By Adam Parsons


Once again our little blue planet has spun around the sun. Winter is peaking in the Northern Hemisphere, which means one thing: Spring is just around the corner!

It is time to start making plans for the outdoor season. One of the main concerns for the novice outdoor grower is if plants are going to live in a pot, or truly out in the open soil. Neither is the right or wrong choice, but there are some pros and cons regarding each.

The choice to use either pots or to sow directly into soil has nothing to do with the potential yield and quality of the final product. It all boils down to personal preference and lifestyle. You can use oversized pots outdoors to grow huge plants. Or grow in deficient soil and end up with a puny little plant.

Since there is no clear winner, it is not up to you to judge which is best, so we will give you some food for thought in hope to contribute to a choice, that better suits you.

Cannabis Growing Outdoors In Pots

GROWING OUTDOORS USING POTS – THE ADVANTAGES

Pots are great in that you can move the plants around. For the true outdoor grower, this may not seem like a great concern, but that means you never had to deal with relocation issues due to bugs infestation, a strong rainstorm, animals or even prying eyes.

Pots are also great in that you will be able to better control how much the plant grows. If being stealth is a concern, a pot will restrict maximum growth potential of the plant, meaning you can quite effectively predict how tall and wide it will become. Of course, training is always possible, but nothing beats a stress-free growth rate for maximum genetic potential.

By using pots, you are also able to mitigate potential issues with the soil itself. Maybe your natural environment does not offer the best quality soil for cannabis, so then using pots allows you to mix premium or amended soils and keep it self-contained. This also permits you to have full control over variables like pH and nutrition strength locally to the roots.

PLANTING DIRECTLY IN SOIL – THE ADVANTAGES

Planting directly in soil is as natural as it gets. The roots are free to quickly explore the depths of the underground world, triggering the plant to grow to a potentially monumental size. Roots can go very deep indeed, and if they manage to find a good enough waterbed or moisture content, the plant can survive unattended throughout a very hot and dry summer. Microbial life will be at its best, as will be the potential nutritional offering—of course—provided you have good farming land.

By growing in a good spot, maintenance becomes minimal. Costs will also be reduced, as nature will provide loads of energy. At worse, by mid-flowering, some extra food might be welcomed to achieve those extra fat colas—but even so to a much lesser extent than in a pot.

Outdoors Cannabis Growing Planting In Soil

GROWING OUTDOORS USING POTS – THE DISADVANTAGES

By using pots instead of planting directly into the wild does have its downfalls. To start, you will not be able to set them and forget them. If rain does not come, you must provide water. Even if it does come, you must keep an eye on nutrition.

Growing outdoors in pots will also take longer than indoors, as light cycles are not as precise, so if you time it right, but use a too small a pot, the plant will not be able to grow as big as you would like it to. Contrarily, by using oversized pots, your water and nutrient costs will ramp up as the plants gain serious size and weight. This may not be a problem for some, but an important factor to consider.

Lastly, if you live in a relatively inhabited location, you may want to consider using chains on your pots. Anyone could spot it and simply pick the pot and run away!

PLANTING DIRECTLY IN SOIL – THE DISADVANTAGES

Contrary to this previous point, plants directly in soil cannot be moved unless you cause some serious damage to the root ball and stress the plant to stunt growth completely. Strong gusts of wind or a too long high humidity environment can cause havoc and potentially destroy months of hard work. A normal hailstorm can dent cars beyond repair, and now imagine what it could do to your plants. Of course, you can take measures to prevent this, but more often than not the extra work can be overwhelming. Imagine having to build a shelter for a 2.5 x 2.5m plant. What if you are planning to have several of them?

Which brings us to the next point, overgrowth. Some strains or phenotypes have the potential to reach absurd dimensions. This may not be a positive thing, if you need to keep your operation secret. And if you do, it probably means you are planting in a remote location, where regular maintenance visits to train and tame its growth defeats the whole purpose of guerilla growing.

Probably the biggest disadvantage in growing in soil is the lack of control of what is happening on the underside. Of course, the more experienced growers know how to breed actively aerated beneficial bacteria, which do wonders for vigour and general root health—but not so much concerning direct nutritional input.

A few days of rain can create a shift in the underlying conditions, not only flushing away a well-balanced food source, as well as bringing in a new constitution from afar. This may result in a drastic pH change, nutrient lockouts, and deficiencies, or even toxic levels of a certain micro-nutrient specifically to cannabis. When this happens, it is very hard to rebalance the subsoil.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, there is no silver bullet. It really boils down to how offensive the cons are, or how beneficial the pros. If even still you are unsure, the solution is quite simple—do half-half, and by harvest time you will surely have a clearer idea of what works best for you.


Ready to start experimenting? Download our guide for step-by-step instructions to help you navigate your first grow, whether you choose pots, soil, or both!

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: