Outdoor Autos in the Winter

[Darclinc]

Hi everyone,

I’m a complete novice and a friend and I are going to attempt to grow some autos outdoors, most likely on my flat garage roof in pretty much full sun. I aim to put them up there from say week 3 onward when the plants are a little bit stronger and after some initial training to minimise any chance of breakage in the wind. 

All the seeds were obtained from Nirvanashop and are the following strains: 1x Blue Cheese, 1x Northern Lights, 1x Blue Mystic, 1x Blueberry Kush.

My understanding is that it isn’t ideal to grow at this time of year, but should be possible given their genetic resilience to colder weather. Also, after much research I’ve compiled what I consider to be a reasonably good shopping list with all the bits I will likely need, which is as follows:

Garden wire for training, microscope for trichome evaluation (most likely the kind that clips onto an iPhone), 4x 10-15l Material Pots, set of pruning shear for some light defoliation at the flowering stage, 2x bags Organisoilux (60l, so enough for all 4 plants), clay pebbles for added drainage, PH meter, PH correction liquid, Cannabiz Liquicompost for growth and Cannabiz Biophos Repro for flowering (a grower friend reccommended this to me).

Am I insane or do I have a chance of succeeding? What hurdles am I likely to encounter? As a first time grower I’m going to try and keep it simple and don’t want to micro manage every part of the grow, but I would like to at least give these plants a fighting chance. I am not interested in super high yields as I smoke very little, but I am interested in healthy plants that yield good quality buds.

Any advice welcome, please be gentle!

Thanks,

D

Edited May 31, 2022 by Darclinc

[Khakibos]

Hey man ! 

Well it's not impossible to grow in winter you should understand autos can be a pain in the ass and depending on where you stay you'll have to take the temp drops and frost into consideration. I stay in Gauteng and I can grow the whole year as long as I've got frost covers over my plants during winter - I only grow photoperiods in winter though. 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Khakibos

[Darclinc]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

I live in CT near the coast so the climate here is, generally speaking anyway, more agreeable during the winter than in JHB. Can get very windy though...

It does get cold, but rarely below 7 degrees or so and even then it's only early mornings.

D

P.S. some nice grows on your Instagram!

[West Coast Vaper]

Hi everyone,
I’m a complete novice and a friend and I are going to attempt to grow some autos outdoors, most likely on my flat garage roof in pretty much full sun. I aim to put them up there from say week 3 onward when the plants are a little bit stronger and after some initial training to minimise any chance of breakage in the wind. 
All the seeds were obtained from Nirvanashop and are the following strains: 1x Blue Cheese, 1x Northern Lights, 1x Blue Mystic, 1x Blueberry Kush.
My understanding is that it isn’t ideal to grow at this time of year, but should be possible given their genetic resilience to colder weather. Also, after much research I’ve compiled what I consider to be a reasonably good shopping list with all the bits I will likely need, which is as follows:
Garden wire for training, microscope for trichome evaluation (most likely the kind that clips onto an iPhone), 4x 10-15l Material Pots, set of pruning shear for some light defoliation at the flowering stage, 2x bags Organisoilux (60l, so enough for all 4 plants), clay pebbles for added drainage, PH meter, PH correction liquid, Cannabiz Liquicompost for growth and Cannabiz Biophos Repro for flowering (a grower friend reccommended this to me).
Am I insane or do I have a chance of succeeding? What hurdles am I likely to encounter? As a first time grower I’m going to try and keep it simple and don’t want to micro manage every part of the grow, but I would like to at least give these plants a fighting chance. I am not interested in super high yields as I smoke very little, but I am interested in healthy plants that yield good quality buds.
Any advice welcome, please be gentle!
Thanks,
D

Hey bud.

Running an auto outdoor this winter myself.
Not ideal where I am, misty mornings till 10am, temps down to 4 overnight but like you, why not grow

Unless you know what you doing stick to 10l pots. I tried 20l and every time the plant was smaller than the 10l. Don't ask why, suppose that's how you learn about auto's.
I've also made a plan greenhouse sort of thing to protect them at night and the rain.

Oh. If you think you have a sneeze coming on don't even look at your plants, they will stunt their growth just to piss you off.

I have had more success than deaths though and 90 days from seed to harvest I'll keep on trying.

Good luck.

Sent from my S40 using Tapatalk

[Khakibos]

18 minutes ago, Darclinc said:

P.S. some nice grows on your Instagram!

Thanks - Hopefully we get to see your grows too  

 

[Darclinc]

52 minutes ago, DamDave said:

Unless you know what you doing stick to 10l pots.

