EDIT: Changed the focus off of outdoor suggestions for now. I’d like to begin listing and discussing potential bargains or cheap indoor DIYs to get this thing off the ground.
Hello, everyone. First time (serious) grower about to start getting ready for the first legal growing season here in Minnesota. EDIT: I think my window of opportunity for outdoor has passed, sadly. Developing a cheap indoor setup is now my primary focus.
I’m growing mostly to learn this first run, so I’m trying to do this right. Messing something up is inevitable, but I’m confident that I can pull this off without spending so much I may as well purchased bulk at medical dispensary at full price. Minnesota is still really ruthless about it.
If you only have 60 days for the season I’d just go indoors. I haven’t run an auto yet that didn’t need 80-100 days from germination to chop. Breeder estimates on flower time are very optimistic and usually pretty far short of what it takes in the real world. You could put autos out that were already starting flower in August and have a good chance to finish them. But seedlings are not going to make it in 60 days.
just order clones. (you wouldn’t want to flower a seed plant anyway) plant straight into dirt. the plants won’t be huge, but it’s worth doing, even just for fun.
Auto: Maybe. They seem to take about 10 weeks even when the breeder says 8. So if you started them indoors 2 weeks ago and put em outside as they start flower you’d be good to go
Fast Photo: If you start them early these start flowering at solstice and finish in 6-8 weeks.
Photo clone is probably your best option right now. Or pop autos now. By now I mean yesterday
NASC will have you seeds in 2-3 days and they have lots of autos
6 week finish with a fast photoperiod? Dang. What strains/crosses would you suggest? Clones definitely, yes. I’m not that established on OG so I don’t feel right shaking people down for those, but maybe I can mail order through a company and at least get a half-decent medicine variety up (for Au-ADHD).
from the chi-town site (never used them but thanks for the link) the apple blossom and blue muffin im guessing are your safest bets, they say 45 day lower end for flowering = mid sep so hopefully its decent size and you plant aug 1st should get a nice little harvest on time.
ive used sun-clone, shipping comes from west coast and its hot out now so clone is maybe kept safer coming from closer to you but growing this one black dog outside, its a 48 day min cut, expecting it to show that its in week 2 flower in a few weeks.
like @FieldEffect says cant trust the flowering time from breeders on seeds (or clones), many environmental factors and preferences and in seed lots of variation. that being said if it were me and it was going to be a seed run from auto i think id do these, they take credit card so the beans im thinking youd get them on time. https://www.greatlakesgenetics.com/product/tony-greens-tortured-beans-gg4-ril-fast-auto-10-reg-seeds/
i bought some of those for next spring here. theyre not feminized but if you germinate aiming for 3/4 female plant count it should be fine at 6 turning into 4 etc (math is not my thing).
autos (instead of just planting fem photos) i think would have the benefit of not stunting, granted you sow the seeds in maybe 1 gal pots directly (no dixie cups etc), any less root space might hurt yield any more might take them longer to finish (maybe).
i think the bud structure on the gg4 could help it from getting rot but i have no clue about how the strain has performed outdoors. ive had the pleasure of growing in some pretty terrible climates all over and i can say with certainty that you dont want to try to grow any hype strains. for next season can find some good sturdy photoperiod genetics.
I think to get anywhere outside this year, you guys are right. I’d have to start clones NOW. At least throw an order out there. It’s hard times for me though. Lots of people have work, not a lot of people want to pay you after the job is done. ;w;
If I can get a cool $110 in hand, I’m going to try to jump for the Apple Blossom as soon as I can. I’m not APEX set up for outdoor but I do have some good mulch and compost to work with. Buckets are everywhere, but algae and iron stained to bits. Water is iron rich beyond belief. Quality heavy black dirt is the norm, so I need to add perlite and a drainage bed maybe. It can be done.
