New To Growing, Just a Few Questions.

BluntMan666 said:

Ok, so i live in Michigan and this is my first time growing. I planted a few plants outdoors around the middle part of July. Im mainly just wondering how much longer would these plants have to go before budding? Also am i going to have to bring them inside when it starts getting cold? I have like 10 plants that are about a foot or more tall. I really dont want them inside haha. Any suggestions to speed things up? Anything helps so just let it spew hahaha, i need all the advise i can get. People around here dont know shit it seems haha.

BLUNTMAN666

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Sry bro but the whole speeding things up is in gods hands now ( or a real experenced grower)...2 things i can say. I started a hydro grow at the end of july and i still have 2 more weeks of vegging before flowering wich is another 6-8 weeks on its own. The real only way to control when ur plants bud is by controling the light. Also if it is Sativa it will take longer to bud then indica

Yeah, i figured as much with the speeding things up. But do you think i will be good with leaving them outside? I dont want them to die out on me in the winter haha.

Depending on your situation, you could try forcing the plants by bringing them inside at night (if they're in pots), or by covering them up. The idea is to get them to trigger early. If they're only a foot tall, it wouldn't be too hard to cover them up or bring them inside at night, but that's the only real way to 'speed them up'.

If the plants start to flower by the first week of Sept, you may not have to worry about it. I've found that the plants can tolerate a few fall frosts much easier as established plants than they can in the spring when they're young, or when they're newly-rooted clones.

I'm a little bit north of you, and I've had plants that started budding the beginning of Sept before, and they lasted until mid - late Oct and survived a few frosts without too many problems. Nowadays, I only grow early-finishing strains outdoors so I don't run into those problems anymore.

Thanks VV, so in your personal opinion should i just let them do their thing or should i try to speed them up? My main thing is i want a decent Yield even if its my first grow. I do appreciate the info though.

When do you guys normally start to get fall frosts? If you don't get frosts until well into October, I'd just leave them to do their thing for now. If you start to see the beginnings of flowers by the first week of Sept or so, and you don't get frosts until mid-late Oct, then you have a solid 6-7 weeks of budding time, and they should be fine. If you don't see them starting to flower by mid Sept, and your frost dates are Mid to late Oct, then I'd consider covering them at night to get them to trigger. But since it's only the last week in August, I wouldn't worry too much about it just yet. I'd just let them be for the next few weeks and see how it goes.

Just to be clear, when you say cover them. Are you saying cover them once its dark? or just cover them so its 12/12?

Well, the idea is to get them to start to flower early by giving them 12 hours of darkness. So as long as they're getting 12 hrs darkness, then it's up to you how and when you do it. I guess a lot of it depends on when it's practical or convenient for you to get out there to do the covering and uncovering. It's a hassle, and I'd only do it if you really have to.

Eg. If the sun rises at 6am, then you'd want to cover them each night at 6pm to get the 12 hours. Or, another way to do it would be to cover them when it gets dark, say at 9pm, then uncover them at 9am to get the 12 hrs darkness.

In reality, outdoor plants trigger with less than 12hrs dark, but by giving them a 'forced' 12hrs darkness, then you're assured that it's enough to trigger them into flowering.

Edit: If you do end up doing that, you must make sure that they're completely covered so that no light gets in. A heavy-duty black garbage bag, or even a plastic garbage pail would work, but again, it's a hassle and it makes the plants stand out like a sore thumb, so your individual situation will dictate whether that's practical or not. The easier way to do it if they're in pots would be to just bring them inside, or put them in a garage or something for the 12 hrs.

cool, thanks man i really do appreciate it. rep+ right at ya