intact it will usually heal up and form a knot if you only have one plant you may want to tie just to be on the safe side.
its kinda late in the season to be topping and would probably only result in the plant yielding less.

I have the same situation in my own yard. The only spot i have is next to my fence a few feet away from my neighbor. What I do is dig a trench so I could lower my pots. That way I can control the height and not have them peeking over my fence. I also have a section of plywood covering the front of them which I have to move when I water. I go through this every year...

Ok here are some new pics of my girl. She's now about an inch over the fence height, my guess is about 6ft. As you can seein the last two pics, the neighbors driveway is pretty farking close. I tried just a test bending and I don't know if that will work. It's already bushy enough that the leaves stick up just as high when bent. I'm still going to attempt the tie-down and see what becomes of it.

As for the flowering, how long is it normally before flowering takes place? If I recall from past reading, the amount of sunlight has a large effect on this, I just don't remember what. My girl only gets about 4 hours a day in fully direct sun, so maybe that might be causing the issue.

Just top it man, it might be real bushy already but if you top it, for the most part, what you loose in height you gain in bushyness! So your neighbors wont see it and youll still have a lot of bud! Bending sounds like a good idea too but I'd be scared to bend mine just in case the stem snapped.

And as for when it starts flowering, typically plants are supposed to flower when they recieve 12 hours of light or less. Not direct light, but light in general. So while it may only be recieving 4 hours of direct light it is probably getting a good amount of other light throughout the day which is why it is still getting bigger and not exactly flowering like crazy. Even once it does start flowering a lot though, its still going to grow upward more; you truly have a monster on your hands! Also, it probably won't be ready to harvest until late october which means it will be even huger!

would make sure that you dont have any light pollution from street lights or outdoor lights that may interfere with flowering and bend it over and tie down its the amount of darkness that triggers flowering as the hours of darkness increase during the fall plants start to flower and for alot of growers in the northern hemispere its already started.

You can definitely bend that bad girl over. As stated before, if the stalk breaks it should still survive. I usually wrap the effected area with electrical tape. You could try hanging a light weight from her to continue a steady bend on her.

You really don't have to worry about light pollution outside. Unless you have a bright security light right over the top of it or some such thing then the light will be diffused before it effects the plants budding. You should see discernible buds any time now. Harvest should be around Sept 15 - Oct 15.

I think your big problem is going to be odor once she starts to bud up. I hope your neighbors are either cool of ignorant because there really isn't much you can do about that.

Best of luck

ccf

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think the bending option is going to work the best for me. I am really unsure about topping (i.e. how to, will it work, will I kill it, etc.) I'm waiting for the rain to stop so I can go out and tie it down. Hopefully it will begin to flower any day now, although it doesn't even look like its ready to flower yet. Then again, what do I know? It's my first grow.

Anyway, as for the smell, that was just another thing I hadn't thought of ahead of time. I didn't realize how much she would smell so much. I don't think there's much I can do about it either. My neighbors have always been the religious, church 3 days a week, nerdy types so maybe by chance they will be ignorant enough to get me by this season.

Hmm, wonder how much PMITA prison time I'd get for 1st time offender with one plant? Never mind, I'd rather it be a surprise.

OK I tied her down. I hope I did it right. It had just rained when i did it so i think I was able to bend her more than normal. So did I bend her right or did I just make her the marijuana equivalent to Down's Syndrome? Sorry for the hazy pictures. It's gotten pretty humid here today.

I think it'll do good. The only thing you have left to do is wait for it to flower (bud). It is ready for flowering but since it's outside i don't think you can force it with darkness. The four hours of light doesn't really matter....your plant can detect the sunlight pretty good especially since it's huge. However, it's the lack of light that helps the flowering. More light will continue vegetative growth. The only thing to do about that is, let nature do it with it's fall season (shorter days)....as for the smell this really isn't a problem unless your growing indoors.

you guys are recommending he top, and it's already flowering....

what the hell is wrong with you?!?!

tie it down, GENTLY. any cutting or breaking at this point is cutting and breaking your final yeild.

geez.... btw, you're taking a HUGE risk.... be careful, i personally would cut it down and wait til next year. the smell will more than likely be a big issue.

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Originally Posted by tha_green_ghost

....as for the smell this really isn't a problem unless your growing indoors.

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Not trying to bust your stones or anything Ghost but, trust me when I say odor is a problem outside. A plant that large is going to stink to high heaven. That is his neighbors drive way and house directly on the other side of the fence.

Mingles, Best of luck. I hate the thought of advocating for the destruction of a healthy plant but you should at least take in to consideration what Scarlet Sky had to say. Only you can determine your security risk fully.

Peace,
CCF

hm, would it even be possible to carefully dig it up and transplant it into another part of your yard, without killing it or harming it too much? I don't think you picked a very good place to plant it in general. Anyway, it looks very healthy. Hopefully you can grow it, and not rip it down. Maybe there's something else you can do.

