Maine Outdoor 2026 LATE START

masterofsmeagol I has going to take the year off growing due to a number of reasons. I didn't think I would be able to devote the time necessary to succeed. I didn't want to miss out on one of my FAVORITE activities. I usually start WAY earlier. I am attempting to germinate a few strains that I have that were freebies from other orders. I went with mainly autoflowers this year due to me having them and me feeling like I'm starting late. I've never grown autoflowers so this will at least be a new experience. I'm contemplating starting a few more photoperiod seeds. I have several strains I do well with. In particular I still have MK Ultra and 10th planet. I'll see how these seeds do and when I get a chance I'll check dispensaries for any quality clones. If I find some good ones I may grab a few. I guess we'll see what happens. Any advice for an experienced grower who has zero experience with autoflowers and is intending to grow them outdoors? I'm all ears. 5/27 One of the fat face autos and it looks like two of the Maine lobstah have popped. The lilac diesel x zweet autos look like they have little tails too so I need to get some soul like today. EDIT: I WENT AND GOT MY SOUL TODAY. MIX WILL BE THE USUAL OF 40% HAPPY FROG 40% OCEAN FOREST 20% ROOTS ORGANIC 707. SIX SEEDS HAVE FULLY GERMINATED AND WERE TRANSPLANTED INTO SOLO CUPS WITH HAPPY FROG AND PLACED UNSER AN AEROGARDEN. ALL 3 MOOSE AND LOBSTAH, BANJO AUTO, 1 LILAC DIESEL AUTO CROSSED WITH ZWEET AUTO, AND 1 FACE FAT. I ALSO STARTED GERMINATING 3 10TH PLANET SEEDS TO ADD TO THE LINE UP IN CASE SOME OF THE OTHERS FAIL. I TOOK PICTURES. I'M NOT REALLY LIKING HOW THE 10TH PLANET SEEDS LOOKED BUT THEY WERE STORED IN ORIGINAL PACKAGING WITH THECREST OF THESE SEEDS. EVERYTHING SHOULD BE GOOD. COULDNT UPLOAD PICS DUE TO SLOW INTERNET 5/28 I checked to see if I had anymore seeds that germinated but unfortunately nothing has germinated yet. It's only been about 12 hours for the 10th planet so we'll see how it goes. I USUALLY have great germination rates. I didnt use mykos transplanting but it should be in the happy frog anyway. I looked around two and I saw two of the moose and lobstah crosses breaking surface. they are the first ones to do so. I took a couple pics I'll upload tomorrow. I didn't have a shot glass with me and the cups looked fairly dry. I don't think I added enough water the soil to begin with. once plants are established I can weigh them. I'll check the other seeds tonight. I also started cleaning my grow cage and I emptied the grow bags. I need to clean them but I won't be using them first a while. 5/29 It's morning and I had a "feeling" so I checked the remaining seeds. The 10th planet looks like all three have germinated (I think ONE may be a little behind butvi'm pretty sure they all had a little tail). I'm going to wait until tonight to do the transplant though. I want the taproom a little longer. The remaining Face Fat seed germinated! I haven't seen a seed germinate like this. I saw one side of the seed look like it was cracking open. I looked on the other side and it had the taproom like running what appears to be up the side of the seed where it cracked. I hope this doesn't impact the transplant and that it's able to differentiate "up from down." I would hope that with the light it will know which way to grow. the remaining two lilac diesel x zweet auto have not yet germinated. That's a bummer because I wad really kookingvforward to trying that strains in this environment. I also noticed that ALL six seeds that were transplanted have broken through the soil! so we are off to the races. I'm going to keep this as germination at least until at least tonight when i transplant the others. I can't upload pictures here and I'm not looking at the seeds again but I'll take a few pictures of what's coming out of the ground. I need to bring over a shot glass for watering. Watered a shot glass worth of water. EDIT: THE FIRST SIX SEEDS THAT WERE TRANSPLANTED LOST THEIR SGELLS AND ARE DOING GOOD. I PUT TGE REMAINING SEEDS (ALL POPPED SO FAR BUT 2 OF THE LILAC DIESEL X ZWEET AUTO). I TRANSPLANTED THE 3 10TH PLANTS THAT ALL GERMINATED AND THE OTHER FACE FAT INTO SOLONCUPS WITH HAPPY FROG AND PUT THEM UNDER ANOTHER AERO GARDEN. I FOUND A COUPLE BEW BILBS FOR THE AEROGARDEN SO I REPLACEF THE WEAKEST LOOKING ONES. I'LL WAIT A LITTLE BIT FOR THE LILAC DIESELS. HOPFULLY THE WILL POP. IF NOT THATS ABOUT AVERAGE. I'M OK WITH 10 OUT OF 12 IF THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS. I'M JUST WORRIED ABIYT TONIGHT AND A MOUSE GETTING ON OF MY TINY SPROUTS. IM TRYING TO THINK OF A WAY TO PROTEXT THEM. MY HOUSE IS CLEAN AND I JUST REDID IT BUT IM STILL WORRIED. I HAVENT SEEN A MOUSE BUT IT DOESNT MEAN THEY ARENT HERE. I SOAKED COTTON BALLS IN PEPPERMINT OIL. I THINK I MIGHT GO GET A TOTE A PLACE THE AEROGARDEN IN THERE FOR THE NIGHT. IT'S PROBABLY OVERKILL. THEY ARENT FAR ALONG. I HAVE A PLASTIC