2011 First Ever Outdoor Grow

I suspect that my failure in the autos was due to drying out and not giving them a good enough chance to start and establish. To increase my chances this time, I am germinating the 4 seeds in little clay pots with holes in soil. I'm hoping these will transplant easily without much damage to their final grow container, a 20 gal pot. I'm keeping the soil moist and I put the 4 containers in a tupperware on top of a paper towel. I then placed the tupperware in a drawer in my room and turned up the heater. Will this germination method work and not kill the rest of my seeds? I really hope so. I'm low on money and don't want to order more. Anyway here's a pic of the germinating box with the little pots in it.

All 4 of the seeds have sprouted and are sitting in my window sill. I'm pretty scared about putting them outside like I did the autos, because these are the last of my seeds. I don't want to put them out at too young of an age and let them die again. It's gonna be upper 70s all next week with night time temps from 46-52 degrees. Will this be too cold for the little seedlings attached? If so, how big should I let them get before taking them outside? Thanks guys, +rep to anyone who answers.

Transplanted the 4 smaller seedlings last night into small biodegradable pots. I'm just gonna plant these pots directly into each plant's final container. I think the whole transplanting process went smoothly, as this was my first time transplanting ganja. Anyways, here is a picture of the 4 girls in their new homes, comments and critique are welcome. This morning I put them outside next to some poppies for shelter, they're getting filtered sun. I'm kinda nervous that I'm putting them out too early, but I've had no feedback if I am so we'll see what happens... Also, my red dragon is looking very flimsy and the small wind we've been having is throwing it around... Is it okay? Is there anything wrong with it? First pic is the transplanted seedlings last night, second pic is of them this morning, third pic is of the RD SLH and DV, and the fourth and fifth pics are of the lanky red dragon (at least I think it looks lanky).

Didn't look at my post until just now after work. For some reason the other 4 pics didn't attach, so here they are, in the order: Red Dragon, RD SLH DV, Red Dragon again, and the 4 new seedlings. Is the Red Dragon looking lanky? I don't really know how sturdy the stem should be but the others don't really sway in the wind and this one just gets thrashed around. Advice on this would be appreciated.

Is anyone even reading my questions let alone this thread at all? Or do people reading just not know the answers? The small purple haze seedling has a similar problem as the red dragon. It fell over completely where the red dragon can still hold itself up. To fix the problem for now, I made a little support with pieces of a skewer and some string. I don't think these are big enough to put outside full time yet, but I really hope they are soon. When can I put out plants if I am in the Sacramento area? Also, my seedlings are in my soil mix posted in the beginning. Will this soil be to hot for my seedlings? I don't wanna screw them up while they're young. Anyways, here are pics of them. First is all 4 smaller seedlings, second is the purple haze, third is red dragon, fourth is of the super lemon haze, fifth is the dolce vita (by far biggest), sixth is the older 3, and the seventh is another pic of the purple haze. I'm going to bold and underline my questions in all of my recent posts, in hopes that someone will answer lol. Thanks, + rep for any good advice.

hey there.. i tried to reply to this last night but my power went out midway through. But as for the thin stems.. do you have a fan blowing on them? They plays a huge roll in this. For the soil... I don't think this is too hot or else the plants would be showing it right now.. Just make sure you water with regular PH'd water until the plants start showing they need food. And im not too familiar with the sacramento area but im from detroit and peolpe are starting to put plants out.. Some wait until midway through june others have been out for 2 weeks now. My guess is your in the clear

Is ph really that important? I haven't been checking the ph of the water I've been giving them, I've just been using water out of the fridge. Is that bad? If it's vital I'll buy a ph kit... but I feel like it's gonna be a pain in the ass to do that the whole summer lol. If it's vital though, I'll definitely do it.
I haven't had a fan blowing on them at all, I have put them outside though during sunny days and the red dragon and purple haze get tossed around at times.. The red dragon is kinda growing out of it though, I'm hoping the purps does the same.
I think I'm gonna plant them Monday, but I'll keep putting them outside and stuff everyday til then.

I may be putting them in the ground this year... I haven't really decided completely yet. If I did end up putting them in the ground, think I could keep them under 3 feet and still get a high yield? Maybe scrog or just lst? It's either this or putting them into pots and try to keep them compact/low.

hey man personally i think ph is very important and i would deff invest in something. Also im wondering how you germinated those autos, if you were seeing leaves on them then you waited way to long to plant them you want to plant them in the soil as soon as the tap root pokes out then you plant them 1/4 inch in the soil with the tap root down. This is how i do it and i never have any problems.

i dont have any exp with the strains you are using so im not sure how tall they get on average but i would try planting them in the ground and then top them a few times and see how that works out. Do you have to keep them short for security issues?

blumpkin420 said:

hey man personally i think ph is very important and i would deff invest in something. Also im wondering how you germinated those autos, if you were seeing leaves on them then you waited way to long to plant them you want to plant them in the soil as soon as the tap root pokes out then you plant them 1/4 inch in the soil with the tap root down. This is how i do it and i never have any problems.

