Newbie

[Alex3579]

Hello everyone!
I'm new here and new to growing with lots of questions.
I'm going to be growing outdoors in my garden , soil is fairly rich everything growing is green. When transplanting my plants from pot to soil how should I prep the soil?
thanks
A

[PLreef]

Hi and welcome to GWE!
GWE has tons of great reading material. Start here....

https://www.growweedeasy.com/basics

[PeterMatanzas]

I’m unsure what the soil will need but it sounds promising. You can do a home analysis to determine soil pH, this is important & easy. Every plant has a preferred range of pH. What kinds of plants thrive where you're at? Acid loving plants? Soil here is ~6.3 but I've added lime in the fall, tilled it in for next year. How're your tomatoes? Calcium will help deter tomato blossum end rot, cannabis likes calcium, too - thus I overload the soil with lime. I love tomatoes. I treat my outdoor cannabis like the indoor, a regular feeding schedule with additional micro ingredients. In transplant I treat the plant just like it's a tomato or marigold, leaves have to extend past the edge of the pot. I do not worry at all about transplanting a healthy plant in veg. Pull the plant out of the pot, spray water all over the root ball, and dress the damp root ball with Mykos. I always throw some Mykos into the transplant hole before the plant.

Yesterday I walked out front and there's a rogue azalea growing with the flowers. It had to arrive via air, I would never grow one. I don't like them but alot of people do. I'll leave it alone because I respect its tenacity and perseverance. An azalea will thrive even below pH 5 so you know this soil is acid as hell.

[PeterMatanzas]

A marigold is about the easiest thing to grow from seed. Many insects do not like marigold so there's quite a few here. EDIT: what I'm getting at here, is I want to prepare the ecosystem as best as I can. EDITs: stating the obvious, till the soil. I do not believe in introducing non native insect species as a mitigation practice against harmful insects. I've done that, bought mantis, but it's not good for the ecosystem at all and should be illegal. I have a fence because the deer population has exploded, just like everywhere else, they will eat cannabis flower. I dont endorse the use of black plastic mat as a garden cover to prevent weeds but soil around the plant has to be weed free natch. Where are you? Atlantic states? Midwest? Do you have any tomato cages? If your plants are grounded (you'll never move them) a tomato cage is great support for heavy buds.

[PeterMatanzas]

I never used to think about this planning: how much work can I devote to my plants. Outdoor plants can get out of control. One year I kept all the plants in a screened in patio and would occasionally bring them outside while I'm working in the back. One picture here is a plant of mine Nebula posted on IG, it was an outdoor grow (the pink plant I forget what it is and notes are somewhere).

I am trying to figure that out now. How many plants can I handle? I may have one indoor going during the summer but everything else is outdoor in free light. EDIT: Some plants go in the ground, others in pots.

[Catfish22]

It's like a playground at recess. Do you ring a bell when it's time to go in?

[Alex3579]

Thanks Peter for all that good information. I live in New York where it just became legal recreational. So I ordered some seeds I'm still waiting for them. In the mean time, I'm just doing what I can to prepare. I'm going to buy a ph., tdsmeter. Any recommendation I'm looking at combo pen meters.
thanks again
A

[PeterMatanzas]

You have it made and are the envy of many growers in the Atlantic states. NY soils are slightly acid at surface and ~pH7 subsoil, high saturation throughout and watering throughput. Limestone abundant, cannabis loves that. There's a $15 pH meter on amazon, I'd buy that somewhere. I keep a second one as backup but I'm a paranoid type. I dont use any other kind of meter besides a pH meter. But quite a few growers swear by a TDS meter and if their tap water is high ppm anyway, they need it. I just dont need it because if I use tap water I've tested the ppm here occasionally and TDS is aalways less than 50 mg/l.

EDIT: what's the climate in July->October? If humid expect to lose a percent of yield to mold. I expect at least a 50% loss because I chose to live here. Also, beware of moths and butterflies. They will lay eggs on the best buds because that's the first thing they see when they descend. This is why I kept plants in a screened in patio last year, I could better control the exposure to insects. Bugs lay eggs, the hatching eats the plant causing a wound, mold grows in the wound, and there's caterpillar sh!t in the flower. If you ever use neem I think it's best to spray dry soil with it, when the plant is in veg.

[Alex3579]

Ordinarily July and August very humid but with climate change it could be a nice summer and good grow season.
ques./when mold effects a plant is the whole plant a total loss or would I just trim the bad off? I was only going to plant 3 plants.

[PeterMatanzas]

sometimes mold happens and it's not noticed until the plant's a total loss. A caterpillar will burrow into the bud, chew the stem, spores will find the wound, and the mold begins inside the bud, it's not visible right away. And a moldy plant will shed spores airborne. I try to catch mold early and cut off the moldy bud and buds an inch around it. EDIT: If mold appears on the plant days away from harvest I'm going to toss the whole plant. This is different than harvest weeks away. It's a tough call but very likely that plant is compost. If there's mold on a slice of bread I'm not going to eat a slice that doesn't have mold.

There is a way to treat moldy weed but it's difficult. You have to dry the weed, cure it, make sure mold doesn't grow in the jars. Then soak the cured weed in 200 food grade ethanol. You will have to filter that solution down through a 1 micron disk filter; distill off the alcohol and you have cannabis oil. The alcohol will kill the mold, and the filter will mechanically separate out the mold. Scrub the empty jars, clean up, etc. It's a pain.

[Alex3579]

Decided to grow outdoors in pots. Was looking to buy Fox Farms ocean forest, but not readily available. Can any one recommend another soil to start my germinated seeds in.

[PeterMatanzas]

Coast of Maine is good. EDIT: just about every bagged soil has fungus gnats, Fox Farm included.

[Alex3579]

Thanks Peter!
wound up buying coast of Maine and ordered ocean forest on Amazon. The little ones are in the dirt and expectations are high!🤙

[Alex3579]

Hello everyone!
Well, it's been about a month now. And my 3 little ones are looking great. One thing has me concerned. There are a couple of leaves that look like they've been torn at the tip, but they haven't and there are no bugs. The plants look healthy, just wondering if this is natural. I'm gonna see if I can post a picture.

[Alex3579]

[Catfish22]

Could it be rabbits or deer?

[Alex3579]

It was squirrels those little bastards!!