When it comes to growing cannabis outdoors, there are many ways to produce the best plants with amazing frosty buds. Now is the time of year to germinate your seeds and decide which methods you will use to create a top-quality outdoor cannabis garden.
In this guide, Atami explains what tools and equipment you will need, the best Atami substrates and nutrients to use, how many outdoor cannabis plants are best suited, when and where to plant your outdoor weed plants, fertilizing outdoor-grown cannabis, the correct time to harvest your outdoor cannabis grow, and our tips to help you produce the ultimate outdoor cannabis.
How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors
Growing cannabis outdoors is an excellent way to learn how cannabis plants grow during the different stages of their lifecycle, and knowing these in advance will give you the most significant advantage.
1. Germinating your outdoor cannabis seeds
2. The seedling stage
3. The vegetation stage
4. The transition/stretching stage
5. The flowering stage
6. The harvesting stage
Tools and Equipment for an Outdoor Cannabis Garden
Planning your outdoor cannabis garden will allow you to have every step covered to produce the best outcome and yields. It is a good idea to have all the tools and equipment you will need to grow outdoor cannabis plants, so make sure you have the checklist below covered.
● Cannabis seeds
● Growing substrate
● Cannabis nutrients
● Pots to plant inside
● Watering can
● A water source
● pH pen to test the water
● Gardening wire
● Gardening canes for support
● Plastic waterproof plant labels
Which Cannabis Seeds Are Best for Your Outdoor Cannabis Plants?
There are many options when choosing what genetics you want to grow inside your outdoor cannabis garden.
You will first need to decide if you’re going to grow regular or feminized cannabis seeds and then if you plan to use photoperiod plants or auto-flowering outdoor cannabis plants.
| Regular sexed cannabis seeds | Regular seeds will produce either male or female outdoor cannabis plants. You will need to remove the male plants and keep the female plants. |
| Feminized cannabis seeds | Feminized cannabis seeds mean your outdoor cannabis garden will have only female plants inside and eliminate the need to remove male plants later in the year. |
| Photoperiod cannabis seeds | Photoperiod cannabis plants will stay in a vegetative state until they begin to flower, and the lighting hours are reduced around August. |
| Auto-flowering cannabis seeds | Auto-flowering cannabis genetics have a much shorter life span, flower automatically after 4 weeks, and grow to a medium size. Autos are perfect for a discreet cannabis garden. |
The Best Substrates for Outdoor-Grown Cannabis
The next step in your quest to produce the healthiest outdoor cannabis plants is to decide which growing substrate you want to use. You can choose an organic or soilless medium. Below are different options.
Kilomix – Heavily fertilized peat substrate with perlite
Bi Grow Mix – Medium fertilized peat & coco fiber substrate
Janeco Light Mix – Lightly fertilised peat substrate with perlite
Washed and Buffered Cocos – non-fertilised washed & buffered cocos
Worm Delight – Soil enhancer rich in micro-organisms & main nutrients
The Best Nutrients for Growing Cannabis Outdoors
When you have decided which growing medium suits your style of growing outdoor cannabis plants, you must determine what base nutrients you wish to feed your plants to allow them to become big, healthy, and robust plants that produce amazing-tasting buds and impressive yield. Below are the different options you can choose.
VGN Veganic Fertilisers: The new VGN line is the ideal choice for growers who want an organically grown outdoor cannabis garden. For the best outdoor crops, we recommend combining the Janeco-Light-Mix.
ATA NRG line: A perfect blend of organic and mineral-based nutrients that is extremely popular amongst growers who want to achieve great flowerings and massive plants.
B’cuzz line: For the outdoor cannabis grower who wants to use a soilless growing medium and work strictly with Washed and Buffered Cocos.
Watering and Fertilizing Outdoor Cannabis
Creating the best watering schedule will depend on your free time and schedule. Not every grower will have the time to water their outdoor cannabis garden. However, we recommend creating a watering and fertilization schedule starting around 10 a.m. and a second watering around 8 p.m. when the sun sets, and the temperature is lower, resulting in a cooler environment.
● Avoid watering your cannabis plants during 12 – 4 pm, during the hottest parts of the day.
● Follow the fertilization guide provided on the nutrient bottles to avoid over-fertilization.
● Ensure your water source is fresh and not too cold for the roots to absorb.
● Always check the pH levels of your water source to promote optimal nutrient availability.
Outdoor Cannabis Grow Guide - When to Plant
Springtime is the optimal time to germinate your cannabis seeds and officially start your outdoor cannabis garden. This means your seedlings have the best chance of growing into large, bushy, and vigorous plants.
It is best to get photoperiod seedlings outside by the middle of April and the first week of May. Choose auto flowers with genetics that match your local climate. As recommended by M.S.N.L., some auto strains thrive in cooler temperatures, while others excel in warm or Mediterranean climates.
Where to Plant Your Outdoor Cannabis Plants
You will want to keep your outdoor cannabis plants in a sunny location, so they get the most sun possible each day as they develop and grow. A south-facing location will allow outdoor cannabis plants to receive the most sunlight daily. That being said, below is a list of places to keep your plants
● Outdoors-grown cannabis plants can remain in a private back garden with lots of space.
● A greenhouse is a great way to keep outdoor cannabis plants safe and secure.
● A polytunnel can be custom-built and will help to hide your plants from neighbors.
● Autos can grow in the garden, on a roof terrace, on a sunny balcony, or in a flower bed.
When to Harvest Outdoor Cannabis
Harvesting your outdoor cannabis garden will be an exhilarating time when all your months of hard work will pay off. The optimal harvest window for outdoor-grown cannabis should be based on the number of weeks the strain is recommended to flower, how swollen the bracts and calyx have become, how the trichomes look under a magnification tool, and the number of brown/orange pistils on the plants.
Atami's Top Tips for How to Grow The Best Cannabis Outdoors
Below is a list of our top tips for taking your outdoor cannabis garden to the next level and guaranteeing the best results.
Tip #1 – Using cannabis plant boosters for the ultimate yields
If your goal is to have jars full of sun-grown, incredible-quality outdoor cannabis buds, then using flowering boosters will undoubtedly help you achieve that goal much more quickly. Our tip is to use Bloombastic, Rokzbastic, or Bi-Bloombastic to take your buds to cup-winning level.
Tip #2 – Outdoor cannabis plant training techniques
Training outdoor cannabis plants during the vegetation stage will allow your plants to become stronger, bigger, and capable of a greater final yield. Our tip here is to apply low-stress techniques such as tying plants down, super cropping, and topping, combined with adding plant support such as gardening canes or bamboo canes for added support.
Tip #3 – Check your outdoor cannabis garden daily
One way to become the best outdoor cannabis grower is to consistently check your cannabis plants daily, ensuring the growing medium has enough water, the plants are not showing signs of nutrient deficiencies, and create a pest management plan so insects and bugs do not damage your outdoor cannabis grow.
Conclusion on How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors
Growing outdoor cannabis is an excellent opportunity to see how cannabis grows in a natural environment over the summer season.
It may take a lot of hard work and maintenance; however, when done right, it is an enriching time on many levels and an excellent way to learn about the different stages of a plant’s life cycle.
As long as you keep your plants happy and healthy with the right growing medium, watering, and fertilization schedule when flowering, the rest is a matter of patience and keeping a close eye on your cannabis garden!
