Question about temperature

Hey, I started my first seeds in April last year but the damn bunnies ate them at about 3 weeks. This year I plan on caging them in chicken wire but they're barely sprouting at the moment. I am growing in a mountainous area of New Mexico and was wondering if anyone knows what time I should plant them outside. It gets pretty cold at night and I want to plant them as soon as possible but I don't want them to freeze. The weather is supposed to be around 30-35 degrees(F) at night for the next 1 to 2 weeks then go up to around 40+ degrees. Would they be safe at 40 degrees as seedlings or should I wait until mid-April to plant outside?

Also, I'm not sure of the exact strand of seeds I'm using but I was told they are skunk related and a sativa/indica mix and the bud has bright orange streaks with many large crystals.

Any tips on growing/pest control are welcome

A lot of the times I turn the existing soil without adding much to it, and have an excellent crop, but some sites need soil improvements. This FAQ will outline how to prepare and enrich your outdoor site.

It is best to prepare your area(s) in the fall for planting the following spring. Doing this will allow the soil additives to break down, releasing their nutrients into the soil. Simply turn the top layer of your previously prepared plots before planting at the beginning of the season. If you cannot prep your locations ahead of time, prepare them as soon as possible.

Clearing the area:
The fall is the best time to clean an area of brush and fallen trees/branches. I personally wouldn't fall a tree in the middle of nowhere.
The size of plot depends on how many plants you have. Planting in natural clumps or singularly is also dependant on preference.

The expected yield varies greatly, depending on conditions, strain and TLC.

How do I prepare the site?
I unfold a small tarp on the ground at the spot that I want to amend. Then I dig a 2' x 2' (minimum) hole, placing all the material I remove onto the tarp. I keep digging down until I reach the clay layer. I will remove the clay separately, in a 5 gallon bucket, and move it into a secluded location near by (Try to fill a natural depression with the clay, then cover with leaves and twigs).

I usually dig the hole to a depth of about 2.5 – 3’ feet; little if any material needs to be removed from the hole once I have removed the clay. Once completed, I loosen and break up the clay layer to a loose consistency so the roots can penetrate deeper.

I mix the soil layers on the tarp together, breaking up large chunks with my shovel. I then return about one third of the soil from the tarp back into the hole. Then the remaining soil is mixing in with some soil conditioners, depending on how fertile the original soil is and what I feel the soil needs.

Once I have added all the ingredients I feel the particular area requires, I then blend this material on the tarp and fill the hole with the mix. Loosely compact the mix by patting it down with a shovel, stepping on it, etc. A slight depression usually remains, naturally trapping water when it rains or when watering/feeding.

Soil conditioners: (A list of some of the components I add).

Perlite and vermiculite (sometimes I use Sunshine Mix #1 or #4 instead, if I feel the original dirt it is lacking in rich topsoil)

dolomite or hydrated lime

green sand

wood ash

blood meal / bone meal

glacial rock dust

worm castings

compost

pre-composted manure (chicken, rabbit, cow, bat guano, seabird, etc)

fish (Dice the entire fish into 2” cubes so it will decompose at a quicker rate)


I feel the lime and compost are important ingredients because they react together, rapidly breaking down the nutrients to an available form to the roots, as well as creating heat while decomposing.

Blood meal and bone meal are excellent additions; ensure that you also use lime to mask the smell from bears and other animals.

Perlite and vermiculite plots stand out in the wilderness, especially if you’ve prepared your spot(s) the previous fall. Make sure you have 3”+ inches of soil covering these little white pebbles. Watering tends to make these little white buggers float and settle to the top, so make sure they are buried good.

An alternative to Perlite, vermiculite, or Sunshine Mix soils is coco-fibers. These fibers are shredded coco husks, and are excellent for providing aeration and water absorption. These fibers also seem to promote vigorous root growth, as the roots shoot along the fibers as opposed to grinding through dirt. Coco fibers are brown, so the plots look natural.

Dry/remote area tips:
Polymer crystals can be added to the mixture; they are great for absorbing and slowly releasing water. I recommend pre-expanding the crystals overnight in a bucket of water before using them at your site. They work great in grow bags too.

Another tip is to line the outside edges and bottom of your hole with plastic. This will trap all the moisture inside your hole. Just ensure to perforate the plastic at the bottom of the hole, because your plants will drown if the roots are left in water.

The site has been prepared! Now pack up everything and leave without making a trace. How much site prep and what conditioners to add depends on how remote your area is, how much enrichment is needed, and whether or not you are willing to pack all these ingredients to the area(s).

