Beginner grower with low Ryder 2
- Thread starter Dan3694
- Start date
donjuan417
Active Member
I've done some auto-flowering outdoors for the past 2 years. If you're new to growing, I would take scarhole's advice and read as much as you can about general growing and outdoor growing in particular. If you're like me, when you first start growing you generally won't have the money to buy every book you see. The one book I couldn't live without is Jorge Cervantes "The Grow Bible". People aren't kidding when they say that book is worth it's weight in gold. "The Bible" also has sections on pretty much every facet of growing, so if you only buy one book, thats the one to buy. I believe the actual title is Jorge Cervantes: Marijuana Horticulture- The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Growers Bible. It's about $30, but worth every penny. As to the AF strains, I always make sure i put my plants out as early as possible. Since the AF strains will flower regardless of photoperiod, it's better to put them out, IMHO, as ealy as possible, so that they get the most light possible. I don't really want to get into all of the factors associated with outddor growing, I'm just going to assume that you've done your homework on where you plan on putting your plants and the associated safety precautions that you should use when gurriela growing, which by the way are also covered in "The Bible". 
Since you have never grown and therefore aren't to familiar with the needs of outdoor plants, I'll give you a couple of tips that i use. I always start my plants indoors. When I first started, I started my plants under about 100w of cfl lighting. I know use a 400w MH, but cfl's will work and are much less expensive. Once my plants are started (usuallyabout 10 days on AF varieties) I start moving them outside for a little bit each day (prob 2 hours to start, pref in a somewhat shaded area) and then move it up each day until they are outside all day. This process is called "hardening off" and helps prepare the plants for outdoor conditions. You can start them outside, but i have better success starting inside and hardening off. That's a rough guide to start with. You'll also prob want or have to augment the soil outdoors, so I would do some searches about augmenting soil for your conditions and area. One very important thing about AF strains is that most of them go from seed to harves in 60-90 days, so this leaves very little room for error. If it's your first time growing I would prob experiment with some bag seed b4 using expensive AF varieties . This way you have a better understanding of the plant and it's needs in your area. As far as genetics, I've had the best luck with AF strains from Attitude. I personally also only use feminized AF strains, just makes for a lil less work. I start my seeds in 16oz "keg cups", and just let the soil dry a lil til i can turn the cup upside down, or cut the cup away and take all the soil, not just the root ball, so there is less transplant shock. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, or pm me, and I will do what I can to help. There are a lot of very experienced people of this site. I kinda took a lil bit of everyones advice to get my growing to where it is now. I would always double check what people tell you, and never take any one persons advice as gospel. Good luck guerilla grower!
Since you have never grown and therefore aren't to familiar with the needs of outdoor plants, I'll give you a couple of tips that i use. I always start my plants indoors. When I first started, I started my plants under about 100w of cfl lighting. I know use a 400w MH, but cfl's will work and are much less expensive. Once my plants are started (usuallyabout 10 days on AF varieties) I start moving them outside for a little bit each day (prob 2 hours to start, pref in a somewhat shaded area) and then move it up each day until they are outside all day. This process is called "hardening off" and helps prepare the plants for outdoor conditions. You can start them outside, but i have better success starting inside and hardening off. That's a rough guide to start with. You'll also prob want or have to augment the soil outdoors, so I would do some searches about augmenting soil for your conditions and area. One very important thing about AF strains is that most of them go from seed to harves in 60-90 days, so this leaves very little room for error. If it's your first time growing I would prob experiment with some bag seed b4 using expensive AF varieties . This way you have a better understanding of the plant and it's needs in your area. As far as genetics, I've had the best luck with AF strains from Attitude. I personally also only use feminized AF strains, just makes for a lil less work. I start my seeds in 16oz "keg cups", and just let the soil dry a lil til i can turn the cup upside down, or cut the cup away and take all the soil, not just the root ball, so there is less transplant shock. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, or pm me, and I will do what I can to help. There are a lot of very experienced people of this site. I kinda took a lil bit of everyones advice to get my growing to where it is now. I would always double check what people tell you, and never take any one persons advice as gospel. Good luck guerilla grower!