Hey all, I am about to do my first grow, a couple super skunks and a couple northern lights. I'm being guided by a friend who had grown indoors and outdoors for years, but has no experience with these strains. I am hoping someone here has experience growing these strains in a similar climate as me, mid VT, that could pass along some tips for these specific strains, things I should watch out for, mold resistance, etc. The seeds will start being germinated Monday 3/29. They will be in a grow tent that is set up as my buddies veg tent. Light cycle once they get going will be 18/6. When they go outside They will be put into some of those square cloth pots, least 10 gallons, as I am hoping to get big plants. They will be put outside as soon as we have weather warm and stable enough not to kill them. I'm guessing they'll be 18 inches tall or so but who knows. My biggest question regards the light they will get. I have to put them in an area where they will be in a clear spot between trees. They will get direct sunlight about 5 hours per day, the rest will be diffuse indirect light through the trees, not shady, but not super sunny. Will this be ok? My buddy seems to think so, but if anyone here has grown them out doors I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have a second area in mind where they'd get light pretty much all day, but it's a much riskier spot. I got these strains because they are supposed to be good for beginners and are supposed to be done flowering in about 50_ 60 days (also I love skunk and have always wanted to try NL), so I should be able to let them finish all the way to the end and beat the frost, probably mid/late September is my best guess for harvest time.. Again, if anyone has grown these strains up here I'd like to hear what you saw for finishing time. I'm hoping to grow a couple huge skunk trees. The northern lights seems to be a shorter but still decent sized plant. If anyone who's grown these strains can tell me what they got for height and yield that would be great. Also, week the ten gallon cloth pots be big enough for truly big skunk trees? (assuming I do everything right of course) Also, when should they start flowering? As long as they start flowering by mid July that should get them done by mid September I think, am I off on that? Thanks guys, any help is appreciated, it has been a dream of mine to grow these strains for years, I'm finally in a position to do it with the help of an experienced grower who will guide me, but if anyone has experience with these two strains in a similar climate I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll start a thread once they are in the ground to keep anyone interested up to speed on my first grow. Thanks!
10 gallon pots are a waste of time if you want big plants use big pots 100+ gallons, look on youtube and see how big the containers are they use to get big plants. 5 hours under trees is no good if you want big plants they need a shit load of light. SS is a great plant it will get huge if it has everything it needs NL is smaller. If you are worried about them being seen train them to grow sideways instead of up.
thanks waterhead, i will adjust the pots accordingly and may consider the other spot and training them as you suggested. if i were to leave them in the other spot with less light, are we just looking at smaller plants or is a spot with that kind of lighting a waste of time? THANKS!
You do not have to grow your plants in 100 gallon pots to get nice size plants. We grew 4 off last year on our back deck in 5 gallon buckets. We didn't even put them out until the middle of June since I ended up with 4 clones and just hated the thought of tossing them. The deck was just something to do with them to keep from trashing them. We ended up getting a killer harvest off these four plants...well over 5 pounds after cure, and the plants averaged about 6 feet tall each. If you're getting 5 hours of direct sunlight each day, that'll be plenty good enough to get them through the season. But remember, the size and density of your buds is directly related to how much light they get during flower, so the more the better. Light is light though. If they're getting it, things are good. I don't think you have to be too concerned with issues related to the strains you're growing. But since you're growing outside, you're going to need to be on the lookout regularly for the bugs and pests that love to eat your plants for supper. Keep a very close eye on all of them all the time and if you do find something happening with one plant, be sure not to touch the others until you've disinfected your hands. There are lots of informative posts in the new grower threads here. Read up on the growing process all you can before you get them out and actually doing it. TWW
thanks WW, i have been reading and learning quite a bit in anticipation of getting them out there. i remembered this am my buddy has some 25 gallon cloth pots that I'll be using so they should be plenty big enough. if the super skunks make it to 8 feet tall that would be great. i may plant one in the riskier spot just to be able to compare how the plants do in the two light conditions to start planning for next year. i have a water source right at both spots, they will be near a bog/swampy area. i am going to test the PH of the water this week to see where it is, and then again once we get the plants out to see how much its changed with the warm weather. anyone got any advice for the proper PH or these strains? worst case scenario i'll make it neutral. Thanks all!