Late outdoor grow effort - How am I doing?

Hi All

New to the forum, looking for a bit of expert advice on a 1st outdoor grow.

OK, so firstly, based on what i've read, i've started too late here in the UK for an outdoor grow, which is usually recommended to start in spring. But, the idea only came in to my head in July, and not wanting to wait another year I thought "what the hell, what's the worst that can happen".

So last week of July I germinated 3 seeds. They sat in rooters for about a week before I transplanted the little 2 leaf seedlings in to 20L tubs filled with basic organic soil from a garden centre. The pots are placed on decking in a south facing garden and currently have access to daylight for around 14.5 hours (15.5 hours including civil twilight).

After being in the garden for 3 weeks this is what they look like today. Height is around 20cm from soil to top of plants.



So here are my initial questions for you outdoor experts!

1. How am I doing? Do the plants look OK?
2. Am I in the "vegetative stage" or still seedlings?
3. What can I expect as an end result considering it's August 15th in the UK, with the summer equinox in 5 weeks time?
4. I have not fed nutes yet, just letting them do their own thing. I have some Nitrogen rich feed low in Pot and Phos I could use.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Cheers, Moolam

Plants are doing fine. They are probably considered seedlings still. Green is good.

cannabis seedlings have a hormone early on that keep them from flowering until they are just old enough. So this may extend your flowering time out. if you had larger plants they would likely be starting to bud already. They will growout a few more nodes and then start to bloom. This may put your key flowering time into the fall days when it’s cloudy and rainy. It if you cross your fingers and you get good sun into October you should be fine. No need to top them anymore as you need to focus everything on growth.

Feeding. Seems like U.K. doesnt have as good of access to all the killer ag products and ferts we have here. If you can find a 10-10-10 that would be a decent start. Feed at 1/4 to 1/2 strength. Once buds start to form you can cut the N way back. Go to a 5-20-30 or whatever bloom fert you can find. Again starting with low strength doses. Enjoy!

Thanks Bud, next feed I will give some Nitrogen rich nute in small quantity and see how I go from there. I'm not gonna train it or anything, I think at this stage i'm just gonna let it grow and see what happens. Come end of Sept the days will be 12-12 day/night so hopefully it will just start flowering. End of Oct I might get something out of it. Since I started late, i'm not too worried about yield size this first time. If I get a few buds that'll do me until I have a proper go at it from spring next year.

Your plants look a tad bit stressed but other then that okay. Just watch how much water you give them.
When it becomes sexually mature they will start budding which could be any time in the next few weeks.
Good luck.

Moolam said:

Thanks Bud, next feed I will give some Nitrogen rich nute in small quantity and see how I go from there. I'm not gonna train it or anything, I think at this stage i'm just gonna let it grow and see what happens. Come end of Sept the days will be 12-12 day/night so hopefully it will just start flowering. End of Oct I might get something out of it. Since I started late, i'm not too worried about yield size this first time. If I get a few buds that'll do me until I have a proper go at it from spring next year.

Click to expand...

@Moolam when growing outdoors the 12 hours light / dark isnt as exact as it seems... All my plants are budding naturally, with well over 12 hours light right now outdoors in US.. they flower once mature, as others have mentioned.. Im not sure what exactly is the trigger point to switch with the light, but I think its a ratio sort of thing... if they were getting X amount and now they get X-4 they flower... So be careful expecting them to stay outside and not flower just because you technically have less than 12 hours "dark" (also if your going by online day light charts, make sure you factor in the twilight/in between times, and lastly I believe its the dark time that matters vs. amount of daylight hours that triggers flower.

Worst that can happen is you learn something, Think its fine to finish out, just wouldnt expect anything significant and wouldnt drop a bunch of money on it... But definitely learn for next year for sure.
Take care.

ganga gurl420 said:

Your plants look a tad bit stressed but other then that okay. Just watch how much water you give them.
When it becomes sexually mature they will start budding which could be any time in the next few weeks.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

What's the thing that makes them look "stressed" and is there anything I can do about it? I haven't watered for 4 days now but it's been raining last couple of days including a biblical downpour yesterday! Not much I can do about that sadly. I'm in England!

dunphy said:

@Moolam when growing outdoors the 12 hours light / dark isnt as exact as it seems... All my plants are budding naturally, with well over 12 hours light right now outdoors in US.. they flower once mature, as others have mentioned.. Im not sure what exactly is the trigger point to switch with the light, but I think its a ratio sort of thing... if they were getting X amount and now they get X-4 they flower... So be careful expecting them to stay outside and not flower just because you technically have less than 12 hours "dark" (also if your going by online day light charts, make sure you factor in the twilight/in between times, and lastly I believe its the dark time that matters vs. amount of daylight hours that triggers flower.

Worst that can happen is you learn something, Think its fine to finish out, just wouldnt expect anything significant and wouldnt drop a bunch of money on it... But definitely learn for next year for sure.
Take care.

Click to expand...

Thanks Dunphy. There's 14.5 hours official "daylight" at the moment plus another hour of "civil twilight" as I have read. I've got them positioned so they get as much of that sun directly as possible, south facing. Anyway, as you say, it's a learning exercise this time. All i've spend is £25 on a few seeds and bought some soil and a few pots. I'll take whatever bud I can get out of them this time. Just hoping I get something, kinda just to prove I can do it.

Moolam said:

What's the thing that makes them look "stressed" and is there anything I can do about it? I haven't watered for 4 days now but it's been raining last couple of days including a biblical downpour yesterday! Not much I can do about that sadly. I'm in England!

Click to expand...

If i were to guess this picture looks like the plant is overwatered, notice the droopy look/leaves curling downward... Sign of too much water, you want to have the pots dry out in between watering, the dry pot will help the roots grow to search out water, then theyll really drink it up when thirsty.

Try to cover from rain as best as you can to limit the water she gets for a little bit, at least until she dries out.

Just a suggestion, thats what I would do if it were me.
Good luck