Maine Outdoor 2020 (first timer)

That store has great prices and the netting has a lot of uses.
I was going to sow stinging nettle around all the entry points into my garden, to try and keeps the tourist out.

I grow in ground in central mass, you can cover your plants at night to get an extra week or two with finishing or even fashion a cheap carport into a hillybilly hoophouse. Even here in my experience its hit or miss yr to yr,strain to strain. I think like this im growing outdoor for size so if im planning on growing plants in pots i can pick up and move when necessary why am im adding all the extra headaches that come with outdoor grows like pests mold rot etc. Just grow indoors. Dont rush them out now veg as long as possible than transplant them before they flower leave enough time for them to recover and continue vegging for a bit before the days shorten say mid June or even later if you can still move them. Pick strains with shorter flowering times and stay away from most sativas. Or grow autos. Not a pro not quite noob just my .02

Just saying youll cover them or imo should with heavy rain storms and stake and tie as best you can for high wind so covering with row cover, frost blanket or even a tarp at night can buy a little on the finish and not anymore work than the rest of grow

First shoots poking up out of the soil this morning--1 Tomahawk, 2 Copper Chems, and 3 Chinook Haze. Happened overnight. 4 days since planting. Away we go!

Boatguy said:

Just an early harvest... Disappointing and wont happen again

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I’m on the coast, too, and the 3 plants I “rescued” last year were doing ok until that weather hit. I have some plants growing inside right now for this years outdoor season but I’ve been thinking about just finishing them inside and going with some autos for outside this year.

TreeFarmerCharlie said:

I’m on the coast, too, and the 3 plants I “rescued” last year were doing ok until that weather hit. I have some plants growing inside right now for this years outdoor season but I’ve been thinking about just finishing them inside and going with some autos for outside this year.

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I did a northern lights auto a few years ago. Weird harvesting in August.
I may do some photos outdoors this year. Probably wont start them till mid to late June so they dont get too big to get in the garage door if the weather goes south again.

Getting more action, although none of the Orange Blossom Special have shown themselves yet. Hopefully soon.

This morning I did notice what looks like a second shoot coming up next to one of the sprouted Copper Chems. I suppose it's possible I dropped a second seed in there, but I was being pretty careful and counting seeds so that seems unlikely. Is it possible for a seed to have "twins"? Should I just let both shoots grow adjacent or should I yank one or clip it? Wasn't expecting that! Here's a photo:

Welcome man ! Start to seedlings in small pots. Dixie cups work fine with some holes poked in the bottom for drainage.. when the y get bigger transplant them into bigger pots.

Twins happen sometimes. I have a feeling they will look something like this

I would try to seperate them during transplant. It will be tough not to fuck one up if you let them get too big though, so maybe sooner rather than later seperate them. If scared of damaging the good one, just transplant both and wait then kill the smaller one off

I think I'll leave the "twins" be for now. Sounds like this isn't too unusual and usually one stem dominates and the other dies.

The first Orange Blossom special appeared this morning. Hoping the other 4 show up soon. Looks like 1 of the Tomahawk seeds isn't going to germinate, but maybe it's just taking its time.

Freezing cold outside here in Maine this morning. It's been a particularly cold spring so far.

Thinking it would be good to give these seedlings some outdoor time in a nice, warm, sheltered spot, at least for a few hours in the early afternoon on a bright sunny day. Maybe in another week or so.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Going to take my first crack at growing and would love to ask questions and share my progress and experience (seeds from GPS are on their way).

This will be in Maine, a few miles in from the coast, nice sheltered spot with great southern exposure and decent wind protection.

First question: should I use containers or plant in the ground? Like the idea of being able to bring plants inside the shed if weather gets dicey, but seems like letting them root deeply into the ground would make for a bigger more productive plant. Thinking of using Coast of Maine Stonington Soil Mix , which was created just for cannabis. If I go in the ground I will probably dig a hole and fill it with this mix since native soil is pretty acidic and I don't have time to properly amend the soil this season.

Will start seeds indoors (still snow on the ground!) and probably move them outdoors sometime after Mothers Day.

Thoughts?

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Throw a few in containers and a few in the ground, now you have both ends covered .... try to use containers you can move around easily with a dolly, you'll appreciate this in the fall.. good luck!

Gentlemencorpse said:

On that note hopefully some more experienced outdoor growers chime in. My recommendation on the medium revolved more around my general gardening experience than cannabis specific experience. I'm really just an indoor grower looking to dabble in outdoors.

