Growing Marijuana Outdoors

Growing Marijuana outdoors can be a challenge! As stated before, you have a lot of things to contend with and the major one being the weather. Some of the Considerations when picking a place to grow are security, will the plants be safe from hunters, deer and yes even the po po. Water is water available while the plant is growing or do I have to carry it in? If you have to carry it in you better be in good shape! Sunlight, is the plant going to get enough sunlight to grow and flower properly? The other consideration is soil, what type of soil do you need?

Location; So lets start by going over picking a location first. Location is critical, not only for the issues of sun and water but to keep them from deer, police, hunters and yes even rat’s or mice.  A good location is not well traveled by people, it helps to have a location that when you enter does not leave noticeable tracks or trails to your plants. When planting look for places you can blend your plants in! Corn is a great place but people go too far and take a bunch of corn out of an area and make a patch that is easily spotted from the air, taking out a few corn stalks and planting a couple plants every so often will help until the plants get taller than the corn but you can go in and cut them down a bit before they get that tall. It’s better to blend in your crop with the area you choose! Plant a few here and go a little ways and plant some more. That way even if some is found, you still have some in another location that is close. Always think of how easy will it be to spot from the air or if you were walking in the woods!

Water is one of the important ones! If you do not have access to water or the ground is sandy and drains easily then you will have to carry water and believe me, this is something that you do not want to do! Planting in lowlands by lakes, streams or creeks is best. That way the ground is usually damp and if it does dry up then you have easy access to water and plants need a lot of water!


Soil; soil choice and preparation is probably the most important issue! Picking the wrong soil can waist all your hard work! Generally think of a garden, you want the best soil for your tomato’s or peppers. The soil will be the most determining factor in how your plants will turn out. Sandy soil drains too easily and does not hold moisture. It also has almost no nutrients for your plant. Clay is another soil that does not support much in the way of nutrients and it hardens when it dries out so your plants will have a hard time spreading out roots. It does hold water a little better than sand but not much! Dark top soil is the best, it will hold water for longer, it allows good root growth and it holds nutrients.

Sunlight; sunlight is a big key in growing a good flowering plant and the key to how fast it will grow. Generally light is the driving factor in how fast a plant will grow and how and when it will flower! When a marijuana plant gets plenty of sun it will grow like a weed! The key is the time the plant gets sun, if your plants get early morning sun they will grow faster and the earlier in the evening the plants are cut off from sun will decide when they bloom. Marijuana requires at least 11 hours of light, not direct but when the light is cut down under 11 hours it will cause the plant to flower. Evening sun will help your plants to a full flower faster but it is hard to find a place that is open enough to get both early morning and evening sunlight and still keep them hidden.

Soil Preparation has a lot to do with how fast your plants will grow from start to finish. You will either be starting your plants in the soil or you will be starting them in some type of container earlier in the season so you can get them going before the weather breaks.  Starting them before hand in some type of medium or container also helps the plants grow a little and get healthy before they are taken out and thrown in the weather. When I find a location, I figure where and how many plants I will be putting in at each spot, then I turn the soil over and loosen it up! You should do this to a depth of at least 14 inches if you can and at least that in any direction to allow for easy root growth. When I lived in Hawaii it was hard to find patches of dirt in the rocks that were 6 inches deep! I also like to put a mixture of lime and fertilizer in as I am turning the soil and I like to turn the soil at least two weeks before I put any plants in that spot. This allows the mixture I add to get into the soil and weaken a bit, if you were to plant right after turning you take the chance of killing your plants because the mixture is too strong and it will burn the plant. Plants like soil a little on the Alkaloid side so the lime will help take the acidity out of the soil. Lime will not hurt your plant so I usually add quite a bit to offset the fertilizer.



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