Outdoor Growing FAQ ***READ BEFORE POSTING***

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poplars

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1. When should I plant outdoors?
  • It is recommended you plant after you haven't seen a frost for at least a week. This may be around April or you may be waiting all the way till May. You may also put your plants outdoors in pots and protect them at night until you are certain you are past frost season.

2. What strain is best for growing outdoors?

  • As the great outdoors is cannabis' natural environment, many strains will grow outdoors well. Some climates may be very hard on many strains however, and climatization is the answer to that.

  • To climatize you have to have a successful generation of a male breeding with a female, pollinating one branch on each plant and growing those seeds the next year. You will notice the next season that growth is more vibrant, the strain will flower on time, and the buds will be bigger and better.

  • It is recommended that you get strains that have been grown in your area before, if not you will still be alright especially if you are willing to climatize it.

  • For those who only have access to bag seed genetics, you will have diamonds in the rough, or you will have trash. If you run into anything in between, climatization will help, especially if you run into the diamond.

3. What kind of soil should I use?

  • Cannabis likes soft loamy soil with good aeration and good drainage. If you are not in an area where there are locals making soil, fox farm ocean forest is recommended, many brands that use organic nutrients are highly recommended.

  • Ideally you could buy the raw materials yourself from a local garden supply, such as bat guano, worm castings, green sand, bone meal, blood meal, perlite, peat moss, home made compost, there are many many more things.


4. How do I care for my outdoor seedlings?

  • A cannabis seedling is very delicate, it is recommended that you put them outside when there are no longer freezing nights. It is also recommended that you put them in a spot that protects them from bugs. If you must grow them in freezing weather, as long as it heats up in the day you can tent them with plastic (preferably greenhouse plastic.) Vent in the day if it gets hot, if not leave it sealed.

5. Do I need to know ppm and pH for outdoor grows?

  • Often indoor practices can make outdoor gardens a lot harder than they have to be. Ppm isn't necessary, unless you have hard water. If you want to know the ppm of your nutrient mixes before you feed, I think you may be overcomplicating things a bit. Organics doesn't necessarily go by the same rules as just feeding the roots. Feed the dirt, not the plant.

  • Knowing the pH of your water is important if you haven't grown with this water before. If your water is around 6.0-7.0pH you're in good shape. If your pH is lower or higher and you've grown organically with good results, I say don't worry about pH, others may say otherwise.

6. What kind of nutrients should I use and when?

  • Nutrients are recommended in all stages of growth except the first 2-3 weeks of seedling growth, get what you can afford. I recommend organic nutrients that contain raw materials such as bat guano, worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, etc. You can use chemical nutrients if you please but the health of the plant will be affected.
(we will need to get a guide up for this)7. LST or Topping?
  • LST (low stress training) is the act of applying low amounts of stress to certain parts of the plant, often a main part of the stalk, to bend it in a way to expose more light to side nodes that would normally grow much differently. This can result in dramatic yield differences. Some strains react better to this than others.
guide: (need a link to a good guide)
  • Topping is the act of removing the growth tip to remove growth dominance from the top and distribute it to the other branches, this can be good for some strains, bad for others.
guide:https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

8. When does flowering start?
  • In North America flowering will start sometime in August depending on the strain, and will finish from mid September to all the way into December with some strains.

9. How much will my plant yield?

  • No one can with 100% certainty say the yield of a plant. Pictures are often deceiving, scale is hard to determine, its simply not worth asking.

10. When to harvest?
You can use the trichome method, or you can use the method most seasoned outdoor growers use to tell if their bud is done… it has a certain /look/.… fdd talks about this in his harvesting thread and shows pics:
we will start with ripeness. most people say to check your trichromes with 30X magnification. i have other ways. when buds are done they look "done". the appearance of the bud changes. the leaves start to hook upwards and become hard and crispy. the calyxes will swell and the hairs will turn brown. you can see a golden tinge to the bud leaves. this is the amber crystals. they start to turn amber on the leaves first.not ready..........[/SIZE][/SIZE]View attachment 29323View attachment 29324ready.......View attachment 29325View attachment 29326notice the difference? it's pretty easy to see once it occurs. :mrgreen:

11. Guerilla Growing Guide:


12. Acclimatizing indoor plants to outdoor sun.



  • pretty much gonna write this straight from my own experience and what I've learned from others. basically, if you are vegging under florescent lighting and nothing strong like a HPS (atleast 1000 W) then you MUST harden off indoor plants before they see that outdoor sun. (I even recommend that plants that are under a HPS light be hardened off before full sun, ESPECIALLY if you live in a desert-esque climate like myself. )

  • the method is basically this, find a well shaded tree that is going to remain shaded for the whole day and not allow direct sunlight to touch the plants, put those plants in that spot for a week. after 5-7 days in that spot they are ready for full light and you will have NO problems.
if you think of something you think should be on here, shoot me a PM.
 
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