NEVER PLANT IN YOUR BACK YARD!!! (unless u live in the cuts) meter readers are HUGE snitches pluss the people working on the power lines. that plant has NO camo u should have bushes on the sides that dont block out the light and match the color i really hope u dont live with parents or have kids put up some type of stuff between the fence and ur plant so no one can look through the fence and trust me IT WILL REAK unless sativa witch that plant looks indica mostly and i see the nieghboors garadge if they walk by the fence and smell it witch they will have about 50-60 days to do that UR FUCKED (unless thier cool with it)

Just my opinion, but I don't think your neighbors will notice. Good job bending her over. Good Luck!

Thanks for all the responses. This feedback has helped me so much. As for the issues raised.

1. Growing in the backyard. I will acknowledge, this was all sorts of stupid. I have no future plans to ever grow there again after this one. This is my first grow outside so I had no idea it would become what she has. Hell I was just hoping they would get past a couple feet. Oops.

2. The smell. Again, not having a clue how the smell would be, I never even thought of that in my initial planting. A few things in my favor though are that my neighbors never park their car that far up in their driveway. They only go into their garage to get their yard work supplies out and such. (i.e. mowing, trimming, etc.) Which means about once a week they are near it. Plus, as I previously stated, they are quite religious conservative folk. I think they are too naive to realize what it is, regardless of the smell.

I do realize I am really rolling the dice on that hunch, but just from past conversations, they seem pretty square. Would they be cool with it if they knew what it was? I highly doubt that. My wife and I are always extremely careful not to smoke in front of windows and we easily pass for your basic law-abiding citizens. ( married, one little one, dog , cat. etc...) Think the show "weeds" but the other end of the financial spectrum. I seriously thought about hanging cherry tomatoes from my girl for appearances if I hadn't bent her.

This thing is taking on a life of its own and I'm learning more everyday. All I wanted to do was save some money on my herb. Famous last words?

P.S. As for the bending, not only does it not seem to be damaged, they've started growing straight up from the bend about 2-3 inches over night. I don't even want to think of what comes next. Thanks again for the advice so far.

good luck in general, good job on your tie down and you may not have anything to worry about with the smell. some dont smell much at all unless they are disturbed. it is amazing how a plant reacts to being tied down. now that it is tied down that far you may be able to loosen it and tie it down a little farther.

I do need to re-tie it. We had a rather nasty storm last night and when I came out this morning, it was bent completely over. I thought I lost it. I still may. I propped her back up and we had great growing weather today so she perked mostly back up. I'm going to tie her up again though. Once in one direction lower and once how I had it but further up. That should take care of it.

As for any smell, maybe I'm just so used to weed smell, but I really don't notice that much of one. Granted, its not budding up yet and I'm sure that will change, but I'm hoping against hope I'll be ok.

Just a suggestion.. Gets some chicken wire and 4- 10foot pieces of Rebar.. drive the rebar around the plant and top the plants higher tops ... Place the chicken wire over the plant a bit lower than the top and GENTALLY bend the branches to stay under the wire.

This is called scrog and is generally done early but works fine to keep the buds low as they fill out ..

Heres a pic of my outdoor scrog grow and the ideas the same for you only your starting a bit late so ya gota have more hight..

http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500/medium/scrog1.jpg

"Grow Forth and Prosper"..... Vulcan Grower...

Oh hell. I looked out my window this morning and saw my girl looked fine. I never thought twice about it until about 2 this afternoon and I noticed she was completely wilted. We've had a ton of rain here lately so I think this may be the reason. If it is, will it ever come back? Is it possibly something else? I have noticed over the last few days since it bent over, that there has been some yellowing of the lower leaf sets and several of the lower branches have been broken off. Like I said, it has been quite stormy the last week.

Any advice? You guys have been great so far. The pics here are how she looked today...

dunno never had a plant go liek that b4 should be alrite if its just overwatered from the rain. you should by some lavender plants for the smell atleast, n some for camo.
goodluck hope its just overwatered
peace

over watering

It looks even worse today. I think five straight days of torrential rain and wind really did a number on my girl. Is it still possible she can be saved? It's hard to imagine she could go from being considered a "monster" to shriveled up plant in so little time. I know I may have a lot of seemingly obvious questions, but this is my first almost successful outdoor grow and I am/was really looking forward to a healthy harvest.

Can it still happen? And if so, what will it take on my part to make it happen?

those plants look a little too droopy. usually droopy means its gonna die. unless its a night at night its sopposed to be droopy a lil

marijuana plants are very sensitive to being overwatered give it lots of sun maybee it will come back but it looks bad... real bad but next time put a tarp over them or grow ur plants in pots so u can take them inside if theres that much rain

Point taken. She's basically dead now.I guess I learned a lesson about rain. I don't think there was anything I could have done. As much of a good idea a tarp would have been, that would have been way to conspicuous to the neighbors. What can you do when you get so much rain in that short of time? I mean, can't exactly suck the water back out at this point. I guess I'll have to get started on my indoor next and hope my bad luck doesn't extend to that. Thank you all for the replies. Unless someone out there knows of a miracle cure, this girl will be put to rest.

And she had so much promise.

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Originally Posted by Mingles

What can you do when you get so much rain in that short of time? I mean, can't exactly suck the water back out at this point.