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I germinated the autos in a tupperware with moist paper towels. My big mistake was I didn't check them for 3 days. By that time most had grown roots that were about 1/4-1/2" long, and a few of them had grown small leaves as well. One had popped out of its shell entirely. It was my first time germing seeds ever though so I wasn't hopeless from it.

blumpkin420 said:

i dont have any exp with the strains you are using so im not sure how tall they get on average but i would try planting them in the ground and then top them a few times and see how that works out. Do you have to keep them short for security issues?

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Yea don't want them to be huge and plain in sight in my parents backyard haha. They grew some last year without telling me or anyone and I found them when they were vegging and my sis realized they were there when they flowered and stank up the back yard. However, even though I want it to be lower plant, what's the best way to yield more out of that situation?

you said you use your water out of the fridge? dont use cold water, it will stun the plants every time you water. optimally it should have room temperature. if you know this already, no worries. im just saying and hoping you are and i misunderstood

good luck with everything! id probably put them out in 2-3 weeks, depending on development.

Yea, I have been giving them cold water out of the fridge. I'll start setting like a gal of water to get to room temp that I can water them with. I hope it hasn't stunted their growth very much, as they're still very small. Thanks for the advice mive! I had no idea that was bad, although now it seems kinda obvious.

Lol yea most of my seeds usually germinate in 24hrs or less but hey atleast they all didnt die. I would try topping them not sure if you know how to do that but it will make the plant bushier and not as tall and will have more bud sights instead of one big cola, ive never topped myself just what i read i suggest when you have time to look at the outdoor grow journals there is a bunch of guys that grow in cali. hope this helps some and good luck!

I think something may be wrong with the Super Lemon Haze. The problem may be just strain related, as the RD SLH and DV have all received the same treatment. The SLH is a lot smaller than the other 2 that were planted at the same time. Not only this, but the leaves it has put out look almost more silvery, and a lot less healthy looking than the other two. I've attached 3 pictures, the first is of the Dolce Vita compared to the SLH, the second is of the leaves the SLH has put out, and the third is the side profile of the SLH.

I put all of the plants in their final location for the rest of the season today. The Red Dragon and Dolce Vita are both planted in the ground in large holes. The SLH is in a 15 gal bucket, the giga bud and skunk are in 10 gals, and the hash plant and purp haze are in 5's. I put water bottles with the lids off and bottoms cut out over the plants in buckets, because a few hours after I transplanted today we started getting heavy showers and hail in the foothills. The Red dragon took some damage, and I propped it up with a popsicle stick so I hope it heals back up. Attached are 3 pics, the first is the RD and DV (RD is top DV bottom), second pic is a close up of the DV, and the third is of the skyline above the RD and DV. This pic was taken at about noon and in the spot they were, they still hadn't started getting direct sunlight. The plants need to be well hidden, but how much sunlight can be sacrificed for a more discreet location before the yield is largely affected?

I received a sample of Atami's Rootbastic and Bloombastic in the mail today. On the bottle it says rootbastic is great for transplanting, and luckily enough I just transplanted yesterday. I mixed up a batch of half strength solution and watered all of my seedlings with it. They seem to be doing well, I trimmed back some of the branches that are blocking light from the plants so hopefully they'll be liking the spot. I wanna top them soon and have been reading Uncle Ben's thread about it as well as a few FIM guides. What I don't really understand about it is, what's the difference between topping and FIMing? I've read people posting that they do both on a single plant but the whole time I thought they were the same thing? I'll have to do some more research on the subject. I want to keep the plants low and concealed, but I don't want to lose a good harvest... what's my best option in this situation? Just topping/FIMing the plant to hell so they become bushes (once I figure the difference between the two..)? Or would growing the plants into a screen at a low height be the best option? Some input would really be appreciated on this, Thanks. Here's a pic of the rootbastic and bloombastic.

I'm pretty sure I've decided on LSTing all of the plants except a few (it's my first time growing, I want to top one and let one normally grow to see how they grow). I'm gonna tie them all down next week after we get a break from this weather in the foothills. The DV and RD that are in the ground and photographed above will be scrogged hopefully. I'll update with pics in a few days after the plants get some noticeable growth. Will they keep growing even though we're having shitty weather with no direct sunlight right now? As mentioned in the previous post just fed them rootbastic yesterday.. hope it wasn't bad timing. Anyways, comments would be appreciated.

Also, my Cali hash plant and purple haze aren't feminized... Is there a way to check the sex of the plant before it begins flowering (aka august or whatever)?

brandon727272 said:

Also, my Cali hash plant and purple haze aren't feminized... Is there a way to check the sex of the plant before it begins flowering (aka august or whatever)?

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you will have to visit the site often because they can start sexing quick. the males will show little "balls" at the nodes. rip them and put them somewhere far away