NW U.S. -- when are you starting your outdoor grow?

This will be my first outdoor grow, and I'm wondering when I should put them out? I'm east of Portland just before the Gorge (unpredictable micro-climate!). It's been such a mild winter here (!!!) but we've had snow storms (or ice storms!) in April...

I've got a couple vegging inside (just under CFL's), and I've got a structure built that's kind of the bottom half of a greenhouse, and the upper part will be hoop house. It's set up for a SCRoG, because I need to keep it under 6' for legal reasons.

Just wondering what y'all are doing? Are you starting indoors? How many weeks of indoor vegging before they go out, and when will you put them in the ground?!?!



EDIT: for the record, I read the *read this first before you post* thread, and it starts with:

1. When should I plant outdoors?

• It is recommended you plant after you haven't seen a frost for at least a week. This may be around April or you may be waiting all the way till May. You may also put your plants outdoors in pots and protect them at night until you are certain you are past frost season.

...problem is, I haven't seen frost since December. But that's totally unusual, so I'm just checking in to see if any locals have a plan.

Thanks...

Just put em in small pots and if a frost is coming bring em indoors, that's what I do. Wait till mid April.

Humanrob said:

This will be my first outdoor grow, and I'm wondering when I should put them out? I'm east of Portland just before the Gorge (unpredictable micro-climate!). It's been such a mild winter here (!!!) but we've had snow storms (or ice storms!) in April...

I've got a couple vegging inside (just under CFL's), and I've got a structure built that's kind of the bottom half of a greenhouse, and the upper part will be hoop house. It's set up for a SCRoG, because I need to keep it under 6' for legal reasons.

Just wondering what y'all are doing? Are you starting indoors? How many weeks of indoor vegging before they go out, and when will you put them in the ground?!?!



EDIT: for the record, I read the *read this first before you post* thread, and it starts with:

1. When should I plant outdoors?

• It is recommended you plant after you haven't seen a frost for at least a week. This may be around April or you may be waiting all the way till May. You may also put your plants outdoors in pots and protect them at night until you are certain you are past frost season.

...problem is, I haven't seen frost since December. But that's totally unusual, so I'm just checking in to see if any locals have a plan.

Thanks...

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Hey Humanrob... I live in Hood River.. About 45 miles east of you. When I'm planting in the ground they go outside when there is a string of nice days in mid May. I've been growing for 15+ years here and have never planted outside earlier than May 10th. Make sure you transition them outdoors.. If it's warm and sunny the sun could be too intense the first few days.

petert said:

Hey Humanrob... I live in Hood River.. About 45 miles east of you. When I'm planting in the ground they go outside when there is a string of nice days in mid May. I've been growing for 15+ years here and have never planted outside earlier than May 10th. Make sure you transition them outdoors.. If it's warm and sunny the sun could be too intense the first few days.

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Thanks for that info. This weather is throwing me off, it feels like May now! I will try to be patient.

I'm outside of corvallis, mine are veggin right now and go to the hoophouse with a light, end of april/early may. Outside with no light in the first week of june. I pull mine out on these warm sunny days, and you can see a difference in growth rate by the next day.

redeyedfrog said:

Just put em in small pots and if a frost is coming bring em indoors, that's what I do. Wait till mid April.

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It's a long story... but the ones I have on-hand are already in big pots. I was going to grow them indoors and then decided my set up is weak, so I thought I'd finish them outside instead of inside. By mid-April, they will be vegging for 10 weeks, if I wait until mid-May, they'll be a hefty 14 weeks old. As stated, I'm new to this, but I've gotten some conflicting info on whether long veg times are good or bad for the plant and for the final product.

Since these particular plants are going into a greenhouse/hoop-house, and they will not be fragile babies, I'll be looking at the temps closely from mid-April on, and may roll the dice if things stay this relatively warm and try them early. I'll also be getting others on a more normal schedule, timed with the intention of growing them outside.

calicocalyx said:

I'm outside of corvallis, mine are veggin right now and go to the hoophouse with a light, end of april/early may. Outside with no light in the first week of june. I pull mine out on these warm sunny days, and you can see a difference in growth rate by the next day.

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I've thought about that, but I live in a town, on a kind of busy street, and I'm a bit nervous about drawing attention to a greenhouse with lights... Some day I'll live in the country again, and have way more options!

Temps in mid april should be fine, it's the shortage of light hours that is the problem. If you put them out they'll flower, then right around the end of may, before they finish, they'll probably get weird, then they'll not do much of anything except chill and be weird through june as they reveg, finally they'll turn around and veg at some point but not for very long, then they'll flower as they normally would. You'll risk losing most of your outdoor veg time if you put them straight outside in april. You can add just few hours at the end of the day to lengthen it to the appropriate time. I'll have my T5 on from about 8:30 until 10:30-ish to keep mine vegging. I have also heard of people having the light come on for like 5 or 10 minutes every couple hours to keep them vegging, so you won't need to light up the greenhouse all night. You also don't want sketch balls in your yard, so that's your dilemma.

calicocalyx said:

Temps in mid april should be fine, it's the shortage of light hours that is the problem. If you put them out they'll flower, then right around the end of may, before they finish, they'll probably get weird, then they'll not do much of anything except chill and be weird through june as they reveg, finally they'll turn around and veg at some point but not for very long, then they'll flower as they normally would. You'll risk losing most of your outdoor veg time if you put them straight outside in april. You can add just few hours at the end of the day to lengthen it to the appropriate time. I'll have my T5 on from about 8:30 until 10:30-ish to keep mine vegging. I have also heard of people having the light come on for like 5 or 10 minutes every couple hours to keep them vegging, so you won't need to light up the greenhouse all night. You also don't want sketch balls in your yard, so that's your dilemma.