Additional: Any budget Nutrient, watering system, netting ect. suggestions would be killer. If this grow goes, it’s gonna be dirt-cheap bang for buck grow and you betcha I’m gonna share some cuttings.
Flower in 6 weeks was about right for my Sweet Seeds SAD Fast. But that’s 6 weeks of flower…plus 4-6 weeks of veg. Yielded about half a pound IIRC.
So I don’t think that’ll work for you this season but you could certainly give it a shot next season, start them inside at least a few weeks before you put them outside
I’d get some quick autos, I’m pretty impressed with the FastBudz stuff right now but if you had more than 8-9 weeks I’d try other breeders for sure. Whatever you pick get it germinating ASAP
Bok-Choi is an excellent crop here. Takes to the black dirt like a fish to water. One of three, the others are just as large. We have a stir-fry planned today, so it was time to pluck one and wash it up.
Additional: Have a full spread of the garden. Just because I like you guys.
Topic shift! I don’t think outdoors is going to happen, so I’ve decided to use this thread to collect bargain/budget suggestions. Leading product discussion is alright too, but it’s only really going to help me if I can snag it for a fraction of market cost. Like many others, it’s hard times over here. Unstable mental health makes it really difficult to earn consistent wages. Requiring “reasonable accommodation” cuts off most of my applications before they even make it to a desk.
Just to update (and sorta poke the thread), I just learned about the magic of nutrient density and SIP. I’m pretty determined to use some of these amazing techniques I’ve been finding all over the place. I have a compost tumbler and plenty of vegetative matter around, finding a way to make it all work as storable living soil I can revive later would be badass. I can start stockpiling one of my two most valuable resources in this endeavor. Good light, good soil.
Speaking of good soil, I found myself some tasty data this morning. Checking into lesser known soil bacteria and fungi to see if I can easily-enough find a new type of helper microbe/fungi.
As of the time of this study (2019, sorta dated I know) these were the most complex microbial zones in the world. My idea, if we can get some people that might live in these areas to cultivate the microbial life, maybe we could start trading rare microbe and fungi batches specifically for cannabis cultivation.
There’s the daily loot from the void. Let me know if someone figured this out a few years later and I just didn’t find the article. Happens to me all the time.
Found this that I put away (the only (viable) seed I’ve found in my medical), got impatient and paper towel’d it. Let’s germinate. Soil, light, those things will fall into place. Gotta test my mulch that I made years ago and see what it still does, what I gotta get for it. I’m sure some regular ass potting soil will be fine for now if I get in a bind before it pops.
Good for beginners, dope. Mix of Afghan and Northern Lights? Perfect, should do nicely for around here in the summer. I’m guessing by the time it gets to flowering, I should have some sort of rinky-dinky light setup or some cash for soil amendments.
Update: Got mulch together, harvested some moldy biome floor scraps out of every unique soil pattern I could find. Went back to my old stuff, looked pretty neutralized. Whatever, it’ll make a good base to bulk out all the good stuff. Added as much green matter as I could before the rain beat me out, so I tipped it upward and let it start to soak out. Might have added too much neutral soi, it was sort of hard to turn dry.
i can put you together an inside grow for about $150 minus the seeds. hell, i may be able to send ya a pack of seeds too. that is also without a tent, so you need a closet or add another $40 or so to make your own tent.
I have a predetermined closet area ready, just need some cheap mylar to fill it out and a nice budget light. Found a good one for $125, but I’m terribly broke, having to spend 99% of my funds at the dispensary for neccessary medicine to function. So veg at the least might be done outdoors.
Still working on those SIP buckets, but I’m only out some vermiculite. They say perlite, but vermiculite retains water longer- so I’m electing for that to fill out the reservoir(s) unless I hear a reason to the contrary. Got plans for a worm bin, got a nice junk landscaping pond to do it in. Just need (composting) worm eggs and some coco for that.
I figured I’d be off to the races after starting germination. Sitting and planning every little thing only gets you so far.
