My first grow... Outdoor potted plants on patio

Hello Rollitup,
My girlfriend and I decided we thought it would be fun to try and grow some of our own little babies since we are both Medical Marijuana patients and can legally grow our own medicine. We don’t have previous experience and are both looking at it as a fun project.
We would love anyone and everyone to chime in with suggestions and feedback or any tricks or tips you have.

Where?
I am growing these plants outside in Washington State (Seattle area) on my private patio out of sight and reach of any nosey neighbors. The patio is on the west side of my house and gets plenty of sunlight and wind and is on the top floor of a 3 story building. I have plenty of space if I need to build/buy a small greenhouse and do have a closet I could potentially move to for flowering but I would rather not.

Materials?
Currently I have the plants in approx. 3 gallon pots that I filled with Miracle-Gro ‘Organic Choice’ potting mix. The bag says it feeds plants for up to 2 months, I have not added any additional nutrients. (I add dead leaves from my tomato and strawberry plant to soil sometimes, no idea if that does anything). I also have a fan that I can direct out my screen door to give them some extra ventilation at times which I try to do often.
This is all I have right now, I am ready to buy some nutes but not the slightest clue what or where to get.

The plants?
We purchased starters from a medical dispensaries about 4 weeks ago. We have a Sativa dominant ‘Maui Wowie’ plant and an Indica dominant ‘Grape God’ plant. It’s hard to say exactly their age since I have never done this before and we got them as starters but I would guess around 8 or 9 weeks???

I am going to attach some pictures that show the pot size, little of the location and how the babies are doing so far. I will add more questions to this post a little later as I have many.

For now, if anyone can take a look at the pictures and my above details and provide feedback/criticism as well as any tips for outdoor grows in western Washington it would be much appreciated.
Do they look ok? About how old do you think they are? Is 8 or 9 weeks a good guess?

Thanks in advance for everything and happy harvesting!

Not bad, looks pretty healthy. Hard to tell about age if they were clones maybe 4-5 weeks?

Looks like they are getting adequate sun. I would top the top of both of them and let them get a bit bushier over the summer.
View attachment 2731425
There is a good guide on that here.

On to miracle grow, it is too hard of a soil and their nutes are not the best to use.

Buy a fox farm (frog), or roots organic soil. You don't need soil with a bunch of nutes if you want to add them.

I would say they are ready for bigger pots, and not ceramic ones. Get 8 gallon or so pots with lots of holes for aeration. use the above type of soil in your transplant, the old soil can remain, trying to remove it is too much trauma.

Also a good place to start for nutes is Roots organics too, they are very basic and if you follow the label hardly will overfeed, underfeed perhaps at times, depending on strain. If you get something like 2.2.2 you can feed every watering which would be when the top two inches of the soil are dry,

Remember In August and the days get shorter and she begins to flower you are looking at 2-3x the size plant growth.

Hey Blujays,

Thank you very much for the quick reply and information. I read the article you gave me about topping the plants etc. I went ahead and attempted to top one of them for now so I can watch it and make sure I did it right (even though it was pretty straight forward). I will post pictures in a few days or so of the new growth and then top the second.

Is there anything else I should do from that article to these plants? Pinching, trimming etc?

Will I need to transplant these plants again? When I was researching the pot size to get for my last transplant I read lots of growers stop at 2 gallon or 5 gallon because you really don't need more than that. Originally I was thinking I was going to want a 8-10 gallon. Also, I read that the ceramic ones will help prevent the roots from cooking up inside the soil.

Sounds like it wouldn't be a bad idea anyway so I can get some new soil going, but its a bummer because I spent a good amount on those pots and they have only been in there for about 4 weeks.

Thanks again!

readytolearn1807 said:

Hey Blujays,

Thank you very much for the quick reply and information. I read the article you gave me about topping the plants etc. I went ahead and attempted to top one of them for now so I can watch it and make sure I did it right (even though it was pretty straight forward). I will post pictures in a few days or so of the new growth and then top the second.

Is there anything else I should do from that article to these plants? Pinching, trimming etc?

Will I need to transplant these plants again? When I was researching the pot size to get for my last transplant I read lots of growers stop at 2 gallon or 5 gallon because you really don't need more than that. Originally I was thinking I was going to want a 8-10 gallon. Also, I read that the ceramic ones will help prevent the roots from cooking up inside the soil.

Sounds like it wouldn't be a bad idea anyway so I can get some new soil going, but its a bummer because I spent a good amount on those pots and they have only been in there for about 4 weeks.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Even if you made a mistake, she will get the idea and start to grow more branches. The guide I sent you is ALOT of different methods and details. Try one at a time, learn it and decide which you like. What you started with is the easiest and a good place to start.

Trimming is up to the grower, I have the frame of mind to grow flowers not leaves or plants. Others prefer to let it go naturally and not risk traumatizing the plant. Read some more and decide for yourself. Any leaves that turn yellow at the bottom can be cut. They are dying because of not enough light, the plant is naturally killing them off as they route energy elsewhere.

For the transplant, It's about a month or so from flowering time so you may not have to. However it is a weed and will spread and try to take advantage of as much space as it can. If you're growing outdoor all season get big pots, indoor 4-6 month crops you don't need to be so big.

The ceramic pots look great but don't allow for enough aeration, which will slow your growing. If you have a good soil like Roots Organic it will hold plenty of water and you like in Washington right, whats the max temp like 80? Arizona gets to 120F and growers grow outside in the ground.

Here are some of the new popular pots:


Grow some big beautiful tomato in the ceramic pots and leave them out front so all your neighbors know why you keep buying grow supplies.

