Best strains for September harvests?

I’m thinking of making a diy hoop frame out of flex pipe! It should actually work out great I’m thinking. I’m looking now to source out a good summer light row cover and also a heavier cover for frost protection come late sept. Never mind 2-3 weeks in October. I get like 14hr days late August so I’m a little worried. I’m trying to set myself up to stretch a few extra weeks of outdoor

I don’t receive a true 12 hour day until mid September

Sawzall77 said:

I don’t receive a true 12 hour day until mid September

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Cant rely on the 12/12 lighting/timing for outdoor plants budding schedule.Plants determine the light decreasing after June 22nd and the strain (depending) will determine the start of budding after that.From what I learned is practice,trial and error for your conditions is the only way to learn what plant works best and/or your liking.I tried one of each of the Royal Queens "Royal Cheese Fast" and there "Honey Cream Fast" fems and was impressed on there fast flowering start times.The cheese was a short bushy plant and the Honey cream was a taller Christmas tree style plant that I like.The cheese crapped out on me due to rain/mold so wasnt to impressed at all and would not try again.Buds were weird as well,more leaf than actual bud (fluffy).Both were the fastest starters and Honey Cream did get some mold as well but held up to the rain much better.

Like I stated in the other Sept flowering thread I would recommend Honey Cream to anyone looking for a fast flowering plant that's not auto.But with speed on flowering start time you do give up some veg time,which decreases yield,but bird in hand "well you know the saying".

Sawzall77 said:

I don’t receive a true 12 hour day until mid September

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Only equatorial sativas require 12/12 to initiate budding, most hybrids start stretch/bloom once you get closer to 14 hours daylight/10 hours dark. Most strains bloom late july through mid August.

MidwestGorilla219 said:

Only equatorial sativas require 12/12 to initiate budding, most hybrids start stretch/bloom once you get closer to 14 hours daylight/10 hours dark. Most strains bloom late july through mid August.

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ya if I don't have good bud set by early aug I get concerned here in maine.

MidwestGorilla219 said:

Only equatorial sativas require 12/12 to initiate budding, most hybrids start stretch/bloom once you get closer to 14 hours daylight/10 hours dark. Most strains bloom late july through mid August.

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That makes me feel a bit better about the timeline!

I am at the 49 as well and in a similar frame of mind as op. I have tried native strains but can’t push past the end of September without everything slowing down to a crawl.

This season I’m trying a strain from dinafem that is apparently “quick” claims 42-49 days of flower. We will see I also am growing a couple of the auto flowers they are famous for.

Personally after a few years of growing I am trying to simplify and streamline my grow to be efficient. Feminized and autoflowers will hopefully help and using an organic soil opposed to chemical nutes will allow me to setup automatic timers.

I did the DIY greenhouse with pvc tubing and 2x4's and 2x6's. I used a 3 mil clear plastic to cover it. Helped my plants grow well into October but the problem is on the 49th parallel your plants will literally almost stop growing (maturing) in September to early Oct depending on weather. Temps get so cool and the long sunshine days of summer are long gone.

One thing you can do to help harvest earlier is not plant in the earth. Plant them in 50, 100 or 200g smart pots or whatever. It limits their size and just seems to make transitioning to flower go quicker compared to 12 or 14' tall plants. Light dep obviously helps also but doing that on a greenhouse is another story. Big black tarp pulled over it every night and off of it every morning? I might try it one of these years. This year I'll be using a fast version strain and the 2 or 3 weeks it shaves off harvest time will make all the difference in the world for guys growing up here. Will post photo's and results in the fall for sure.

Thundercat said:

One of my favorite strains is C99. Its Sativa dominant, but is a fast finisher every time. I think you could get away with doing one outdoors in your area.

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Im going tontry a c99 x blueberry from i49 outside this summer. Im on almost the 50th and always have problems finishing outdoor due to extreme rain and humidity come oct.1. I have always battled this problem and have never rwally found the lerfect strain outdoors. We did find a good finisher last year. It qas a gods white widow that we are gonna do again. Not sure where u can get it from or if it was just made locally. I cant find that strain on thw web though

Danielson999 said:

I did the DIY greenhouse with pvc tubing and 2x4's and 2x6's. I used a 3 mil clear plastic to cover it. Helped my plants grow well into October but the problem is on the 49th parallel your plants will literally almost stop growing (maturing) in September to early Oct depending on weather. Temps get so cool and the long sunshine days of summer are long gone.

One thing you can do to help harvest earlier is not plant in the earth. Plant them in 50, 100 or 200g smart pots or whatever. It limits their size and just seems to make transitioning to flower go quicker compared to 12 or 14' tall plants. Light dep obviously helps also but doing that on a greenhouse is another story. Big black tarp pulled over it every night and off of it every morning? I might try it one of these years. This year I'll be using a fast version strain and the 2 or 3 weeks it shaves off harvest time will make all the difference in the world for guys growing up here. Will post photo's and results in the fall for sure.

