I.R. Ninja’s Outdoor Marijuana Garden 2012: Plumbing, Fencing, and Starts

Last month we introduced I.R. Ninja and his medical cannabis garden that was undergoing a total garden makeover. Today we have made the trip back to his place to see how things are moving along. When we arrived, I.R. Ninja was busy adding some extra fresh soil to his holes to bring them back up to the desired level. Northern California has had several inches of rain since our last trip and it has really helped settle the soil. Some of the holes needed to be slightly mounded to bury the gopher caging completely. We also noticed recent gopher activity in the area. Hopefully, I.R. Ninja’s plants will be safe inside their cages.

I.R. Ninja also enclosed his latest expansion with some new fencing. He chose a shade cloth  material designed to offer a ‘privacy screen’. This black material is 9 feet tall and came on a 150 foot roll, just enough to wrap this new addition. The corner posts are pressure treated 4x4s that have been buried about 2 feet in the ground. Metal ‘T-posts’ were used along the length of the span, and wire was stretched tight to help hold the plastic fabric in place.

One of the coolest features I.R. Ninja added is a new irrigation system. Six spans of ¾” main line run down the length of the garden to deliver water to two sides of each hole. Every hole is fitted with four 3.3 gallon per hour stake emitters. The emitters are then plumbed into the mainline using ⅛” ‘spaghetti’ line and a  ⅛” transfer barb. The spans of mainline are connected together at both ends of the the garden to assure even water pressure to every emitter. I.R. Ninja may be able to run all 100 emitters simultaneously. If he decides he wants more pressure he can easily break the system into two circuits.

It is nearly “game time”, as I.R. Ninja puts it, so he is gearing up and getting his plants started.  This year, he decided to grow a combination of seeds and clones. He purchased 3 varieties of seed; Super Skunk, Purple Widow (Purple Kush X White Widow) and some feminized Fruitylicious. In addition he’s going to grow one of his favorites, Purple Diesel, which is a clone strain and has performed very well for him on previous years.

Gore thinks he can sex plants by smell, so he has separated what he thinks are the boys from the girls. I.R. Ninja insisted that they all smell the same, but as the plants mature, we will see just how accurate Gore’s nose is.

This week, the weather has been fair, so I.R. Ninja has moved his older seed starts outdoors to enjoy some real sunlight. His younger seedlings are still delicate, but soon they will also be moved out into the sun as well. The clones are a different story. They will begin flowering if brought outdoors too early. This situation can be avoided by adding supplemental light until mid May. I.R. Ninja says he prefers to ween them down to the natural photoperiod in his grow room.

By afternoon, it was time for us to leave, and the sky had grown dark. It looked like a storm was coming. Soon I.R. Ninja’s plants will get a taste of mother nature, and I’m sure they will love it. We look forward to our next trip to Ninja’s garden. It looks like he is off to a fantastic start.

I.R. Ninja’s Outdoor Marijuana Garden 2012: Plumbing, Fencing, and Starts, 3.7 out of 5 based on 6 ratings