Growing Cannabis Outdoors: 10 Common Mistakes

Every year we see how people repeat the same mistakes when it comes to growing outdoors, and we’ve decided to put them all together in one post to help others out and prevent them from making the same mistakes. Pay attention to these 10 common mistakes when growing cannabis outdoors and get ready to fill up your pantry this season!

Germinating seeds wrong

One of the most common and most deadly mistakes happens at the very start, during the germination. Germinating incorrectly or not taking care of the saplings can be lethal during this stage, so to avoid this you can follow these steps:

• Germinate the seeds between moistened kitchen towel; if you plant the seed in soil and water, you’ll most likely end up sinking the seed in deeper and making germination take much longer. Plus, when germinating in soil it’s much harder to keep stable temperatures between 20 and 24°C.
• Take care of your saplings. Cannabis plants are never as weak as they are at this exact time; a soaked flowerpot can cause growth to stunt and even kill the plant. If you plant during spring when nights are still cold, growth can be slow; we recommend using a greenhouse or propagator to keep them safe. A propagator can also help to protect recently germinated cannabis seeds from birds.

If you want more information about how to germinate your seeds, check out our post on germinating cannabis seeds.

Bad Planning

One of the second most common errors when growing cannabis is bad planning beforehand. This error is common to new growers and it can cause serious issues further down the line. In order to mproperly organize your grow, you’ll need to keep the following in mind:

• Look for high quality cannabis seeds. You can’t plant an unlimited amount of seeds, so it’s important to guarantee that the ones you plant are going to work and have decent genes. At La Huerta Grow Shop we have a wide range of seed banks that you can choose from.
• Choose your strains wisely. Look for cannabis seeds that adapt to your growing conditions. For example, long flowering plants that are harder to grow might be a bit too much for a beginner.
• Look for a type of growing format that matches your experience and available time. If you don’t have much experience, we recommend looking for simple fertilizer brands with few products and good results.
• If this is one of your first times growing your own plants, remember that you’ll get better results from a simple grow with strains that are easy to grow. It’s better to play it safe than to end up ruining strains that need more experience. At La Huerta Grow Shop you can find a wide range of high-quality fertilizers.

Common watering mistakes

Water is the vehicle through which your plants consume nutrients. Being careless with water quality or watering incorrectly is a mistake that your plants can pay dearly for. Keep in minds that most tap water has chlorine, as well as bottled water – although we can drink it, it can be bad for plants and the microbial life in soil. If you use tap water, let it sit for 24h in order to get rid of most of its chlorine. On the other hand, if you have an osmosis filter, you shouldn’t have any issues; osmosis filters get rid of chlorine as well as other salts.

Dissolved salts (EC)

An excess of dissolved salts can be bad for your outdoor cannabis grow. Tap water can contain certain amounts of minerals and salts depending on where it’s obtained, which is why it’s important to measure it before starting your grow. Use an EC meter, and depending on the levels, you’ll know what type of water you’re dealing with:

• Soft water: 0 to 0.4mS
• Normal water: 0.4 to 0.8mS
• Hard water: 0.8 to 1.2mS
• Unusable water: 12mS+

Keep in mind that EC levels in tap water vary depending on the location. For example, the Mediterranean coast in Spain tends to have very high concentrations – we recommend using an osmosis filter to make your water ideal for growing. You’ll need to add some calcium and magnesium to your purified water until it reaches about 0.4 – 0.5mS. Osmosis water that has been treated properly is ideal for watering or mixing with nutrients.

Acidity (pH)

In order to properly absorb nutrients, macro and micronutrients need substrate with a certain amount of acidity. In grows that use soil substrate, pH should be between 6 and 7 for nutrients to be properly absorbed. In order to control pH you’ll need to use a pH reactive kit or a digital pH meter.

Efficient Watering

Plants’ roots need nutrients, humidity, and oxygen. If you soak them, the lack of oxygen can produce a lot of stress; plants stop growing and their leaves go yellow. Make sure to water only when your plants need it, and get used to lifting the flowerpots and testing their weight to see if they need to be watered yet.

Using Bad Substrate/Growing Medium

• Don’t use generic substrates. A big mistake is to try and save money by using lower quality soil that isn’t designed for cannabis. Cannabis plants have a series of specific requirements when it comes to acidity, salts and fertilizers; once the plant has made its home, you won’t be able to change it and it can end up influencing the entire process.
• Get used to calculating how much soil you’re going to need. At La Huerta Grow Shop you can find a wide range of substrates at decent prices designed for high quality outdoor growing.
• Choose the right growing medium. Always check the ingredients, which is to say, the quantity and type of fertilizer, water retention etc. For small plants, you’ll want a substrate that drains quickly such as Light Mix by Biobizz; a water retaining substrate could be an issue during the first stages.
• Use perlite to add oxygen to the substrate.
• Use an expanded clay base at the bottom of the flowerpot to increase drainage, as well as isolate roots from heat reflecting off the ground.

