Hi, everyone! I moved from SoCal (after many, many years there) back to my home state of Ohio this past year. I never thought about growing, as I had a really great dispensary in SoCal. But the stash I brought with me is dwindling, so I decided to give growing a try. I’ve had a giant veggie garden for decades, so I figured if I can grow tomatoes (and lots of other stuff), why not?
I only really need one plant just for me, but because things can happen, I put two in my seed starter tray that I use for tomatoes and peppers. I put them in on 3/29, and first thing this morning, 4/1, here they are: my two Afghan Girls. The second pic was taken about 6 hours later.
Like the tomatoes and peppers that I started from seed a month ago, these girls will go into small pots in the window (with the help of some lights) until it is warm enough to go into the ground. Then they can “hide” among the tomatoes.
I’d also like to think about an indoor plant down the road, but in reading the posts here, there is SO MUCH I need to learn. It sounds like a completely different language lol. So for now, I’ll stick with what I know–putting stuff in the ground–and keep reading and asking questions.
Any suggestions and advice are certainly welcome!
@Impatient
5 Likes
Its not only the warmth you need to wait for its the amount of daylight that matters. If you put them outside before mid to late May they they will start flowering too early. This will stop leaf and growth production while she focuses on flowers. Then as the daylight increases she will transition back into veg mode the transition can take weeks and weeks. Then just about the time its back into veg mode it will transition back into flowering. All this going back and forth severely stunts growth. It can be done but its a waste of time IMO. Ive know quite a few people who’ve done it. None of them did it twice.
2 Likes
Last year I grew my plants in fabric pots. I used fox farm soil to help with nutrients. I didn’t start them till middle of may and i kept them outside from start to finish. I felt I started to late and rushed them into flowering and their buds was to small. The light hours effects them greatly. Like spring the sunlight is very bright and long as well as summer but as fall start the sun light decreases and forces them into flowering and budding. That why this year I started them early but I fear I started them way to early. I do not have the proper light to grow inside my house and it’s to cold to take them outside so I fear the 3 plants I have started will not make it. I just received 5 more seeds but I won’t start them till close to the end of April so they can be planted outside mid may. It’s all about timing and I do not have that down yet. I’m still a newbie and learning through trial and era. There is so much help on this forum and I have learned a lot. There is really good people on here that will gladly give helpful advice. I definitely will be following you and we can grow and learn together. There is more indoor growers than outdoor growers it seems but growers none the less. I know we vote in November to legalize recreational Mary Jane which will allow us to grow legally. So be sure to vote in November.
3 Likes
Mehhh starting early for outdoors is always a thing as we never know when it will actually be warm enough for outside. My suggest to you would be. Do small up pots so your able to bury your stretched stem each time. Since you don’t have lighting a window sill will have to do but this is gonna have you stretching. So say go from where you’re at to solo cup to a 1 gallon nursery bag and keep going till your at the pot you plan on putting out.
@Impatient
4 Likes
Yup–I do that with the tomatoes–plant fairly shallow in the small pots so I can keep adding soil as they stretch. I learned that over the years the hard way lol. When the times comes, they’ll go directly in the ground. I also have a small portable greenhouse for the 'maters and peppers (and the girls could join them there, I suppose), if they get too big for in the house before conditions are good outside. It’s all a complete experiment, so we’ll see…
In SoCal, south facing window sills were enough, but here in NE Ohio, I added some lights (for the tomatoes initially), so they won’t stretch so much. What’s good for the tomatoes…
6 Likes
Yeah–the timing here is what will be the most challenging, for sure (well, and the soil, but that’s another discussion). In SoCal, my entire garden (the tomatoes and peppers that were started indoors plus everything else that was seeded directly into the ground) went into the ground mid March. So I figured here it would be sometime hopefully near early May (but today we’ve had a bit of snow, so who knows?). All of my planning was originally for the veggie garden, and the girls, since they were actually a bit of an afterthought (I had been concerned about my dwindling stash brought from CA, and stumbled across ILGM recently, so here I am!) are kind of going along for the ride. So when I started ('maters) indoors, time-wise, I built in a month or even 6 weeks for spending in the portable greenhouse (with day trips out of the greenhouse for hardening off). So, yeah, it’s all a crapshoot at his point, but I’m learning. And YES–I am all about voting!! I see the House just passed a bill, but I’m not holding my breath when it gets to the Senate…
4 Likes
Thanks. Aren’t our daylight hours increasing now, and will continue to do so throughout spring and summer? That’s what my hens are telling me, anyway (number of daylight hours control their egg production). I figure about time they start slowing down (moving toward fall), flowering should be happening, but I’m a total newb at this, so…
2 Likes
They are but its too early, not enough daylight yet.
3 Likes
Every one of my windows has an awning on them preventing direct sunlight from coming in my house. So no direct light just indirect light which these plants craze direct light. I am moving in 16 days to my land and they will have direct light there. Hope they make it that long with just a desk lamp.
1 Like
Its the amount of hours of daylight not the intensity
3 Likes
Here we say April showers bring may flowers. In Ohio the rule of thumb is plant out doors after Mother’s Day which is when the threat of frost is gone. And harvest in September or October
2 Likes
I have clay soil as well so I have to amend my soil for my vegetable garden as well as my grow garden per say. I mix with the soil manure in the fall then plant mid May my vegetable’s. I mix fox farm soil with my clay soil and also put a stone bottom in the bottom of my holes for drainage
2 Likes
Most of us that grow outside start our plants indoors under lights in april then transplant outside in June. If you put them outside too early you might regret it. Could be the difference between a couple of ozs and a couple of lbs. All those early buds will have to be removed while its transitioning back into veg and before it goes back into flower.
4 Likes
MJ only needs about 3 months to grow from seed to well over 7ft. If you put them outside too early you will be lucky to get them over 3ft and you’ll be fighting with it the whole time. IMOP you’d be better off starting over in June.
2 Likes
That was federally I am talking about state Legalization in Ohio. It passed for medical purposes a couple years ago and now we are trying for recreational for the 2nd time. Not holding my breath but am hoping it passes this time around. As to Ohio weather Mother Nature is bipolar here and off her meds. Literally 75 yesterday and snow today. Live on Ohio all my life and I still hate and complain about the weather lol
2 Likes
3 months? For a photo period plant? Outdoors?
1 Like
Not to harvest but from seed to over 7ft
3 Likes
If you start at the end of may you should have 4 months + too get to harvest before the weather gets to bad. Even if you started in july they would finish around the same time they would just be smaller. Its not the age of the plant that determines when it flowers and finishes its the amount of daylight hours.
3 Likes
