Rule of Thumb; When can you start Outdoor Plants.

South Texas

Well-Known Member
A lot of people ask "When is the earliest that I can set my Plants outdoors. A multitude of methods can be done. But there is one basic rule to go by, no matter where or when.
Tomatoes, peppers & weed falls into the same category. They are all "Heat Loving" plants. Whether the temp outside is 50 or 80 degrees is of no issue for now. It's the temp of the soil is where the basic starts.
The plant says it wants 80 degrees soil for "maximum" success. The seeds will sprout , and the plant will "grow" in cooler temps... OK., I get that. But, for best of all worlds, the soil should be 80 degrees. Every degree less than that puts a handicap on the full potential. You gotta ask yourself, Do You Feel Lucky, Plant? At least you now know that anything less is shy of perfect, and amend to adjust.
The outdoor temp, people, is not the Bible. That's the temp IN THE SHADE, which full sun can be 40 degrees warmer, depending on wind block, clouds, big headed fuckers blocking the sun, etc. (Looks like a fucking eclipse!) I set my Babies outside at "50" degrees, which is actually 75 to 90 in the right, full sun area. The black container is VERY warm after 1 hour. I spin the pots to help heat up the soil & get more coverage of sun light.
From this point, you can start indoors, move in & out when weather is sunny. You could use warm water to help, mylar as a back drop, etc. Another rule for heat loving plants is "If there is a tree in the horizon, you have too much shade." That rule was not written when I was stoned, but just a general guideline. 30 lb. felt paper (the heavy shit) as a backdrop will collect a lot of heat, like a solar powered heating pad. My latest plan is to put seeds directly in a fresh cow 'Patty", which is green (hot), to keep temp above normal temp, plus fert the seed, self moisturizing, etc.
Hope this helped.
 

stonerman

Well-Known Member
great post. the way we tell when we can put our plants in the ground is when the very last frost is done. After that you should be good unless you get some unexpected frost which sucks hardcore.:bigjoint:
 

Skunk Baxter

Well-Known Member
I always tell new growers, just call your local garden store and ask them when it's safe to put your tomatoes outside in your area. If it's safe for tomatoes, it's safe for dope.
 

buenodiasmf

Well-Known Member
i put them outside on march first, they were slow at first but now there thrving....strted the clones on a veg for two weeks inside, flipped it over to 12/12 so out of my six i pulled two and put them outddors too keep as outdoor mothers
 

fdd2blk

Well-Known Member
if you plant outside too early and the days aren't long enough yet, your plants will try to flower. then it takes a month or more for them to turn around, if they ever do.
 

yamin

Well-Known Member
day 20 of flowering.....
i gt 11.40 hrs of sunlight at the moment but summer is approaching.....

should i start covering them with my dark house already or should i wait till i hit 12/12

is there any chance the will revert to veg if i wait??
 

buenodiasmf

Well-Known Member
but i can still pull clones from them, no? outdoor mothers if they flower i get flowers but if they dont there veggin until august/september and thats clones a la mode si? fdd what do u think bad idea?
 
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