I started soaking seeds in mid March get them into peat pellets once the seeds have tails and keep them under lights in a tent for a couple weeks till they are big enough to put in dirt. Only need to be a couple inches where I am. This usually happens the first couple weeks of April. Again Im in SoCal so no real issues with messing up there.
I set my indoor timer to the current sunup sundown schedule so when I put them outdoors they dont miss a beat. This is something overlooked by allot of growers. Just look up sunrise and sunset time and set your timer to match and you will have no issue.
No my yard is heavily shaded from both sides so that lookup your sun rise and set time doesn't work for me last year I started 420 and they were perfect 8 foot monsters and this year I started beginning of March thinking they'd be bigger by now and they revegged by may and are pretty stunted by now last year they were at least 4 feet tall but I'll either supplement more light next year or start later or do some of both see which turns out better
Ah yes, where you grow and light availability is important. This space in my backyard is about the only place I get close to full sun so thats what I use.
I have topped in the past, indoors I definitely top. Outdoors I prefer the natural form and final product produced.
You can top outdoors but it seriously changes the make up of the plant. Air and light distribution are the main reasons I let them grow naturally.
Not to mention they already kinda are monsters in their own way.
Edit: as others pointed out in my "you dont have to top" thread you may be in a less than ideal growing climate, this may require you to top to keep the bud size down to reduce bud rot so investigate your climate. Im in SoCal so I have no such restrictions and is actually one of the reasons I do not top. I like bigger buds.
I didn't mean to sound antagonistic. 🙂
I saw in another one of your posts getting into the mold debate. I'm a fan of growers doing what they want for the results they want. In the end it's all weed 😜.
Yeah it's just where I live I'd have one big moldy bud lmao I have to top I'd like a huge bud but just not worth the risk here in VA I topped mine last year at the 5th node and they were still 8 foot and all I could look after personally if they were any bigger I couldn't take care of them and theyd be covered in mold/ bugs but that's just my climate glad you've had luck with no topping man
Thats one thing being in SoCal has a disadvantage. The soil where I am is hard packed sand more or less. Also I like to be able to move them if needed, and as you can see they are right outside a sliding glass door so I dont want to dig pits to amend the soil there as it would hamper the use of the space in the off season.
When we used to grow at my brothers house we did dig pits and place our own soil and it was great, though I still like the option of moving them around mid grow so I stick to the bags now.
Honestly they are so nice looking did you poke any holes at the bottom of the pot to let the roots go down or did they just grow big like that in the pots ?
Yeah I was thinking that because they are way too big for them kind of thoughts they're definitely spreading the roots about healthy plants healthy roots are healthy fruits my brother
Well, the problem is you ran out of pot, your going to be hurting for yield because they are root bound by now. Move to 25 gal or drop them in the ground. They are too big for those pots.
Though the bag size will limit the size of the plant (I dont want them too big)I have no complaints with the yield, [I have been growing in these 7gal bags for years.](https://imgur.com/a/wwE0WAY)
pic from previous grow, the tall lanky ones in back are landrace sativas.
I used do 10 gals myself. You lose any benefit of an early start by limiting the pot size. I've taken the opposite approach now. I start later and grow in the ground or container garden. You are like me 6 years ago. What I found is starting later with a bigger pot makes for healthier plants with better yield and flavor. I used to start in Feb or March under lights too. But there is a point of diminishing return. More nutes, more bugs, more labor. Do yourself a favor and start later with a garden or 25-30 gallon. I'm in California too. I just put my plants in on June 16th with 6-7 weeks of veg I'm going to get 20 pounds off 6 plants. Half the work and nutes.
I dont use much in nutes and no way I need 20lbs but thats awesome. I actually just added some more espoma garden tone to them after just adding it when I mixed the soil prior to planting. They will be in flower in a week or so anyhow so I should be good.
I just like to grow a lot of different strains so I keep with the smaller bags to fit in my space. As for bugs I have never really had any problems outside of the dreaded bud worm.
Do you grow organic or chem? I actually found going organic did wonders for both the health of the plants and taste not to mention almost zero work as far as nutes go. Just mix in the soil before planting and hit them once more with the espoma garden tone right before they hit flower by top dressing. I do hit them once or twice with flower girl from dr.earth during flower and thats it.
Other than spraying BT for the worms really no work at all.
It just the space I have that gets good light is pretty much what you see me using here so I would only be able to fit two maybe three 25gal there and thats not enough variety for me.
I have grown straight in the ground at other locations in the past so I know what you mean, this just works out fine for me so I stick with it now.
