Moving plants outdoors

[Michael49]

I've got 6 plants growing indoors on 18/6 schedule. They are on day 36 Veg. My plan is to bring 3 outdoors and leave 3 indoors. Currently outdoors where I live in New England there is about 15 hours of daylight.

Can I bring my plants outdoors now or do I have to wait until the Summer Solstice on the 26th? I want to start my indoor plants flowering now and I only have one tent. Is it too soon to bring plants outdoors or will they be fine? Thanks.

 

[theJointedOne]

pop em outside now, they should be fine..

happy growing

 

[Michael49]

pop em outside now, they should be fine..

happy growing

Thanks!!!

 

[Noonin NorCal]

Id say, put them on the side of your house or in the shade for 4 days before giving them full sun
Indoor starts need to be hardend off before giving them a full sun spectrum

 

[Mlewis1987]

I literally was wondering the same thing. I took a ton of cuts for my indoor setup but I have so many extras that I wanted to throw a few outdoors but I’ve never done it before. Thanks for the info

 

[Noonin NorCal]

yeah, unless you have a greenhouse. the starts from inside. need time outside in the shade/sun. before trying to plant them for full term outside

 

[Bjorn to farm.]

If my plants are vegged under HID’s I don’t worry about hardening them off.

 

[Michael49]

So there is no concern about them flowering early going from 18 hours of light indoors to suddenly going to 15 hours outdoors? - that was one of my concerns.

These plants are photoperiod - when would I expect them to flower outdoors (I live in New England)? Plants are WWXBB and Blueberry.

One last question - I've topped all my plants once already and usually do some LST on my indoor plants - is this recommended on outdoor plants or should I skip the LST and just let them grow naturally?

 

[Pepé The Grower]

LST is the way to go to have a smaller plant with bigger yeild. But avoid topping your plants late in the season as this might delay flowering.

 

[Michael49]

Thanks for the input guys.

So there is no real concern about premature flowering if I bring them out now?

And, again, if outside in New England when should I expect them to flower and be ready for harvest?

I've done LST on indoor plants but I expect my outdoor plants to be much larger - is LST still necessary for a decent yield on outdoor plants?

 

[Bud Green]

If my plants are vegged under HID’s I don’t worry about hardening them off.

Yeah you do...HID might look bright, but it's like a candle compared to sunlight...

So there is no real concern about premature flowering if I bring them out now?

Take 'em outside now... Get them in the ground after 2 days in semi sun/shade..

You need as much veg time, in big holes in the ground, as you can get if you want big plants....
The 3 hour difference won't matter one bit this time of year...

 

[therevverend]

They will not start to flower unless there's a serious problem. Either strain, nutrient, lighting, you'll probably be fine.

Always check your day length in the area you live. On the Spring and Autumn equinox the days are 12 hours. That's why harvest time is usually after the Autumn Equinox and you don't want to start seedlings much earlier then the Spring Equinox.

Cuttings are older then seedlings, they need longer days. I don't recommend putting cuttings out before late April and most growers wait until at least Mid May. I used to put mine out around Memorial Day weekend. I've never had a cutting start to flower unless it was an Autoflower, a hermaphrodite, or there was a bad deficiency or root bound problem. I've seen unhealthy root bound plants start to flower. Once they were given plenty of room for roots to grow they snapped out of it. So don't worry if a few sprout some white hairs, give them N and they should snap out of it in a couple days.

By now it's almost the Summer Equinox. The longest day of the year.

I'm not sure of the exact day length but you're close to the latitude of Oregon. California has shorter days then you right now and most California growers have already put their plants out. The further south you go the shorter the days. At the equator it is 12-12 throughout the year.

As far as burning the plants switching from indoor lighting to outdoor lighting. I agree with what the other growers have said. I prefer a couple of cloudy days in a row. If you put them direct into their spots and there's 3-4 days of clouds they'll adapt just fine.
Otherwise you'll have to break them in. Start them in partial shade and then every day or two move them closer to their spots. After a week they should be hardened off.

A lot depends on how bright and hot the sun is. Raging 90 degree F scorchers will burn plants much faster then 68 degree partial sun. In New England you might be able to acclimate them in 3-5 days. If you see some burn they'll snap out of it in a couple days.
Outdoor growing is in some ways easier then indoor growing. It is what the plant is naturally adapted to-indoor growers are used to fussing over every little detail. Outdoors issues have to be dealt with slower and more methodically. You will want to give them a lot more nutrients-one of the hardest factors for indoor growers to learn. For a long time I undernourished my outdoor plants. You can double or triple the amounts of fertilizer and molasses for outdoor plants.

The main thing about growing, experience is everything. By starting now you'll gain experience for next year. Even if you screw up you'll learn a lot and hopefully do better next time.

 

[Michael49]

Take 'em outside now... Get them in the ground after 2 days in semi sun/shade..

You need as much veg time, in big holes in the ground, as you can get if you want big plants....
The 3 hour difference won't matter one bit this time of year...

Thanks for the input - I'm planning on keeping them in large fabric pots outdoors.

Any recommendation on pot size?

They will not start to flower unless there's a serious problem. Either strain, nutrient, lighting, you'll probably be fine.

Always check your day length in the area you live. On the Spring and Autumn equinox the days are 12 hours. That's why harvest time is usually after the Autumn Equinox and you don't want to start seedlings much earlier then the Spring Equinox.

