Maximising THC content of an outdoor grow?

So next year is going to be my second grow. I wont have ALOT of plants, but hopefully more will sprout next year than did this year.

The thing is, due to privacy issues the only place I can grow is out in my woods. So I know with indoor hydroponic setups and the like you can fine tune everything to maximize the THC content- since everything in under your control. But what variables are (at least somewhat) under your control when you grow outdoors? And what are the best ways to use them to your advantage?

So what are your opinions on:
The best way to treat the soil? (the dirt stuff. not store bought)
The best fertilizers and nutrients to add (and at what stages?)
The best additives (if any) for the water?
The addition of gibberalic acid (a plant growth hormone) to a seedling? (This one I am particularly worried about trying, since its growing faster and taller, wouldn't that make the buds smaller, less potent, and less dense? Or would it help?)

Any other variables to the outdoor growing process that you can think of to change that will maximize the overall THC content would be greatly appreciated by me, and others I'm sure.

use warm water n seaweed n stay organic n learn about ph n check it regularly

The best way to treat the soil? (the dirt stuff. not store bought) BUY GOOD SOIL. This is the best advice I can give you. Buy the good fluffy stuff. Soil is a huge factor when it comes to yeild and potentcy... don't take short-cuts. Look for Pro-mix or Foxfarm or something and get some bone meal for flowering and blood meal for vegetative.

The best fertilizers and nutrients to add (and at what stages?)I like the GH 2 part (FLoraNova), Bonticare has a line out called pure blend. That one is all organic and has good feedback.

The best additives (if any) for the water? There are a bunch of additives. Superthrive is a good one. Just a couple drops per gallon.

The addition of gibberalic acid (a plant growth hormone) to a seedling? (This one I am particularly worried about trying, since its growing faster and taller, wouldn't that make the buds smaller, less potent, and less dense? Or would it help?) No... Gibberalic acid is an extremely poisonious chemical used for inducing hermies' so you can make feminized seeds. DON"T USE THIS STUFF...

Maximizing potency comes down primarily to putting good genetics in good growing conditions. Add appropriate fertilizers and soil mix, make sure they get lots of sun and thats really all there is too it. Potency is primarily genetic.

I allways laugh when any good weed everyone calls "hydro" and they somehow believe hydro magically makes shit weed potent and soil grown weed is shit.

You can grow hemp hydroponically it will still be garbage. Its all about the genetics of the plant being provided adequate conditions to realize its genetic potency potential.

only real way to boost THC, is to grow healthy plants ... THC content pretty much depends on genetics, and overall plant health ... 'THC boost tips' are pretty much 'urban myth' in my experience ... we used to think high temps would boost resin production, etc.., all it really did was stress the plants, and slow the growth ... :wtf: ... we live and learn :jointsmile:

60% genetics, 30% plant health, 10% harvest/post harvest technique.

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Any other variables to the outdoor growing process that you can think of to change that will maximize the overall THC content would be greatly appreciated by me, and others I'm sure.

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If you are going to plant in the ground...prepare the site this fall. Spade up the earth and add all-purpose fertilizer or manure, remove weeds, leaves and cover with mulch. If the soil looks poor or hard clay, add humus or top soil and maybe some perlite.

The soil I have is already rather nice, and is pretty fertile since it's at the edge of a cow pasture (but not where the cows can reach it). But I guess I might buy some soil to mix cover it with anyway. I'm definitely going to spade up the ground and add some fertilizer next year though.

The seeds I have are from a bag of some kind of dank orange haired weed I bought a while back. It's the same kind I used this year and I just tried my crop from this year (one plant) and I was wandering around baked in the woods for 3 hours. And I didn't really prepare the soil much or anything for that plant. Thats why I'm wondering what I can do this year to make the bud even better (actually, bigger is more important to me, since this year I planted wayyyy to late and only got a 2 foot plant with a guesstimated weight in buds of about 4 grams). But the plants I REALY want this information for is my 2+ white widow strains I'm getting next year. (I know, thats not a lot to most of you, but for me finding any kind of good strain that somebody actually knows the name of it almost impossible, let alone finding seeds for such a thing).
So I guess I have the soil and the strain of plant down.

Next year I definitely need to spray something on them to keep bugs off though. This year I lost a plant to slugs when I went on a 2 week vacation :(. So once I get that (keeping the plant healthy) down I'd be all set, right?

if u environmentally stress ur plants during the last 2 weeks THC production will increase-? dramaticly well the whole Cannabnoid - tric

did anyone ever hear of putting a battery powered fan on an outdoor plant to stimulate thc production?

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Originally Posted by BlackBerry

if u environmentally stress ur plants during the last 2 weeks THC production will increase-? dramaticly well the whole Cannabnoid - tric

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Sorry- myth....

Most environmental stresses will actually decrease production.


Using a battery powered fan won't increase production either, but it will help to control/prevent fungal issues.

And you can piss on it and it gives it b vitamins... and you can use a black light in the night cycle... Its funny how people just pull false information out of their ass... BTW THESE ARE MYTHS...

Damn... death by slugs... that would suck.

well SOME STRESSES might be true if some r myths n no i dont pull shit out my ass

my env stesses were found through years of my own Cannabis cultivation i dont spread lies ive only tried a few stesses n ive had fair resaults but the one i most proud of is frost this stressed my plants out n i use it every year do it or not i dont care

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Originally Posted by BlackBerry

well SOME STRESSES might be true if some r myths n no i dont pull shit out my ass

my env stesses were found through years of my own Cannabis cultivation i dont spread lies ive only tried a few stesses n ive had fair resaults but the one i most proud of is frost this stressed my plants out n i use it every year do it or not i dont care

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i'm not trying to attack you. Its just that stress is the opposite of what you want. Stress slows growth, therefore, slows production. So how does that increase potency/yeild? You should explain the reasoning behind it. You say frost stress makes it more potent...okay.. why is that?

some environmental stresses really do work the plant senses the stress say frost n the Cannabiss only defense is to produce more tricromes overnight or in a short time they contain chemicals known as cannabinols these "crystals" contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) THC is usually found in high percentages 30% in some sativas n 0.2% in some mid-western wild dirt weed ssp there r also other known chemicals witch also add to ur high the tricromes work in overdrive sensing cold danger n genetically potent Cannabis will be more potent

Umm... couple o' things...

Trics are not a defense against cold weather. As an annuals, the only " defense" against damaging cold that cannabis sp. possess is reproductive selection toward earlier flowering individuals. They adapt to local conditions, rather than fighting them.

Remember- the plant's only goal is to produce viable seed ( or, more precisely, viable reassortments of it's genome) - a sunscreen which happens to have , under some circumstances, psychoactive effects on some mammals is really incidental, as far as preventing damage to the seed chromosome. The only way in which " potency" is a reproductive advantage is that humans are more likely to husband the seed of more potent parents

Ain't no such thing as 30% THC (wet weight) in any strain, anywhere- pre-decarboxylated d9 acid, at room temperature, is gonna be a liquid. Given that we can expect 80% weight loss during the drying period, bud @ 30%(wet weight) THC would be either a gel or a slurry- I'm not sure which. Anybody got a Merck handy?

I know that breeders will claim very high %'s- All I can say is that they must be using some neat math.

WELL WOW
i gues im wrong then

im a breeder so then im using untrue math n my made-up potentcy crap for what

hey could u be wrong guy but i am huh

it works ill be using this the idea but its a unture myth just like how fairies enclosed me into a protective bubble -myth huh

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Originally Posted by rhizome

60% genetics, 30% plant health, 10% harvest/post harvest technique.

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true, and the harvest and drying, as you say, can be significant .. :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by rhizome

Umm... couple o' things...

Trics are not a defense against cold weather. As an annuals, the only " defense" against damaging cold that cannabis sp. possess is reproductive selection toward earlier flowering individuals. They adapt to local conditions, rather than fighting them.

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excuse me for hijacking a bit here, but, are fast-flowering strains developed, thru the use of cold-climate, acclimated parentage ?? ... that had never occurred to me, makes sense ... is it true ? ... :smokin:

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Originally Posted by BlackBerry

WELL WOW
i gues im wrong then

im a breeder so then im using untrue math n my made-up potentcy crap for what

hey could u be wrong guy but i am huh

it works ill be using this the idea but its a unture myth just like how fairies enclosed me into a protective bubble -myth huh

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If you want to continue growing the wrong way then thats your business... But if you tell someone "frost makes plants more potent" be sure to tell them that you base that one absolutely nothing. Horticulture is a science, and science is based on fact. Fact is something that can be tested, proven and explained. Now I'm not calling you a liar, I am still open minded to the frost theory. I am just one of those people that asks "why" alot. Where did this theory originate? Did you experiment yourself or did someone you know tell you this? What made you decide to experiment with cold finishing temperatures?

Although this is just a theroy, I am under the impression that the resin a cannabis plant produces is to protect the seed from drying out by stoping some of the moisture from evaporating. Many plants have resin that acts in a simmilar way, but lack the chemicals that we enjoy in cannabis. If that is the case, then letting the plant become a bit dry before harvesting could increase resin production.

Another theroy is the fact that light degrades THC. Maybe the resin protects the seeds from UV light; degrading durung the day and producing during the night to prepare for the next day. Therefor, if you were to harvest right before dawn the resin production would be at it's max.

My 2 cents.

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Originally Posted by the image reaper

excuse me for hijacking a bit here, but, are fast-flowering strains developed, thru the use of cold-climate, acclimated parentage ?? ... that had never occurred to me, makes sense ... is it true ? ... :smokin:

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Yes, This is why indica finishes faster. Indicas originate in colder regions typically far north. The growing season is much shorter in those place so the plants there naturally have to flower fast than ,say, plants in jamaica. Well the ones that don't flower early... die before they can reproduce so only the early flowering plants reproduce. Its more cause and effect and it happens over a long period of time. The plant basically evolves over a long period of time.

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Originally Posted by the image reaper

excuse me for hijacking a bit here, but, are fast-flowering strains developed, thru the use of cold-climate, acclimated parentage ?? ... that had never occurred to me, makes sense ... is it true ? ... :smokin:

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Not per se, but repeatedly selecting for early flowering is indistinguishable (as a selective pressure) from an annual need to complete the reproductive cycle before the freeze- the later flowering individuals have fewer opportunities to reproduce, so the late-flowering genes are filtered from the pool. In both cases, the earliest maturing individuals reproduce, and the latest do not.

Certainly genetics acclimated to northern climes flower more quickly than equatorial varieties- this is the pool that modern quick flowering varieties are drawn from. Human intervention has really sped things along, though.

The auto-flower and extremely early varieties take advantage of a Northern European sub-species known as C. Ruderalis, which will naturally reproduce without regard to photoperiod, as a response to harsh environmental conditions.

if u care
The Indoor Outdoor Highest Quality Marijuana Grower's Guide (Paperback) 1982
by Mel Frank (Author), Ed Rosenthal (Author)

its an older book but some of its content still applies

not to misreprisent myself but i cover em before it frost n remove cover the next day n so on for 1 or 2 nights then a week or 10 days of indian summer where doesnt frost

I allways laugh when any good weed everyone calls "hydro" and they somehow believe hydro magically makes shit weed potent and soil grown weed is shit
adzactly i give my friends sum of my cured bud and they always reply wow this is hydro
i just laugh and say its outdoors retards
peace

i dont know about everyone else but it gets kind of hard to read all of your run on sentences without any punctuation or grammar are we five years old now or what but seriously do you see why it is a pain to read this thanks and lets communicate like adults...


Sorry just me ranting on something that drives me loco. Don't stress your plant, thats just not smart. Its scientifically proven the stressing the plant SLOWSSSSSSSSSSSSS it down, so why bother with some urban myth, backwoods crap, that doesn't work.... sorry. Any outdoor grower I know AVOIDS frost with everything they've got.

well i know that frost can make a plant start purpling becuase the chloraphyll is degrading, and that is a good thing becuase chloraphyll is harsh to smoke.

Plant for a Patient: Patients need patience in plant maturation process - Oaksterdam News

This is crazy i found a article that agrees with blackberry. it says...

"Buds that suffer cold temperatures often have few white pistils, leaf fringes can turn purple, more resin develops and plants take longer to mature."

This is interesting but i still want to know why...

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Originally Posted by Comatose

Any outdoor grower I know AVOIDS frost with everything they've got.

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you don't know me but a little october frost never bothered my girls, that would be a crystal blue day and it'll warm right up by 9am so they can start growing again.

yeash dude i was just looking on a seed sight and came across something taht said the same thing, just like 15 minutes ago let me see if i can find it.

well hey so harvest all of ur plants before frost the same as last year n the year before n so on
or u can harvet all but 1 cover it to avoid any frost from touching her n harvest a week later n tell us what u think

experiment a little bit

ive got 17 giants outside all r the best ive grown so far outdoors n 17 baby blue ghosts on oct 14 will be my girls producing a higher better yield set to harvest oct 20

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Originally Posted by BlackBerry

well hey so harvest all of ur plants before frost the same as last year n the year before n so on
or u can harvet all but 1 cover it to avoid any frost from touching her n harvest a week later n tell us what u think

experiment a little bit

ive got 17 giants outside all r the best ive grown so far outdoors n 17 baby blue ghosts on oct 14 will be my girls producing a higher better yield set to harvest oct 20

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it doesnt start frosting here until like november... which is wayyyy after the harvest... so that is out of the question... Would this be possible inside?

uh in a greenhouse i have 4 left in my gh n theyll hopefully receive the same cold temps as their outdoor sisters