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Very nice setup! That is exactly what I’m trying to build over my beds this year. Only difference is I will be building mine On uneven rock slope lol how tall are your hoops? And what length did you cut them? If I may ask. I’m thinking i need around 25 ft of pipe per hoop. Am aiming for 10-12ft wide by at least 7-8 high, hoping it will be higher than that. Also, what thickness pipe did you use? Will 1/2 inch be ridgid enough? If I have to I can put in a ridge pole out of wood for support along the top to help support...

Lemon girlscout finished halfway through September in MI last year.

Sawzall77 said:

Very nice setup! That is exactly what I’m trying to build over my beds this year. Only difference is I will be building mine On uneven rock slope lol how tall are your hoops? And what length did you cut them? If I may ask. I’m thinking i need around 25 ft of pipe per hoop. Am aiming for 10-12ft wide by at least 7-8 high, hoping it will be higher than that. Also, what thickness pipe did you use? Will 1/2 inch be ridgid enough? If I have to I can put in a ridge pole out of wood for support along the top to help support...

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whatever size u use make sure its the gray stuff made for underground,the white cheap pvc wont last in the sun.they make 45 degree connectors so easy to build any size u want.straight side wall up, 45 to peak 45 back down other side. run straping on the peak an side wall 45s poly an done

ethos early glue rbx 3 usually 50 days

Can you grow outside then bring in and put 12/12. If so after it starts to flower return to outdoors or will it reveg

Rayi said:

Can you grow outside then bring in and put 12/12. If so after it starts to flower return to outdoors or will it reveg

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Will reveg unless the photoperiod is about 13 hours or less

thumper60 said:

whatever size u use make sure its the gray stuff made for underground,the white cheap pvc wont last in the sun.they make 45 degree connectors so easy to build any size u want.straight side wall up, 45 to peak 45 back down other side. run straping on the peak an side wall 45s poly an done

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Thanks for the advice! I’m assuming the advantage to doing it that way is simply more head room and grow area? I’d need a ton of connectors to do it that way and would be more labour intensive so I think I’ll stick with the hoops but very good to know. I actually really like that idea! Underground PVC... check! Thanks again!

Sawzall77 said:

Very nice setup! That is exactly what I’m trying to build over my beds this year. Only difference is I will be building mine On uneven rock slope lol how tall are your hoops? And what length did you cut them? If I may ask. I’m thinking i need around 25 ft of pipe per hoop. Am aiming for 10-12ft wide by at least 7-8 high, hoping it will be higher than that. Also, what thickness pipe did you use? Will 1/2 inch be ridgid enough? If I have to I can put in a ridge pole out of wood for support along the top to help support...

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Each length of tubing is 10' long from the store. The first year we made it, we just connected 2 lengths to make one loop. The next year the plants grew so tall we added extensions on both sides which was very easy to do but we also had to increase the height of the wood frame on each end as you see in the picture. This is going on 3 years of that tubing being outdoors through snow, sleet, 40 degree celcius weather and windstorms and it's as strong as it was day one so don't worry about it aging on you, especially when you consider that the tubing is actually extremely cheap and even if you have to replace it every 5 or 7 years the cost is insignificant.

The height of the first version we made with just 2 lengths of tubing connected together was 10' exactly. We added extensions the next year to make it closer to 13' tall. I also added a wooden brace along one side that gets all the wind. It got hit with extreme windstorms a few times and because it was so flexible it withstood it all. My greenhouse is about 12 or 13' wide and 15' long. So 2 of the 10' lengths made a greenhouse that's 10' tall and 12' wide basically (keep in mind that 2 lengths of tubing made a greenhouse 10' tall and 12' wide but each piece started about 3 or 4 feet up the wooden frame as you can see in the pictures). Along the 'spine' along the top of the greenhouse we attached each rib to one another by using a 4 sided connector. This was necessary to get rid of most of the sag. You could also just add a wooden brace in the very center with a 10 or 12' two by four.

I used 3/4" pvc tubing. If you try using 1" it won't be flexible enough. 1/2" tubing is too flexible to offer enough support. I can take a few more pics that show the fasteners and connectors I used if you'd like. I used it to make some covered beds along the back patio too as you can see in the pics. Once I got started making greenhouses with pvc I couldn't stop! There's a bunch more pics anyway, hope that helps.

Blue ice and early wonder skunk was a great finisher for me. Vancouver seed bank is a great source to recommend some early finishers.

Could I use that black poly pipe maybe? I can paint it white. It seems more flexible and not as ridgid as the flex pipe. Just curious because it’s $100 for 400 ft which i like! Lol

Sawzall77 said:

Could I use that black poly pipe maybe? I can paint it white. It seems more flexible and not as ridgid as the flex pipe. Just curious because it’s $100 for 400 ft which i like! Lol

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the stuff that comes in rolls?the gray 3/4 in costs 2.50 per 10 ft that's what u want.dont use the white s 40 the gray is s 80 twice as thick wont break down in the sun.