Pictures of first grow + questions!

[WA-grower]

Hi all,

I growing for the first time, I decided to go with outdoor to start since I have a pretty good area and I want some first hand experience of smell, size, etc. before I attempt it indoors.

First some pics, then some Q's!

#1 - Some discoloration on the bottom leaves, they were a little yellow when transplanted, they were possibly in too small of pot.



#2 - closeup of the yellow spots, do those look ok?



#2 -

#3 - Best looking one of the bunch imo




#4 -



#5 -




Deck view of the group. Too spread to get them all in one shot. The duo is below the group of 3.






Shademonster








Thats the operation. They are all clones from Sour(lemon?) Diesel i beleive, or possibly another similar strain. I got 6, 2 big, 2 medium, 2 small. One of the small I just didnt have room for so im growing it in its own pot incase one of the 5 doesnt make it. I dug holes about 18"x1ft, filled it about 2inches below the surface with organic potting soil + 20% or so of the original soil from the area (rich clay). I mixed in about 1-2TBS (real small handfull) of organic fertilizer and put a ring of 2-4" of beauty bark around the plant, and then watered them pretty heavily. They were kinda dirty so I sprayed some water on the tops and bottoms of the leaves a few days later. So far they have been in the ground 4 days. Just a few questions;

Does the yellow spotting look ok on the 2nd pic?

Will cedar beauty bark be ok as mulch? It seems to be helping keep the soil wet, and my lawn mower doesnt have a bag so I cant catch the clippings very well

How often and how much should I have to water them? I know its easiest to tell with a h2o meter, I just dont have one yet. Im looking more for general term, should I water them a bit, and if the water drains into the soil quick, then try again untill the water sits on top for a bit? Thats what we did growing tomatoes when I was a kid. I have been digging through the beauty bark and then sticking my finger in an inch or so and its still pretty moist. So I figure ill check again in a few days? Im just not sure if its a daily thing, or more like a weekly thing.

I hope to tie them over if they get much over 4ft, should I wait till they are at 4ft, or do it while they are young?

Im in Washington, can anyone comment on when I should be looking to harvest in the pac-NW? Ive heard sept-ish.

Last question is; in the location they are grown, there is a HUGE group of trees on the west side (pictured, shademonster) and on the east side about half a tree that blocks most direct light. Im guessing the plants get 6 hours at most of direct sunlight, and probably another 10-12 hours of daytime but not direct light. Is the time during the day but without direct sunlight still beneficial to the plant? Do you think they will survive?!

[iTz PaNdY 420]

I'm starting my grow tomorrow, but i have learned for one that the mulch is fine. Keeping the moisture is good although outdoors, it isnt to hard to do. And watering is a weekly thing, but I'd wait for some reasurrence from the seasoned veteran's on this one.

[mrgreenbudz]

Actually the redwood mulch type amendment is not good to grow in, no nutrients. You should be using a mixture of good soil, vermiculite and perlite or something like this.

The best potting soils have a mixture of compost & peat moss, with seabird/bat guano, seaweed/kelp, worm castings and a bit of hydrated lime, and perlite.
Some growers like to add lots of perlite but you should never use more than 15 % imo.
A soil with these organic nutrients doesn't need any add'l nutrients for the first 4 weeks or so. Then it's time to add small amt's of nutrients to the water when you water the plants.

Hope this helps
mrg

[WA-grower]

Originally Posted by mrgreenbudz

Actually the redwood mulch type amendment is not good to grow in, no nutrients. You should be using a mixture of good soil, vermiculite and perlite or something like this.

The best potting soils have a mixture of compost & peat moss, with seabird/bat guano, seaweed/kelp, worm castings and a bit of hydrated lime, and perlite.
Some growers like to add lots of perlite but you should never use more than 15 % imo.
A soil with these organic nutrients doesn't need any add'l nutrients for the first 4 weeks or so. Then it's time to add small amt's of nutrients to the water when you water the plants.

Hope this helps
mrg

Hi MRG,

thanks for the reply. For now I just have the redwood mulch on top of the organic soil, not mixed in. Just using it to help keep the moisture in, should I replace it with something else? The soil they are in is just some bagged organic miracle gro for outdoors.

Since I added in fertilizer already should I do something to get it out? or just let it go

[mrgreenbudz]

Ah ok thanks for clearing that part up. I was worried you were using the redwood mulch as the soil and amendment. I am not sure but somewhere think I remember reading that redwood mulch is to acidic but I might be wrong. What i like to use is clean "Straw" $5 a bale and one bale is large enough to do like 20 plants. Good luck and enjoy :]

[WA-grower]

Would it be ok to use weeds(not mj) as mulch? or is that risky to the plant? I have access to a large amount of peatmoss, vermiculite, soils, manure etc. But no grass clippings, straw, leaf matter

*edit* update:
I pulled all the bark out, I couldnt find anywhere on the net that it was good or bad, so I decided not to risk it. I just used a small amount of the straw looking matter in the pics to ring around the plants. I think I may have been holding TOO much water with the bark, the plants have been watered once on the initial planting and are still very damp.

Ill see how this goes!

[ripthereefer420]

they look like there growing fine.

[teamdynasty32]

I think you should be just fine with the mulch on top. Later into the grow you might wana look into something beter though . You should be fine though

[OldSkool1010]

bark mulch will acidify the soil...in my case, that's a good thing. I wouldn't fret about it.