Doing an outdoor grow, where I’ll be is 5 degrees cooler than Albuquerque, not desert but still low humidity and warm summers (never hotter than 95). I hear chirping in the grass and needed advice on the grasshoppers. Monsoon season in the summer I’ve heard creates wild winds and random storms and need advice on this. How to handle the low humidity and keep the plants watered? Should I buy shade cloth to put over them for the sunshine? How long for vegging and how big of a final pot to get a few pounds a plant at least? I know it’s a lot of questions but anything helps. I have a year experience growing in temperature climate (zone 5)
Are you starting them now? NM does get crazy weather... wind and hail will do the most damage... both of which are hard to block. For the wind, you can try to put them in an area that gets less of it... like if you have a certain side of your house that works as a shield. For hail you'd need a canopy or fine net to block it. If the plants are bigger, they'll probably be fine without any protection though.
If they are in full sun, the heat in early summer especially, can fry your plants if they are very young, so you may need mulch to cool the ground better... or shade.
You also have to worry about cold temps. A lot of northern nm can get freezes as early as late September. If you are growing long flowering strains, they probably aren't going to make it to finish unless you can bring them in or keep them warm on chilly nights.
Humidity is nothing to worry about, just keep the roots happy and you'll be fine. You could mist them with a spray bottle every now and then.
Vegging usually can go from April (if weather permits) through August, and flowering can start in August and go through December, depending on the strain. If you are growing a sativa, be prepared to be able to keep them warm at night, and get them as much light as possible as Autumn comes in. The temp cut off should be 28-ish degrees farenheit. Any colder, and the cells will be damaged severely, and the plant may die. Smell will also shift from whatever weed smell you have, to rotten vegetal smells.
If you want lbs per plant, you will likely need to start them indoors early. And have good, nutrient rich dirt, with no big rocks underneath, so the roots have room to spread out.
Water... depends on how much rain you get. If the plants are weeping and sad looking, and the soil is dry, water it. Shade cloth, or if under trees, may help with sun, drought and excessive storms, but may cause more problems if the winds are very high. It could block rain water too.
If you are planting now, you might still get some good buds, but it will definitely be lesser. Don't top this late, it would only take more time away.
I don't know about grasshoppers...
