That looks great!!! On your water system, i see you have an inline filter on your water hose just before the splitter? May I ask if you are using well water thats filtered or is it delivered and pumped from a tank?
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We have a well.
I am using these filters - https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B089CNR4CP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is my valve system , I paid $60- https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B085K9LN96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Very simple! I like it! Is your garden water hard or soft? Sorry for all the questions!
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We have hard water.
Ask as many questions as you would like, I’m happy to help.
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Hey there, I have a few questions as I’m starting out in the valley and sounds like I’ve got something similar to you.
I’m going with white shadecloth, do you recommend a certain percentage?
Any tips on getting humidity in my “shade house”? I’ll be placing water dishes underneath my raised plants for evap water. Maybe water the ground beneath? Keep moist coco coir around the planters?
Any water treatment? I want to be on a timed irrigation system. Considering using an RV inline purification system but seems like it could just be a waste of money…RO is too expensive, any tips?
Any idea about what’s in your water and the ppm?
couldn’t tell you exactly what’s in it. and i haven’t gotten around to measuring ppm yet. i’ve been using distilled only during germination.
I am using 50% shade cloth. It immediately lowers temperature and diffuses the intense light so the plants spread a little more as opposed to just reaching towards the sky. I have the cloth positioned so direct light strikes the plants until about 10:30 am, then diffused until 5 pm and very late day direct sun again until darkness.
I have one of the valves/irrigation lines run down the top/center/inside. I will add misting nozzles to that line. That will cool the interior. The valve system allows me to program each line to run up to twelve cycles a day.
With the circular drip emitters, water only has to be run for four minutes at a time before there is any run-off. That water is allowed to run onto the dirt floor.
I have the pots on plant elevators so the pot is not in contact with the ground (gopher control and helps temp). When the hardcore heat of June arrives, I will put the elevators in trays/saucers surrounded by pea gravel so any run-off collects and then evaporates around the container, creating a tiny micro-climate and aiding in keeping root temp down.
Our water has been tested and other than extra calcium, is excellent and PH is near perfect out of the tap. I am very fortunate in that regard.
I’ve only been growing for a few years outside so I am far from an expert, but got a successful harvest each time (with many “learning experiences” along the way). If you live in/are visiting the Tucson area, you are welcomed to come have a look.
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Overhead sprinkler ($4, Home Depot) was installed on valve one in the outdoor grow house today and it worked flawlessly. It sprays a fine mist in a radius of almost 14 feet. Two more sprinklers will be added and then adjust the pattern so they just slightly overlap. If you look carefully, it is just visible hanging down, center. Trying to get everything prepped before the intense heat is here.
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Thanks @Tygrow78 !
Most ideas come from a few years of hiding it while growing, and, when issues of light/heat would “crop up” (awful pun intended), my brain would race with ideas, many always ending in “if only it did not have to be hidden…” With the change in law, the ideas can be openly implemented!
It should be added that, having lived in Arizona for over twenty-five years AND going to local nurseries, I was observing their remediation efforts. It was just a matter of scale and dollars (very little!) to make something work here. It would be rather pompous to imply that this idea “came to me out of the blue”.
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Finished all of the irrigation/overhead cooling spray installation, today. (Interior photo taken before lines attached from system to veggies) overhead sprinklers are just Rainbird irrigation sprinklers cut off of the large mounting stake and mounted upside down. They have a nice pattern and coverage inside the structure is even, with a little overlap outside on the southern end to water a row of large native bunch grasses. When programming the master water distribution valves, it will be set so the overhead always runs a couple of minutes (on extremely hot days) FIRST to help purge the hottest water from the system. A large outdoor thermometer is going to be mounted immediately overhead of the sprinklers for comparison with full exposure (we have a weather station on the roof).
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I love the misters make it rain ! Black pots get extra hot and hold the heat. If you can deep roots in the ground it helps cool the plant. Try to keep sun off black pots it will cook the roots.
Ace Reefer
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I have Krylon Fusion paint (white) for the pots. I usually have them painted before planting but did not this year. We have had crazy wind for a week, just waiting for it to subside, then cover plants and spray pots.
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I grow outside and face some of the problems you have. I am in a mountain area. Heat cant sometimes be a problem , I have some tips to help. I have grown over 45 years. your grow is very interesting.
Do you have a strain with landrace from hot climate?
Ace
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I’ve only grown outside in Arizona for a few years. This year, I have two other partners in a couple other locations. Because of that, I had everything started early and did not get my pots painted. I understand the problem of too hot roots in the desert. I’ll be taking a few other measures once the heat really comes on. I am interested in hearing anything you have to say!
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Went outside too early with some plants and they flowered. Harvested a little gelato over a week ago and pressed some of the sift/kief into rosin. Also, used a bunch of sift/kief from two grows to experiment and learn how to use the machine.
Fresh sift, pressed
Dried sift/kief, pressed
Harvested select branches of the outdoor plants today. As was the case when I went outside too soon a couple of years ago, the older parts of the plants have flowered, but there are sections are growing in a vegetation state that will go to full fall harvest
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Thriving in the heat!
Went outside too soon with these, so I actually got a full harvest in May! They were cut down and re-vegged. All of the old stuff that tried to flower had to be removed, if it was not cut when harvesting mature buds (checked trichomes). These have all been defoliated and will have a second round of it this coming week.
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I wonder if its better/ more efficient to do a double harvest like that, rather than let them grow real big and harvest once… interesting!
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