But from what I've seen I'm not sure there's a right answer. Might be best to start with a container grow. Easier to control and as you said, you can bring it in if a gnarly storm is heading our way. I'm planning on a raised bed myself for this season. Best advice I can give is to read a bunch of outdoor grow journals and find one that you want to imitate.

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13 yrs outdoor vet from New Brunswick here... Dig ur holes super wide but only 1.5ft deep (plants excell @16” deep holes but rly rly wide it stabilizes your root system I go 300+ gals for my holes in the ground with 7$ 3.8 cubic foot peat moss and perlite bags n I mix that wit compost cow manure off my fathers dairy farm way at the back of the pile there’s like 100 years old compost that looks like dark rich soil I mix that in at roughly 20% or like buddy said, use a big ass pot if u want monsters like 45gal + and water around the outside,in’ after a few weeks transplanted outside when ur using big pots it will make the roots search for water and don’t drown ur roots buddy believe it or not outdoor plants can go 2 sumtimes 3 weeks without a watering if it’s raining once er twice a week when ur plants are fairly young biggestmistake is ppl overwater outdoors and the plant doesn’t need to search outwards for anything it just sits with no oxygen and sucks loll..say you have a 100gal pot and the middle/around the plant been soaked down good 5-6 days ago and u wanna water today go for the outsides of the pot making your way toward the base stock of your plants . When that drys soak the whole thing. After ur plant fills out the hole it’s in go about regular watering. Plants love a pre ammended veg hole wit your general organics example= blood/bone meal, rock dust,kelp, fishbone meal etc they love a few cups of worm castings as well per 5-10gals of soil on the top 1/4 layer..it helps feed your microbes..if you pre amend your holes you should be good for the 2months veg time we have then try to top dress wit sumthing high in PK a week b4 flowering that way u can hit them again week 3 of bloom and they will finish a dinosaur.msorry don’t go too high in PK a week b4 flower actually. If u using Gaia green or a dry amendment try a 50/50 mix of all purpose and bloom , mid flower dress them then with sumthing that has twice as much phospherus than nitrogen example- more flowering bat guano then sayyy ‘blood meal’ which is like 14-0-0

2 more Orange Blossom Specials coming up now, so out of 24 seeds I planted I've got 21 germinated. I stupidly knocked over one tray which had an additional two Cherry Wine seeds, put the soil back in but couldn't find the seeds no matter how hard I looked, so probably lost those. But I'm pleased to have 21 seedlings in the works.

Today for the first time I put them outside, it's a beautiful 61 degree (F) cloudless day with a light breeze, figured a full dose of sun would be good plus the breeze should help strengthen the stems. Until today I've just been keeping them in full sun on the windowsill, moving from east to south to west as the day progresses so they're never shaded.

Should I "mist" or lightly water them this afternoon? They all got a decent soaking 3 days ago and the soil is still damp, was planning to wait until the soil on top is thoroughly dry before adding more water. This is my first time nursing seedlings (other than lawn grass) so am constantly second-guessing myself.

Will try and grab a picture later this afternoon and post.

Thanks for the tips Canadian, I was thinking I should prep the holes for transplanting now even though they probably won't go in until Memorial Day or even into June--it's been a cold spring here so far and it's actually supposed to snow again tomorrow night!

Here's how they're looking at the start of week 2 (although some of these just germinated a few days ago):

That's the Orange Blossom Special just getting going in the lower right tray:


Copper Chem, Chinook Haze, Cherry Wine:



Copper Chem up close:

End of week 2 update: growth rate really accelerating. There's a youtube video where the woman at Coast of Maine who came up with this Stonington Mix soil says that although she starts her seeds in it the new seedlings are a little "overwhelmed" by the rich soil and therefore start slowly. Hopefully from here on out they'll really rocket.

Had a couple afternoons in the bright sun this week but a lot of rain and cold, too so they stayed in doors mostly. I got so concerned about some "legginess" I was seeing, especially on the straggling Orange Blossom Specials, I picked up a cheap LED light from Home Depot for cloudy days. Plus I add in an old Ott CFL desk lamp (5300K) I had from years ago.

Looks like a sunny warm (60s?) day ahead so will get the girls out for the afternoon again.

You think any of these are ready to transplant now into 1 gallon pots? Any tips on making that operation smooth and gentle? I get that these seedlings are still delicate. Thinking they'll go in the ground around Memorial Day. We get a shade over 15 hours of light then.

I could've sworn I detected faint odors from these plants this morning, but guessing that was just my imagination. I'm sure when they start to flower they'll really be fragrant!

