outdoor growth plans

[quackau]

Hi everyone,

Glad to find this site. I'm now starting to plan out a crop. Having never truely done a grow before (last one died) I have some questions.

 

I plan to find either an outdoor spot and dig a hole, fill it with potting mix, water and leave it for a while or just put a pot outside. What one would be better? I don't want to grow them inside as I still live with my parents, and I don't want to buy expensive equipment (eg. HPS) but I do want some decent plants.

 

My plan:

 

1. Get some seeds, either put them in water for a couple of days so they sink, or put them inbetween paper towels. Suggestions?

2. Once germanated, put them in yogart style cups filled with potting mix, nothing else. They'd be put root facing down.

3. Leave these cups under a compact fluro (20w?) until they sprout - until when?

4. When they're a decent size (what size?) transplant them into either the ground somewhere or a big pot. Water and leave.

5. Just keep watering every couple of days until they get big... then? What do I do next?

 

When should I plant them? What month? September? Anything else I should be aware of?

 

thanks

 

-duck

[Guest bacchus]

welcome to the site duckau....

 

well you seem to have a pretty good idea on how to start, outdoors is a great way to grow if you have the opportunity to plant somewhere out of the way of prying eyes...the one golden rule is of course tell no-one, the last thing you want to happen is have a friend accidentally let slip the location of your grow and the info either finds it way to someone who could bring you trouble or rip off your grow...so try to keep it to yourself

• germination technique is up to you, i have always found the paper towel method to be fine and successful germ rates high....if you choose this method, make sure that you don't make the paper towel too wet (just damp) and don't let it dry out...also don't be tempted to play with the seeds during this time, you don't want to damage the root...be patient, if the seeds are fresh, generally you can have them germing within 24-48hrs, but some can take a a bit longer...
  

• once germed, put them in small seedling pots or yoghurt containers, whatever you have available filled with a good quality seed raising mix about a cm deep...don't be tempted to dig around in the soil while waiting for them to break the surface...just let them do their thing
  

• i must admit, i have never kept the seedlings under lights indoors before planting, someone else here will be able to give you advice on that one...i tend to wait for the growing season to begin and leave them outside in a warm sunny position until about 3 or 4 set of leaves have been established...
  

• then transplant to your grow location, september is the time to plant outdoors, the days are longer, proving the right amount of daylight required to help your plants in the vegetative period...whatever you plant in, make sure you have some nice soil waiting...a nice quality soil improver or compost mixed with your soil is a good idea...
  

• now all you have to do is watch it grow...don't be tempted to over water during the grow...even if the soil is dry on top, it might still be damp underneath, just stick your finger in the soil to check...
  

• the choice of fertilisers is up to you, i prefer to go with organic fertilisers like seasol or fish emulsion and while the plant is small make sure you adjust the strength, you can burn the plant with too much
  

• and of course you want to sex your plants, this can be done after the fourth node has been established....rip your males unless you want to pollinate down the track to create seedstock...
  

if you grow in pots make sure it is of a decent size, so your the roots of your plant have room to move...note that youcan grow a nice size plant in a pot, but in the ground they can reach their true height potential...

to make your plants a little less "obvious" you can use tying methods to keep your plant low and in some cases this can improve your yield

 

there is lots of info in the grow guides here, do a search on the specific info you need and if you can't find it, don't be shy and ask for help, the members here are very helpful and have helped me greatly with my grows...

 

hope this has helped

 

bacchus

Edited July 15, 2003 by bacchus

[Guest Urbanhog]

If I was growing outdoors, I would start indoors, and select the best plants, then sex them, then put the outdoors knowing you have a nice female growing outdoors, or find a good female plant indoors and clone heaps of females plants and you will have almost all idential female plants outdoors.

 

Rather than getting excitied at your plant.... but it turns out to be male, you would be little bit pissed off if it turns out males?

 

Goodluck

[quackau]

Thanks guys.

 

What you're suggesting Urbanhog, is to keep the plant inside until it reaches quite a large size right? May be difficult.. i'm trying to hide this and powerpoints aren't really available hidden. It'd be nice to chop the power cable in the celing and add my own but, I don't want ot mess with anything.

