Hi all. Relative newcomer here. Been reading for a few months and am ready to decide on seed and location.
Northern California and it gets very hot in the valley, 100+ hot and 100% sun all summer. I grow vegetables here OK, but sometimes they look a bit burned. Can weed tolerate intense sun or shade cloth a good idea? Or an area where they only get sun part of the day…ie alongside a building?
Thinking autoflower to perhaps avoid the most intense summer sun. Prefer a Sativa strain, but want a shorter plant. Yes, I understand that Sativas are tall, but new hybrid x might be available. And controlled trimming is certainly a thought.
Probably 4 plants this summer so I might mix up the locations and find out what works best.
Any thoughts would be appreciated on variety and heat concerns. Thanks
Shade cloth is a good idea. Having said that I get temps in high 30’s and low 40C and haven’t had any issues. Its mostly a problem when they are young or when you transplant them out there without acclimatising them properly. I’ve got gold leaf and strawb kush photos (ilgm of course) and they seem to relish the heat. Not autos but with LST and/or scrog I’ve found heights to be more then manageable. ! This strawb is only a foot high
Thanks much Powaforce. I’ll have some sun cloth on hand if it looks neccesary I can set it upguess, but not stress about it.
You are doing great things with LST. I will learn more for sure. 3’ would probably be comfortable height for me. After seeing yours, I could probably follow your grow and learn to adjust the height downwards. Very cool. Thanks
I kept mine low because I put some tomatoes in for a cover crop from seed and they took forever to cover but then exploded and I had to cull a lot of tomatoes cos they were stealing too many hours of sun.
Yep, that’s my scrog. Its basically just LST. Like a horizontal trellis. I think I could take out those sticks/stakes holding it up and she’d hold it by herself now, not that I would. As soon as she sticks a head up high enough to get her to the next hole without facing down I stretch her across. Sometimes I might need to move a whole heap just to keep it even, I try for one head a hole but doesn’t always work like that. I put my scrog on not centred which I think has cramped me some. I’ve got a mystery girl next to her and she’s getting swamped big time. Check my journal, first season, starting late outdoor south australia
The really big problem that you will experience is bud rot and bugs.
Last fall harvest had a bunch of folks lose part or all of their crop to both.
I would suggest starting indoors under lights with photo period plants. Use fabric pots so you can relocate as needed. Shade cloth will be necessary to reduce stress on the plant. High heat is a technique used to force seeding so heat will wreck your crop. Human comfortable is what you want.
Personally I wouldn’t grow outdoors in the Sac-to valley for those reasons.
Thanks for the thoughts. I am not interested in an indoor grow. It’s outdoor or nothing for me.
I see LOTS of weed being grown around here, so I know it can be done. I’m a pretty experienced gardener, having grown organic for decades. I’ll give it a go and see what happens.
Thanks for the scrog explanation Powaforce. I like the way it spreads the plant so plenty of air and breeze and light can get in, along with the keeping plant low. I like the looks How large is the spacing on the wire grid?
I’ll definitely follow your grow journal. Sounds like our climates are somewhat similar. Still learning to navigate this site. It’s a bit of a maze to me right now.
I dont off the top of my head @Myfriendis410
Theres a bunch of guys that haven’t been on since harvest time hahahahaha @mulegal wire garden fence works great as a screen 2x4 inch holes make sit easy to tuck everything back underneath and it ridged
I have a plant this summer that was filled 6x4 screen outdoors woohoo canopy was about 4 feet off ground perfect if trying to hide them behind a fence or similar
Oh and welcome if i can assist you just tag me by putting @ symbol in front of my user name
My grid spaces are slightly smaller then they should be. I was gonna cut some of the grid big enough to get my hand thru but my dremel is broken and I’ve a feeling father Christmas is bringing me a new one. Its more inconvenient with small squares but still doable. This caper is absolutely thoroughly addictive @mulegal. Be prepared for that lol. Especially tucking
@mulegal @Myfriendis410
I know a few folks growing in that general area, other than high temps in summer its pretty good…
I am in mountains up north by Oregon border…
The only advice for now would be to focus on sativas and you dont have to be afraid to grow longer flowering strains…
Up here I have to be done harvesting by end of october…still get few snow showers
Hey welcome here and I be close by when season starts just tag me…
Ooh, one more thing, You can start pretty soon …no much freeze there…
How large is the spacing on the wire grid?
