The Best Methods & Practices For The Best Outdoor Cannabis
Outdoor Growing How To’s From Healthy Choice:
Growing cannabis outdoors isn’t as easy as planting seeds and hoping for the best. Outdoor producers should perform enough research, preparation, and pest management to ensure a decent yield. Choosing the correct atmosphere, growing location, outdoor growing method, and variety is the first step. To see a breakdown of each of the next important steps in outdoor cannabis growing, read on.
1. Choose The Proper Strain For Outdoor Growing
Choose the proper cannabis strain for growing outdoors. Your choice of strain may be limited by your region and climate. For example, if you live in the far north or deep south of the world, when winters are cold and summers are short, you will need to choose strains adapted to those conditions. Choosing the proper strain implies selecting one that is suited to the growth environment.
2. If Feasible, Start Inside
Sow seeds indoors and grow plants in pots for a week or two under artificial light (a basic CFL bulb) or on a ledge. This will protect your seedlings from being eaten by birds or insects while they are still young and vulnerable. When it comes to exposing your young plants to the outside, it is best to ‘harden-off’ them gradually to the new environment. Let your plants out for a few hours at first, but keep them protected from the elements. If they are left outside full-time in pots, bags, or holes dug into the soil, they will be hardy enough in a week or two.
3. Select Outside Soil Or Pots
Every grower can opt to sow seeds or seedlings straight into the ground or to grow them in containers. Each option offers benefits and drawbacks, so let’s focus on the benefits.
Benefits of Soil Growing
- Unrestricted access to soil nutrients and moisture
- Root growth is unrestricted, thus plants can grow tall.
- Boosts yield
- No need to buy pots keeps expenses down.
Benefits of Potted Plants
- Mobility of plants
- In case of bad weather, bring plants inside.
- It’s easier to hide a farm
- Maximum control of plant size and growth rate
- Ensures no environmental pollution of soil
4. Make Sure To Check Your Soil Quality
Preparing your soil properly is possibly the most important component of outdoor cultivation. Adding lime (to increase pH/make more alkaline) or sulfur (to reduce pH/make more acidic) to the soil will help it achieve the desired pH. Soil consistency is also crucial; too much clay makes soil sticky and drains poorly; too much sand makes drainage too rapid. Cannabis prefers loamy soil, or soil with a high proportion of sand and silt to clay (around 40 percent -40 percent -20 percent silt-sand-clay is a good rule of thumb).
5. Choose A Location
Outdoor cannabis cultivation requires a sunny, shaded, well-irrigated, and draining location. That means no popular hiking trails or logging roads nearby! A sunny, wind-free clearing in a mixed broad-leaved forest is preferred over a coniferous one, as the soil near conifers is often acidic. Aspect is a crucial but frequently ignored factor in steep terrain. A south-facing slope is perfect for outdoor growing since it maximizes the hours and intensity of sunshine.
6. Outdoor Plant Care
Check on your plants periodically, especially if they are in pots that are not near groundwater. In warmer weather, your plants will drink a lot of water, so make sure they have enough to grow vigorously and not dry up. Checking your plants regularly will also warn you to pests or nutrient deficits.
7. Pick The Right Time To Harvest
Harvest time is a joyous occasion for producers to enjoy the rewards of their labor. Despite this, many new growers impair product quality by harvesting too early or too late (due to complacency or miseducation). So, dear growers, never undervalue the harvest stage. When determining when to harvest, two factors are critical:
The cannabis strain you’re growing
When purchasing a seed or seed packet, the flowering time of the particular cannabis type is usually indicated. This is a fantastic place to start if you’re unsure when to harvest. The best way to tell when to harvest outside plants is to inspect them. You’ll probably need a magnifying glass for this. There are two things to look out for when your buds are near the end of their flowering period:
- The pistils’ color (small hair-like protrusions from the buds)
- Trichomes color (tiny, crystal-like resinous spheres that coat the buds)
The pistils will gradually transform from white to a dark reddish-brown. To harvest at the peak THC level, at least 60% of the pistils must have darkened and curled in towards the bud. Wait until 70-90 percent of the pistils have darkened and curled inwards before harvest for maximal CBN (calming, less psychoactive effects).
You can also look at the trichomes to see if it’s harvest time. When your plant first develops these resinous trichomes, they will be clear when magnified. Clear to amber/golden in color. This is when THC levels are highest. Harvest when 30% of the trichomes are amber. The harvest window has closed if the trichomes become grey or wither. We hope that you’ve enjoyed this look into some great tips for outdoor growing for both beginners and the experienced. Healthy Choice is happy to provide information to benefit the cannabis community at large. We’d like to thank you for taking the time to learn from and with us on the incredible journey that cannabis allows us. We can’t wait for you to read our next blog!