I have NO IDEA what I'm doing! More interested in the process than the actual product, to be honest. It seems like a fun thing to do. But yes, from what I've read the general consensus seems to be around the 10l mark.

 

53 minutes ago, DamDave said:

I've also made a plan greenhouse sort of thing to protect them at night and the rain.

I am considering building some sort of light structure, or getting a small greenhouse from Takealot, but then it will be visible from pretty much everywhere. I would like to keep it relatively inconspicuous.

 

55 minutes ago, DamDave said:

Good luck.

Thanks, same to you.

[ORGANinc.]

4 hours ago, Darclinc said:

Hi everyone,

I’m a complete novice and a friend and I are going to attempt to grow some autos outdoors, most likely on my flat garage roof in pretty much full sun. I aim to put them up there from say week 3 onward when the plants are a little bit stronger and after some initial training to minimise any chance of breakage in the wind. 

All the seeds were obtained from Nirvanashop and are the following strains: 1x Blue Cheese, 1x Northern Lights, 1x Blue Mystic, 1x Blueberry Kush.

My understanding is that it isn’t ideal to grow at this time of year, but should be possible given their genetic resilience to colder weather. Also, after much research I’ve compiled what I consider to be a reasonably good shopping list with all the bits I will likely need, which is as follows:

Garden wire for training, microscope for trichome evaluation (most likely the kind that clips onto an iPhone), 4x 10-15l Material Pots, set of pruning shear for some light defoliation at the flowering stage, 2x bags Organisoilux (60l, so enough for all 4 plants), clay pebbles for added drainage, PH meter, PH correction liquid, Cannabiz Liquicompost for growth and Cannabiz Biophos Repro for flowering (a grower friend reccommended this to me).

Am I insane or do I have a chance of succeeding? What hurdles am I likely to encounter? As a first time grower I’m going to try and keep it simple and don’t want to micro manage every part of the grow, but I would like to at least give these plants a fighting chance. I am not interested in super high yields as I smoke very little, but I am interested in healthy plants that yield good quality buds.

Any advice welcome, please be gentle!

Thanks,

D

Goodluck! All should work well, give it a go, dig into the threads for information, and good ol Google for any need to knows 

post some pics and we can also give some pointers where possible. 
 

first you want to soak some seeds, or sow straight, I recommend soaking for 12 hours in plain water that’s been sitting for atleast a day. Then prep the soil, water it with about 5 - 10%, should get you through to past seedling stage, quite easily, orgasoil lux will most likely need to be watered thoroughly, go on the 15 - 20 percent actually; let it sit for a week in some sun. Maybe plant some companion plants, then plant a week - week and half later, will make for a better environment for the autos.  
 

then don’t feed that soil for a good 4-5 weeks 
 

plant with mycorrhizal fungi

[SkunkPharm]

Autos in 10l pots could get to about 40-70cm tall depending on allot of things. Type of sun they get. Wind plays a big factor.the soil medium. The are full of Shit  little plants. Good luck.

[Khakibos]

I hope we not scaring you away from growing the auto's 

Maybe check out these guys pages @SkunkPharm @DamDave @Bay Seeds @Prom @Pants - These are just some of the people on the forum with good auto grows, Prom grows a lot from Nirvana if I'm not mistaken hopefully he has grown a few of the same strains. Defiantly check his page out  

 

[West Coast Vaper]

If you run into problems give me a shout. I have @Bay Seeds auto seeds, a mixed bunch that I'm growing hybrid (outdoor during the day, under lights during the night) then in a makeshift greenhouse this winter.
Learning a bit more about the plant then summer I'll be testing some of his again.
So if things don't work out first attempt let's see how some @Bay Seeds beans do on a garage roof.

Strawberry Cheesecake, Lemon Larry OG or a mix of the two. So a nice lucky packet.
These two are at about 90 days.


Shout out if you need.

Sent from my S40 using Tapatalk

[Bay Seeds]

3 hours ago, DamDave said:

If you run into problems give me a shout. I have @Bay Seeds auto seeds, a mixed bunch that I'm growing hybrid (outdoor during the day, under lights during the night) then in a makeshift greenhouse this winter.
Learning a bit more about the plant then summer I'll be testing some of his again.
So if things don't work out first attempt let's see how some @Bay Seeds beans do on a garage roof.

Strawberry Cheesecake, Lemon Larry OG or a mix of the two. So a nice lucky packet.
These two are at about 90 days.


Shout out if you need.

Sent from my S40 using Tapatalk
 

The feminized seeds are ready bud, as soon as its springtime ill send you a ton of the fem cheese autos to run outdoors. Its gonna be awesome. 

