I'd have to say this.... he's in northern NY. I'm NE Ohio. We ain't got pillers like y'all do. Spider mites, aphids, and leaf hoppers are our main threats. I had very little problems with them. Our biggest threat is powdery mildew and bud rot, up here. As well as reaching maturity with most strains, for our geographic location.
Dman....ask AI what strains would grow best for your location, it'll give u a choice of photo strains like Northern lites, durbin poison, ect. Or look at fast flower or auto strains.
Search outdoor grow diaries, and read thru them to get a feel of how farmers grow in their areas, what soils and amendments they use.
I'm not new to grow things, but still a bit green to growing cannabis. Learning more all the time, and loving the challenges it brings.
It's a weed, and quite resilient. 2025 was my first grow in my simple garden. All I did was add peat moss, perlite, horse n cow manure, and fish carcasses to my soil. And the occasional rodent that digs holes under my garden shed, or the trash panda's tearing up my buildings. I did give them a bit of miracle grow during veg, and some bloom booster during flowering. I ended up with just over 2 3/4 lbs. from those first two plants. But learned a lot from that first grow.....I could've done better. But we all have to start somewhere, to learn our mistakes or where we can do better, next grow.
Find a strain that'll work best for your location, and go for it. Don't try to out think it, keep it simple. Ya might be surprised at the results, and you'll gain knowledge of how it grows in your location, and how to utilize it better the next grow.
U have to learn how to crawl before u can stand, and walk before you can run. Its life lessons for all of us, but we'll try to lessen the learning curve for u, with the combined knowledge, here at the farm.