first shot at outdoors in 20 years.... help :)

[ta2dguy]

title says it . i plan on putting a few plants outdoors this year so i figure i will post my plan here and ask for ideas along the way to try and assure a decent crop.

i am planning on growing my clones for a while before putting them out. i want to start off big since we got such a short season here. is it ok/a good idea to grow them large first? i mean for 2 months or so indoors?

i am gonna grow them in large transplanting bags and could use a reference to a good soil mix that requires little tending throughout a season.

there are a couple starting topics there. i am sure there will be more things come up as season gets closer .

a little help or input would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. happy growing.

 

[flaboy88]

title says it . i plan on putting a few plants outdoors this year so i figure i will post my plan here and ask for ideas along the way to try and assure a decent crop.

i am planning on growing my clones for a while before putting them out. i want to start off big since we got such a short season here. is it ok/a good idea to grow them large first? i mean for 2 months or so indoors?

i am gonna grow them in large transplanting bags and could use a reference to a good soil mix that requires little tending throughout a season.

there are a couple starting topics there. i am sure there will be more things come up as season gets closer .

a little help or input would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. happy growing.

if u want u some monters i would veg for atleast 4 months with some LST/topping/fimming to increase that yeild.. 2nd question.. a good soil and i would have to say 1 of the best IMO is Fox Farm ocean forrest.. nd there is also fox far light warrior that is great with drainage and root growth.. legalize and hugs4nugs both said they do 2 parts FFOF wit 1 part light warrior nd have had success.. hope this helped.. happy growin

 

[hugs4nuggs420]

When you decide you want to finally move your clones to the outside do it in a very slow process. They need to be acclimated to the environment around them so gradually take your clones outside for a few hours a day. Keep alternating inside/outside until the plants are used to growing under sunlight. after that you are ready to plant outside.

Yes you could Veg for a month or so but keep them in smaller size pots as this will make transplanting a lot easier. In the smaller pots your plants will create a very dense root ball making switching your plant to outdoor a lot easier.

You can pretty much do anything to the plant while it's still in vegetative growth as this is the time all stress training occurs. But if you plant begins to flower than you better move soon as you can damage the growth/budding cycle of your plant and eventually shorten the yield.

 

[benamucc]

I like hugs opinion on the smaller pots. I've grown some monsters in really small pots. Once I moved them into a big pot...WOWZER

Next thought...do you have a good strain picked out? I'm familiar with summers in that area as I spend some time on the US side of the CAT. You Canadians might make me upset about hockey, but there's no dispute you have some of the great outdoor strains. Mold resistant and cold resistant. IMO Drgreenthumb has some amazing although pricey strains that work well for your short coastal season as well as my short mountain season.

Finally, don't forget to "harden off" those little babies before they go outside!!

 

[ta2dguy]

hey flaboy, thanks for the input. i have seen foxfarm in plenty of grow journals and threads so i dont doubt the stuff and will probably go that route if i can find it here. i dunno about 4 months vegetative lol they would be monsters for sure bur i have to keep indoor space in mind until i can put them out. i am cutting clones today so i figure 2-3 weeks before they start growing good and that is near the end of march and then i will grow them till the end of may or early june and then put them out.

thanks for the help hugs. do i want them to get nearly rootbound before i put them out? will they still take off if left in a small pot/bag for 3 months or more. i ask these questions cuz i have grown hydro for so many years i forget how to with dirt lmao. i dont have the opportunity to harden them off too much. there will be no in and out before they go thats why i am going so big, i am hoping that a bigger plant will stress out less not just yield more.

hey benamucc, thanks for stopping in. we canadians make alot of people upset about hockey and yes we do have some great strains up here but i am going with my own this time around. it has not been grown outdoors but has some serious potential for becoming monstrous in proper conditions. i am just finishing some up in the closet right now and the mothers are getting some babies snipped later for this grow. the strain has an awesome sweet and sour smell and has an all right amount of resin on it with a nice uppity, manageable/functionable/social high. the best part is that it is done(the way i like it) in 45 days after the 12/12 switch. this has it at a 10-70-20 ratio of clear-cloudy-amber in the most important area. the buds indoors grow to the size of my forearm in a short time so i am excited to see how it works outdoors. now ya got the wheels spinning .

happy growing.

 

[tcbud]

Hello tat2, I also grow outside and start early inside and grow in containers. I use t5's for starting and vedging inside. I have learned that the foxfarm ocean forest can be a little "hot" for seedlings, but have had good success with it for clones. I now use the FF Potting Mix for seedlings.

I have also learned that plants need the same hours of light before you put them out as the hours that will be occuring naturaly. If your plants are used to the 24 hour light cycle, they will go into flower pretty much right after you put them out, then they will try to revedg and that takes up your precious growing days. I also have a very short season, with my girls going out mid May and harvest by the end of September or into October a bit (depends on the weather and Tarping my Grow Area). I find 14 hours of light is good for my area in mid May.

