So I have quite a few questions and need help.

[ALLCAPS]

To begin, sorry if this is a long post, but I will try to make it brief. I have grown cannabis on a few occasions, probably 6 times or so. Most of these times I have grown indoors. In fact, I have attempted growing outdoors 3 times, and never had a truly successful grow. Well this season, I plan to make everything perfect, and that is where I need help.

This grow I plan to use pots, why? I have to do to certain reasons, I have to keep all plants in pots for easy transportation. I am using a soil mixture. Right now I have some miracle grow soil (boo) and some regular potting soil. I also have some perlite to mix with my soil. For nutes I have both blood meal and bone meal, and that is it! I have some homemade compost too, but not sure if I will use it yet. My question about soil is, should I use the perlite when I will be growing from seed (not clone)? Is there a good reason to mix it with my soil? Also, how much should I mix in with the soil I use? Should I use miracle grow soil or just use soil with no additives/nutes? I used to use Foxfarm soil and loved it, but don't have the money to afford it atm.

Also, I live in the south eastern US, and right now it's a rather hot time of the year. According to my light calendar (to calculate day times/grow seasons), on September 28th of this year, the light in my area switches to flower time. Right now I have quite a few seeds (bagseed, nothing special) waiting to be germd and planted. When should I start planting these seeds? How long should I give these plants to veg for 2-3 months? I plan on topping the plants to keep them small for stealth issues, so how long should I give the plants to veg outdoors?

Right now, as far as pots are concerned, I have a bunch of 1 gallon net pots to use for the plants. How big of pots should I use for said plants given the amount of veg time suggested? I don't want the plants getting root bound, especially during flowering, but I can't have super huge pots because I need to move the plants indoors when the lawn mowing people come over.

I know I have a crap ton of more questions that I will address later, but if anyone can please give me links, information, or anything else to help me, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

 

[Sinkyone]

Start the seeds ASAP, it is starting to get late in the year to crack them. Miracle Grow soil is not ideal but if that is what you have, it's not going to run your grow or anything. A lot of people argue about what is the 'best' soil. You know what I think is the best soil? What is available in your area and fits your budget. There are a lot of different ways to skin a cat (or grow a plant).

Personally I do not like bagged soil the Miracle Grow, Foxfarm, etc. It is expensive and does not usually produce the best results. If you need anything more than a few cubic feet look in your area for a local soil company where you can buy it by the yard, that is the best way go to about it and will save you a ton of money. Even the cheapest bagged soil is going to cost 3-4 times as much as bulk soil, if not more.

As for pots go as large as your space and budget allows. Bigger pot = more root mass = larger plants = higher yield. Plus a larger pot helps as a buffer for heat and stress and will help ensure the plant does not get root bound. I do not like going smaller than 25's, even for my light dep, but if you can, do at least 50's or larger. I grow my full season plants in 600 gallons so you can go very, very large. How fast the plant gets root bound really depends on the health of the plant and the care it gets. I can get a plant root bound in 50 gallon is less than a month, easily, but that takes the right climate and strain and care. Even with my 600s I still have root bound plants by mid way through the season. Cannabis will grow really, really fast if given enough space and the right care so like I said go as big as you can.

You will need additional nutrients other than just straight potting soil. Cannabis is a nutrient hog, there is no way potting soil will provide enough nutrients for the whole season. I would amend the potting soil with some compost and/or composted manure as well as some dry amendments like feather and bone meal. For follow up nutrients it really depends on your situation, goals, and budget. If you can check the regularly and have some extra money, you can use liquid hydro nutes like you do indoor. If you can't check them regularly, look into getting some slow released nutrients, like the Botanicare crumbles that you can top dress and which will provide nutrients over a longer period of time. If you need to keep things cheap, just use Grow More, it is inexpensive and can produce good results so long as you flush the plants at the end of the season. Like I said there are a lot of ways to go about this, try to figure out your goals and priorities and use that to narrow what you want to do.

For light cycle, plants start to flower before the light hits 12/12. If you are in the southern US it is likely that your plants may actually be finished by the end of Sept. When plants flower depends totally on the strain and your location so there is not a definitive answer of when they will finish, you will just have to watch them.

 

[ALLCAPS]

Start the seeds ASAP, it is starting to get late in the year to crack them. Miracle Grow soil is not ideal but if that is what you have, it's not going to run your grow or anything. A lot of people argue about what is the 'best' soil. You know what I think is the best soil? What is available in your area and fits your budget. There are a lot of different ways to skin a cat (or grow a plant).

Personally I do not like bagged soil the Miracle Grow, Foxfarm, etc. It is expensive and does not usually produce the best results. If you need anything more than a few cubic feet look in your area for a local soil company where you can buy it by the yard, that is the best way go to about it and will save you a ton of money. Even the cheapest bagged soil is going to cost 3-4 times as much as bulk soil, if not more.

As for pots go as large as your space and budget allows. Bigger pot = more root mass = larger plants = higher yield. Plus a larger pot helps as a buffer for heat and stress and will help ensure the plant does not get root bound. I do not like going smaller than 25's, even for my light dep, but if you can, do at least 50's or larger. I grow my full season plants in 600 gallons so you can go very, very large. How fast the plant gets root bound really depends on the health of the plant and the care it gets. I can get a plant root bound in 50 gallon is less than a month, easily, but that takes the right climate and strain and care. Even with my 600s I still have root bound plants by mid way through the season. Cannabis will grow really, really fast if given enough space and the right care so like I said go as big as you can.

