how early to start outdoor grow?

I've grown outdoors twice. Once was a lifetime ago gorilla style and I don't remember much detail other than it worked and carrying water into the woods without leaving a trace can be harder than one would think. And last year. I started late and got a good harvest.

This year I'm wondering about starting time. Do most people get a head start and put out a small shrub or just harden off a young stick and go from there? I grow tomatoes, peppers, kale, broccoli, and all that with my indoor setup and harden them off and understand all the mechanics of that process.

I did notice that bud worms came last year and having a manageable size plant helped a ton in picking them all off the plant. I can't imagine going through that with a tree. I also get some late season heavy rains which def put some pressure on the plants. This year I am looking for shorter flower period plants like green crack to try and beat the wet cold. I think I'm only going with photos for outside. I did run an auto outside and inside last year at the same time and the inside plant looked 10 times better, grew faster, etc. Summer can be funny, we hit a period of cloudy days and that had an impact.

I may start early and late just to get both experiences.

I'm in zone 6b

You could expect to plant out around June 1.Im in zone 7 and end May early June is good.GL

buckaclark said:

You could expect to plant out around June 1.Im in zone 7 and end May early June is good.GL

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Thanks! what are you planting out? A seedling or transferring a baby bush from inside?

I want them around this size when my weather forecasts look like this. I use lights to fool the plant and keep vegging.
About a month, month and a half is what i found it takes.depends how much pampering you want to do once they are set in place. Me, i want zero maintenance so i get them somewhat beefy first.

@mudballs thanks for the picture. This is kind of the size and pre planning I was thinking about for a target of planting out at the start of my grow date, about June 1st as @buckaclark mentioned above.

Last year I put these outside toward the end of July. Those are in 10 Gallon pots, so pretty sizable. It was a last minute decision.

Mr. Bakerton said:

Thanks! what are you planting out? A seedling or transferring a baby bush from inside?

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There should plenty of time for both.Please note I have found the need for pest management before flowering begins .Use spinosad or other control spray for insects.Also you will need BT to control budworms here.I spray Bt every week or so when flowers start and until the buds start to fill in.Only spray insecticides before flowering.

Plants can get big outdoors,so if you start a bush try to keep it spread and under control.Once they go over six or seven ft there's the flower stretch of another 2-3 foot ,then they are hard to spray,inspect and keep up with .No one imagines having to work on a ladder when starting a plant.

Get big starter pots so if you need to you can bring them inside. You never know when a cold snap will hit.

Yeah if you do early start you should have some sort of support structure plan figured out before you need to figure one out.

doublejj said:

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Always a pleasure to see your grow.Gives me hope for this season.

mudballs said:

Yeah if you do early start you should have some sort of support structure plan figured out before you need to figure one out.

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Kinda blew it on that one ,had to strap her to the fence,hee hee.

mudballs said:

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I want them around this size when my weather forecasts look like this. I use lights to fool the plant and keep vegging.
About a month, month and a half is what i found it takes.depends how much pampering you want to do once they are set in place. Me, i want zero maintenance so i get them somewhat beefy first.

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what's your light schedule ? to keep them in veg? I'm Trying to take a sizable plant outside when the weather is warm enough, without it going immediately into flower.

Burt Hooter said:

what's your light schedule ? to keep them in veg? I'm Trying to take a sizable plant outside when the weather is warm enough, without it going immediately into flower.

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I do lights on @ 4:30am, off at dawn. Then lights on again at dusk (around 8pm) and lastly off at 9ish pm. I dont want to be far off natural summer day, plus im out there alot. Some say you can simply have a light go on for 1hr at midnight to interrupt the dark cycle, which technically is all that's needed to stay in veg, it's just not a practice i promote or use.

Thanks for all the great input and pictures!

@doublejj those are some monsters! You have a nice setup there and those are not something I could handle here. So oddly enough that is a perfect example of what I don't want Haha! I see your ladder in the background.

@buckaclark are those Jerusalem artichokes in the background? That's also a great plant that I love to grow. My dog digs and eats them all winter and thus now has a farting season. I should def pick up some BT spray. I don't typically spray anything in my garden area so I'm going to try and hold off for the Veg duration. Last year I didn't have any issues there - that doesn't mean this year will follow the same.. What else you growing out there?

@mudballs hmm.. you bring up a good point. Structure! I had this thought in my head but it fell out. Glad you put it back in there. Yes, I need to think of something. I'm nestled in a mountain crack and don't get hit with much wind But that can also be an issue as when the wind does hit us, its a surprise and something typically takes it hard.

@Burt Hooter What do you mean? If you are growing photos, keep your lights on 16 hours a day and they wont break veg. Autos will do as they please and don't care about the light schedule. I try and match my light schedule with the outside if I'm going to move plants out in the spring. Don't forget thats a whole process in it self. You need to ease them out so they don't get up set. Worse part about that is- sitting the plants outside and them bringing them back inside the grow area. PEST taxi!

If you set out June 1 in your zone (6) you will not need supplimental lighting.Everyone needed BT last season ,did you have any deteriorated spots in your dried bud at all?GL and thanks for the thread.

Yes J Artichokes are naturalized here.

I started my seed run for this years outdoor last month, I will veg inside til late may and then start to transition outdoors.