Well I have successfully germinated my seeds and am getting ready to move them outdoors. The average temp each day is at about 60-65. I'm going to cut off the bottom of some milk cartons and use them as a mini-greenhouse. I was just confirming this as an okay idea. The lows at night have been in the 40-50 range btw. Thanks for any input!
That's "survivable", but it is on the cool side. They should be ok, they will grow faster when it warms up a little more.
yeah, make sure they have the proper insulation and watch the weather channel, if it goes below freezing in your area they will die.
I think I'm gonna wait until Sunday. My mom's going out of town so I can move them out in the open during the day so they can get as much sunlight as possible. I probably will start with my plan though after that.
Not necessarily true.....there are actually quite a few strains that can survive a light frost or two. It is a weed afterall
I talked to one of my friends about my idea to bring them outside during the day this week and he said to only do it for like an hour or two at a time or it would shock them. Is this true? This week it's been like 70 degrees during the day and quite comfy.
Hmmm, not sure if you said or not but are you starting them under artificial light (cfls) or are you starting them in a window sill?? If you are starting them under artificial light, your friend is right, moving from one climate to one thats totally different will "shock" your plants but it wont kill them or anything. Might just take them a week or two to get going full speed ahead. But if you started them in a window sill then you should be able to put them straight in the ground and if you transplant right they shouldn't get any "shock". Even if you did start them under artificial light i wouldn't really hesitate to put them straight in the ground. Like i said, it might "shock" them alittle bit but they will get on with it about a week or so later. Now if you started them under articial light and want to avoid "shocking" them, take them outside for a few hours then bring them back in and finish out your light cycle like normal for that day i.e. if you are doing an 18/6 light cycle and take them outside for say 4 hours bring them back in and finish out your 18hrs of lights on. Do this for 4-7 days so they can adjust to that climate a bit and them put em in the ground. If you use this method, be careful when putting planters in the sun.....roots will cook in a matter of seconds in direct sunlight......suggest putting boards around the pots or covering them some how so the stay out of the direct heat of the sun. hope this made sense. good luck.
Thanks for the reply. I just started them in a window sill. I won't be planting them in their permanent pots yet, but just moving them outside so they can get more direct sunlight than my window sill gets, and then bring them back in at night.
^^^ahhhh i got ya. Then just place them outside......if possible for maybe like 6hrs or so per day......just make sure to protect the pots from the sun as i stated earlier.
The "toughening up" process is a general warning. It makes a lot more sense in mid-summer when the temps are hot and the sunlight is strong. When the temps are similar to inside and the early spring sun isn't that bad, it isn't that important (IMHO). Just consider the difference in the conditions that you are moving "from" and "to".
Well I waited til last friday and they are doing beautifully. The largest one is about a foot tall and the others are close behind it. I have them in 5 gallon buckets with grocery bags over them to keep critters out. I will probably get some pots and soil together soon and some nutrients. A small question I have, would it be okay to use compost that has some small dead roots in it? I used some of it for the seedlings, but spent about half an hour taking that shit out. Any opinions would help.
So I went out to check on my plants a couple minuts ago and found some bad news. Last week I took the wire I had em trained with and it was bent a little. So I tried bending it back and heard a snap. It didn't look like anything was wrong so I just re-trained it. I went and took the wire off again because it looked healthy and sure enough, it did snap. This sucks because it was my strongest plant. I put the bottom of the snapped part back in the soil, but do you think it will form roots or do you think it's a lost cause? It has some pretty good leaves growing already, but I have no idea how it will work.
If the leaves are like flopping down your screwed unless u buy some root gel and put it on the broken part and it'll grow new roots.
Actually it looked perfectly healthy when I checked on it and it's been like that for about a week now. Wish me and my babies luck!