HUMIDITY DOME AT MY DADS THAT WOULD PROBABLY COVER THEM. I THINK I'LL BE OK. I SAID THAT THE NIGHT I LOST ONECOF MY 10TH PLANET GIRLS. DIFFERENT LOCATION AND I KNEW THERE WAS A MOUSE PROBLEM. THESE ARE ON THE KITCHEN TABLE WITH PEPPERMIND OIL SURROUNDING THEM. WE'LL SEE WHAT I FIGURE OUT. 5/30 I'm feeling better about this late start. It was 39° this morning when I looked. I assume mich colder at night. The seedlings have really come alive. We are past germination with pretty much everything. Even the germinated seeds that were planted into solos yesterday are showing helmet heads out the top. using the TWO aerpgardens was a good idea. I also found a little fan that charges with a USB. It's pretty powerful and it stands upright on it's own. It also has a mist function which I used for a little bit to raise humidity. I keep the fan on the lowest setting just to circulate the air. I'm pleasantly surprised to see the growth of the seedlings so vigorous. I DID have to help one of the moose and lobstah crosses remove a particularly stubborn seed. I got it off without damaging the seed. I have not yet checked the last two Lilac Diesel x Zweet Auto. I have 6 GOOD photos (3 m&l x slh and 3 10th P) if the autos don't do as well as I hope they do. I'm excited for this season. I need to water today. I've got to get a few things from my dad's too. I believe this will probably be the last germination entry. Dependent on how the 3 tenth planet and the other Face Fat Auto do in the soil. the seeds are poking out so I'm pretty sure they'll be ok. I need to check on the remaining two lilac diesel x zweet autos. I hope those pop. That was a strains I was looking forward too. I've got one though if they don't. I'll take 10 out of 12 anyway. that's not a bad rate. But honestly they still have plenty of time to pop. That fan is set up with the mister on it is awesome. it's not blowing the seedlings but it's rearranging the air and increasing humidity. Watered the 6 that have lost their shells and have their first tiny TRUE LEAVES with a shot glass of phed water. The temp reads 80°f at what looks to be the hottest spot. The other 4 that are transplanted have all reached the top of the soil and are peaking out.. ONE of the lilac diesel x zweet looks like it's splitting but we'll see. I'll probably change this to week one of veg tomorrow. These things grow so fast I'm fairly certain these helmet heads will drop thir shell by tomorrow but we'll see 5/31 The four other seeds that I transplanted all have pushed past the soil. I've got one 10th Plandt that is pretty tall with a helmet head. It looks like a big seed. I'm hoping the plant can shed it alright. The original six are ALL doing great. They are growing at an astonishing rate! I didn't take pictures but tomorrow I'm switching this to veg. The original 6 that were transplanted all have their first true leaves. I noticed a couple that MAY be stretching a bit. However, when I changed the light LAST time with seedlings it was too much and negatively impacted them. I'll keep an eye out but it looks like only one seed is really stretching. I need to leave more room in these solo cups. that way if they stretch i can just add more soil. I've got a ton of shit to do. I need to clean amd sanitizer my grow cage and bags. Spray the cage itself for insects and who knows what else. I'm actually glad that I'm not outdoors yet. It's been in the middle 30's here when I get up around 5a.m. some local growers (not GOOD growers but people that regularly grow) have had some bad luck due to the cold weather. I'm hoping that me starting late will give the plants their best chance to survive and finish properly. I'm stoked to try some Auto's! It would be great to have finished product before the cold rains and shitty weather of fall here. But I don't need to RELY solely on autos (which i have no experience with) as I have the 3 virile Moose and Lobstah cross that was SPECIFICALLY MADE for this environment and the 3 10th Planet that I've grown for two seasons. I think this was a good way to approach this. I haven't even checked on the last two lilac diesel x zweet seeds. I'll check today and still give them a bit but tomorrow this changes to veg. I'll try to get some pics. One more thing. Temps seem to be holding pretty steady around. I downloaded a great app on my phone to measure par levels in ppfd. at least that way I can tell if the old aerial garden lights are doing their job. I had just switched bulbs on one of them and had measured last year so I KNEW that one was good. measuring the other one I could tell the were super old bulbs. I ended up moving two cups to the "good" aerogarden lights as there was room and they got better readings. luckily I was able to find the "sweet spot" on the other aerogarden amd was able to get those seedlings around 190ppfd. The others are approx 200s-300s. Fine for now. 1 l.d. broke part of it's shell and looks like its trying to germinate.