Hi from the mojave desert

[HighDesertRat]

Hello from the Mojave desert.
I'm growing hydro in an airy shed, with 30 sq ft of canopy space.
Started the grow with 26w per sq Ft of light...
Growing diamond og, kimbo kush, and Corleone kush
Started as 6" clones.
I cold shocked them with temps in the low 50°f for 2 days. Not on purpose, of course. Lol
One of the diamond og's stunted. Killed a Corleone when a heater got accidentally turned toward it.
so, down to 4.

i only vegged them 2 weeks and flipped to 12 12.
They just ended week 4 of 12/12.
I added a 400w light yesterday, so I'm up to 40w per going forward...hopefully the buds will fill out.

The kimbos stretched..I used LST and super cropping, but they're still almost 4' tall. The diamond and the Corleone didn't stretch at all...and are still pretty small, but I've got 8-10 main colas on each plant thanks to the training...

There is no humidity here. Lucky to get 20%, I've tried several humidifiers, but they can't keep up. Summers I run a swamp cooler, so I get up to 50% when it's on.
I run my lights at night to use/manage the heat better.

The girls are using 5 gallons of water every 2 days or so..some of that is evap...oh the desert...

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions, tips, tricks, and magic spells to increase my yields...glad to be here.

[Daskahn]

I’m not to familiar with growing in your area but my 2 cents are
can you insulate the shed? I didn’t see a fan.. can you add air circulation? Insulation should help with temps and humidity control I’m not familiar with the strains either but I’d say one is probably just naturally taller.. and then I always veg mine longer..

[HighDesertRat]

Yep, got a fan going...adding insulation is an ongoing process...I pretty much have to scavenge everything for this room...
the Kimbo kush is about 50% sativa...didn't know that when I got it, I was desperate for clones and took what I could find..I'm sure it'll be a handful outdoors this summer..
I'm.actually good on my temp control...it's the humidity that's vexing me this time around..I can't run the swamp cooler in winter...
I only vegged 2 weeks because I needed a faster grow this time. I've got clones rooting now that will be vegged almost 5 weeks when they go in the big rig...if I veg any longer, I run out of room..
I recently got some seeds out of some purple punch, so I'll be starting a diary for those, they'll be going outside when spring gets here.
Thanks for the response!

[Toker1]

Swamp cooler is like a really big humidifier. You can use it to bring up your RH. It won’t do any cooling unless the water you use is colder than the ambient temp.

[HighDesertRat]

The trouble with the swamp cooler is that it's huge enough to run the whole house. I can justify the expense in the summer, but I need to keep costs down as much as possible in the winter...it's all a trade off. I'm looking at ultrasonic humidifiers...with the added thought that it will carry a few minerals into the air...like a constant, low level foliar feed..

[Toker1]

Swamp coolers are low amps. Keeping costs down is important, but if you plan on growing until you harvest you may need to spend some money to get there. Failed grow attempts are much more costly than running an appliance is.

[SoOrbudgal]

Well hello Mojave and Welcome HighDesertRat grew up in SoCal till 19 spent many a night looking at the stars in the desert around that area. Hubby in his younger years road dirt bikes there. I've always loved the high desert which is one of the reasons I dig Oregon so much it has all that an less crowds. Been here since 1980 never looked back.
Can't imagine an outdoor grow and how to regulate temps reckon you start pretty early in spring? My Mother had a place in Bullhead City she'd run swamp coolers for helping with upping humidity, we did that in SoCal also way back when. May have to look at getting several for your space of those ultrasonic ones. Welcome to the forum. Really look forward to seeing your grow, sounds like this ain't your first rodeo

[HighDesertRat]

Desert growing...we struggled getting the tomatoes established...I was overwatering like crazy..it's the desert!
we took the advice of our neighbor and put up a 50% shade cloth that covers them from about 11am till 3pm.
When the roots grew through the potting soil and into the native soil, they exploded.
Hoping the cannabis will act in a similar fashion.

[SoOrbudgal]

Man that sounds great idea about shade cloth. Even here at times we get 90+ dry days and always breezy at my place. I move mine around in there containers I had curly leaf from winds last year. You probley kill it on peppers also. That's great about your native soil.

[Toker1]

Lived in the high desert myself. I only grew with an AC running there. Those 115F days get to be tough!

[HighDesertRat]

The soil here is all minerals..it's also alkiline as heck... pH around 10. We added a bit of sulphur in the bottom of the hole before the potting soil...the plants evidently found a zone they liked...
the wind is also a concern, we get some hard blows, but I'll be using LST and keep em pinned pretty low...otherwise I've got privacy screen to break up some of it..
Gonna be an adventure..

[Rwise]

I am not in the desert, but I am in the dust bowl, my PH is 8.4 not as bad as yours, in addition to the sulfur a bite of peat moss will help its PH is ~3.5.

[HighDesertRat]

Thanks for the tip about the peat. I'm building soil as we speak. I'm mixing equal parts goat manure, chicken manure, then doubling it with leaves and other tree detritus from our little farm...then mixing in rougly 30% decomposed pine and juniper needles.
Basically a forest floor mix with manure added.
Watering through the acidic soil lowers the pH of the native soil below...wish I had pics of those tomato plants..

[Rwise]

We do things a lot alike, gotta luv organics! I will say careful with the chicken poo, it is hot!

[Daskahn]

Just out of curiosity (because I’ve never grown in soil)
but if you put fresh manure aka not already aged.. don’t you have to wait a year? Before you can use it?

[SoOrbudgal]

Daskahn if you place it on top or in a hole let it get wet like washing it enrich the soil leeches in. No you don't want a fresh scoop of poop too hot. But he is blending it with other organics he's not going to use fresh hot poop. It will rest and cook. I don't think he intends to plant right away in the container or hole he's just getting mix ready I believe.

[HighDesertRat]

Yep, just getting it ready...it's already rested for about 9 months...has nice grass n.weeds growing in it..not using it till May, and I will be monitoring runoff for pH and ppms throughout...

[Daskahn]

Oh ok.. just asking because my dad keeps trying to get me to get fresh manure each spring for our communal garden and I say no that would have to rest a bit before we add it and we’ll fathers don’t really listen to sons to often

[Rwise]

I clean out the hen house (fall) and straight to the garden and till it in, BUT my "soil" is extremely poor, and the garden is large enuf to take it. I also put the rabbit poo in the same way. Then plant in the spring.

[Daskahn]

I would understand that but he was talking like a dump truck full.. like 2-3 inches on top.. which I’d prefer not to do that but thank you for the response