New to outdoors, Basic-ish questions :)

Hi everyone, it's been a long time since my last posts, been working a lot, but have since been laid off due to holiday hour cuts. It kinda sucks cuz money is great, but that leaves me room for my old hobby but I digress.

I have some decent experience in over-all growing, (see old grow journal for more info) but have NEVER grown outdoors. it's mid february with snow at the moment. BUT the season is fast approaching. I'm looking for answers to a couple basic questions i had.

1. I'm growing bag-seed, I know I won't be able to completely eradicate seeds from my buds, how do I MINIMIZE the seeds, other than finding the males early. (planning on growing around 15)

2. Will I need to get rid of surrounding weeds or vegetation( if in the woods) OR should i just let the strong survive?

AND

any other tips that differ from indoor a lot would be helpful. Thanks

Hey Dude, love the avatar, Briggs is a BEAST! To answer question one, you already answered it, you have eradicate the males. If you start your seeds now you will have plenty of time to pre sex them before they go into the ground. I would start them now, veg, after about eight weeks they will be mature enough to sex. I put them in a dark room for 48 hours and then under 12/12 until they show, usually only takes a couple days to show. Once they show i put them back under my t5's for 24/7 light. It usually takes a week or two and then they recover and begin veg again.
Question two, yes, you will need to get rid of all surrounding weeds and in an area that gets at least six hours of direct sun. I never plant in patches or groups. I plant one here one there and usually clear out a 3 foot by 3 foot area per plant. You will also find you will need to bring pruning shears or a sickle to keep the weeds at bay during the summer. You don't want weeds overgrowing and out competing your plants for light and water.

Great thanks a lot! Briggs is a beast! he'll have a youngin next to him this year too cuz urlacher is hopefully gone. as for my grow:

I do still have a lot of time, I just want want to get all my ducks in a row
Thanks again

Any other help would be appreciated!

Like said above me ^ eradicating all males before they release pollen will give you seedless weed. It requires a lot of work to sex seedlings to haul males indoors. What some people do, when growing from bag seed, is grow out all the seedlings and when they begin to show their sex, haul them out. The males will mostly show their sex before the females, and you only have about a week time period from when the male begins to show its sex to when it spreads its pollen. So July, you have to check on all plants at least in week intervals, or more. And the answer to your second question is yes, you need to remove surrounding vegetation, not all of it, it aids in camouflage, but sunlight is key. The more sun light, the better, small open low clearings are nice places to plant. If your growing in the ground, your going to need the dig up and prep the soil with manure, peat moss, etc. Look for very thick, dense thorny areas to plant, it is a known fact, animals and man take the path of least resistance. Plant in the thickest part of the clearing and everything will avoid it. And one last thing, trails are what gives people away, you take the same path to your plants, every day, your going to leave a beat down trail so bad that a 4 year old kid could follow, so try not to visit to much, as if so, take different paths. Chicken wire helps protects plants from rabbits and other small creatures. Slugs can be bad when plants are small, slug bait works good. Hope that helps, happy growing