[Bay Seeds]

With autos my advise is to never overwater, use plenty of perlite, dont feed plants until they show a need or a ''slight fade'' in color. No.1 rule, be sure the soil is not hot. A ppm meter costs R200 and will save your grow. 

[Dr. Green]

I wouldn't grow auto's outside in winter without extra light. I'd be surprised if I get 25g off a plant

 

[Prom]

18 hours ago, Darclinc said:

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

I live in CT near the coast so the climate here is, generally speaking anyway, more agreeable during the winter than in JHB. Can get very windy though...

It does get cold, but rarely below 7 degrees or so and even then it's only early mornings.

D

P.S. some nice grows on your Instagram!

Temperature is key for the first weeks. If you put em out in germination, will kill your germinating seeds. All below 12 degrees will stun them heavy (bad idea with autos). Below 8 they are a goner.

You can grow autos all year long, as long as you look that the climate still works for the plants. Once they are out of germ, they can take more but cold isn't the best for the root system. If you can run them on a heating plate and keep the soil at 20, you shouldn't run into any issues. 

Full sun is perfect and the sun still packs 2000 micromoles PAR during winter, just get less duration and harvest is smaller.

I know the Blue Cheese and Blueberry Kush from Nirvana.. i like both plants even they have a few pheno types swinging in them. Not really difficult to grow either. Would stick to 10 liter pots and see how that works out. If you run a grow diary, you keep easy track of what you do and can get easy help.

I lost a batch of seeds in September 3 years ago due to temperature.. is what you have to watch very careful at the start.

Blue Cheese Autos i have in the tent right now

Edited June 1, 2022 by Prom

[West Coast Vaper]

Temperature is key for the first weeks. If you put em out in germination, will kill your germinating seeds. All below 12 degrees will stun them heavy (bad idea with autos). Below 8 they are a goner.
You can grow autos all year long, as long as you look that the climate still works for the plants. Once they are out of germ, they can take more but cold isn't the best for the root system. If you can run them on a heating plate and keep the soil at 20, you shouldn't run into any issues. 
Full sun is perfect and the sun still packs 2000 micromoles PAR during winter, just get less duration and harvest is smaller.
I know the Blue Cheese and Blueberry Kush from Nirvana.. i like both plants even they have a few pheno types swinging in them. Not really difficult to grow either. Would stick to 10 liter pots and see how that works out. If you run a grow diary, you keep easy track of what you do and can get easy help.
I lost a batch of seeds in September 3 years ago due to temperature.. is what you have to watch very careful at the start.

Blue Cheese Autos i have in the tent right now

Yep. Everyone and Google warn against temps. My outdoor lot at the moment are sitting at 4° overnight and that is still warm out here at the moment.
As you mentioned, plants are taking their time and heading to be on the small side.
Out of 15 plants 3 or 4 of them looking to be a decent size.


Sent from my S40 using Tapatalk

[Darclinc]

On 5/31/2022 at 3:31 PM, ORGANinc. said:

first you want to soak some seeds, or sow straight, I recommend soaking for 12 hours in plain water that’s been sitting for atleast a day. Then prep the soil, water it with about 5 - 10%, should get you through to past seedling stage, quite easily, orgasoil lux will most likely need to be watered thoroughly, go on the 15 - 20 percent actually; let it sit for a week in some sun. Maybe plant some companion plants, then plant a week - week and half later, will make for a better environment for the autos.  
 

then don’t feed that soil for a good 4-5 weeks 

Thanks for the tips, it is appreciated.

My intention was to germinate them in water and soaked toilet paper first until the main root sprouts before planting in the Orgasoilux. I purchased one 30l bag today along with some clay pebbles. I think should be enough for all 4 plants? That would equate to roughly 7.5l per plant along with a bottom layer of pebbles of a few cm thick. At least that's what I'm planning to do.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Darclinc

[Darclinc]

On 5/31/2022 at 6:15 PM, SkunkPharm said:

Autos in 10l pots could get to about 40-70cm tall depending on allot of things. Type of sun they get. Wind plays a big factor.the soil medium. 

I'd be happy with smaller plants as I'm not interested in maxing out the yield. They will sit in as much sun as I can give them until about week 3-4 when I move them to the roof, where they'll get pretty much whatever is on offer throughout the day.

 

On 5/31/2022 at 6:15 PM, SkunkPharm said:

The are full of Shit  little plants. Good luck.

Haha, thanks! Baptism of fire, and all that...

[Darclinc]

23 hours ago, Khakibos said:

I hope we not scaring you away from growing the auto's 

Maybe check out these guys pages @SkunkPharm @DamDave @Bay Seeds @Prom @Pants - These are just some of the people on the forum with good auto grows, Prom grows a lot from Nirvana if I'm not mistaken hopefully he has grown a few of the same strains. Defiantly check his page out  

Nope, not scared at all. Even if it fails at least I will have hopefully learnt something.

