Outdoor When To Plant Outside?

[pher2]

thetreeman, do you have a thread started? If not, i suggest you start one and this post can be moved to it. That way you get more exposure for your experiment, while Gnubee gets the help that he's looking for in this thread. Let me or another mod know and we will get this moved for you. thanks.

Ok folks, here is the experiment.

Ingredients:
1 3ft long 3/8in thick aluminum rod, cut in half
1 2x2 pine board, cut to 12 inches
1 13 gallon clear plastic kitchen trash bag, cheap thin version

Cleared off an area in my garden, down to black dirt to maximize solar radiation to heat conversion. This area gets direct sun all day.
View attachment 344419

This area has not been tilled and until today was covered with a thin layer or grass clippings from last fall. Im near the canadian/us border so it is still fairly cool here, no trees have begun to bud yet and garlic/rhubarb is just starting to grow.

Drill 2 3/8 inch holes in 2x2 board, 2 inches from the end, about 1.5 inches deep. Insert rods into holes. Mark each aluminum rod, 12 inches from the end, so I know how deep to push the rods into the soil.
View attachment 344424

Push rods into ground to stop mark, leaving 12 inches below surface and 6 inches above. Cover with thin clear plastic (13 gallon clear kitchen bag ripped along seam to make a flat sheet). Hold down edges with dirt/weights. The tent area should heat up, allowing the rods to transfer the heat below the surface of the soil. Next to this tent, I also constructed an area of just plain plastic sheeting, held flat against the ground. Next to this I left an open area with just dirt exposed as a control.
View attachment 344426View attachment 344427

Highs in this are right now are averaging mid 50 to mid 60's (day) and lows in 30s at night. I will leave this for several days to a week and then take temperature readings at different depths to get an idea how much, if any, the tent with aluminum rods made at warming the soil up at different levels.

Cheers!

 

[Root]

Hi GnuBee...I am in California

We start seeds indoors but have some outside in in a green house that are doing well (one group is 2 weeks old and the other is 1 week old).

During warm days I open the green house...doors windows and sides.
At night it is closed and if the night gets too cold a heater can be used.

I noticed that you are new to AFN.

You can make an introduction in Introductions:tiphat:

 

[GnuBee]

My greenhouse is fairly small. It's about a 10' square. It has passive ventilation right now with thermostatically controlled vents in each corner at ground level, plus a 2' square vent at the top. I'm thinking of trying to add some 12V fans that will be connected to a solar panel.

I ordered the following seeds.

Emerald Triangle Seeds
Lemon Haze
Auto
Feminized

White Label
White Diesel Haze
Automatic
Feminized

These are sativa dominant hybrids. Plus there were a few extras thrown in, that I cannot recall what they are off the top of my head. I thought that feminized autos would be a good choice for a first time grow.

I have a water barrel that I planned to use to let the chlorine evaporate. I just learned of this other water treatment chemical & I need to find out if it's in my water or not. I also have an aquarium air pump to aireate the water prior to watering. That's about where I'm at right now.

Thanks

 

[dazedandconfuzed]

I stuck a bean in a pot a couple of weeks ago and put it in my greenhouse, when I looked today-she had sprouted lol. It's not warm here yet at all, but we have seen the last of the frost at nights but it's still cold. Can't believe she popped to be honest!

 

[Dr Who]

The simplest way to look at this is just to treat them the same as you do your tomatoes, if you harden them off the same then they will be fine.

Autos are certainly quite cold tolerant, although low temperatures can really slow growth, so for the earliest start I aim to have some at about the 3 or 4 leaf stage around a month before the last expected frost to go in a greenhouse. I will then bring them in on any particularly cold nights that we might get over the next 2 or 3 weeks if I feel it is necessary.

Autos seem to do much better as an early season plant for me in my climate.

 

[dazedandconfuzed]

The simplest way to look at this is just to treat them the same as you do your tomatoes, if you harden them off the same then they will be fine.

Autos are certainly quite cold tolerant, although low temperatures can really slow growth, so for the earliest start I aim to have some at about the 3 or 4 leaf stage around a month before the last expected frost to go in a greenhouse. I will then bring them in on any particularly cold nights that we might get over the next 2 or 3 weeks if I feel it is necessary.

Autos seem to do much better as an early season plant for me in my climate.

Thanks for the info, I have a whole bunch of tomato/pepper/beans etc in there. First year growing anything, they seem to be doing really well, the Auto Assassin I put out there is just an experiment really, just to see what she does in the real sunshine (if we ever get any). Watch, she'll turn out to be a 6' monster, take over my greenhouse haha.

 

[Mr Piggy]

I have not found autos to be cold tolerant. I have a couple out in the yard that are 3 weeks to a month old and tiny from the temps. This has been consistent in my experience with them. It's much better to wait until the temps and daylight hours are more favorable, climate and location depending. I live smack in the middle of the PNW.

 

[EverythingsHazy]

I'd look up when your last possible frost day is, and then put them out anytime after that.

 

[keepitmedicated]

Take your barrels and stick them out to catch rain water then use that if your afraid of what is in you tap water. or use half rain water then fill the rest up with the tap water the rain water will help watever is in the water from the treatment center. Im lucky I live near a big ass fresh water lake and just fill up a 4 liter jug whenever Im out walkin the dog, My plants love that water..K.I.M.

 

[Sourdough]

I wait till they show sex to put them out side. I have also found they can handle colder night temps than i previously thought. Usually its the rain that is the weather issue. I would say temps are more important to keep growing. Valleys are a good place to be also.