5 Tips to Grow Your First Outdoor Cannabis Batch

Updated on March 12, 2019

The process of growing cannabis for personal use is a great experience in itself, aside from the fact that it helps you make significant savings on your monthly expenditure on medical marijuana. If you’re growing cannabis for the first time in your home, a small outdoor crop would cost you much less to cultivate than an indoor garden. 

All you really need is a sun-lit backyard, rooftop or balcony and the following tips to set up your first outdoor marijuana garden and grow a quality crop with plenty of yield.

Check if your local climate is suited for cannabis cultivation

Cannabis can adjust to a range of climatic conditions, provided the temperature doesn’t get too high or too low. In addition, excessive rain and heavy winds can damage the plants and affect your yield. Moderate temperature and limited moisture with plenty of sunlight makes for ideal growing conditions for cannabis.

Choose a location that will maximize yield

Even if the local weather doesn’t seem exactly suited for growing marijuana, you can still have a small outdoor garden if you choose a location that will shield your cannabis crop from the elements. For instance, in a windy area, choose a spot that would protect your plants from strong winds but would still get plenty of sunlight. In a cool climate, place your cannabis pots next to something that traps heat, such as a brick wall.

Create the right soil mix

If you’re growing cannabis in the ground, ensure that the soil is just right for a thriving crop. Ideally, cannabis plants grow well in organic soil that’s slightly acidic. Heavy soil comprised mostly of clay is a strict no, and so is sandy soil. What you need is loam that’s easy to work with, holds nutrients and moisture, drains well and offers good air circulation.

You can create the ideal soil composition in your backyard by mixing manure, organic matter, peat moss and compost into clay or sandy soil a few weeks before planting. Or, if possible, use the highly fertile silty soil from the bottom of a lake.

Choose your seeds carefully

Use the best quality seeds you can find and buy only from a trusted seller such as Seed Bank Order, an online store that delivers premium cannabis seeds right at your doorstep.

Outdoor growing is best done with seeds, as opposed to clones that are widely used for indoor cannabis cultivation. The greatest advantage with using seeds is that the seedlings can withstand cool climate and wet weather conditions. Use feminized seeds if you want to produce only female plants.

Protect your plants from pests

Aside from protecting your cannabis garden from the elements, also ensure that they’re out of reach of pesky pests. If needed, use a green insecticide or pesticide prepared from natural ingredients and inspect the plants for signs of infestation every day.

Outdoor cannabis plants can grow really tall, so you’d also need to take into account factors such as privacy and potential theft when deciding where to build your little garden.

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