Outdoor growing questions

[KbCobra]

I want to try my first outdoor grow this coming summer.

Here are my questions

It doesn't get 60F+ where I live until June, how tall should my clones be when I bring them outside? So I can guesstimate when to start the mother and pull clones.

Is it better to put them in the ground with soil/perlite or keep them above ground in smart pots?

Does greenhouse plastic stop any sun rays the plants need? I was thinking of a cover to control over watering

What low temperature will kill them? 32F? Higher?



I know this is a stupid question but I've never grown outside in my life, but when do they start to flower outdoors?


Any other suggestions for first time outside growing?


I had a fence put up this summer so deer aren't an issue, but what about rabbits, squirrels, and chipmonks. I have a ton of those near my house, mostly chipmonks. Will they bother my plants or is there a way to keep them off of them?

 

[Spitz]

I'll take a shot at answering some of your questions.

When to plant outdoors? You want to plant after the last frost. Of course, unless you have a direct line to mother nature, nobody can answer that. Rule of thumb for tomatoes growing up was always Mother's Day weekend. Unless your in AK, this should work for you.

What to plant in? Growing in the earth has many advantages. It's harder to over/under water, the roots can grow as large as they want, etc.. One huge advantage of pots is that you can move them for whatever reason and especially if you forecast a late frost night.

Go ahead and utilize a greenhouse if you have one. It's more about temp/weather control than anything else.

32 or colder will kill your plant. One advantage to pots is being able to move them in the garage on possible cold nights. People will quote 55F as a minimum. It's crap. Man has been cultivating for thousands of years and you just need to keep them above freezing. They won't grow at cold temps, they won't die either. Keep in mind, these babies are going to be vegging for close to 3 months and will get huge!

Here's my $0.02...
If you order seeds, get a few autos and sprout them June 15th. They should be ready around October 1st. If you grow photos, get all indicas if your in the Northern half of the states. If you start mom on May 1st, pull clones on Jun 1st, and they root jun 15th, you could grow them inside form2 weeks and plant them around July 4th. I'd be more worried about them finishing than being too small. Remember to get as much sun as possible. Good luck!

 

[PurpleGunRack]

Plant out when there is no longer frost at night.

Use pots to avoid pests, the digging ones will mess up your roots.

If you're on or north of the 55 degree northern latitude get auto's or strains bred for this climate.
I'm about on it, and I'll be doing a pure auto grow and probably start them indoors and plant out in the last half of May

The plants will begin to flower when day and night is of about equal length.

A little trick for those young plants in the spring is to take a large plastic soda bottle(clear plastic only) and cut the bottom off, remove the sticker and cap, poke breathing holes in the bottle and use it as a single-plant-mini-green-house

Happy growing