can I take a 5 ft plant from indoor to outdoor replanted in the ground?

[rockinlock]

I have an indoor plant a few feet tall, ready to bud but sluggish, full of lil hairs but leaves are drying even though watering is regulated, I want to replant her outside. Is that safe to do? I have a safe spot picked out and have 6 ft chicken wire to go around it to fend off critters.

 

[labexperiment]

The quick answer is yes.

But there are lots of factors to take into account. And certain steps to follow to ensure a successful transplant.

I do this with my tomatoes every spring.

First is the temperature difference. To overcome this you should take her outside everyday a couple hours for the first day and keep an eye on her to watch for stresses, increase the duration of her stay outside each day, this is called hardening. Try to match the inside temp with the outside temp best you can, this will reduce some of the stress on her. She should be hardened in about a week.

Second I would recommend being aware of is the light availability, if you are in the northern hemisphere we are just into spring which may trigger flowering. Know how many hours of daylight you currently are experiencing, (I will need assistance from others on 420 but I think I read that even 13 1/2 hours light will still trigger flowering) Please correct me if I'm wrong, PLEASE.

Third is root disturbance, which again will cause stresses. So when doing your transplant try to not disturb the roots too much.

Fourth is watering, give her a good drenching right after the transplant, and then again within a week. After the second watering you should only need to water when she starts to get dry.


While one of these 4 stresses won't kill her a combination of a few of them may.


My experience comes from gardening regular produce in my back yard and this knowledge comes from that experience, not from growing our favourite herb. But I'm confident(Except the light thing) it applies to your situation.

Hope this helps.

 

[PlanetJ]

Second I would recommend being aware of is the light availability, if you are in the northern hemisphere we are just into spring which may trigger flowering. Know how many hours of daylight you currently are experiencing, (I will need assistance from others on 420 but I think I read that even 13 1/2 hours light will still trigger flowering) Please correct me if I'm wrong, PLEASE.

I used 12 hours of light, 5.4 dark, 1.2 light, 5.4 dark. The .2 extra light is just to be safe. I had no issues with flowering before I switched to 12/12.