Hello fellow growers! This year I will be taking my first attempt to grow. Reason being that money is tight and I find myself ripped off a lot unfortunatly. I have been coordinating this for some time and I have a plan started but some advise would be greatly appreciated so I know I am stepping in the right direction! It would be a shame to fail my first time (I know it happens!) but lets just not go there... Alright so I guess my first question is deciding when to germinate the seeds. The plan is to start the seeds indoors until the sex is identified and then moving them outside. Its very cold up here still in the mountians and currently I am not sure when the last frost of the season is going to be. Secondly the other problem would be that I dont really have an idea of how long it takes from germinating them to identifying their sex, so that would need to be coordinated aswell. My next question is the lighting. Since I am moving them outside and only starting a few plants I really am not looking for an expensive system even though they are quite effective. From my research I have in mind a 40w compact fluorescent scew based bulb. (I found these to be cheaper around 10 dollars athough I have no idea of their quality, which I also care about). My other concerns for lighting would be how many I need and how far away from the plants they should be. Also I am unsure as to when to start putting light on them and for how long each day. I must admit... I dont know much about lighting. Lastly I would like advise for when it comes time to move them outside. I have heard that the best time is 2 hours before sun set and slowly 'weaning' them from indoors is best, athough I am unsure how to do this. Now I also have another problem to tack on... that being the outdoor location will be a short drive away so any information to avoid shock would be appreciated. Thank you for reading this long post and thank you even more for giving me advise! I greatly appreciate it and hope that I am on the right track to success. ~SnowCappedHills
You wont know sex untill your into flowering. If there males they dont pollenate instantly so you can rip them up. So if you want to know to sex you basically have to grow them inside for about a month then switch to 12/12 lights to see the sex. Then if you threw them outside well its not 12/12 soon anymore. When people grow outside your plant vegs all year long till fall. Its a long endeavor. 40w CFL wont cut it you need about 100watts 1st plant and 50watts each additional plant. If your looking for a cheap easy way to veg get a T5 panel. As for planting outside you can do that or just plant it. Its a plant with a couple hundred million years of evolution its exceptionally hardly after the seedling stage. I would suggest you google some grow guides, and read all the stickies in the forums.