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If my babies got in that situation I might grab a hose and try anyway.. Or call Teresa over... she can suck start a Harley..:thumbsup:

It's not the rain! You know that storm you said you had a few days ago that you thought damaged your plant? 10 to 1 it was that. Physical damage to her main stem, I'm betting. If you have your plant in a poorly drained pot, then yes, too much water can cause root rot, but when you're planting directly in the ground too much water will almost never be an issue. And overwatering will not do that much damage that fast either, and the damage will not look like that.

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you guys are recommending he top, and it's already flowering....

what the hell is wrong with you?!?!

tie it down, GENTLY. any cutting or breaking at this point is cutting and breaking your final yeild.

geez.... btw, you're taking a HUGE risk.... be careful, i personally would cut it down and wait til next year. the smell will more than likely be a big issue.

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There's a lot of misinformation here. Topping probably would have been a good idea in this case. Sure, it will affect yield, but sometimes yield isn't your main concern. And for all the people telling him to tie down his plant and put chicken wire around it or whatever, the last thing he would have wanted to do is attract more attention to his plant.

From my experience, pretty much anything that isn't a pure indica won't smell that strongly, and even then, there are so many plant smells outside in the summer, one more isn't something you'd notice unless you're an experienced grower or a drug dog. And there's no sense in cutting down a plant without knowing if smell will be a problem.

Still, growing in your backyard isn't that safe, but it's not too late to start again! Indoors, that is. :smokin:

mine sometimes do that with too little water in a pot but the stem probably got cracked and pretty badly by the looks of it. they can usually recover from that too as long as it wasnt too bad. if it died im sorry, but if it isnt dead maybe a little propping up and time can save it.

Till i saw that last pic I was going to say that low stress traing,bending is great and u yeild better,tried and prover.keep us poste.

Sorry for no replies. Life gets busy. Yes, she is in fact dead. I tried to feed her a little bit hoping she'd perk back up, but to no avail. Although her main stem is mostly green still, the leaves are all mostly dying. I've actually been fairly bummed out over it the last few days, being my first and all. In the next month or so I'll get my indoor going and that should cheer me back up. Thanks again for all the advice and watch for my indoor project coming up.

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Originally Posted by Mingles

Sorry for no replies. Life gets busy. Yes, she is in fact dead. I tried to feed her a little bit hoping she'd perk back up, but to no avail. Although her main stem is mostly green still, the leaves are all mostly dying. I've actually been fairly bummed out over it the last few days, being my first and all. In the next month or so I'll get my indoor going and that should cheer me back up. Thanks again for all the advice and watch for my indoor project coming up.

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Do worry alot of people mess up the first time... It was probably the soil. You need some perlite in ur plot to help keep the soil from getting compacted and soggy when it rains. That was probably the problem unless someone has been poisoning it. I had a plant in the powerlines once and the electric company people sprayed it... I came back and it was a yellow wilted mushy thing overnight... bummed me out bad it was one of the biggest i had ever had... and it was like 3 weeks into flowering..

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Originally Posted by khronik

It's not the rain! You know that storm you said you had a few days ago that you thought damaged your plant? 10 to 1 it was that. Physical damage to her main stem, I'm betting. If you have your plant in a poorly drained pot, then yes, too much water can cause root rot, but when you're planting directly in the ground too much water will almost never be an issue. And overwatering will not do that much damage that fast either, and the damage will not look like that.


There's a lot of misinformation here. Topping probably would have been a good idea in this case. Sure, it will affect yield, but sometimes yield isn't your main concern. And for all the people telling him to tie down his plant and put chicken wire around it or whatever, the last thing he would have wanted to do is attract more attention to his plant. (What?!?)

From my experience, pretty much anything that isn't a pure indica won't smell that strongly, and even then, there are so many plant smells outside in the summer, one more isn't something you'd notice unless you're an experienced grower or a drug dog. And there's no sense in cutting down a plant without knowing if smell will be a problem.

Still, growing in your backyard isn't that safe, but it's not too late to start again! Indoors, that is. :smokin:

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No, no, wrong, no... You have more misinformation that this whole thread man...

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Originally Posted by O. G. ganja smoker

marijuana plants are very sensitive to being overwatered give it lots of sun maybee it will come back but it looks bad... real bad but next time put a tarp over them or grow ur plants in pots so u can take them inside if theres that much rain

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Originally Posted by Mingles

It looks even worse today. I think five straight days of torrential rain and wind really did a number on my girl. Is it still possible she can be saved? It's hard to imagine she could go from being considered a "monster" to shriveled up plant in so little time. I know I may have a lot of seemingly obvious questions, but this is my first almost successful outdoor grow and I am/was really looking forward to a healthy harvest.

Can it still happen? And if so, what will it take on my part to make it happen?

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mingles! hi ther. try a local hardwear store for a greenhouse,can pick up for 40quid here N.Ireland. any store wer u r will do them,very easy to build. comes with plastic throw over cover. enough room for few plants! then when ur gona bloom her throw a large thick blanket over her,doing this youl not need to wait for nature taking its course cuz your telling her its bed time(dark period):thumbsup: easy solved 12hrsdaylight/12hrs dark with blanket over her! good luck man.:stoned: