Dealing with heat issues in the desert...

[likekind]

ay rusty i hate to keep bugging you but if you could i need a little help i posted some pics of my little guys, for the most part they seem ok how ever two of them are getting these purple spotting under there leaves(not mold) and their stems are purple i was told it was a cal mag problem but i started giving them the cal mag but i dont know if its working. also my plants are only a week and a half old and they are super dank(whole room is lit up) is that normal for such young plants? well any ways if you could take a look at them and let me know it would be apriciated http://boards.cannabis.com/growing-i...-new-pics.html

[Rusty Trichome]

If you want to get my attention, I'd prefer that you start your own thread. :thumbsup:

[stjr2k]

I'd like to jump on the "Thank you Rusty" wagon! If you grow outdoors where I live, your crop will see high temps 95+ and high humidity for two full months or longer. I never had any problems from it. But, when my temps went to 90 in my closet, I started scrambling like I was trying to avoid the apocalypse. LOL Thanks again!

[mojavemama]

Rusty, ahhh, Rusty! I could not remember where I'd posted about this a couple years back until someone referred me to a response and I finally saw where I'd posted it! Hope you don't mind me bumping this thread up, as it's near and dear to my heart.

When I last posted, I noted that I lived in a climate with 4% relative humidity. I'd tried all sorts of ways to keep the roots cool enough outside in the potted plant because I cannot grow directly into the soil: suburbia, high theft of plants, etc. My choice was to use wet newspapers wrapped around each pot (no Rusty, I didin't Ph balance that water! LOL) and keep the pots on a bed of damp gravel. THis was a lot of work, plus they all had to be moved in their rolling carts under shade cloth during the heat of the day.

Plus, at over 105 degrees, I noted far more heat stress and hermie development. Since summers here usually stay between 110-115 degrees, and temps rarely get down to 100 degrees at night in the middle of the summer, the heat problem just became too much work.

Next phase: removed all the plants from pots, drilled holes in the bottoms of the plant carts and planted 5 plants per cart directly into the soil. Painted the outside of the carts white, covered the tops of the soil with shade cloth. This worked very well, far better than the individual pots. During the afternoon when the heat was the greatest, I also covered the outside of the cart with shadecloth.

The only major problem I had was BUGS. Ohhhh, Rusty. I had 2 cart sfull of Aurora Indicas, 5 plants to a cart, and doing fabulously well. These were heavy indica as well, so broad leaf damage was a concern. Everything that grows here successfully outdoors in mid-summer in 115 degrees with 4% humidity--seems to do better when the leaves are long and thin. Unfortunately the indies give me better pain relief, but the sativas did better handling the heat without any humidity.

The disaster happened the day before harvest. One last 'let the girls out to get their last suntan" was a disaster. The cola-can sized colas were thick with sticky trichs, dripping with it. A swarm of aphids came over the carts like something out of "The Birds" movie, and I swear I saw Alfred Hitchcock make one of his surprise appearances. The aphids did Kamikaze dives into the thick syrupsy trich juice, got stuck halfway in, and could not be removed. I do mean thousands of the bugs, not just a few you could pluck out.

I tried a gentle water spray to remove them. Nothing. I tried a stronger water spray: half the bodies came off, leaving the other half embedded in the goo.
It also removed all the mushroom shaped heads of the trichs. Disaster. There was no way to save them, the potency was now well reduced, and I have thousands of aphid bodies inside the sweet honey. That harvest I smoked the bug weed. Shall I just say it was desperation for pain-cutting meds, and I tried to put it out of my mind that I was smoking aphid carapaces.

Really, it can be done, this desert growing thing, but it's not for the feint hearted, nor for the busy person on the go. And the bugs picked up and brought inside are just not worth the fight. I've had 'em all--aphids, spider mites, thrips, fungus gnats. I'm getting a heck of an education, but there's a part of me inside that just dreams of one totally 'boring' grow with no pests, no problems.

I'm now growing indoors totally, and while the HID's can't compare to the natural HID in the sky, the pests are easier to control, and I have time to do other things besides babysit my plants all day.

I will say that growing 5 plants in a cart was a huge success, though, and I use only organics, mixing my own soil substrate, using a filtered compost tea called "Ubiogrow" and nothing else. I'm finally getting decent meds, though the colas are not nearly as big as they were outside.

Great thread, Rusty, and again, I hope you don't mind that I bumped it. There's precious little out here about desert growing conditions, especially in low desert where there is so very little humidity.

[Rusty Trichome]

Glad to help y'all take some of the stygma out of growing under warmer-than-normal conditions. Bummer about the bugs. I've been pretty lucky. But as long as the bugs don't scream when lit, I don't think I'd be concerned with smoking a few, lol.

Trying to grow outside, myself.
Below is a 5 gallon PokerFace lady about to go into the flower shed. It was about 110's daily the week of the photo, watering half a gallon of properly ph'd water twice a day, being moved to follow the sunshine as much as possible, and a custom ghetto rootball shade. The house blocks the sunlight for a few hours a day, but the plants have done much better than I had ever imagined. In ground worked well too, except the neighbor kids could spot 'em if they got over a couple feet tall, so I re-potted 'em. Will use this enclosure more next year for sure...

[attachment=o278399]

[GrowingInGeorgia]

Anyone seen any particular success with any specific seed strain when dealing with ambient heat? I've been growing strictly from bag seed and have reached the point that I'm ready to spend a few dollars to order a few of better strains. I'd rather not start with something that is overly sensitive to heat if I can avoid it.

To date I've never seen less than 90° in my grow room, however winter is coming.