 

I'll use paper towels, but bacchus, seed raising mix? can't I just use plain potting mix? should I add any ferts to it beforehand?

 

Approx how big does the hole need to be? I probably will dig it in the bush, would the soil be good enough? There are gum trees around but it may be a bit rocky. As for security, it should be fairly safe.

 

How often would I have to water? How long from germanation until harvest? What date should I harvest, around April? How much would I yeild from a plant usually? I'm after something to last 6 months at least (say a stick a week)

 

I do want seeds, but does pollenating the female plant reduce its chance of budding (which can be yielded)? Maybe I can get a mix of seeds to bud in 1:2... or more.

 

Finally, if my seeds don't come through, can something be arranged with you guys?

 

thanks for the help.

 

-duck

[Guest bacchus]

let's see...

 

*i use seedling mix, because it's full of good stuff and the soil is a little "lighter" allowing the seedling to develop a good root system

 

*make hole big enough to put the plant in...the soil sounds like it could be pretty bad where you intend to grow....there is a thread here somewhere about growing in bad soil...have a look around in the outdoor growing forum, i think there are members here who have dug a hole and placed heavy duty plastic as a liner and filled with good soil....search around and you will find it, maybe another member has the direct link....maybe you could also find a better spot?...remember you will have to lug all this stuff to your location...worth it if you are uptto the challenge, but risky

 

*you can add things to the soil to hold water, forgotten what they are called...if you are growing in a an area with a lot of gums, you will need to watch the soil, i think gums suck a lot of water out of the ground

 

*flowering time can vary, depending on strain and the same goes for yield...check out www.cannagenetics.com for strain info...harvest when the hairs on your buds are almost all red/orange/brown

 

*do a search on pollinating for more info

 

*as for the last point, there are links to plenty of oz seedbanks here that you can check out....

 

bacchus

Edited July 16, 2003 by bacchus

[quackau]

Sounds good.

I'll take my digicam down to the spot I was thinking of and take some pics, it's a reserve behind my house. I'll also check out that thread and some others.

 

The things that hold water, are they water crystals? perlite?

 

thanks for the tips, back soon.

 

-duck

[Ozzy420]

Hi there duckau and welcome to Oz Stoners, when i was growing out doors the way i found best for me was starting seeds off the way u want then put into just poting mix (i have had nothing but bad luck with seed starting mix) and grow them in pots until you find out if male or feamale but before u do thid find your self a good spot were u want to plant in the ground dig ya self a big hole and go to chook farm and see if thay will give u a couple of dead chooks and throw 1 in each hole and fill with potting mix then leave a cople of weeks then plant ya girls i have allways had A1 plants growing them this way out doors and i never had to add any ferts the best plant i grew thay way i got 19 ounces off it

 

p.s. i hope this can help u out a little more

[Guest Urbanhog]

Hi again, you could either grow big mother indoors, and make clones and get the mother to re-grow indoors and make more clones for more outdoor plants, but I am sure you can't do this and you dont want to grow too many females outdoor hehe

 

Or you can do this.... grow small plants indoors, and once you know what sex they are, get the female send outdoor, and you could grow a big plant outdoor, and make few more clones from the outdoor mother plant, the plant might be pretty well sized by the time you take the clones from it, and grow clones, and the clones might be smaller plants compared to the big mother plant , but still you will get nice sized yeild if you are lucky.

[quackau]

Ok, I've just cheked out that place behind my house and it's not ideal. Here are some pics. Now i'm at a loss where to grow. I can't really grow at my house, I could try at the holiday house but I have prying neighbours and the owners will probably visit.. I can grow up the road maybe, the soil might be a bit sandy, or of course at the quarry (red sandy soil)

 

I can probably take some potting mix and use the chicken idea. I have a pet duck which shits everywhere so he may help for once.

 

I think i'll use the black plastic idea too.

 

-duck

[quackau]

Ok, thanks UH. Thats the outdoor soil behind my house, rocky and full of roots.

 

How long do clones last-

 

-duck