Upcoming Outdoor Grow Season

[Hawk518]

I’m an outdoor grower living in VA. Finished my first grow a couple months ago. It went reasonably well for a complete newbie. Lots of issues, but learned a lot and had a total blast doing it. Basically, I loved trying to grow these plants! Had hoped to buy an indoor setup and give it a shot, but injured my back and will have to wait until the outdoor season for my next grow.

Last season, I didn’t start to germinate until the end of April. I had a few MAJOR issues because the weather got cold and rainy before I could harvest. I’d like to do it Right this time.

Questions:

• What do I need to do Now, so that I’m totally ready to grow outside again?
• When should I start germinating my seeds? I’ll keep them inside until they’re ready to be transplanted to 1 gallon grow pots.
• I have about 20 gallons of used Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil from last season. Ended up having spider mites at the very end of the grow. Can this dirt be reused for another outdoor grow or is it totally contaminated from the mites?
• IF I can reuse this soil, exactly what needs to be done to prep it?

I figure I have about 3 months to get everything ready for my next outdoor grow.
Any / all advice is Greatly appreciated!!

 

[Gidorah]

• What do I need to do Now, so that I’m totally ready to grow outside again?
• When should I start germinating my seeds? I’ll keep them inside until they’re ready to be transplanted to 1 gallon grow pots.
• I have about 20 gallons of used Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil from last season. Ended up having spider mites at the very end of the grow. Can this dirt be reused for another outdoor grow or is it totally contaminated from the mites?
• IF I can reuse this soil, exactly what needs to be done to prep it?

Hi Hawk, let me be the first to jump in. Im no expert but i did have a successful outdoor grow last summer and might be able to get the conversation started.

Im getting ready myself. All im doing is stockpiling up on good bagged soil and putting metal fabric underneath my raised beds to keep the gophers out.

Germinating seeds depends on a few factors. The veg cycle can last as long as you'd like, heck you can pop some seeds now and veg until late Spring in theory. I wait until the Spring equinox has passed and the days are getting longer, around March 20th. I veg indoors and set them out in mid April to early May to make sure they dont go into flower.

I reuse old soil and by combining new soil into it. Never had spider mites so im not sure how that works. Hope this helps and gets you thinking, good luck!