Hello All,

It has been a little more than a month since my last post. A lot has happened and I have some questions. Unfortunately I haven't been giving my plants quite the love and attention they deserve. As I said, I am doing this more for fun.

So lets see, I have kept them in the same pots but did add a very small amount of nutes to the soil. The mix was a 10-10-10 because I read too many contradicting things about what is the right ratio for veg stage.

We started to get white spots on the leaves about 3 weeks ago. Some research discovered that we had spider mites. We created a insecticide using some neem concentrate and a touch of Dr. Bronners soap. I applied this concoction to the plants only twice (with 7 days in between) and it appears they have been bug free for some time now. None of the new growths and leaves have the white spots. We also did a massive clean on our deck to get rid of a bunch of foliage and muck we had on the patio. Pretty damn sure the whole patio is bug free.

I attempted topping both of the plants. From what I can see it has worked. They have slowed down their vertical growth and seem to have 2 main stems on the top. It is now the middle of August and as I understand it for my outdoor grow in western WA the plants will begin switching to their flowering stage and I want to get a bit serious. I need to know if I can still transplant the plants to bigger/better pots to allow for more aeration and space?

Is it too late to move these plants as they are about to start flowing?
Also, how do I keep the bugs away once the buds start to grow?
Should I consider getting a portable green house to cover them? (This could also protect them from the fall rains and drop in temperature? Or will I be safe for a bit?)
Do the plants look about the right size for being little over 2 months old?
Will I get a good harvest if I plan to let them grow 2 more months?
Last question... What is the best brand and ratio nutes to get for my babies while they flower.

Told you lots of questions
Thank you for all your answers and help

1) Apply AZA max every other watering to prevent bugs. 1 - 2 weeks before harvest stop using it.

2) Get it over with already, the sooner you get them in a better/bigger pot the better position you'll be in flowering. (Don't get another fancy pot)

3) If you're growing outdoors let it be natural. Seems fine so far why get a tent? However if you want one yes it would be fine just watch the temperature and humidity.

3) 2-3 months plants are usually sexually mature and ready to flower. Your's don't appear so, a little small and light green.

4) Outdoors you don't control the harvest. Flowering happens naturally here in the next month or so. It will take approximately 2-3 months for it to finish once it stats. You will know by the color of your trichomes.

5) I do organic and like Roots Organic. It's almost fool proof, (but low levels) however non organic growers will tell you about the bloom, flower, jucier, plumper, sweeter, smelly'r (high levels) nutes you can add. Honestly the brands don't matter its the ingredients that are mostly the same.

Also it appears to me they need more nutes. You should feed them every other watering with at least a 5.5.5 or something similar.

Is there a physical store I can go to get these things. I tried Fred Myer and Home depot before for the recommendations you made and couldn't find these brands. Any Suggestions or should I order online? Also can anyone tell me why I can't hit enter when typing into the forum here. Can't tell if its an internet browser issue or I am just newb on this forum. Anyway thanks.

i would order online or go to a garden supply big box stores dont carry the good stuff you plants are a little behing i would get some fox farms grow big use ever other watering and in 2-3 weeks get some open sesame to force it into flowering once she gets some more vegetation. You could always cover the plants early to shorten the light cycle just be consistent. next year i would invest in goo nutes big pots and most importantly good soil fox farms ocean forest is pretty easy stuff all you have to do is water it for for the first 6-8 weeks

readytolearn1807 said:

Is there a physical store I can go to get these things. I tried Fred Myer and Home depot before for the recommendations you made and couldn't find these brands. Any Suggestions or should I order online? Also can anyone tell me why I can't hit enter when typing into the forum here. Can't tell if its an internet browser issue or I am just newb on this forum. Anyway thanks.

Click to expand...

Hydroponics supply store is the only place locally.

You can buy online, just don't add a pressure cooker to the order. lol

You must have harvest by now; how did it fair?

BluJayz said:

Even if you made a mistake, she will get the idea and start to grow more branches. The guide I sent you is ALOT of different methods and details. Try one at a time, learn it and decide which you like. What you started with is the easiest and a good place to start.

Trimming is up to the grower, I have the frame of mind to grow flowers not leaves or plants. Others prefer to let it go naturally and not risk traumatizing the plant. Read some more and decide for yourself. Any leaves that turn yellow at the bottom can be cut. They are dying because of not enough light, the plant is naturally killing them off as they route energy elsewhere.

For the transplant, It's about a month or so from flowering time so you may not have to. However it is a weed and will spread and try to take advantage of as much space as it can. If you're growing outdoor all season get big pots, indoor 4-6 month crops you don't need to be so big.

The ceramic pots look great but don't allow for enough aeration, which will slow your growing. If you have a good soil like Roots Organic it will hold plenty of water and you like in Washington right, whats the max temp like 80? Arizona gets to 120F and growers grow outside in the ground.

Here are some of the new popular pots:
View attachment 2732062View attachment 2732063

Grow some big beautiful tomato in the ceramic pots and leave them out front so all your neighbors know why you keep buying grow supplies.

Click to expand...

I found those pots in my local store. I could not understand how the soil would not go out and the roots growing out of the pot. I am currently growing in around 2 gal pots outdoors. I intend to keep my grow short and small. can my 2-3 gal pot be my final pot? or the plant will die eventually due to being root bound ?

8 months in a 2 gallon pot would be hell for a healthy plant.

Remember bigger roots make bigger fruits. You may be able to succeed; but was it worth the effort?

BluJayz said:

8 months in a 2 gallon pot would be hell for a healthy plant.

Remember bigger roots make bigger fruits. You may be able to succeed; but was it worth the effort?

Click to expand...

I repotted to 12 gal. Thx : )