Blueberry first outdoor grow

skippitydoodah I have prepped the 11 gallon 1/3 whiskey barrel outside to eventually house this little blueberry girl and located a spot in the yard that gets full sun from dawn 'til dusk. I also bought a 42" tomato cage to help hold it up when she gets taller. I hope it doesn't become a spider trap. Additionally, I picked up some concentrated neem oil and a sprayer to be ready for the mites and mildew. Added diatomaceous earth to the top of the soil and covered it with a 1/2 inch of coco to keep any bugs from making their way into the soil. I'm sure I am forgetting some preventative measure but will figure it out as I go. Oh yeah, also got deer/rabbit repellant spray to spray around the base of the barrel when the time comes. My brother once grew a colossal plant about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. He came home from work one day, about a week before harvest, and found a family of deer eating it down to a foot tall. Poor kid. That's not going to be me. No sir!

skippitydoodah Not much going on this week. Waiting for night time temperatures to get a bit warmer so I can move her outside.

skippitydoodah I moved her outside last week. She was shocked all last week but has grown a few inches and spread out over the past few days. She is also growing faster than my two indoor Peach Puree plants even considering no growth for a week straight. The sun is a mighty powerful thing. Going on a camping trip for 5 days later in the week. I hope she gets a little rain while I'm away, not us while camping, just the plant. 😉 I have no one to ask to water her while I am gone. If not she will probably be shocked again and droopy for a while. I hear Indicas can be a little more needy and fickle than my usual easy, low maintenance Sativas. I'll see what I am dealing with when I return I guess.

skippitydoodah She survived a week of no water while we were away camping. She was definitely thirsty though. She tripled in height in two weeks. If she gets much taller, I might have to top her. I really want this plant to be a "hands-off" grow and just let nature take it's course so I will have to put some thought into what to do about it. I have already tampered with it by removing some massive fan leaves before we left as I was afraid the wind would break her. I should have left it alone because there was no rain or wind while we were away. Great for camping, not so great for an outdoor grow.

skippitydoodah I have ants. Little red buggers. Have been spraying her twice a day with Neem Oil to keep them off of her. But they have definitely taken up residency in the soil. I hope they don't screw up the roots. Did a massive defoliation as the fan leaves were bigger than my hand. Topped her also because she is getting too tall and flower is months away. Started training her also to try to keep her contained. She was getting a little bushy. That's it for now.