How are things looking?

Was that left over winter? The finer roots broke off when pulled months later. You're a gardener, I'm always amazed at the small sized root ball of a 14 ft sunflower!
Yeah I was super lazy. The auxiliary roots weren't very deep. Almost all of them were very top level. I'm a wanna be gardener, I don't study plants, I do my best and hope it all works out lol. If I had to guess these are desert plants based on the way the roots grew.
 
Well yall I'm officially approaching the end of smokable goods from this harvest and all I'll have left in a few months is grove bags of larf.

I did give a few handfuls here and there to friends but by and large I smoked it all myself.

I'm ready to plant again this coming summer 2025, but given the lesson I'm learning, I should have grown last year too. Thought I could get away with skipping one, ha.
 
Grow indoor now?
Ah maybe...? I dunno. If anything I need to plan on this summer's gardening to be smaller and better managed. I want to do more trimming this year, to shape my plants and keep them from becoming so large, maybe help with air flow in case the weather is a bit humid or rains a bunch. The room I did my drying in, has spent the last year becoming filled with machines and equipment for hobbies. The plants would need to share space with my resin printers.
 
If anything I need to plan on this summer's gardening to be smaller and better managed.
I feel this entirely.

Gonna also bring down the plant count for next year so I’m not stretched so thin. Last summer I was away for a good chunk of July so plants got big and that’s no bueno. Being able to manage what’s growing out there is crucial. Especially if you add vegetables and other crops.

Will employ the little small pop up greenhouse for the yard to help set canopies and keep critters out during early stages. That’s the plan for this summer anyway.
 
Some tips for growing outdoors in Minnesota...

1. Buy seeds that mature in 60-65 days max. That will put the plants into late October for harvest. Short the flower time gives you crap weed. These plants can take cold weather, even had snow on them one year, but they wont take low 20s. The farther you are north, the more critical this is. Northern climes have long summer days, which delay flowering.
2. Start the seeds indoors (under a shop light, in a south window), about 4-5 days before 4/20. I live west of Minneapolis. This is the most work of the entire operation. You've got to keep the seedlings in the sun whenever possible. That or get a good lamp. Its only a 4-5 week PITA though.
3. Plant outdoors after the last chance of frost, about mid-late may where I am. You have to harden the plants off, but if you were putting them in the sun on warm days they are prolly already there.
4. Plant 10 seeds. Statistically half will be female. but streaks occur. In fact, I like going 12. Its basically a flip of the coin. I only got three out of ten this year. My friend got 10 out of 10. I need two good plants for a years supply. Plant yield for cannabis planted in the ground is about 2-3 pounds per plant, if the plant is about 8-9 feet tall.

These plants were first planted in dixie cups on 4/15. This photo was taken on 7/23. Height is about 7' 3". I've been doing this outdoors since the 90s. These will start budding at the end of august - usually the last week, strain dependent of course.
View attachment 5311388
Old thread… Are you still here?
Just wondering what cultivars have worked well for you.
I’m another 2 hours north of you.
 
Thank you! Have you grown them before? I mean, are you pretty confident when the days shorten enough to stimulate flowering that they will finish before the freeze gets them?
I haven't, but I did careful research and talked to a lot of people and picked these strains for durability in our area. They're doing alright. They got hit by eurasian hemp borers, so i had to prune a bit. They are still in veg though which is good.
I don't think I'd be worried about finishing before freeze, worry about them being too wet because harvest season overlaps with the fall rainy season... I've been more active to prune these plants, so they get more airflow. Early summer many of my flowers got hit hard with fungal issues like powdery mildew. It's good that the rain comes by and drenches the leaves to get any spores and problematic schmutz off them, it'll help you avoid bud rot.20250724_095829.jpg
 
They look like they are doing great.

I decided late (July 4) to start some autoflowers in my greenhouse and our crazy weather isn’t helping much. 100 degrees in the greenhouse today… need to get some shade cloth up. I’m amazed they haven’t fried yet but also may be stunted from the heat….probably should bring them out on the deck.

Next year I’ll try my first outdoor grow. We live on a lake and get steady breezes more often than not so I’m hoping that even if we have as much rain next year as this (lots up here this summer) that mold issues will be mitigated by the wind. Sometimes it can get too windy.

I saw your plants (maybe especially 2023 season) and couldn’t believe you could grow such beautiful plants in Minnesota and avoid mildew or freeze issues.

It would break my heart if my crop was ruined after all the hard work.

Also surprised that one of your cultivars has a 45 day flower period. That should work well, I would imagine.

Anyway, thanks for the input.
 
They look like they are doing great.

I decided late (July 4) to start some autoflowers in my greenhouse and our crazy weather isn’t helping much. 100 degrees in the greenhouse today… need to get some shade cloth up. I’m amazed they haven’t fried yet but also may be stunted from the heat….probably should bring them out on the deck.

