First Grow Concerns/Help

[Rabbit Fighter]

Hello folks,

I am new here and new to the world of growing. This year will be my first attempt at an outdoor grow and I just had a few questions/concerns.

1. I live in northern illinois, USA and the weather here can be very unpredictable in the spring and fall harvesting season. I will not be able to veg my plants indoors at all, but would like to give them enough veg time as possible without the risk of a late frost or cold snap. I was thinking of putting the seedlings(assuming my seeds ever arrive) outside to get them acclimated the first week in May and to have them in the soil by the second week of May. Will this plan give my plants enough time to veg out?

2. I am planning on building a wood framed 'soil box' for my plants and dont know how large to make it. Considering i would like to grow anywhere from 20-25 plants to their full potential, how far away from each other should i space the plants? I just want make sure their roots have plenty of room and avoid any root binding, but at the same time keep the grow as compact as possible.

3. I plan to fill the dug out soil box mentioned earlier with about 2 feet of my custom soil mix. Will this be enough depth for well formed roots or should i allow more space? I was also planning on a layer of sand/clay pellets for the bottoms six inches or so of the 'soil bed' to allow for efficient drainage. Would this be a bad idea in any respect?

I appreciate any help you fine folks can offer, and I am wide open to suggestion. Thanks in advance! :farm:

Happiness,
RF

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm not sure that you realize how large outside plants can get...outside plants grown to their "full potential" can often be 10' tall and 4' in diameter.

 

[Rabbit Fighter]

Ya, that is pretty big, but i'm figuring in the first time factor + less than 100% optimal lighting conditions. Plus, im in the well hidden boonies on 50+acres. The bigger the better i guess, it would not be a problem for them to reach their full potential other than me being in a state of shock.

 

[T-Bone]

What strains are you growning? for first time or even second, i liked using bag seeds, they seem to be hardy and always take well, plus this will give you a better hands on understanding of what to expect. with high price seeds, expectations can always run high, this was, you have minimal investment and it will pay out in the end. this is just my opinion. but it sounds as though you have a good set up to go off of. what is your medium (soil) consisted of? I.E sand, manure, peat, cocoa, perlite? what is your mix. the more you have for us, the better we can assist you, and remember, there are no strange questions. Just ask away.
~T-Bone

 

[Rabbit Fighter]

I have a lot of growing supplies at my disposal after spending many years working in commercial green houses. Specifically i was planning on using an equal mix of scotts 500 and 560 metro mixes for majority of the growing medium. I want to supplement this with perlite for added drainage/aeration. I also add worm castings and microrizae to most of my soil mixtures for my 'legal garden' and it seems to work well.

As far as strains, i probably should of experimented with bag seed to start, but i already spent the money so may as well roll with it. I stuck to mostly outdoor friendly strains including Holland's Hope, Durban Poison, and Blue Cheese(couldn't resist with this name). Anyway, I don't have any expectations for this other than to learn some stuff and I am, maybe, a little overzealous but i can't help myself its been a boring winter lol