Outdoor Growing - Day One

[urge]

Tomorrow I'll be beginning my new venture into recreational marijuana growing in my back yard.

I will be starting out with 5 seeds/plants. I will put each seed in its own clear 16oz dixie cup (as shown in the tutorial on this forum) a half inch deep right in the center. The cups will be filled with miracle gro moisture control premium soil. I also picked up some high phosphate fertilizer, and I'm going to add water with 1/4 high phosphate fertilizer for the first day.

I have two big questions, as of now.

1. Do I need to cut a hole or holes into the bottoms of the cups for drainage?

2. How long does the vegetative growth period last? I know that in the early sexing stage I'll be using pieces of black garbage bags tied over the branches for 12h/12h darkness/sunlight. And then I there's the vegetative growth stage. Then there's the flowering/budding, when I'll be doing the 12h/12h method once again.

So my question is - since to me sexing and budding sound like pretty much the same exact techniques - how long does the vegetative growth period last so I know how long to just let it grow without controlling light and darkness?

Thanks so much for any help I might receive!

 

[urge]

Umm....anyone? I'm about to begin...

 

[jackinthebox]

Hey there urge,

A couple of things, first off dont use that phosphate even at 1/4th strength. You dont need any nutrients or anything until the plant is atleast 3 weeks old. Just use plain water, trust me.

Yes you need to put drainage holes in the cups, make sure they are big enough to let the water drain good, you dont want water sitting at bottom of your cups, that how you get rootrot.

The moisture control is a pretty decent soil, but if I were you I would go back to walmart and pick up some Perlite as well. Add a couple hand fulls into your soil to help the roots get more oxygen, and help the soil drain better.

As for the whole sexing and flowering thing, I guess if you really want to go through all that trouble you can. But honestly I wouldnt. After a month or two you should be able to tell the sex by preflowers anyways, so you might just want to wait. Also your plants will start flowering outside at the end of fall anyways, so unless you are in a hurry to get a small harvest then I would just let them grow until then.

However if you are set on using the garbage bags and making them flower sooner then they are suppose to, then I would say veg them for 5-6 weeks and then flower.

Best of luck to ya urge = )

Tomorrow I'll be beginning my new venture into recreational marijuana growing in my back yard.

I will be starting out with 5 seeds/plants. I will put each seed in its own clear 16oz dixie cup (as shown in the tutorial on this forum) a half inch deep right in the center. The cups will be filled with miracle gro moisture control premium soil. I also picked up some high phosphate fertilizer, and I'm going to add water with 1/4 high phosphate fertilizer for the first day.

I have two big questions, as of now.

1. Do I need to cut a hole or holes into the bottoms of the cups for drainage?

2. How long does the vegetative growth period last? I know that in the early sexing stage I'll be using pieces of black garbage bags tied over the branches for 12h/12h darkness/sunlight. And then I there's the vegetative growth stage. Then there's the flowering/budding, when I'll be doing the 12h/12h method once again.

So my question is - since to me sexing and budding sound like pretty much the same exact techniques - how long does the vegetative growth period last so I know how long to just let it grow without controlling light and darkness?

Thanks so much for any help I might receive!

 

[urge]

Thanks so much for all your help, man! You just saved me a lot of trouble.

So basically, all I have to do is water my plants and let them do the rest on their own as far as budding goes? I thought I HAD to do 12h/12h cycles so they got uninterrupted darkness.

ALSO, should I dig the dixie cups halfway into the ground or something so they'll stay stable? And if so, will the water still drain okay through the bottom of the cup? And when's a good time to switch the plants from the dixie cups to a bigger pot?

Oh, and...

Anyone know where I can pick up a moisture meter? Couldn't find it at walmart. Maybe I was looking in the wrong section?

So sorry for all the questions, I just need these few things cleared up and I'm ready to go!

Thanks again!