Question Going outdoor- In pots or in the ground?

[jpcyan2]

So, I plan on moving a few plants outdoor after taking cuts. I'm looking for feedback on positives and negatives of each> In the pot or planted in the earth?
These will be in a wooded, overgrown area of vines, briars, wild roses and Blackberries. It's quite a large area, open to the east,south, and west sides as most of the large Oaks have died and are still standing, but leafless. Good cover and pretty difficult to just get into. Minimum 6 hrs direct sun now and more as summer lengthens and the sun is higher in the sky. Deep shade only in early morn and late evening.
Legal here, but not for cultivation unless I go med.
Even considering a passive hydro/organic (wick or gravity fed drip), or maybe a small 12vdc solar pump for active watering in a mix of substrates. (hydroton, used RW, FFOF, Rice hulls.)
What ya got? All ideas, opinions, and thoughts appreciated.

 

[Deebs]

Not having grown outside, I can not offer much feedback. I can offer some sites of research!

I know we have some masters here wrangling outdoor canopies! They for sure got the goods here

Growing Cannabis Outdoors: The Ground Vs Pots

Choosing whether to grow cannabis in the ground or in pots can be tricky, so here are the advantage and disadvantages of each.

www.zamnesia.com

Growing cannabis outdoors: pots or open soil?

There are various ways to approach outdoor cannabis growing. We take a brief look at the pros and cons of each method so you can decide which way of growing cannabis outdoors suits you best.

sensiseeds.com

 

[jpcyan2]

Thanks @Deebs. I'll be giving those a good read.?

 

[Dbear]

The potential for big plants is higher in the ground if you work that dirt a little? pots limit your rootball.

 

[Drynobbob]

Doin big pots with promix. Can tell already they drain good. Dodging tornados to get mine transplanted by this week, month under 24/7 got em beefed a lil but nervous bout how long for acclimation for outside. They had a day or two out, may have no choice but sink or swim Friday, lol

 

[Buzzer777]

15 gallon TAN smart pots here. The ground is too clay like and I don't feel like messing with it. You have to use a lighter color pots here, since the sun in the high Sierra is brutal in the summers..UV is off the charts.

This was last yr at the end of September. One never know what the weather will bring; last yr I had light snow while I was chopping in early October.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

15 gallon TAN smart pots here. The ground is too clay like and I don't feel like messing with it. You have to use a lighter color pots here, since the sun in the high Sierra is brutal in the summers..UV is off the charts.

This was last yr at the end of September. One never know what the weather will bring; last yr I had light snow while I was chopping in early October.
View attachment 12492

Holy hell that's in 15 gallon smart pots? That's what I'm using this year for my photo Ketama and was worried I had chosen too small of a pot. If I end up half that size I'll be thrilled.

To answer OPs question though, I think it depends on where you are. We have good, fertile soil so I was tempted to go in the ground, but the last few falls have been gnarly. I'm on the coast and the wind and storms were brutal right at harvest time last year and I know a lot of folks who lost their crops. I went with a pot so that I can grab the plant with my skid steer and out her in the shop if anything real bad rolls through late in the season!

 

[Drynobbob]

Got em transplanted, first timer, lol. Threw some sevin on em for fighting chance from getgo, as I'm out in booger woods bug heaven. see what happens. Not sure size o dem tubs. I

 

[JL2G]

When I was doing outdoors still I preferred the pots myself. I was in a 8 x 14 x 6' tall dog run converted to a greenhouse. Lol.

My reasonings.
- Ability to limit plant size being as I had a greenhouse height limit.
- If I needed to move them about I could, manicuring them, inspections, bug tx, cold weather, whatever. Lol.
- My native soil is hard as fuck to dig. Lmfao.
- I could easily give away the extra girls after I made my selections of who to keep, and axed the boys.

Now if I was in the country and didn't need to have them contained it'd be a different story. Lol.

I'd dig out a good 3-4 ft deep x 4 -5 ft diameter hole and mix in a batch of organic supersoil to fill it in with.
Grow trees like @SmithsJunk does. Lol.

 

[TerpyTyrone]

They become top heavy in pots. A remedy is half in the ground. It helps keep em cool,too. ?

 

[Buzzer777]

They become top heavy in pots. A remedy is half in the ground. It helps keep em cool,too. ?

Thankfully mine never moved in the 15's. It gets pretty windy here too.

The yr before was a different story. The 5 gallon cloth pots, and 10 gallon plastic pots, always tipped over.

 

[jpcyan2]

Daaaaaaamn! Thats got some ridiculous buds. Is that one plant? Strain? Was that in a 5 or 10 gallon? What soil mix and nutes are you using ?

Beautiful @Buzzer777 ! thanks for sharing your pics.

 

[Buzzer777]

Daaaaaaamn! Thats got some ridiculous buds. Is that one plant? Strain? Was that in a 5 or 10 gallon? What soil mix and nutes are you using ?

Beautiful @Buzzer777 ! thanks for sharing your pics.

TY.
There were 3 plants. 2x Bonza mystery (Green Crack I think) + a Greenpoint Seeds Cackleberry. I used Promix HP and Megacrop Version 1. The largest pots were 2x10 gallon plastic, and the 3rd was in a 5 gallon cloth pot. The whole thing began as an experiment to see if they would grow ok in the High Sierra Desert climate..They did!

I began the three in plastic pots, in only 3 gallon cloth pots. Wound up dropping the cloth pots into the ten gallon plastics and the roots grew thru instead of air pruning. it was messy so last yr I went to the 15 gallon cloth pots.

 

[jpcyan2]

@Buzzer777 - Thanks for the info. Very impressive for the size of pots you used. I'd be absolutely thrilled to get anywhere near that yield and size.