Anyone out there started grow inside and then put them outside?
I’m thinking about doing this to give my Sativas room to grow. Do you continue in the grow bags? I know I need to think about bugs, what about watering, do you need to continue the correction of Ph in watering when going to soil? How do they react when transplanting? How do you make it easier, I don’t really want to lose my plants to shock. It’s really hot and dry here. Right now my girls are in a 4x4, maybe 6’ tall tent. Right now they are doing very well. I have started light training.
You all really helped me on watering and thank all of you for all replies.
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I live in Las Vegas…and it is HOT AND DRY. I start many of my plants, if not all, indoors and or in a tent. I put some in containers, some in the ground. With the heat that is a constant portion of growing here, I do not do July / August/ early September plantings. What I do plant is autoflowers…mostly in my garden after sprouting indoors. Some in 2/3 gal pots when I want a larger variety of try to keep an ace up my sleeve by having some I can take in to protect from the heat. Last year I lost 90% of my crop to a hot spell of 116 for over 3 weeks and 2 months at 110+… With a 2-3 month turnaround, they seem to fare the best against our summer heat. My photoperiod plants I have since February. I timed them to mature in about 5-6 weeks and hopefully this BLAST OF HEAT, early summer, is not going to kill off my crop. I plant those in large containers. I start in 3 gal cloth and transplant to 7, 10, 14 and 25 gal containers. I do not change anything in my watering - I keep same nutrients as always, I always check my Ph, I always aerate my water/feeding for minimum 24 hrs prior. I do use my garden hose and sometimes spray the containers to COOL THEM DOWN as we are blistering right now. Have easily been 110°f and expect 116° by midweek…seems like summer is coming early to CREMATORIA.
Transplanting - handle with care, make sure your soil is wet a couple days ahead and start at night or indoors, then transition to outside…it takes 2/3 days easily to acclimate themselves to this brutal sun
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Hi Mike,
We’ve chatted before. It’s the heat I’m worried about. Thank you for talking about this. It is very hot and dry in Santa Fe. It’s 82 out there right now but it will get to100 here this month. At this altitude some times it feels like you are sipping oxygen through a straw on the 100 degree days.
Thanks for the description on how you are doing your containers, watering and your nutes. You answered many of my questions. Thank you for the heads up of the soil and making sure it’s wet a couple of days ahead of transplant.
Due to a couple of disasters thanks to the deep cold in Feb and Mar. I started the Sativas in early March. I’ve started training and they all are looking good. This is my first grow that looks semi nice. I’d like to keep it that way particularly since what you are saying about your experience with this high heat issue. Between you and me I wonder how the pros do it where you and I live. The medical dispensaries here have beautiful outdoor grows. blows my mind
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They grow using hydroponics or blank substrates and use total synthetic nutrients to feed the roots. Perfect water, perfect Ph, perfect nutes for every stage…sometimes misters to lower temps, shade trellises…silica, ect…there are quite a few methods to preserve when battling tremendous heat like we have. My yard hit 100+ over a month ago and many times I am 115plus…My autos suffer from stress but still produce, just less. My photos, I lean towards the sativa in the spring who are hardy in the desert heat. I move to Indica for the fall and can finish off in the tent if I want. I also have an outdoor tent so I can control light/dark schedules…I also made shade trellises - schedule 40 pvc, shade netting like the nursery’s…
If you put the plants out and they get heat stressed, you can do a few things…
cloth containers, light color, mist the outside of the cloth container a few times a day to keep the temp down. Water with chilled water…leaf temperature is not soil temperature. Make sure you have a mulch to protect the soil from overheating…I use an inch or 2 of peat or coca on top as MULCH…I line my plastic containers with a lining…like foam peanuts…it creates a barrier between the exterior of the container and the soil / roots. Frequent watering rather than deep watering. And add silica or even DE (diatomaceous earth) to the soild
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Mike, these are awesome ideas. I really like the trellis idea, my deck would be perfect. I already use 95-98% shade cloth to prevent sunburn for me. I’m using two huge 8x 10 shades. Melanoma is a real threat at this altitude and I know it is there also. I like your ideas about how to chill them down. I’m using the light colored pots. Your idea of using foam peanuts as a barrier is brilliant. Thanks for that idea. I’m growing photos. Mike, for some reason I can not grow autos. I keep trying. Thanks for the reminder about mulch. I just did that for my flowers it’s so hot here. This morning already getting heat and smoke warnings. We’ve got several forest fires going. You have given me a lot to think about. Thanks so much. Stay hydrated!
