Looking for advice for my first outdoor grow zone 7b

Outdoor Growing
#1

Heyo.
So I’m looking to start my first outdoor grow and I have so many questions so I’ll start with what I know so far. My plan is to start them indoors and harden them off I was planning on starting them in their forever homes Which will be 5 gallon buckets I’m planning on using a mix of FF strawberry fields and FF ocean Forrest the nutes I have are gaia green 4-4-4 and the 2-8-4 as well as worm castings my region is hardiness zone 7b

So my questions/concerns

First off is I’m worried about wind and rain we get some pretty crazy storms sometimes. So right now I’m on the fence weather to try and build a sort of greenhouse. And I use that term lightly because it would have to be pretty cheap probably pvc and plastic. The reason I’m on the fence is we also get some really hot days and I’m worried about humidity all the cheap greenhouse builds I’ve looked at don’t have a lot of ventilation. Im planning a small grow 3 plants max and I’m wondering if it would be better to build fortified cages around each plant individually

Secondly I’m wondering when I should start my babies. Farmers almanac says last frost is April 15 but my weather app shows temps being “lower then average” for most of may (like 60s daytime 40s at night) with a lot of rain. Also how old should the plant be before going outside I won’t have a whole lot of room in the tent so I don’t want to start them to early and not be able to move them outside.

Thirdly I’m a lil confused on the whole pH bidness lol our well water is around 6-6.2 should I be adjusting this? What is the correct ph for outdoor plants? I know soil pH is also a thing so is testing your run off how you would figure that out?

Lastly (for now) is I’m not sure the best way to administer the gaia green nutes I was planning on top dressing? Is that a good method for outdoor plants? Also the instructions say once a month for a 4-4-4 I know with the FF soil I shouldn’t need to add any for a while any recommendations on how to know when to give them their first feeding and what schedule I should use

Alrighty I think those are all my questions! Kudos if you read through all that :joy: and any advice would be much appreciated :+1:

Stay trippy my hippies : )

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#2

I make sure temps at nights are above at least 50 degrees, we also do the no till planting and add nutes every couple of weeks…MatanuskaThunder Head 8ft. tall from last summer’s grow…to us it’s a weed and will grow fine just like any other weed outside but we help it with a little nutes.

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#3

Tagging along, if you dont mind…
I am also in zone 7B on the coast. Similar weather extremes as what you describe.

I planted 4 zKittelz auto seedlings in 3gal fabric pots about a weeks ago. 1st outdoor grow in over 40 years. Have them in the tent right now. Plan on hardening them off and up potting to 7gal fabric pots when the time is right, just dont know when that is.

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#4

Wow! That is a monster!! A beautiful monster lol thanks for the advice sounds like I may have to wait a lil longer I’ll keep my eye on the temps

I don’t mind at all! I hope this will be helpful for anyone growing in similar conditions.thats awesome! I wish I had some autos lol mine are photos and I’m a lil worried that i might have to force flower if the weather wants to be crazy

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#5

Btw, we’re in Illinois but it really doesn’t matter as long as the night temps are at least 50+ degrees at night…

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#6

Sounds like it might be June/july before I can get them out there which is kinda a bummer cuz in my state growing/gifting is the only legal way to obtain cannabis lol I’m wondering would it be harmful to the plant to just bring it in at night and back out in the morning? At least when they are small I know it would be a lot of work also if I start them inside how old should they be before taking them outside

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#7

Honestly other than preparing the soil beforehand if directly in the ground. Our method has always been JUST LEAVE IT AND LET IT GO! Water is the only concern when long periods of drought occur . And in flower I will give a few feedings periodically and add some molasses to waterings. Mostly just water all the way through. And we ALWAYS do a bud wash afterwards (do it once and you’ll never not do it again) even in 5gal pots I’ve done basically nothing but ensure they don’t dry out completely and had great results.

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#8

Beautiful buds! Yeah I am probably over thinking it I tend to over analyze things what is a bud wash? Like flushing?

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#9

I agree, try not to do a lot of overthinking…its a weed folks.

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#10

I actually take the entire plant and submerge it in a light mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide (1cup of 3% HP For 5 gallons of water) for like 20-30 seconds swishing it around, then hang upside down to dry off the wash, then go about drying, trimming, curing as normal. Pm me if you ever want fully detailed info

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#11

I’ve done it with stronger and weaker but this seems to be the sweet spot imho

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#12

Oh okay what does that do for it exactly?

#13

This should work for almost any soil. :+1:
Feed life with life. :green_heart:

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#14

Cool thanks :+1: :blush: looks like a lot of good info there!

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