Going from Indoor to Outdoor Growing

OldManGrower · Mar 22, 2023

Hi farmers. For the past 8 grows, I have used a tent indoors (actually in my garage) with soil. I live in an area that has dry, hot summers, often exceeding 100 degrees at times. In order to avoid high heat in the garage, I start planting either in the Fall or Winter.

I have a plant that‘s in the veg stage and I’d like to try growing it outdoors. I have a few questions:

- What can be done in order for the plants to sustain high temperatures in the Summer?

- We are currently in the Spring- 12 hours light and dark. Should I continue with veg through the Summer, then shift to flowering in the Fall?

Any other advice is well appreciated.

Oldchucky · Mar 22, 2023

Northern Sacramento Valley here. From mid June to mid September over 100 almost every day with nice low humidity. Probably less than 20% most days climbing to 40 or 50% at night. I use medium size light colored cloth pots. 30 or 40 gallon. amend and reuse soil. Which was originally FFOF. I would keep it in veg and put it out the first week of June just to be on the safe side with premature flowering. Then let her do her thing and keep watering. Water and recharge is all my girls get throughout the summer. Darkness is important at night. Mine are grown outback with no ambient light and I’ve never seen a caterpillar. You can pull it off.

OldManGrower · Mar 22, 2023

Oldchucky said:
Northern Sacramento Valley here. From mid June to mid September over 100 almost every day with nice low humidity. Probably less than 20% most days climbing to 40 or 50% at night. I use medium size light colored cloth pots. 30 or 40 gallon. amend and reuse soil. Which was originally FFOF. I would keep it in veg and put it out the first week of June just to be on the safe side with premature flowering. Then let her do her thing and keep watering. Water and recharge is all my girls get throughout the summer. Darkness is important at night. Mine are grown outback with no ambient light and I’ve never seen a caterpillar. You can pull it off.

I’m not too far away from you. Thanks for the info. We’ve been having a lot of rain and cold weather, so June makes sense. 30 or 40 gallon pots. Wow! They must get pretty big, which is what I’m looking to accomplish. So you don’t do any protection such as a screen over the plants? Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Oldchucky · Mar 22, 2023

No mine don’t get very big. Be lucky to get a pound a plant. The large pots help keep the roots Cool. but the quality is excellent. I bend mine. So the lowers turn into colas. trees are too hard to maintain. No screens. Full sunlight and darkness. last summer was a walk in the park. Didn’t have to spray for any pest or any reason. That’s the benefit of darkness. And I grow them away from all other plants if I can do it.

Cirroji · Mar 22, 2023

@TSD - I bet she has some crucial tips. If I was gonna go outdoor growing (just not an option here for so many reasons) i'd def search her posts up. Tons of info and experience

Oldchucky · Mar 22, 2023

Get more specific about where you are growing. OMG. Every location is different. I am in red Bluff California.

OldManGrower · Mar 22, 2023

Oldchucky said:
No mine don’t get very big. Be lucky to get a pound a plant. The large pots help keep the roots Cool. but the quality is excellent. I bend mine. So the lowers turn into colas. trees are too hard to maintain. No screens. Full sunlight and darkness. last summer was a walk in the park. Didn’t have to spray for any pest or any reason. That’s the benefit of darkness. And I grow them away from all other plants if I can do it.

Thanks again neighbor. I'm South of you, also in the Central Valley. Sorry, just one more question. When did you start flowering? Since I'm an indoor farmer, my thoughts are that you start in the Fall, but on a flowering that takes 8 - 9 weeks, I would imagine you would want to start sooner, say mid September? Thanks again for your insight.

OldManGrower · Mar 22, 2023

Cirroji said:
@TSD - I bet she has some crucial tips. If I was gonna go outdoor growing (just not an option here for so many reasons) i'd def search her posts up. Tons of info and experience

Thanks! I’ll definitely look her up

OldManGrower · Mar 22, 2023

Oldchucky said:
Get more specific about where you are growing. OMG. Every location is different. I am in red Bluff California.

I’m in Modesto. We get weather comparable to Sacramento.

Oldchucky · Mar 22, 2023

I like to see them flower last week of August at the earliest. Prefer the first two weeks of September. Late October harvest. Maybe early November. It’s kind of up to the plant. Out of our control. Had a few that started flowering first two weeks of August. But they turned out to be very disappointing. Something is haywire if they start that early.

Oldchucky · Mar 22, 2023

You should do all right in Modesto. It just depends on your surroundings. A lot of agriculture in your area can create problems. A lot of light at night can create problems. And so on and so forth.

OldManGrower · Mar 22, 2023

Thanks again for your inputs. Very much appreciated. Who knows, I may opt for outdoor instead of indoor.

Oldchucky · Mar 22, 2023

We’ve got a long hot summer with a long growing season very conducive to being successful outdoors. Give it a whirl! And good luck!

Jojo420 · May 8, 2023

Use seeds not clones.
Seedlings handle the heat way better than clones.
Put your seedlings on a timer in your tent and set the timer to the same hour of daylight as the day you plan to plant outside.
That way the won't start to flower and reveg on you.
A good rule of thumb to begin with is a May 1 start for bigger plants and a june1 start for smaller plants in smaller containers.
In your zone experienced growers are growing monsters with your photo period so plan container size appropriately.
For a 30-40 gallon pot a 2-3 pound plant is normal for an experienced grower.
If you can afford it and have the space go as big as your skill level can handle you won't be sorry you did.
Best wishes :)

Going from Indoor to Outdoor Growing

Going from Indoor to Outdoor Growing

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