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Beth, email me privately.
[email protected]
I will send you some autoflower seeds for you to try…along with instructions
note*…the SMOKE affects the O2 in the air…interferes with photosynthesis…
We have the Sandy Valley fire just a few miles away that has been clouding our air for about 2 weeks now. They have it 40% controlled…Then there are the Utah fires…We are surrounded by FLAMES…OMG! Where is Nero when you need him 
Then we get all the Cali fires as the summer winds (the Sans Andreas) blow everything from there to here
No wonder I cannot breathe and my COPD is choking the life out of me
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Lots of steam baths. 15 in, 15 min head in freezer during bad times. Have some mullein?
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nope, I just have been using my oxygenator on me rather than my teas / water / nute solutions
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Let me know if I can be of any help. 
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I love growing outside, but im in upstate ny, & we have crazy weather , just different from out west, we go from cold high rh, to mid 90’s dry spells , then 5 days of rain …plants still do well here, if your growing photo’s you can cut clones & grow in & out. lots of possibilities, I say go for it…
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Old stomping grounds for this NewEnglander
We got a ten minute rain here yesterday. Delighted and surprised.
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I have had very good results by burying too pot in the ground at least half way, most of the way is better. Mulch over and around it. Don’t over water it. Water the ground around it took. The roots will find and grow out any holes in the pots and continue to grow out into the ground. From there you can train them any way you want.
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I live about 20 miles west of Las Vegas, NM.
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I have not planted my plastic containers this year…all my cloths only…I could sink them as a buffer, great idea…now just gotta find room in the garden or I could bury them in my 25gal container…5 gal cloth in a 25 gal plastic? What do you think?
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Have you planted in plastic before in the heat that you have Mike? How did they do? I used to use plastic to plant in here in Santa Fe but I got some much heat stress I quit and went to the cloth type. I don’t know about putting the cloth types in the plastic and how it would do. If you do this let me know. I’m following your threads because of good ideas to use not only with growing pot. I grow a wide range of veggies in the summer and the heat is a big challenge this summer.
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I painted all my plastic containers…White and sky blue…I try to line them with a barrier prior to adding the soil. I have used - bubble wrap, the mylar sheets that have air pockets, foam from packages I have received that had items wrapped in them, one of my favorite - PEAT…I buy peat from Ace Hardware,
Black Gold Organic Sphagnum Peat Moss 3.8 cu. ft.
Item no. 7398365
Quantity: 2
Price: $15.49
I line the container, add soil, line, soil…on and on till finished. I try to keep a layer of about 1-2inch between the walls and the soil. I even use paper - butcher, old newspaper…
I add mulch to the top, silica…
but hot is hot. we hit 118° yesterday…I resort to spraying my cloth containers to cool them off. That is a benefit of the cloth containers
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Asking from a place of ignorance: would plastic not create more of an issue? Does it melt from external influences? Would one of those homemade wall cooler ideas work in between pots? My brain is asunder at the moment so I’m aware translation may be a struggle. I’ll try to find a link.
I wouldn’t put them in a bigger container. There’s nothing like Mother Earth!
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Eric, out of curiosity what kind of soil do you have on that side of the Sangres? I’m very interested because I am interested in planting out doors here. I have caliche/clay/sand here in Santa Fe. It’s ugly, hard packed soil. Think pick ax and explosives. 