Next year I’ll try my first outdoor grow. We live on a lake and get steady breezes more often than not so I’m hoping that even if we have as much rain next year as this (lots up here this summer) that mold issues will be mitigated by the wind. Sometimes it can get too windy.

I saw your plants (maybe especially 2023 season) and couldn’t believe you could grow such beautiful plants in Minnesota and avoid mildew or freeze issues.

It would break my heart if my crop was ruined after all the hard work.

Also surprised that one of your cultivars has a 45 day flower period. That should work well, I would imagine.

Anyway, thanks for the input.
It's scary and anxiety inducing, when you get to the end and so much can go wrong.

I'm *still* smoking the harvest from that grow. I didn't grow last year. It was good stuff.

If you plant them in the dirt they will grow. The sun determines when they flower. If they're small when they flower, you get less. I wouldn't stress out about how old they are right now and just get them in the soil. Without question they do better when they can touch the earth and not be in a captive pot no matter how big it is.
 
Well…. Ok….

So I actually have four Auto flowers that I was going to keep in pots locked in the greenhouse and also four CBD plants and was considering throwing one or two of the CBD plants into the ground to see how they would do. I have a ton of CBD seed so I’m not too concerned if they die in the outdoor environment.

Aside from worrying about my little babies if they were “the good stuff“, I am concerned about my neighbors. On one side of me is my brother-in-law who is probably very anti-cannabis, on the other side of me the people actually encouraged me to plant some. My spot would be well hidden from public view, but I’m a little concerned that if either one of my two neighbors knows that I’m growing, they might say something in casual conversation with some of our other friends down the road and eventually word kind of inadvertently gets out and then you have kids down the way or anybody else who wants to make trouble for me to be concerned about.

I am not a lawyer, and I don’t know for sure, but I think the law is slightly vague… Just has to be out of public view in a locked inclosed area. I guess I don’t know why that can’t be a chicken wire fence with a cheap ass plastic lock holding the ends of the chicken wire together. Seems like that’s locked and enclosed to me. But I would really prefer just to throw a plant on the side of the hill where it would blend in with the rest of the vegetation and be done with it.

When it comes to CBD, a couple years ago, I purchased a pound… A full POUND of CBD flower for $65. At that price, why would you bother with all the headaches of growing, trimming, costs of electricity and soil on so on. Of course, I prefer to know where my stuff comes from and there’s nothing like enjoying your own harvest, but it’s hard to argue with the economics.

So… Maybe I will throw a plant in and see if I get any mold or other issues growing on my breezy hillside.

When it comes to “the good stuff”, I’m too young to be an old hippie, but I think weed should be free….seeds gifted, flower shared, etc. Manually pollinate an isolated branch and have hundreds of seeds to last a long while. I can buy a package of carrot seeds with about 1000 seeds in it for two dollars. Or a package of tomato seeds with about 50 seeds in it for two dollars. I don’t understand why cannabis seeds cost so much. I do understand that a lot of labor goes into developing these strains, but a lot of labor goes into developing tomato strains. And, seriously if you pollinated an entire plant, you’d have thousands and thousands of seeds.

The cannabis “business“ is very offputting to me.

BUT the openness of the cannabis community is very encouraging and I’m grateful for your and everyone else’s advice and support and this platform which has helped so many people!
 
Well…. Ok….

So I actually have four Auto flowers that I was going to keep in pots locked in the greenhouse and also four CBD plants and was considering throwing one or two of the CBD plants into the ground to see how they would do. I have a ton of CBD seed so I’m not too concerned if they die in the outdoor environment.

Aside from worrying about my little babies if they were “the good stuff“, I am concerned about my neighbors. On one side of me is my brother-in-law who is probably very anti-cannabis, on the other side of me the people actually encouraged me to plant some. My spot would be well hidden from public view, but I’m a little concerned that if either one of my two neighbors knows that I’m growing, they might say something in casual conversation with some of our other friends down the road and eventually word kind of inadvertently gets out and then you have kids down the way or anybody else who wants to make trouble for me to be concerned about.

I am not a lawyer, and I don’t know for sure, but I think the law is slightly vague… Just has to be out of public view in a locked inclosed area. I guess I don’t know why that can’t be a chicken wire fence with a cheap ass plastic lock holding the ends of the chicken wire together. Seems like that’s locked and enclosed to me. But I would really prefer just to throw a plant on the side of the hill where it would blend in with the rest of the vegetation and be done with it.

When it comes to CBD, a couple years ago, I purchased a pound… A full POUND of CBD flower for $65. At that price, why would you bother with all the headaches of growing, trimming, costs of electricity and soil on so on. Of course, I prefer to know where my stuff comes from and there’s nothing like enjoying your own harvest, but it’s hard to argue with the economics.

