I'll be moving to N. Carolina (Charlotte, Gastonia area) in about a year, for retirement (yea, I'm an old fart). I'm not really asking for growing advice so much as growing conditions. Here, in So. California (Inland Empire) it's too hot, too dry and too windy to grow outdoors (I gave up). I would really appreciate hearing from some of you "Tar Heels" or "Sand Lappers" about your local growing conditions. I've decided to try it again, so I want to know what to expect. My three main questions are: 1. Does the "first frost" come late enough in the season to let Sativa's fully ripen before harvest? Or at least, Sativa dominent strains? 2. The average monthely rainfall back there is about 3", throughout most of the growing season - that sounds pretty good. Is it spread out fairly even - every few days - or is it storm and drought: storm and drought? In other words, will I have to water by hand very often? 3. The soil on our land back there seems to be pretty good, lots of small and medium sized trees, plenty of lush dense undergrowth - all green and happy looking!!! What kind of soil might I expect in the Charlotte - Gastonia area? Is clay going to be a problem? Do you need to "coax things up out of the ground" or do you just "plant it and let it grow"? What kind of soil amendments, if any, are popular back there? Enough for now. Thanks in advance for any information in that area. If there is something else that you think I should know about - don't be bashful!!!
Come on people, toss me a bone here. I'm not askin' for your secret soil recipe or your grow location. I just want to know what the friggin' weather is like back there, so I can start growing again. I sorta miss it and I'm getting a little anxious, OK? Don't make me come back there and go balistic on your ass (LMFAO).
If you can't grow pot in SoCal, which has some of the best MJ growing conditions on earth, you ain't gonna do any better in N.C. And the penalties for growing pot in N.C. are MUCH MORE SEVERE in N.C. than they are in CA., where it's legal with a script. I'm not familier with N.C., but I'm assuming it's humid there in Sept./Oct., which means bud rot is going to be a problem. P.S. you're prob. not getting any answers because no one from N.C. has seen your post. P.P.S. you can find info like first and last frost datesfor any area in the U.S. in an Almanac.
(Originally written Aug. 22) Thanks for the reply Ranger! I respect your input, I really do!! It sounds like you were trying to let me down easy (thanks again). Yea, this thread isn't catching much traffic. I'm hoping that seeing your name as a responder will at least draw out some more eyeballs. I see that the "viewings" have doubled since you posted yesterday morning. I'm not going to post this untill someone else bumps your name off the "menu/counter" or untill the viewings die off. North Carolina legislators have had a checkered past in dealing with the Medical Marijuana idea (some good - some bad). Hell, they still issue $3.50/gram tax stamps that nobody pays for because it's stil illegal to possess your MJ, even after you've paid $100./oz. to legitimize it (WTF?). Taxation without representation is a no-no - I read that somewhere - some trouble making, powdered wig wearing guys said that in Philidelphia back around 1775. Sorry, I got carried away. Before we passed "Prop. 215" it was pretty bad here too, I was around then and I still remember. Things aren't that different now, if you don't have a script (I don't). We're still out here, sneakin' around. That's why I call myself T.H. Cammo; I have learned that the less I am noticed - the better. I have read all your stuff on guerilla growing so I'm ready to play "Hide'n'Seek Carolina style". I have grown successfully here in So. California. Mostly back in Orange County with old school techniques. Now I live "East of Riverside", and the weather here is brutal on outdoor grows. Right now it's about 4:30 p.m. and it's still 95f. @ 9% rh, that's about normal for late Aug. Throughout most of the summer it's high-ninties & lower-hundreds pretty much everyday - except when it hits 113f. - like it did about three weeks ago. It was 102f. or higher for a good week and a half in a row. I'm not saying it's impossible to grow here, but with old school experience it was tough. I did manage to keep all my plants alive all though the season, but once it got hot they just wouldn't grow any more. I started them indoors with flouros, then metal halide, put them outside at about 2-2 1/2 feet; at harvest they were only about 36-40'. The yield was pathetic, quantity and potentcy. That was from good Sativa bagseed, they should have been monsters (at least two or three times that tall!). I figured it was time to throw in the towel and call it quits, that was almost three years ago. Hell, with enough money I could have built an air conditioned greenhouse - I thought about it!!! Moving to No. Carolina will give me another chance at growing and , yes, new challanges as well. Dealing with the humidity and learning all about mould is part of the game I never had to play before - I can learn. That's why I'm starting a year early, here, asking for help. In the meantime I have found the internet and the HipForums. Hallelujah!!! With a basic green-thumb and some old school growing experience (Mel Frank & Ed Rosenthal's Bible), combined with everything I'm learning here; I plan on being ready. "I'll get by with a little help from my friends - I'll get high with a little help from my friends"; oh yea, the Beattles already said that; well it still sounds good to me. I have already checked the weather statistics too. I know that the "average" first frost hits Charlotte about Nov. 1st-5th, with a mean deviation of about 13-14 days; that should mean that the season is good through mid-Oct. to mid-Nov. But isn't that just a little cold and impersonal? Part of what I'm doing here is trying to meet new friends and neighbors. People who who might tell me that the season is really longer because the first several frosts are just "light nips". p.s. I guess none of my new friends and neighbors are talking. If anybody from the Piedmont area sees this at a later date, please reply or PM me anyway; I'll keep looking for an answer. Thank you.
I lived in N.C. for a while before i moved to S.C. and ranger is right it is very humid. the summers are pretty long but it gets really hot too and the plants seem to slow down and even pause in early to mid-july. hope some of that helps ya.
well if your gonna grow outdoors your gonna probly want some good soil and a shovel cuz the only thing we got is red mud/clay and maybe some dirt and sand near some rivers though i might be trying after we move. though im just gonna let nature and some good soil try and work on mine.
The only N.C. growers I know are hydro kinda folks. Other plant matter seems to go pretty dormant/brown in Charlotte summers. On the other hand there's peoples who grow killer shit in arid Carribean islands, but I don't know the mechanics of how they do it. sorry
I knew some Sandlappers that grew. Growings much easier in the sandhills than in that horrible red clay shit. The sandhills maybe on a north facing hill would be best, it can be done. I grew up smelling it every late summer on a stretch of I-20 in South Carolina. Most people in the coastal southeast are going more toward indoor.
I haven't moved back there yet, looks like it will probably be another year, sometime in 2008. I'm just trying to get a "heads-up" on what to expect, thanks for the replies! Yeah, red clay could be bad news! The area I'm moving to is closer to Gastonia - "slightly rolling hills" - not flat terrain. I'm hoping to avoid the red clay (wishful thinking?). For anyone in that neck of the woods - how do you deal with rain at flowering time? Does the rain usually slow down late in the season? I heard it's like after you take a leak; "Just give it a couple of quick shakes!!!".
well the trouble is late summer can be very rainy depending on the tropical weather season. If Texas - South Carolina gets hit by a tropical storm, tropical depression or a hurricane, there will be a lot of rain in North Carolina resulting which is bad news for outdoor flowering plants. Sometimes those systems can dump 6-12 inches of hot rain in a 24-48 hour period. The tropical season is from August - October, if we're in a drought and there's little tropical activity like in 2006 then your plants will be better off. Don't plant in low lying areas, plant on a hill side. I'm not sure if Gastonia is out of the red clay, but I know just east of there like in Rockingham, NC there's sandhills. The sandhills terrain drains much easier which is one of the reasons it's better suited for growing.