Cuttings are older then seedlings, they need longer days. I don't recommend putting cuttings out before late April and most growers wait until at least Mid May. I used to put mine out around Memorial Day weekend. I've never had a cutting start to flower unless it was an Autoflower, a hermaphrodite, or there was a bad deficiency or root bound problem. I've seen unhealthy root bound plants start to flower. Once they were given plenty of room for roots to grow they snapped out of it. So don't worry if a few sprout some white hairs, give them N and they should snap out of it in a couple days.

By now it's almost the Summer Equinox. The longest day of the year.

I'm not sure of the exact day length but you're close to the latitude of Oregon. California has shorter days then you right now and most California growers have already put their plants out. The further south you go the shorter the days. At the equator it is 12-12 throughout the year.

As far as burning the plants switching from indoor lighting to outdoor lighting. I agree with what the other growers have said. I prefer a couple of cloudy days in a row. If you put them direct into their spots and there's 3-4 days of clouds they'll adapt just fine.
Otherwise you'll have to break them in. Start them in partial shade and then every day or two move them closer to their spots. After a week they should be hardened off.

A lot depends on how bright and hot the sun is. Raging 90 degree F scorchers will burn plants much faster then 68 degree partial sun. In New England you might be able to acclimate them in 3-5 days. If you see some burn they'll snap out of it in a couple days.
Outdoor growing is in some ways easier then indoor growing. It is what the plant is naturally adapted to-indoor growers are used to fussing over every little detail. Outdoors issues have to be dealt with slower and more methodically. You will want to give them a lot more nutrients-one of the hardest factors for indoor growers to learn. For a long time I undernourished my outdoor plants. You can double or triple the amounts of fertilizer and molasses for outdoor plants.

The main thing about growing, experience is everything. By starting now you'll gain experience for next year. Even if you screw up you'll learn a lot and hopefully do better next time.

Got it. Thanks so much for the detailed reply.

FYI - my plants were grown from seed.

I've often been bringing all of my plants outdoors during the day (when the weather is decent) so I think they have likely hardened to some extent already. Again, I'm going to keep some plants indoors as a kind of experiment.

As I explained above I was planning on keeping my outdoor plants in fabric pots just in case we had some really crazy weather and I needed to bring them inside. Any recommendation on pot size?

Lastly, should I have any concern about plants being damaged by frost before they finish? In New England we can experience our first frost by the end of September!!

 

[theJointedOne]

Sounds like your on the right path then

If you are hoping to move the outdoor plants more than a couple times, anything bigger than 20 gallons is to heavy imo. Ive got 30 gal fabric pots in the deps, and full with soil, even with the handles, they are very heavy, not something my back could deal with moving around constantly, and im in decent shape for my age ect.


However if your not going to move them and if you dont mind making the soil for it, id say go with 45 gal fabric pots. This time of year you can plant a clone and still get a pound off a plant in full sun, even in your climate.

If you want your plants to finish earlier, you can plant them in smaller containers, as rootbound plants tend to finish a week to ten days earlier than plants with tons of soil. They do require more constant waterings however. The majority of cannabis is not mature till at least oct 1st. Sometimes you find early stuff, and later too..

 

[ozzieAI]

i have had a perpetual indoor veg/outdoor flower grow going now for 12 years down here in tropical OZ...

from my experience there is no need to harden off..i get my plants into BIG pots ASAP and water for 2 - 4 days each day and never lose a plant and even in the tropical heat rarely get plants suffering...

if you are 15 hrs light you may be ok but my plants go into flower immediately so i train/shape during veg and leave alone once outdoors except to remove dead leaves nearing the end of flower...

pot size it depends on how big the plants are...the smallest pot size i would consider is 20 litre, 40 is good...60 GREAT...it does make a difference to your final harvest...also consider staking your plants well...moving plants is not helpful at all, but if you do get a trolley...you'll thank me later...

even here in the tropical hills i have a had a couple of light frosts each year and the plants just shrug it off...

good luck...

 

[Michael49]

^ - thanks so much for the input guys.

So I should probably transplant out of the 1 gallon pots I have them in now - a good friend of mine who is a very experienced grower (grows commercially) recommended going with small pots (he harvests 1-2 pounds from 3 gallon pots) but he is growing indoor hydroponic - I suppose outdoors they could use a bit more "breathing room".

Oh, and I like the idea of taking a clone - I've always grown from seed and would love to try to grow from a clone just for fun.

Thanks again guys - any other information is always appreciated. I

 

[Noonin NorCal]

If your plants are from seed, they shouldn't need much more then a day or two at the most. I think to harden off.
Seed plants are much hardier then clones, I thought your plants were from clones. When i do clone plants outside. I usually go 4 days of shade/sun before planting into final containers

 

[Michael49]

Thanks for all the input guys.

I went to my local grow store who recommended 20 gallon pots - for someone who usually grows indoors in 3 gallon pots these things are HUGE!!!!

I used a mix of Coast of Maine Stonington blend (great local soil), lobster compost and some peat moss - it takes a lot to fill those pots !!!!

They are in a part of our vegetable garden where water tends to pool up so I built a little stand for them - chicken wire in the center to allow for drainage.

My little plants look pretty silly in these big pots right now, but they look happy!

Fingers crossed.

Before I moved them to the stand....

 

[ozzieAI]

good luck with them...hope they get huge...

 

[theJointedOne]

remember dont over water