Planting in Ground vs. Planting in Pots

So I currently have a bunch of plants vegging under 18/6 indoors, and I'm getting ready to transplant them outdoors. I live in New England, so I want to be able to harvest by early to mid-October before it gets too cold. The plants I have are all bagseed and about 6 inches tall, yet on their seventh node. They are in 6 inch round pots, and roots are coming out the bottom. My question is if I want them to harvest by mid October at the latest, do I need to put them in pots so I can move them indoors in the evening to begin flowering in late July? Or will they do this around that time period naturally? Also, if I do 5 gallon buckets, will I lose yield compared with being grown in the ground? This will be my first outdoor grow, and if I have to sacrifice yield for fully developed buds I am willing to do so.

Since you dont know the genetic characteristics of this plant you dont know if its more sativa or indica. Therefore you will need to cover them with a black plastic bag or put them into pots and move them in the dark, you should start that early july to make sure they finish up before october. 5 gallon pot is perfect unless you want to dig huge 3x3x3 holes. With pots you can lift them up and tell when they need water where as in soil you cant always tell if they need water.
Good luck

Id go with bucketts, beter water control as allready mentioned and you can feed them better with liquid nutes and you can easly move if there is a threat of them being found. Best of luck!

use the 5 gal buckets so if security is an issue you can easily move them. you want to get them in bigger pots if you can see the roots. naturally outside plants will be ready by mid october they start flowering around august 1st as after the 21st of june days start getting shorter...good luck

I forgot to mention, the plants are showing strong indica genes, the fan leaves are very wide. Do indicas flower before sativas?

Yes indicas finish earlier, you will most likely be able to plant them in the ground and they will be done by october.

So I have one sativa and the rest are indica, I guess I'll plant the sativa in a bucket and the rest will go in the ground. Thanks everyone.

if you can get smart pots or root pots that is the way to go outdoors!!!

their are aerated pots which air prunes the roots.

they hold water extremely well, and when the plants get big enough the roots will go through the bottom into the dirt below