Outdoor Grow in the Northeast

Im planning on attempting my first outdoor grow. I live in the northeast and temperatures have been in the 70's lately so i decided it would be a good time to plant some seeds. So far i've got 4 sprouts and 3 seeds still germinating that were planted late. I plan on bringing them to an ourdoor location which i have already set up when they are mature enough to withstand the outdoors. Right now they are on a shelf in a skylight getting about 5 hours of direct sunlight a day.

Any tips on when the best time is to move them outdoors?

It looks like they may be starting to stretch. How much light are they getting?

I'd say move them outdoors when you know that it isn't going to frost anymore. Frost = dead. This is especially true with little plants.

no more frost. should i just move them out now? i would love to.

If you are sure there will be no more frost get them out now. I'm not putting mine out for another month but I'm North of you.

i live near you (i think) and im puting mine out in mid may

Im in the northeast also- mine going out in 2 weeks

PB

same with me. but my sprouts are already outside =]

WAY to much rain here in the north east where i am to keep the sprots outside. 2-4 inches in a day. they will get crushed. i have taken mine inside overniht.

yeah tons of rain up here! I put this bad seed outside 2 weeks ago to see if it would grow, maybe now it will sprout when the sun comes out

i moved them outside on 4/25. seems like the cold nights have stunted them a bit but hopefully they'll spring up soon as it gets warmer.

i've got 10 germinating right now that i plan on keeping inside a bit longer and putting them out mid may.

I think in like two weeks they'd be ready for outisde.

A lot has happened since my last post. I actually put the 4 sprouts outdoors about a week ago and they havent shown much growth since. I think its because its still getting down to around 40 degrees at night around here, sometimes colder. That is why i plan on planting the next 10 sprouts i have growing indoors outside in a couple weeks.

I also created a stealth little grow box to hide away in my closet. Right now it's got 10 sprouts and is chillin at just below 80 degrees. Before i finally took the time to create the air vent the temperatures were getting above 100 when i left the lid closed! Thankfully ive figured out a way to keep it cool. Tell me what you think!

Good luck ... Dont tell anyone .. Not a soul ..

They were stretching a bit in my windowsill because they weren't getting enough direct sunlight. So i figured i'd bend them a bit before putting them into my growbox. One of them got all burnt up yesterday when it got about 100.

Anyone got any ideas how i could keep the light from coming out the vent without defeating the purpose of the vent?

Also, ive got the lights set on a 18/6 cycle right now. Is this too much sunlight considering i plan on putting them outdoors in a few weeks?

Ive got two 23 watt cfls right now, and room for 1 more. i dont know if i should add another or up the wattage of the bulbs. I figure more light is always better but i dont want it too get too hot or produce too much light out of the vent. Ideas?

tip for rain/wind/outside early..take 2 liter coke bottles and cut the top off where it starts to curve up. remove wrapper to get clear bottle. flip over and make holes for air two inches down, plant your plants and cover w/the bottle burring it 3-4 inches into the soil. perfect mini grow house till your plants can fight those brutal winds and nasty rains...

i believe its 8-12 inches to be planted in ground, give them a root system get them healthy b4 u do any planting in the ground u could end up killin all ur plants by bugs eating the lil ones wait till they are about 6-8 inches thats when i put them in the ground outside, this year im going pots for easy moving last year i had acouple neighbors trying to cut off buds over fence not cool

anyone in the northeast, just be careful of frost. i just put out 50 clones, and two nights ago they were hit with a light frost. it wasnt to serious...just the bottom leaves shirveled up. but mine are anywhere form 12"-16". im also in VT, and might be a higher elevation?

i plan on planting in 1-2 weeks i always plant before night like around 6 so the plants have overnight to deal from the shock of transplanting i live in ME anyone else?

yeah ME here too, only have one sprout hoping it can stay outside tonight if the temps don't drop to low, I have them in tiny pots, for easy carrying when I move them, they are growing with my other herbs