OpenDoorPoop
Member
I'm a noob to growing, but living in Colorado and having loved the local herbs for the last decade and loving the developing scene here, I have realized that I should give growing a shot myself given the right opportunity. The right opportunity seems to have come. I have a brother who lives in kind-of-but-not-really nearby BFE. He owns quite a few acres and has recently expressed that he'd like us to partner in growing on one of them. The terrain is on sun-rich 8000'+ altitude Rocky Mountains foothills. That means dry and rocky but tons of sunshine and not a lot of insects. Water will be readily available and so will chicken wire and a close eye otherwise. He would be checking on the plants at least every other day. We want it have minimal start-up and upkeep costs because we are interested in the potential for growing large amounts of decent quality buds with minimal costs. We know being first timers that we're not going to grow famous cannabis...so we're not even going to try to go over the top because a lot of money would likely be ignorantly allocated. But we all know efficiency is king. That's why I'm here asking questions, I want to maximize our potential through efficiency. We will not be running a business, more like starting a family tradition of self-sufficiency. Reading up in the noob/FAQ threads, I see over-tending to plants and over-thinking set-up and growing are the biggest noob mistakes...I'm hoping our approach will avoid that and maximize nature's potential for pure love and green goodness.
Here's my noob plan having been crafted after doing some noob research, with some noob questions inserted in...Let me know what you think!
1. Obtain a good amount of outdoor, quick season Indica clones or seeds. I can get indoor grown Indica clones (female of course) for $15/per, is this my best hope for growing outdoors as a total noob?
2. Begin plants in a mixture of the native soil, Sunshine mix #4, and whatever else might be needed to achieve a good pH level...until they are ready for transplant to the planting site. This is just a stab-in-the-dark mix I thought of after reading here that originally starting plants (indoors) with the native soil you plan to transplant to reduces the shock during the transplant...and I saw another post where someone growing outdoors in CO was using that Sunshine mix as an only medium. Of course I know using natural soil may require balancing the pH. Let me know if any of this is crazy! What's a good mix using natural soil? Or should I be growing in a completely non-native medium placed in a bucket or hole in the ground? I also read in the Outdoor FAQ that Fox Farm Ocean Forest is recommended.
3. Transplant plants. I've read about hardening indoors plants for transplanting to outdoors and about when to plant seedlings, but nothing about WHEN to harden and transplant clones?
4. Kill any males that develop ASAP if I grew from seeds.
5. Harvest by Oct. 1st, maybe earlier given the altitude.
6. Dry and cure. Anything special about harvesting, drying, and curing outdoor mountain buds?
I've also read up on some tips that sound like they might come useful:
-Urinate on the borders of the site often. This is suppose to help keep small and medium sized critters away.
-Start clones/seeds in a tall, thin pot to promote deep roots. This is suppose to be helpful with growing in poor soil.
-Make sure the site has good south-eastern facing sunlight exposure. I've read that cannabis does better with more morning/afternoon light than afternoon/evening light, so naturally that geographical orientation would maximize morning/afternoon light in the northern hemisphere.
I am open to any and all advice and words from MacGuyvers, nay-sayers, pragmatists, carpet-baggers, and utilitarians. LET'S HERE IT!
Here's my noob plan having been crafted after doing some noob research, with some noob questions inserted in...Let me know what you think!
1. Obtain a good amount of outdoor, quick season Indica clones or seeds. I can get indoor grown Indica clones (female of course) for $15/per, is this my best hope for growing outdoors as a total noob?
2. Begin plants in a mixture of the native soil, Sunshine mix #4, and whatever else might be needed to achieve a good pH level...until they are ready for transplant to the planting site. This is just a stab-in-the-dark mix I thought of after reading here that originally starting plants (indoors) with the native soil you plan to transplant to reduces the shock during the transplant...and I saw another post where someone growing outdoors in CO was using that Sunshine mix as an only medium. Of course I know using natural soil may require balancing the pH. Let me know if any of this is crazy! What's a good mix using natural soil? Or should I be growing in a completely non-native medium placed in a bucket or hole in the ground? I also read in the Outdoor FAQ that Fox Farm Ocean Forest is recommended.
3. Transplant plants. I've read about hardening indoors plants for transplanting to outdoors and about when to plant seedlings, but nothing about WHEN to harden and transplant clones?
4. Kill any males that develop ASAP if I grew from seeds.
5. Harvest by Oct. 1st, maybe earlier given the altitude.
6. Dry and cure. Anything special about harvesting, drying, and curing outdoor mountain buds?
I've also read up on some tips that sound like they might come useful:
-Urinate on the borders of the site often. This is suppose to help keep small and medium sized critters away.
-Start clones/seeds in a tall, thin pot to promote deep roots. This is suppose to be helpful with growing in poor soil.
-Make sure the site has good south-eastern facing sunlight exposure. I've read that cannabis does better with more morning/afternoon light than afternoon/evening light, so naturally that geographical orientation would maximize morning/afternoon light in the northern hemisphere.
I am open to any and all advice and words from MacGuyvers, nay-sayers, pragmatists, carpet-baggers, and utilitarians. LET'S HERE IT!
