took me 2 days to read this whole thread, but thought i would join in....
This is my first time trying outdoors, and i got a lot of good info here. so thanks already.
Just put my third round of plants in the ground tonight. they have been under fluorescents since march. I wanted to have a more substantial base so they would have a better chance of overcoming minor problems. I followed a creek bed way into the woods, where people are very unlikely to ever go (this creek doesnt have any fish, so there would be no reason for anyone to walk it) also, no trail. I used black netting around each plant, similar to this
I used thin bamboo sticks to push them into the ground. The holes werent as deep as I would have liked them to be... ill definitely go bigger next time.
I planted on a hill about 3.5/4 feet up i put in some fertilizer stakes similar to these, but a different brand
after digging out the wholes, i mixed the dug up dirt with coco grow that I had pre-soaked in nutrient solution and filled them back in with the mixture.
I then spread slug/snail bait(poison) around the area because one of my first plants was eaten by a slug, i caught the little fucker on the plant.
I pre-treated each plant with a hearty spraying of
neem oil before wrapping them in the newspaper to take them out.
Another plant from the first round was eaten down to the base, so I wanted to keep rabbits far away. the hill they are on, and the nets should do the trick.... but i wanted to be really safe, so i sprayed the plants with a mixture of garlic/cayene pepper water...then sprinkled fresh garlic around in small bags, so that garlic would drain out with the rain.
I then checked on my second round, and they are doing suprisingly well. Luckily the garlic/cayene mix didn't do any damage to the plants and seemed to work.
hopefully everything works out well.