Here's pictures from yesterday morning:

Left side is Orange Blossom Special (in back row) and Cherry Wine. Right side is Copper Chem (back row) and Chinook Haze.




Left side is copper chem (back row) and Tomahawk; right side is orange blossom Special (back row) with copper chem, chinook haze, and tomahawk in front.



Chinook Haze close-up:

Cool thread bro!

Also in Maine doing my first outdoor grow. Will post some pics of my lil plants when I get my new phone midweek.

Good luck and heres to good weather into late October!

I'm in the Adirondack Region of NY State, 800 foot elevation, and i grow in 5 gallon buckets with good drainage. They get moved into the barn late season if the weather turns crappy. Not preferable, but we get hard freezes and even some snow at times in late September at night if the weather turns cold.
I am always growing new strains that I order online, but sometimes plants hermie with stress and leave a few seeds here and there. I will grow those next season if the strain did well. I was given some clones of Raspberry Kush last season that did well. Not sure of the breeder, but it's resistant to mold and powdery mildew so it did well up here.
This season, doing two autoflowers of Lemon OG Haze from Nirvana, two Master Kush's from Nirvana and several last season Rasp. Kush's. Also getting a few clones of the same Rasp. Kush from the same guy. We shall see if the phenotypes are different.
I always manage to yield enough for the whole year of personal use, and give some to friends to try out, trade, etc...I might smoke a bowl twice a day on my days off, and usually one after work. Sometimes a few bowls at night if drinking with friends.
IMO, 5 gallon buckets give you nice size plants that are moveable and I usually put some stone in the bottom for drainage and to keep plants from blowing over in the wind. Sometimes I stake the plants if they get too tall, but the Kush strains are Indica dominant and usually stay below six feet tall.
Moveability and stealth is important to me, as well as being able to keep close to my home for watering. I have to keep them hidden from neighbors and passing vehicles. I move them around at times for better sun, etc...

Also, i would transplant out of the seed trays to at least plastic solo cup size and keep whatever lights you have very close to the seedlings, like 8 in ches, etc...I use a 400 watt HPS for seedlings and they are in solo cups, the autos are in the 5 gallon buckets since they don't take to transplanting very well.
Your seedlings are stretching, and their stalks will need to be strengthened with a small fan blowing on them, it strengthens them and they thicken which will help the plant carry the weight of the plant when put outside. Outside winds can be wicked on small plants.

Quazy look forward to your pics. What county you in? Us first-timers should compare notes.

Hey Dunkin thanks for the tips. I was thinking I'd go in the ground but I may do 1 5g bucket just as an experiment (and insurance if the fall is nasty).

Planning to move those seedlings the day after tomorrow--just watered them this morning. Thanks for the fan tip, I've been doing that and also taking them outside as much as possible where the breeze moves them around (I put them in a sheltered spot if it's more than a gentle breeze. They did get awfully stretchy, especially the Orange Blossom Specials. I didn't use a light the first week, just kept them in the sun indoors on window sills, but that was probably a mistake. I have the light now at 6 inches above...but when I switch to the 1g pots I'm going to have to rely on natural light primarily. Will take them outside every day if possible.

What do you think about burying the stems during transplant? I've read in several places that works well...but I'm a little nervous naturally.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Quazy look forward to your pics. What county you in? Us first-timers should compare notes.

Hey Dunkin thanks for the tips. I was thinking I'd go in the ground but I may do 1 5g bucket just as an experiment (and insurance if the fall is nasty).

Planning to move those seedlings the day after tomorrow--just watered them this morning. Thanks for the fan tip, I've been doing that and also taking them outside as much as possible where the breeze moves them around (I put them in a sheltered spot if it's more than a gentle breeze. They did get awfully stretchy, especially the Orange Blossom Specials. I didn't use a light the first week, just kept them in the sun indoors on window sills, but that was probably a mistake. I have the light now at 6 inches above...but when I switch to the 1g pots I'm going to have to rely on natural light primarily. Will take them outside every day if possible.

What do you think about burying the stems during transplant? I've read in several places that works well...but I'm a little nervous naturally.

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We have cold temps forecasted with lows in the 20's this week. I'm waiting a few more weeks to move pots outside. They will be in a room in the garage with a heater starting Thursday. My basement is getting too crowded with my veggies started too. I start everything indoors since our season is so short.
Make sure you cover them with something at night if frost is forecasted, seedlings are sensitive to frost. Adults handle it fine. I'll get around to posting some pics for you to check out. Def bury stems to within two inches of soil, better for strength of plant. Good luck and happy growing!