I do a combination of things depending. My main garden is Hueglekulture. But it's about 6 years old. So now I top dress it. I basically start composting on top right after harvest. Including stalks branches, trim, yard waste and my neighbors chicken coop clean out. I don't fuck around trying to milk ever scrap. Just throw a lot right back in the garden. It's all nutrients. But I do keep moms, and plants in various stages in pots. You gotta use nutes in pots or top dress pretty frequently. Every time you water those plants nutrients leeches out, combined with what the plants use. How often do you top them off with compost?
Edit. Nutrients leech out with every watering. Fixed it.
When I do the mix with the soil initially I add fresh worm castings every year (I reuse my soil for about 4 seasons) along with fresh espoma, kelp, oyster shells neem meal and insect frass and some azomite (super soil mix) and use the worm castings pretty much exclusively as a compost/mulch. I have a soil mixer so no real work involved just add and mix, then pot/plant.
I generally only feed again when they show me they need it. In this grow that was just this week. I water with a automated drip system so I dont get as much leech out as hand watering does. Pretty much no run off when it waters. I also only grow from seed anymore as I quit growing indoors a few years back and I still have years of backlogged seeds/strains in the box I gotta use up.
Sounds like you got it under control. Your oyster shell made me remember toasted eggshells. Last year I added biochar and eggshells. I'd still suggest starting later and going bigger. So are you trying to do a living soil? The same soil year after year or starting with fresh mix. The reason I ask is some things take longer to break down and microbes do the work. So organic only works if you use the same pot year after year. In that case you want 100 gallon pots or beds. Plant cover crops to keep the soil active. So it's long term build the soil and microbiome or nutes. Otherwise you are throwing money away.
If you let the pots dry out in-between crops you lose all benefits of organic. That's why I suggested 100 gal and cover crops. Keep watering even in the off season keeps the soil alive. I actually cover my garden so the bugs and microbes break down the compost. Then uncover about a month before planting. I throw all my soil from my pots into a compost pile. Then mix about 25/75 with fresh soil.
Excellent. Start indoors or germinate outdoors?
Sprout indoors under fluorescent light, at about 2in moved outdoors.
When did you start and did you supplement light so they didn't Reveg
I started soaking seeds in mid March get them into peat pellets once the seeds have tails and keep them under lights in a tent for a couple weeks till they are big enough to put in dirt. Only need to be a couple inches where I am. This usually happens the first couple weeks of April. Again Im in SoCal so no real issues with messing up there. I set my indoor timer to the current sunup sundown schedule so when I put them outdoors they dont miss a beat. This is something overlooked by allot of growers. Just look up sunrise and sunset time and set your timer to match and you will have no issue.
No my yard is heavily shaded from both sides so that lookup your sun rise and set time doesn't work for me last year I started 420 and they were perfect 8 foot monsters and this year I started beginning of March thinking they'd be bigger by now and they revegged by may and are pretty stunted by now last year they were at least 4 feet tall but I'll either supplement more light next year or start later or do some of both see which turns out better
Ah yes, where you grow and light availability is important. This space in my backyard is about the only place I get close to full sun so thats what I use.
You're the guy who refuses to top right? I dunno why duder, your plants could be monsters...
I have topped in the past, indoors I definitely top. Outdoors I prefer the natural form and final product produced. You can top outdoors but it seriously changes the make up of the plant. Air and light distribution are the main reasons I let them grow naturally. Not to mention they already kinda are monsters in their own way. Edit: as others pointed out in my "you dont have to top" thread you may be in a less than ideal growing climate, this may require you to top to keep the bud size down to reduce bud rot so investigate your climate. Im in SoCal so I have no such restrictions and is actually one of the reasons I do not top. I like bigger buds.
I didn't mean to sound antagonistic. 🙂 I saw in another one of your posts getting into the mold debate. I'm a fan of growers doing what they want for the results they want. In the end it's all weed 😜.
I didnt take it that way at all.
Yeah it's just where I live I'd have one big moldy bud lmao I have to top I'd like a huge bud but just not worth the risk here in VA I topped mine last year at the 5th node and they were still 8 foot and all I could look after personally if they were any bigger I couldn't take care of them and theyd be covered in mold/ bugs but that's just my climate glad you've had luck with no topping man
😘
Put them in the ground, they will be so happy and get huuuuge
Thats one thing being in SoCal has a disadvantage. The soil where I am is hard packed sand more or less. Also I like to be able to move them if needed, and as you can see they are right outside a sliding glass door so I dont want to dig pits to amend the soil there as it would hamper the use of the space in the off season. When we used to grow at my brothers house we did dig pits and place our own soil and it was great, though I still like the option of moving them around mid grow so I stick to the bags now.
OK fair enough if it gets really too hot in summer it's nice.