So… Maybe I will throw a plant in and see if I get any mold or other issues growing on my breezy hillside.

When it comes to “the good stuff”, I’m too young to be an old hippie, but I think weed should be free….seeds gifted, flower shared, etc. Manually pollinate an isolated branch and have hundreds of seeds to last a long while. I can buy a package of carrot seeds with about 1000 seeds in it for two dollars. Or a package of tomato seeds with about 50 seeds in it for two dollars. I don’t understand why cannabis seeds cost so much. I do understand that a lot of labor goes into developing these strains, but a lot of labor goes into developing tomato strains. And, seriously if you pollinated an entire plant, you’d have thousands and thousands of seeds.

The cannabis “business“ is very offputting to me.

BUT the openness of the cannabis community is very encouraging and I’m grateful for your and everyone else’s advice and support and this platform which has helped so many people!
Yea here in Northeast is kinda the same basically if it can't be seen from road and put in a fence with lock your most likely good. Like you said just put in a nice sunny spot hidden and don't tell anyone till you harvest. Or deck behind house would be good but not sure in your case with family. Yea $200 for 3 beans is nuts.
 
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I even think $10 per is crazy.

Some People want the “latest thing” and I understand people are in the business to make money.

I can’t get my head around the fact that so many “fire” cultivars came from bag seed…stable genetics or not…

I finally broke down and bought a boatload of seeds (“test seeds” from Brothers Grimm) when I became impatient. 45 seeds for $85, 5 different varieties including the “bonus” pack of 9.

Anyway…. I probably will harvest main colas and leave a lower branch or two on the plant to pollinate and hopefully get all the seed I could possibly need….unless I find something I really can’t live without.
 
Well…. Ok….

So I actually have four Auto flowers that I was going to keep in pots locked in the greenhouse and also four CBD plants and was considering throwing one or two of the CBD plants into the ground to see how they would do. I have a ton of CBD seed so I’m not too concerned if they die in the outdoor environment.

Aside from worrying about my little babies if they were “the good stuff“, I am concerned about my neighbors. On one side of me is my brother-in-law who is probably very anti-cannabis, on the other side of me the people actually encouraged me to plant some. My spot would be well hidden from public view, but I’m a little concerned that if either one of my two neighbors knows that I’m growing, they might say something in casual conversation with some of our other friends down the road and eventually word kind of inadvertently gets out and then you have kids down the way or anybody else who wants to make trouble for me to be concerned about.

I am not a lawyer, and I don’t know for sure, but I think the law is slightly vague… Just has to be out of public view in a locked inclosed area. I guess I don’t know why that can’t be a chicken wire fence with a cheap ass plastic lock holding the ends of the chicken wire together. Seems like that’s locked and enclosed to me. But I would really prefer just to throw a plant on the side of the hill where it would blend in with the rest of the vegetation and be done with it.

When it comes to CBD, a couple years ago, I purchased a pound… A full POUND of CBD flower for $65. At that price, why would you bother with all the headaches of growing, trimming, costs of electricity and soil on so on. Of course, I prefer to know where my stuff comes from and there’s nothing like enjoying your own harvest, but it’s hard to argue with the economics.

So… Maybe I will throw a plant in and see if I get any mold or other issues growing on my breezy hillside.

When it comes to “the good stuff”, I’m too young to be an old hippie, but I think weed should be free….seeds gifted, flower shared, etc. Manually pollinate an isolated branch and have hundreds of seeds to last a long while. I can buy a package of carrot seeds with about 1000 seeds in it for two dollars. Or a package of tomato seeds with about 50 seeds in it for two dollars. I don’t understand why cannabis seeds cost so much. I do understand that a lot of labor goes into developing these strains, but a lot of labor goes into developing tomato strains. And, seriously if you pollinated an entire plant, you’d have thousands and thousands of seeds.

The cannabis “business“ is very offputting to me.

BUT the openness of the cannabis community is very encouraging and I’m grateful for your and everyone else’s advice and support and this platform which has helped so many people!
If you live next to someone that is anti- cannabis, you're gonna have a tough time, because when my gg girls were flowering you could smell them in the car from 3 blocks away. They will have an incredible stench.

Autos are gonna do what they're preprogrammed to do, they'll flower at a set time regardless of what kind of light exposure they're getting. You will want to check the strain on how much time you think you're going to get. I didn't realize you were working with auto's, in this case you will need to worry about frost. I plant feminized seeds that will flower when they start receiving less than about 13 hours of daylight, in which the rotation of the earth determines very rigidly when they flower.

The public view thing: my understanding is that the plants need to not be visible from the sidewalk/street. Chicken wire really doesn't obscure. My plants are behind 6 foot wood privacy fencing with padlock gates.
 
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