Mulching is a good way of conserving soil moisture, especially in the summer.

A ‘Mulch’ is any soil covering which protects surface roots and reduces evaporation. The best mulches consist of fine, loose materials that allow water to run through to the soil, and also allow air exchange to the soil and roots.

Most mulches decompose rapidly, leaching their nutrients back into the soil. Composting the mulch before it is applied can help speed up the process, or by adding a small amount of fertilizer. Most mulches will completely break down with one year.

The depth of the mulch varies. For finer mulch, less is needed and for coarser mulches more is needed. (2-8cm,) is the average depth for mulching.

Some benefits of mulching:

~ Mulching maintains a more even soil temperature and also helps prevent the soil from freezing over. In colder climates, mulching can keep longer flowering strains (like sativa's which typically take longer to finish) alive for that extra week or so needed.

~ Mulching your plants not only saves water, but also saves how often you have to water your plants.
~ Mulches release nutrients into the soil slowly.
~ Decreases wind exposure to the surface roots.
~ Mulches can actually release heat as they break down through microbial activity.
~ A light colored mulch can reflect sunlight, reducing soil temps and evaporation.
~ Good camouflage

[Note:
~ A deep pile of mulch can suffocate surface roots
~ Don’t let the mulch dry out too much ; the mulch surface can become hydrophobic and any water/rain applied to the mulch will simply run off.]

Here are some of the best mulches to use:

~ Garden Compost
~ Tree leaves (deciduous)
~ Dry Lawn clippings
~ Well rotted animal manure
~ Straw, Lucerne hays
~ Tan or pine bark
~ Saw dust, (not recommended during flowering, can stick to the buds)

For permanent mulches:
(Since marijuana is an annual plant, these are not necessary to use.)

~ Mineral substances
~ Crushed stones
~ Pebbles / Sand / Gravel

Thanks for the tips!

Any answers to the question of temperature?

Going to sleep, 60 views and 1 reply =[

Still need tips as well as the answer to my temp question. Anything concerning deer or elk(no idea if elk like bud but there's tons of them here) is especially appreciated! Thx

Wait until it's no lower than 60* at night.
Late April/early May. Get those girls big and strong indoors first. Remember that if your growing Indica, the genetics came from an equitorial region and
the strain won't be good in the cold.

Low temperature tolerance is largely strain dependent.
Some strains withstand a frost better than others.
A guideline is to wait to put plants in the ground AFTER the last frost date in your area.
If you put them out in containers you can move them in on cold nights, until it is safe to leave them out.

Check here for frost date info:
Frost Date Selector Page - Victory Seed Company

nice link Wavels, much easier than the frost maps.

you can also go to weather.com and see a 30 day forecast. it will show you record hi/los and averages. this might help you too.

generally plant when the lowest temp in the day is above 50 F, if the seeds are a purple strain exposure to temperatures of 50-55 F will promote the purple coloration. However as a general rule of thumb plant when daytime temps are above 65 F and when nighttime temps do not dip below 50 F. As for the elk fence in your grow

Added by: snoofer Last edited by: vaaran Viewed: 144 times Rated by 8 users: 8.67/10Contributed by: livin 4 now
Submitted: 29-07-2003

Soap: Heavily scented soaps work at repelling deer. Among these are Irish Spring and Zest. What you do is shave the soap in thin slices around your plot. The pros are that it works, but the cons are that you must replace the soap once a week. This gets very old very quick, as well as cost you money every time.

Human Scents: Deer dislike the smell of human scents. One method of spreading your scent around is to urinate all around your site. What you may also choose to do is urinate in a 2 liter soda bottle, and pour it around your plot when you visit. Urine, like the soap, will need to be replaced every week. Another, more cumbersome, yet more efficient solution is to spread human hair around the area. This may be retrieved from a barber shop. In this case, you simply throw fistfuls of hair around the area, and it is said to repel deer for a few weeks, unless rain washes it away.

Hmm never heard of using soap for deer, and I've got plenty of Irish Spring soap that rats have been nibbling on at my house. The stems on my plants have a bit of purple but I'm using shitty lights and I don't think they will do good with them for more than a month, however I do expect 50 degrees at night by next month. As for the last frost chart, the closest city to mine listed on there is about 50 miles away and a much different terrain, but it does help somewhat. Anyways these are sort of my test plants which I'm planting about 7 miles from home near a stream that I'm quite sure nobody will ever find. I only plan on visiting them every 1-2 weeks and will be growing another batch later that I will check on more often. Thanks for the help, I'll make a journal in 2 months if they're doing okay in the new environment.