I have also found, growing in containers, that the plants will need a top dressing bout the time they start to flower. A top dressing is just putting some extra soil over the "feeder" roots. Another thing is, I tend to water more than the "normal three day interval" due to HOT weather (days up to 110 can happen rarely). I can get some pretty hot days here and watering everyday is what I do. I have also painted my black pots white to keep the heat from the roots.

Good luck to you.

 

[hugs4nuggs420]

ohh def man they will take to the rooting amazingly. If its going to be for a 2-3 moth period though you might wanna transplant at least once before you put'em outside. I wouldn't keep it in a 4-6" pot for more than a month or so.

When started out small and a massive root ball is achieved thats more ways the roots can stretched when put in outside soil. They will eventually just grow wildly in all directions taking up all nutrients from the surrounding soil. Good root development is essential for massive growth.

Harm wise to the plant, as long as they stay in a consistent veg cycle they can be pushed around a bit.

 

[flaboy88]

ya.. i usually keep em in 4-6 inch pots for maybe 4-6 weeks by then the bottom of the pot has a huge cluster root system.. and into the bigger pots they go, free for their roots to spread and become stronger.. u dont want to leave them in small pots the whole time cuz root rot is some nasty stuff and u want your babies to grow into lovely budiful ladies..lol

 

[ta2dguy]

hi tc, thanks for the help.lotsa good info there for me. it sounds like we got the same weather/growing season. it is too cold here with lotsa frost right till mid may and then the weather turns around end of september to mid october to a point that it is a good idea to have them done cuz the frost aint far off. this is all from the mouths of others that grow around here not my own experiences. i am going to find out the daylight hours for when i am gonna put them out and grow them under the same hours of light/dark. i plan on starting the clones in 1" rockwool cubes(old habits are hard to break) and then move them to 1 gallon pots for a month or so and then put them right into larger 5 gallon transplanting bags until time to go out. they are going to be placed right into the ground and there is a rigged up irrigation system from a nearby stream . hoping for the best lol .

hugs and flaboy, thanks again for the info and input. it is always appreciated.

happy growing.

 

[nvthis]

Hey, t2guy, looks like your pretty covered here. Still looking for a good soil? Have a look Winter is long and offers many opportunities to plan for spring.

hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4co_pfmJxA&feature=related

hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXGqJbFZzCo

 

[ta2dguy]

thanks nv.i am still looking for a good soil mix. i got the time to make something up. gonna look at the link now. my main concern is that it offer enough for a very large plant and i wont be able to maintain daily and will have very limited time to fix anything lol. i guess it is gonna be a set it and forget it grow so i hope to get them all they need at the start.

thanks alot nv, there is alot of good stuff in there for me. only glanced for now but it looks like what i need . appreciated.

happy growing.

 

[fellowsped]

Hey ta2dguy, just a thought you ever think of just mixing your own soil up? You don't have to be an expert there's alot of good writeups here on it. I would suggest starting with some promix and adding stuff to it such as worm castings, bat guano, bone and blood meal, maybe some nice fresh topsoil, oh and don't forget some lime. A healthy organic soil will be able to maintane plants longer than feeding them with chemical nutes imho. Anyways i know that's a little vague but just look around the site and there's some great posts on mixing your own soil and some people on here that really know their stuff when it comes to it. Hope that helps peace out

 

[flaboy88]

:yeahthat:

 

[nouvellechef]

Your time is not limited enough to run it dry on waterings, right?

 

[ta2dguy]

thanks fellowsped, thats exactly my plan lol. i want to mix up something like that so it has everything it needs or close to it. it would be nice to be able to just go buy a bunch of premixed soil but i will see how it goes the closer i get. i want to mix my own more for the experience and knowledge gained from getting dirty hands but i also like my fingernails clean lmao. do you have any measurements for the ingredients you state there? i dont want to just go get all that stuff and not know how much to put in. you sound like you know a bit about it and i would like a good recipe soooooo . thanks for the help.

nouvelle, there are going to be times when i dont get to see my girls for periods of 10-14 days at a time due to work. there is gonna be plenty of dry time for them but no way for me to monitor it just hoping for the best with the rigged up irrigation. why do you ask?? sounds like you got an idea . i would love to hear it.

happy growing.

 

[NextGen421]

know the name of it. and a straing called Friesland (origionally from SSSC) would be a good choice for you one day if mould becomes a problem. The strain is very big in quebec but today its only found in white friesland wich is it crossed with white widdow(i've never smoked it) or pink friesland wich is crossed with grapefruit(i've smoked pounds of it) its got a sweet smell a distinct but pleasant taste, and it comes down mid to late september in quebec soo it would be good for your area too and its got a heavy *** stone. hope that helped..