Quick question about nutrients, exactly how long do I want to delay putting nutrients into my water? I am under the impression that its bad for new seedlings to be fed nutrients. Im assuming I should wait at least a week before I do begin to do so. Should I wait longer then that? Also how often do I regulate it? With every other watering? Every watering? Im doing an outdoor grow but plan on keeping them indoor for the first week or so under a small light in order to give each plant a good controlled healthy start. Is this necessary or should I just put them outside right after germination? I also plan on using 3 gallon pots and simply placing them outside in a well hidden, well lighted area that i have already scouted out. Instead of putting them strait in the ground. The pots have drain holes so it wont be over watered if it rains. Is it necessary to start in a smaller pot, say a 1 gallon, and then progressively move up to a 3 gallon and then perhaps then put it into the ground? Or is it just fine to leave it in a 3 gallon? Also I plan on giving the plants nutrients so that means that I must water it correct? But what if it has been raining a lot, (as it tends to do here in the NW) and the plants dont need to be watered? Do I still give it a feed with nutrients anyways? Or do i wait until it is dry enough to feed it again? Any help is appreciated and thank you in advance!
1. This depends on what your'e starter mix is. Does it already have ferts in the soil? I typicly start off in jiffy pucks (90% peat moss) after 2 weeks i pot them and start with only 25% of the recomended doseage of my ferts. I add / increase ferts every 3rd watering until i reach the full dose. (I add ferts every 3rd watering) 2. Its all about what you want to do! i recommend trying to beat mother nature. that being said if the temps and weather in youre area are better than you can give them in youre home. Get them out there asap 3. I don't really understand why people plant out doors and feel the need to add a pot in to the mix. Why not add your soils, ferts mix to the native soil, and lose the container so youre root system can grow out side the bounds of a 3 gallon pot?
If it's been raining but you want to feed, you could always do a foliar spray. I reckon if you're gonna grow outdoors, you should do away with the pots and dig nice, big holes. Add compost, manure , fertilizer and lime or dolomite when you plant, then you don't really need to add nutes, except maybe additives like calcium, magnesium, potassium etc. as needed. In 3 gallon pots you can only grow tiny little 3 foot plants. In the ground 10 feet plus is possible.
Well the thing is the spot ive chosen has a kinda clayish soil. There are lots of plants growing from it but i have my doubts on how fertile it really is. I suppose i could dig holes and fill them with better soil, but once the roots pass that soil and reach the clay like soil, wont it just be fucked anyways? Thats why I was considering pots.
When I grew outdoors, it was always in clay soil, hence the addition of compost, manure and in particular, dolomite. Dolomite stops the clay particles from flocculating, (sticking together - hope I spelled it right). Another useful additive is water crystals. No need to replace the original soil, just modify it. Next, the size of the hole. Dig at least 2 feet deep and 3 feet diameter, more if you can. That's gigantic compared to a little 3 gallon pot. If you must use pots, you want really big ones. I had some success in plastic 45 litre garbage bins, but they didn't compare to growing in the ground. I've had 14 foot plants covered in 4 foot baseball bats. Edit: By your second season, the soil will be beautiful.
To answer your other question, most soil growers wait about 3 weeks before feeding nutes to the babies.
Interesting, I didn't realize how much of a difference putting it in the ground would be. You've convinced me! And that is great news that I can simply modify the original soil =D It was my main worry of the grow area, besides that its a simply perfect spot. Thanks so much that clears up many questions I had.
^Yep. Glad I convinced you. The hole in the ground is effectively a great big pot. The other consideration that I didn't mention is that pots dry out VERY quickly outdoors, meaning you'd need to do a lot more watering visits, (possibly daily or even twice daily when the plants get bigger), potentially leaving tracks for thieves to follow. (I used to grow in the area here in Oz known as the green triangle. Thieves were rampant.) In the ground, you can water much less often.
Right on Bamblacha let us know how things turn out and lets see some pics once you have it all underway.
Ive been talking to a very successful grower in know IRL and have a game plan set up now. I plan on planting 12 seeds in 12 holes about 16 inches deep. On the bottom layer it will be 2 inches of rock, followed by about an inch or two of sand, above that will be some kind of fertilizer such as dead fish or manure or w/e. After that is about a foot of soil, and finally i will top off each hole with another thin layer of rocks to deter animals. Then im taking 18in peice of PVC pipe with holes drilled into it and sticking it into the ground next to the plant for watering purposes. Ill be feeding it Supernatural brand nutrients as soon as the first seedlings pop out of the ground. I plan on feeding it once a week, slowly upping the dosage according to the chart that came with it. I also plan on adding molasses to the water when it starts to flower. So what do you guys think? Am I missing anything important? Am I gonna get some dank buds or what?
The rock and sand at the bottom are probably unnecessary. They wouldn't serve any real purpose. I like the idea of rocks on top, though. I used to have problems with lizards digging holes to get at the (chicken-shit-based pelletised) fert. As long as you're careful not to overdo it, chook-shit ferts work well with dope. 16 inches is still pretty shallow, especially since the end result after stones and sand is only 12 inches of soil. That's not really enough. If you can, try for 1 1/2 to 2 feet of actual soil. I promise you won't regret it. (Your holes can never be too big.) And since you're in a clay soil, don't forget to add a couple of handfuls of dolomite per hole. That also helps with potential calcium / magnesium deficiency issues. If you have access to cow manure, you can't put too much of that in either. Besides the nute value, it improves water holding no end. Sounds like you're getting it together. Good luck and keep us posted.
What do you guys think about the PVC pipe? It seems like a fairly viable way to water the plant, the water will be getting all the way to the bottom of the soil as well as the top when I water it. And it wont disturb the plant by pouring it right on top of it. And as far as only have 12 inches of soil, when digging I discovered that the clayiest soil was only the top layer of soil. In fact under the first few inches is actually some very fertile looking soil, So the roots are going to have room to grow farther then 12in. about 2 feet farther and I started to hit water. Im not sure what thats going to mean for my plants when their roots reach that. Although I cant see how it would be too bad of a thing. Im also adding some kind of mixture into the soil which is suppose to help hold moisture in (the name escapes me atm). So I think as far as getting enough water my (hopefully) girls will be just fine. =D