You will need additional nutrients other than just straight potting soil. Cannabis is a nutrient hog, there is no way potting soil will provide enough nutrients for the whole season. I would amend the potting soil with some compost and/or composted manure as well as some dry amendments like feather and bone meal. For follow up nutrients it really depends on your situation, goals, and budget. If you can check the regularly and have some extra money, you can use liquid hydro nutes like you do indoor. If you can't check them regularly, look into getting some slow released nutrients, like the Botanicare crumbles that you can top dress and which will provide nutrients over a longer period of time. If you need to keep things cheap, just use Grow More, it is inexpensive and can produce good results so long as you flush the plants at the end of the season. Like I said there are a lot of ways to go about this, try to figure out your goals and priorities and use that to narrow what you want to do.

For light cycle, plants start to flower before the light hits 12/12. If you are in the southern US it is likely that your plants may actually be finished by the end of Sept. When plants flower depends totally on the strain and your location so there is not a definitive answer of when they will finish, you will just have to watch them.

Thank you for the useful and friendly information. I never knew that plants would flower before 12/12 changes. I guess I never had a great outdoor grow to learn that from. I will begin germing the seeds now then! Is a 25+ gallon pot really an absolute must? I could see myself being able to use maybe 15 gallon pots for each plant. But not sure if I can work with larger ones. I'll have to see the pots in person to really make that judgement however.

Also, as for nutes, I do have some homemade compost (I use it in my vegetable garden yearly), and some bone and blood meal. I would like to get better nutes from a hydro store, but the only hydro store near me is quite a drive. I feel like I may need a cal-mag source instead of simple N-P-K based nutes.

Again thanks for the help. I really appreciate any tips yall may have.

 

[ALLCAPS]

Also, I can check them daily as well. They won't be in a place that isn't easy to access. My biggest concern is stealth. I need the plants to be easy to move around due to certain people coming over and I would have to move them indoors. That's my only concern with pot size really.

 

[OKD]

...Also, as for nutes, I do have some homemade compost (I use it in my vegetable garden yearly),...

Do a compost tea for nutrients. Get some molasses, bucket, airstone & airpump, and use the 'Thread Title Search' Box up top ^^^.
And use the biggest pots you can lift!!! Remember they're gonna be alot heavier right after you water. Or use a dolley to move elephantine-sized pots...where there's a will there's a way!

And the length of daytime increases from Dec. 21 or so (winter solstice) until the summer solstice, in June, when the length of daytiime decreases. There are equinoxes (equinoxii?) in March and September.

Good luck!

 

[ALLCAPS]

Also, again not to be rude, but saying you don't learn from trial and error is just a joke to me. If that were the case then one would just look up "how to grow herb," and do what it says from start to finish. Then when it's all over they instantly know the best way to grow herb, right? Because there is no need for trial and error they should just do the same thing every time. Then how will you know what nute lines are best? Or what grow method works best in your climate?

For instance, I just searched google for "how big of pot will I need growing cannabis outdoors?" It came up with many thread links and sure enough, some people say you need 5 gallon pots at the most, and others state you need 25+ gallon pots. Who am I to believe? Without trial and error, how will one know which is ultimately better?

 

[ALLCAPS]

Do a compost tea for nutrients. Get some molasses, bucket, airstone & airpump, and use the 'Thread Title Search' Box up top ^^^.
And use the biggest pots you can lift!!! Remember they're gonna be alot heavier right after you water. Or use a dolley to move elephantine-sized pots...where there's a will there's a way!

And the length of daytime increases from Dec. 21 or so (winter solstice) until the summer solstice, in June, when the length of daytiime decreases. There are equinoxes (equinoxii?) in March and September.

Good luck!

Great idea! I have made worm casting tea before for my plants and I love the stuff. I should make some compost tea. I have a crap ton of compost and need to use it somehow.

 

[Sinkyone]

A 25 gallon is not a 'must' but more of a personal preference. A 15 gallon will dry out faster and grow a smaller plant. Also I don't go smaller than a 25 gallon because I use a living soil approach to my grows and you cannot go smaller than that and still get a functional soil food web.

No need to get jump all over ALLCAPS for asking some questions. Yes, there is some good info on this site, but there is also a tremendous amount of bad info as well and it can be hard to sort the bad from the good. He is being polite, which is more than I can say for most people on here...

Frankly ALLCAPS cannabis sites like this are one of the worse sources of reliable information. If you really want to learn outdoor, learn from farmers and people in the real ag industry. Take a soil science class at your local community college, or read an ag text book. Learn the science behind the methods so you can differentiate between BS and fact. Much of what is posted on cannabis forums, even by the so called 'experts' has no basis in science. You have to realize very few growers actually have a horticulture or agriculture background and there are LOT of growing myths that continue to be perpetuated on these forums. For example do not waste your time asking about pest issues on here. Go to someplace like the UC Davis IPM website where you can find accurate and reliable information that is applicable in real world agriculture.

 

[odogyouknow]

You're speaking life and death situations here. You talk as if I have a grow that doesn't come out to be perfect, then I will die. It's not like that. Comparing a surgeon to someone who grows a certain plant. is rather far-fetched if you ask me.

Yea, you asked about pot size and flowering times and this fuckin guy compares it to ordering a gravestone site or doing heart surgery or something...

 

[Linkedlight]

People are going to be hard on you for what they see as simple easily answered queries.

I'd sprout the seeds now, and prepapre the site. Do not leave pots in an outdoor grow site, unless it's legal where you are. Pots have fingerprints. Anything that goes in, comes out with you.

For your site, you're going to want a good location which means your plants will probably be pinched because people do that. For ferts, I'd suggest hydro like someone else did and bring extra drinking water with you and have an ironclad story as to why you are out and about. No one wants to see you go to jail.

What I'd recommend is autoflowering strains starting in November/Decemeber and February/March if I were you. No one looks for bud in the spring. Where I'm from search parties are thick for plants in the fall.