Heat Issues

Another common mistake made on balconies and terraces is that not many people keep in mind the heat reflected off the tiles on the ground. You’ll need to be extremely careful with hot floors; the roots can end up heating up too much, and if you look at it this way, nature does the exact opposite – the ground is supposed to be nice and cool.

If your plants’ roots heat up too much and end up causing the plant to stress out it can easily stunt growth and cause issues during the flowering period. Stress can reduce the quality and quantity of the final product, and plants also become more susceptible to insect and fungi infestations.

At La Huerta Grow Shop you can find white flowerpots which are ideal for outdoor grows; they reflect light instead of absorbing it and heating up the roots. White flowerpots can be squared, round and even come in large sizes with handles. Fabric flowerpots are also ideal for outdoors. If the plants are going to be on a surface that heats up easily, remember to isolate them using wooden pallets or some sort of isolating material.

Watering and Fertilizing in Summer

During the summer, water evaporation is a lot higher, so you’ll need to water more often. If you fertilize with the same amount every time you water you could end up overfeeding them; they need water, not necessarily nutrients. In order to avoid this, we recommend distributing nutrients into less doses and more water when increasing watering frequency.

Preventing Insect Infestations

Insects are always around in outdoor grows, and stopping them from becoming a problem is a task that shouldn’t be avoided. If you find insects you should act immediately before it becomes an infestation.

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• Routinely check both sides of plant leaves to check for insects and spiders.
• Thrips and leaf miners are common at the start of the growing period.
• Halfway through spring, white flies and aphids appear.
• During the summer the biggest issue tends to be red spider mites.
• During the flowering stage, keep an eye out for bud worms burrowing in your flowers.
• Don’t reuse substrate/soil, especially if it has had a previous infestation.

Visit La Huerta Grow Shop to treat your outdoor cannabis plants with the best insecticides and fungicides.

Rot and Fungi Prevention

Another common mistake is to slack when it comes to preventing fungal infections or not acting fast enough when the first symptoms arise. Fungus on cannabis spreads easily and can quickly finish them off or make the flowers unusable.

In order to avoid this, you need to keep an extremely clean growing area.

• Clean and disinfect pots with bleach before using.
• Use preventive products such as horsetail, cannacure etc.
• Use curative products such as Lexor 25 as soon as the first symptoms appear.
• Make sure to get rid of any infections as soon as possible.

Using Nutrients and Fertilizers

Nutrients and additives for cannabis by the main fertilizer brands are high in quality and they work quite well. The main issues tend do come from:

• Choosing the wrong type of fertilizer for your grow. Make sure that you’re getting the product you need. At La Huerta Grow Shop you can find professional advice when needed.
• Inexperienced growers using complicated feeding charts.
• Incorrect use. Make sure to start with half of the dose indicated by the manufacturer and increase it little by little.

Products are designed to be used alongside others by the same brand. If you plan on replacing or combining a product with another brand, keep this in mind and choose one with the same characteristics in order to make sure they’re compatible. At La Huerta Grow Shop you can find information about the best fertilizers for each type of grow.

Don’t Forget the Roots

Forgetting all about the plants’ roots is another common mistake to consider. A healthy root system is necessary to have a healthy plant that provides high yields of healthy flowers. Over time, roots colonize their environment and end up running out of space. Regular and feminized strains will need to be transplanted periodically when planted in flowerpots; changing to larger pots allows roots to grow even more.

Keep in mind that the final flowerpot depends on the size and yield of the plant outdoors. Transplants should be done using root stimulants, mycorrhizae and Trichoderma. These additives are designed to keep soil healthy and avoid pathogens.

When growing autoflowering plants, we recommend using a decent-sized flowerpot as you can’t transplant autoflowering plants; they have a short growth period and need as much space for their roots as possible, without going overboard.

Leave the Plant Alone!

Fiddling with your plants too much can end up being counterproductive. Don’t stress the plant out; if it isn’t growing or flowering like it should, there’s a factor at play that you need to solve for it to continue as normal.

Working on the wrong issue won’t help and it can be bad for the plant. For example, the quality of the water used is not right and your plant is having nutritional issues, you won’t be able to solve this by using more nutrients or stimulants – the solution is to use better quality water.

At La Huerta Grow Shop we have a team of specialists that can help you to find the issues that are stopping your outdoor plants from growing properly outdoors.

Last Advice

• Make sure to keep in mind if you had any issues during your last grow, and how to fix them next time.
• Keep a journal on your grow and any mistakes so you can use the experience to improve every year.
• The biggest mistake and the one that causes the most issues is not paying enough attention to your plants.
• Growing cannabis is a medium-term commitment, keep in mind that it will take at least 2 months, and you’ll need to spend some time on your grow at least every day or two days.
• Don’t postpone work that needs doing.
• Clean any fallen leaves and make sure everything is clean.
• Check the leaves often, both the top and bottom, looking for signs of insects, fungi or nutritional deficiencies.

Good luck and good harvesting!