I've had a brief dig around on some of the other members' stuff but will check those out for sure, thanks! I picked those strains purely because they were all listed as easy to grow.

Anyway, let's see what happens.

[Darclinc]

23 hours ago, DamDave said:

If you run into problems give me a shout. I have @Bay Seeds auto seeds, a mixed bunch that I'm growing hybrid (outdoor during the day, under lights during the night) then in a makeshift greenhouse this winter.
Learning a bit more about the plant then summer I'll be testing some of his again.
So if things don't work out first attempt let's see how some @Bay Seeds beans do on a garage roof.

Thanks, I will be sure to give you a shout if these don't work out. Regardless, I expect I will grow more in the future anyway.

 

23 hours ago, DamDave said:

Strawberry Cheesecake, Lemon Larry OG or a mix of the two. So a nice lucky packet.

Sounds amazing!

[Darclinc]

On 5/31/2022 at 10:16 PM, Bay Seeds said:

With autos my advise is to never overwater, use plenty of perlite, dont feed plants until they show a need or a ''slight fade'' in color. No.1 rule, be sure the soil is not hot. A ppm meter costs R200 and will save your grow. 

Thanks for the advice. I have, as mentioned, purchased a 30l bag of the Orgasoilux which has been recommended to me by a friend and it's also the most popular soil according to the lady at the grow shop. It has a good amount of perlite already added in, as far as I'm aware.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the PPM meter for? Is it the same as a PH meter or different?

Edited June 1, 2022 by Darclinc

[Darclinc]

16 hours ago, Dr. Green said:

I wouldn't grow auto's outside in winter without extra light. I'd be surprised if I get 25g off a plant

I don't have much other option apart from waiting until it's spring. I'm pretty much going to treat this as a learning curve and hope for the best.

Also, if I get 25g per plants I'd be quite happy, to be honest. For clarification, I actually smoke very little and when I used to buy anything I would typically get 2-3g every 3-6 months, so a large yield will be way more than I could ever need. I'm probably going to give most of it away (if there is any to give away).

[Darclinc]

10 hours ago, Prom said:

You can grow autos all year long, as long as you look that the climate still works for the plants. Once they are out of germ, they can take more but cold isn't the best for the root system. If you can run them on a heating plate and keep the soil at 20, you shouldn't run into any issues. 

Thanks, some great info here.

 

10 hours ago, Prom said:

Full sun is perfect and the sun still packs 2000 micromoles PAR during winter, just get less duration and harvest is smaller.

I only want to get them on the roof after about 3 weeks when they're a bit stronger. Thoughts? Or should I start with as much sun as possible? And what about at night? Should I consider moving them indoors until they are a bit stronger?

 

10 hours ago, Prom said:

I know the Blue Cheese and Blueberry Kush from Nirvana.. i like both plants even they have a few pheno types swinging in them. Not really difficult to grow either. Would stick to 10 liter pots and see how that works out. If you run a grow diary, you keep easy track of what you do and can get easy help.

Good to know. I picked them because they were listed as easy to grow, no other reason. I intend to keep some kind of grow diary, yes.

 

10 hours ago, Prom said:

I lost a batch of seeds in September 3 years ago due to temperature.. is what you have to watch very careful at the start.

Too cold?

 

10 hours ago, Prom said:

Blue Cheese Autos i have in the tent right now

Beautiful!

[Darclinc]

9 hours ago, DamDave said:

Yep. Everyone and Google warn against temps. My outdoor lot at the moment are sitting at 4° overnight and that is still warm out here at the moment.
As you mentioned, plants are taking their time and heading to be on the small side.

Is it in that case advisable to perhaps keep them indoors overnight, while they're small?

[Bay Seeds]

2 hours ago, Darclinc said:

Thanks for the advice. I have, as mentioned, purchased a 30l bag of the Organisoilux which has been recommended to me by a friend and it's also the most popular soil according to the lady at the grow shop. It has a good amount of perlite already added in, as far as I'm aware.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the PPM meter for? Is it the same as a PH meter or different?

Nutrients or salts are conductive. This meter can test the soil runoff water and give you an idea of how much nutrients or total desolved salts are in the soil.

 

[Darclinc]

1 hour ago, Bay Seeds said:

This meter can test the soil runoff water and give you an idea of how much nutrients or total desolved salts are in the soil.

Aaah, gotcha.

So this is what you would use to determine whether or not you need to either potentially flush the soil or feed it, depending on the reading/s?