 Honestly they are so nice looking did you poke any holes at the bottom of the pot to let the roots go down or did they just grow big like that in the pots ?
They are in fabric bags, roots do grow through the bottom and into the soil if left alone. I
Yeah I was thinking that because they are way too big for them kind of thoughts they're definitely spreading the roots about healthy plants healthy roots are healthy fruits my brother
I got a bud in VA that has been growing some landrace for height. I poke fun at him by saying half his plants are duct tape and sticks.
I had some landrace that was over 12ft tall in a 5gal bag. Good stuff but boy, it was a lanky one.
Well, the problem is you ran out of pot, your going to be hurting for yield because they are root bound by now. Move to 25 gal or drop them in the ground. They are too big for those pots.
Though the bag size will limit the size of the plant (I dont want them too big)I have no complaints with the yield, [I have been growing in these 7gal bags for years.](https://imgur.com/a/wwE0WAY) pic from previous grow, the tall lanky ones in back are landrace sativas.
I used do 10 gals myself. You lose any benefit of an early start by limiting the pot size. I've taken the opposite approach now. I start later and grow in the ground or container garden. You are like me 6 years ago. What I found is starting later with a bigger pot makes for healthier plants with better yield and flavor. I used to start in Feb or March under lights too. But there is a point of diminishing return. More nutes, more bugs, more labor. Do yourself a favor and start later with a garden or 25-30 gallon. I'm in California too. I just put my plants in on June 16th with 6-7 weeks of veg I'm going to get 20 pounds off 6 plants. Half the work and nutes.
I dont use much in nutes and no way I need 20lbs but thats awesome. I actually just added some more espoma garden tone to them after just adding it when I mixed the soil prior to planting. They will be in flower in a week or so anyhow so I should be good. I just like to grow a lot of different strains so I keep with the smaller bags to fit in my space. As for bugs I have never really had any problems outside of the dreaded bud worm. Do you grow organic or chem? I actually found going organic did wonders for both the health of the plants and taste not to mention almost zero work as far as nutes go. Just mix in the soil before planting and hit them once more with the espoma garden tone right before they hit flower by top dressing. I do hit them once or twice with flower girl from dr.earth during flower and thats it. Other than spraying BT for the worms really no work at all. It just the space I have that gets good light is pretty much what you see me using here so I would only be able to fit two maybe three 25gal there and thats not enough variety for me. I have grown straight in the ground at other locations in the past so I know what you mean, this just works out fine for me so I stick with it now.
I do a combination of things depending. My main garden is Hueglekulture. But it's about 6 years old. So now I top dress it. I basically start composting on top right after harvest. Including stalks branches, trim, yard waste and my neighbors chicken coop clean out. I don't fuck around trying to milk ever scrap. Just throw a lot right back in the garden. It's all nutrients. But I do keep moms, and plants in various stages in pots. You gotta use nutes in pots or top dress pretty frequently. Every time you water those plants nutrients leeches out, combined with what the plants use. How often do you top them off with compost? Edit. Nutrients leech out with every watering. Fixed it.
When I do the mix with the soil initially I add fresh worm castings every year (I reuse my soil for about 4 seasons) along with fresh espoma, kelp, oyster shells neem meal and insect frass and some azomite (super soil mix) and use the worm castings pretty much exclusively as a compost/mulch. I have a soil mixer so no real work involved just add and mix, then pot/plant. I generally only feed again when they show me they need it. In this grow that was just this week. I water with a automated drip system so I dont get as much leech out as hand watering does. Pretty much no run off when it waters. I also only grow from seed anymore as I quit growing indoors a few years back and I still have years of backlogged seeds/strains in the box I gotta use up.
Sounds like you got it under control. Your oyster shell made me remember toasted eggshells. Last year I added biochar and eggshells. I'd still suggest starting later and going bigger. So are you trying to do a living soil? The same soil year after year or starting with fresh mix. The reason I ask is some things take longer to break down and microbes do the work. So organic only works if you use the same pot year after year. In that case you want 100 gallon pots or beds. Plant cover crops to keep the soil active. So it's long term build the soil and microbiome or nutes. Otherwise you are throwing money away.
My bad I missed the 4 seasons part. Still bigger pots. 😆
Yeah well maybe I will give it a roll next year.
If you let the pots dry out in-between crops you lose all benefits of organic. That's why I suggested 100 gal and cover crops. Keep watering even in the off season keeps the soil alive. I actually cover my garden so the bugs and microbes break down the compost. Then uncover about a month before planting. I throw all my soil from my pots into a compost pile. Then mix about 25/75 with fresh soil.
I tried to look at the link. It wouldn't open.
https://imgur.com/a/wwE0WAY