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Yeah, that makes sense. I'll have to chew on this one.

You can take cuttings and use them, or you could prune your plants hard and maybe even root prune them to knock them back. I've seen 6 inch clones put out in late june yield 2 pounds outside, so you're still alright time-wise .

calicocalyx said:

You can take cuttings and use them, or you could prune your plants hard and maybe even root prune them to knock them back. I've seen 6 inch clones put out in late june yield 2 pounds outside, so you're still alright time-wise .

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calicocalyx, thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge, I really appreciate it. I've thought about it some more, and I'm going to take a different route. I'm an OMMP grower, so I can have six plants. I have two sets of two right now in separate spaces -- two are doing really well (considering its a CFL grow in a closet...), and the two that weren't doing so well I thought I'd finish outside. Instead I'm going to just finish them both inside, and they'll be whatever they can be, and I'll get two more clones at an appropriate time, and put them out at an optimal time, and let nature do its thing. Assuming I can take them all the way through without killing them, I'm sure that will cover my patients needs, and that's all I'm after.

Thanks again for helping to continue my education --

no worries, it takes doing different things to get a bigger understanding of this plant. But you also get a feel for your regional and local climate and all the variables that have a bearing. I try not to persuade people too much and rob them of the experience. I have insisted on making just about every mistake one can make. But you get out what you put in.

calicocalyx said:

no worries, it takes doing different things to get a bigger understanding of this plant. But you also get a feel for your regional and local climate and all the variables that have a bearing. I try not to persuade people too much and rob them of the experience. I have insisted on making just about every mistake one can make. But you get out what you put in.

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I just moved up to this far corner of Multnomah County last summer, this is my first spring here (was in Eugene area previously), and this is an unusual spring it would appear. Bottom line is that I have very little experience with my new micro-climate, but I'm chomping at the bit to do an outdoor grow! No doubt I will make countless mistakes as I go (already have!), but I'm hoping not to make ones because I was a mix of being naively hopeful and plain old impatient. So I'll get into the slow lane and give myself the best chance of success. On that note, gotta get out and keep working on the six foot fence, only half the yard is wrapped so far....

All this sun has been chomping at the bit too, and I know better! I want to throw out peas and potatoes and other veggies, but april could be cold with torrential downpours. At least with the veggies, you can replace them fairly easily, hell nowadays you can get all sorts of clones pretty easily.

I live up in the Mountains Of California, About 8 Hours from Portland (been there many times awesome place!) anyways, I plan on putting mine out in early to mid May. (if it weren't for needing the extra veg time for the clones Id put them out late April. I as well Don't see frost here until around Christmas time.

More questions for y'all -- how long do you veg indoors before you plant them outdoors? Specific benefits/drawbacks from long or short indoor pre-outside veg times?

Hey human rob. I'm in Troutdale, long time vegetable Gardner. May is a good time to put out plants. I have put out 12 inch plants as late as June that have gotten 6 feet plus in size. We might get some cold temps in April, so you will want to cover your plants up at night if you set out before May. Be ready to cover plants in September, as cold rain and wind can cause problems during final flower. Wind can be problem at any time at east end of gorge. Protect big plants from wind damage.

I will be vegging my outdoor plants Indoors for about 6 weeks before setting out, and I will be sexing them too. Will only be putting out females. Will be setting out into the garden in mid to late May after being on 16/8 lighting. Days will be getting longer and should be about 16 hours by first of June. Free grow until end of August, with some light deprivation and cover against September rains, starting around Labor Day.

Thanks Nuevo, that's great information!

Thanks again Nuevo, here's some more info about my latest thinking...

Yesterday I picked up four clones. I am in the Troutdale area also, and the last month or two were apparently anomalies in terms of temperature. It could snap back to a normal or even colder than normal spring at any point, kind of keeps things interesting, I suppose (got hailed on twice yesterday!).

I'm thinking I'll stagger my approach and hedge my bets. If things stay relatively mild, I'll put two out around May 1st, and two more out two weeks after that - those will all be in either hoop or green houses. I might put another two out two weeks after that (around June 1st), but I'm not sure I'll grow six outside this year (OMMP). There are lots of good reason to go for it, and other good reasons not to.

As far as light deprivation goes, its a long story but my first inside grow closet is far from optimal, and as a reaction to a design weakness, relies on a heavy black curtain to obtain total darkness (in week 2 of flower right now). So at 12 hour intervals every day, I need to be home to cover and uncover it. Seriously, its a pain in the ass. Friends want to get together and I have to calculate whether I'll be home in time to lift the curtain and therefore not cook the girls when the lights come on.

Having had that experience, practically speaking I'll be traveling off and on this summer/fall, and I don't think I'll have the option of committing to covering and uncovering the plants for a forced flower -- as much as it appears that's the best/safest thing to do to finish early. One person I spoke with locally suggested I start them on 12/12 first week in July (with light deprivation), to be sure they're done before October.