Outdoor newbie questions for pros

How do you go about planting? Is it better to say veg a girl under nice indoor conditions and place her outdoors a month or so later? How about watering? Do you just go by rain and mother nature? Of course youd water if you went more than maybe 4-5 days without rain? What if you water and then mother nature waters her again with a downpour? Or worse yet 3-4 days of light rain? Do you follow the weather for watering? How about light? Do you just go for a sunny spot? I cant see getting nearly 12 hours of straight light. But I guess nature will just do its thing. Thanks.

Gday..you just answered all your own questions there i think.
Gd luck with your tomato plants

Medizzinman said:

How do you go about planting? Is it better to say veg a girl under nice indoor conditions and place her outdoors a month or so later? How about watering? Do you just go by rain and mother nature? Of course youd water if you went more than maybe 4-5 days without rain? What if you water and then mother nature waters her again with a downpour? Or worse yet 3-4 days of light rain? Do you follow the weather for watering? How about light? Do you just go for a sunny spot? I cant see getting nearly 12 hours of straight light. But I guess nature will just do its thing. Thanks.

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Do you water your grass or wash the car when you know it's gonna rain ?

ruby fruit said:

Gday..you just answered all your own questions there i think.
Gd luck with your tomato plants

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How do you know he's growing mates ?

Medizzinman said:

How do you go about planting? Is it better to say veg a girl under nice indoor conditions and place her outdoors a month or so later?

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I think it's personally better to preveg if you have the ability to do so and your nice and secure. I was considering using GLR on a few tester seeds to throw out on 420. Give them a month preveg and see if it trips them over into flower or not.

Medizzinman said:

How about watering? Do you just go by rain and mother nature?

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I let nature do it's thing when it comes to watering. If I DID haul water I know I could have much better plants. But I don't frequent my spots. I probably check on them every 10 days. If I have some in pots then yeah I water those. It generally rains in my area once a week so it's not much of an issue for in ground plants. I've never had a loss from drought or anything. In ground those roots go down. If you're in a really dry climate though this doesn't count.

Medizzinman said:

Of course youd water if you went more than maybe 4-5 days without rain? What if you water and then mother nature waters her again with a downpour? Or worse yet 3-4 days of light rain? Do you follow the weather for watering?

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Check the weekly forecast. Keep track of when/how much it rains. If I get an inch I'm good to go for at least a week in ground.

Medizzinman said:

Do you just go for a sunny spot? I cant see getting nearly 12 hours of straight light.

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As sunny as you can get. Direct sun for a bare minimum of half the day. I've done well planting right outside of a forest line. The sun rises up and hits them first thing in the morning. I've also had good results with them getting afternoon sun. Although they do tend to get a little taller. Direct sun is a must though.

MonkeyGrinder said:

I think it's personally better to preveg if you have the ability to do so and your nice and secure. I was considering using GLR on a few tester seeds to throw out on 420. Give them a month preveg and see if it trips them over into flower or not.

I let nature do it's thing when it comes to watering. If I DID haul water I know I could have much better plants. But I don't frequent my spots. I probably check on them every 10 days. If I have some in pots then yeah I water those. It generally rains in my area once a week so it's not much of an issue for in ground plants. I've never had a loss from drought or anything. In ground those roots go down. If you're in a really dry climate though this doesn't count.

Check the weekly forecast. Keep track of when/how much it rains. If I get an inch I'm good to go for at least a week in ground.

As sunny as you can get. Direct sun for a bare minimum of half the day. I've done well planting right outside of a forest line. The sun rises up and hits them first thing in the morning. I've also had good results with them getting afternoon sun. Although they do tend to get a little taller. Direct sun is a must though.

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Good stuff here. Choose the SOUTH side of any hill or the southern exposure.Choose a spot that the sun hits first thing in the morning. If the spot can't get sun all day take the morning light always. Good advice on not checking too much. Use binoculars instead unless you must go to the site. People are curious nosey bastards. Do NOT set any traps that would injure anybody. Ever.

Yeah I don't set traps. I use hidden trail cams. The only things I've had wander in are animals so far and one hunter post harvest that set up a tree stand a good 20 yards from one REALLY sweet spot. Didn't find my holes though. I'm half tempted to take his tree stand to make him go away.

All good questions and answers. I try to get out in winter to see how far south the sun will go. And take a compass when you are scouting locations. Just this morning I was woods walking and went by one of my Primate Patches from last year. When I was digging holes in the rain last summer {I got a late, late start} I couldn't find my compass, so I had to guess at direction. At my Slo patch with the compass this morning, I saw the trees I had cut for more southern light wasn't due south. My guess was off by about 30 degrees.

I like to use a big evergreen bush or small tree of some sort as a Northern backstop for my plants. The balance of sun and cover is one that you will weigh as long as you grow. More sun equals more weed. Less cover means you might get found out. What has worked for me is to find a fallen tree that has opened up the canape for light to get through. The light will promote brush growth, which will provide good cover. I like there to be plenty of ground cover up to 5-6 feet high. Your plants will quickly grow past that seeking the sun, but people walking and looking will be looking closer to the ground.

Planted trees are good for growing in, especially when they are 12-15 feet tall. The more sun your plants get, the shorter they will be, so they won't get taller than the trees. Pine trees are what we have down here in Northwest Florida, but any trees that keep their leaves, and are planted in rows would work. Find a skip in the row where a tree has died, and plant your plant there. Spread them out so if one is found, you don't lose everything. The bigger the parcel of land the better.

I always plant in the ground. We get lots of rain, but there is also long dry spells. You decide what plants you want to pamper, and put them where you can carry water if forced to. For the rest, you just pray for rain. I have also had to harvest from a John boat before, so make sure you know if you are in a flood plain or not.

Your location in relation to the equator will be the biggest decider to veg indoors or not. {ie. how long your growing season is} I have always done everything outdoors. If you do veg under lights, be very careful putting them into the sun. You want to find a good shade tree and set then out for at least a week before you put them in full sun. You can make a little hotbox with 2X4's and plastic sheeting to get an early start. Just be discreet.

Good luck,

Larro