Did I ruin these by putting outside too soon?

phxazcraig · Mar 3, 2025

I've grown indoors, but not outdoors, so I made a stupid mistake this year. For my indoor grow, which I try to start in January to be done for summer travel season, I tried to germinate 4 seeds out of 5 I had. I screwed up and only got 3 seeds to germinate, so I went out and got need seeds for a second attempt. (I need 4 plants to grow, no more, no less.)

That left me with three small plants in solo cups that I grew for about 3 weeks. I was going to axe them as I couldn't find anyone to take them, and I have four new plants for the indoor grow. I decided to stick them in pots and put them in the backyard to see what happens. I'm in Phoenix, and it's basically spring here now, with daytime temps in the 70's.

So they've been in the back yard since mid-January, and they seemed very spindly compared to my indoor grow. Very stretched. And then I noticed. I had some female pistils appearing on these photoperiod feminized plants. I had put them outside when the night/day cycle was about 12 hours on, 12 hours off. So they kicked into flowering like an autoflower, except the days are getting longer. I was not expecting flowering to start until October.

What's going to happen to these plants? Will they un-flower and go back to veg? Will they complete flowering? Will they go herm?

These are throw-away plants, so nothing that happens to them really matters, and it's unlikely I'd have grown them all the way through October anyway.

mancorn · Mar 3, 2025

It’s still early, so yes they’ll reveg. But it’ll take awhile, and they tend to stay fairly leafy/bushy.

Grownsince95 · Mar 3, 2025

Yeah they're gonna re-veg and grow funny single bladed leaves for a minute but will be fine. I've actually done this on purpose a few times after I've harvested a plant if I didn't have a mother and wanted to clone it.

mancorn · Mar 3, 2025

One year I was messing around, started outside 2nd week in January (in CA). In February it was cold out (like you’d expect) so moved them in & out for awhile. Didn’t actually have a grow space so was using a shower stall. They started budding (from all the back & forth) in March and outgrew the indoor space.

So then I had to move it outside and it just keep on flowering April & May. By June it was ready to harvest. I’d bet that if you ever wanted to you could get a outdoor June harvest in Phoenix.

Ninjadogma · Mar 3, 2025

A bit long but I hope this helps someone.

I do outdoor growing with photos year round but it's only possible because I use supplemental lighting. Just gotta work out your schedule and know how long your days are at that particular time of year and set your supplemental lighting to fill in the gaps.

Heres an example: I flipped on December 15 so days were their shortest of the year and were going to get longer as I moved closer to harvest. So I set the light in the shed to come on at sunset and turn off at 7pm and then come back on at 7am where I take them outside into the sun somewhere around 7:30. That way their days are a fixed length even as the day lengths are changing at both ends.

Easy easy right? But wait, I also have plants in veg and I only have one light, how da fuq can I do both?

Good news... If you don't mind having to adjust your timer periodically, it's very doable. I put the flowering plants in for light at dusk and the lights go out around 7pm. Then at 10pm when it's time for bed I pull the flowering plants out into dark night, put the vegging plants inside and turn on the light which I turn off manually in the morning and take the vegging plants out for the day. But you have to remember the days are getting longer and the flowers are waking up to earlier mornings so that evening shutoff time has to be adjusted periodically to keep it roughly at that 12 hour mark. With this strategy, my flowering plants get exactly 12 hours of light and my vegging plants get 19 hours.

Galgrows · Mar 3, 2025

If you can stand watching the months it takes to get back plants from revegging go ahead but for me it's a long long process. Best to check your time zone for length of day and find the month where you get at least 13hrs of light and put them in that sunny area. I'd start new seeds you have plenty of time if you choose to. I've revegged 2x and never want to do it again.

Oldchucky · Mar 3, 2025

I put a few photos out too early and they prematurely flowered! Cute little budsand cute little balls! It was probably early May! So I left them out and they didn’t do Jack except grow maybe 6 inches in a month and never did really reveg! So about the middle of July. I put them out of their misery with some number 4 turkey shot! I felt better then! As far as I’m concerned, putting them out too early, is one of the worst things you can do and should be avoided at all costs! trying to squeeze in an extra month of veg by cheating mother, nature can really bite you in the ass! The ones with the little balls didn’t get The luxury of a reprieve temporarily! They got stomped into the ground in a fit of rage, cursing my stupidity, at the site of the first ball!

ArtfulCodger · Mar 3, 2025

It will vary slightly with latitude, but in the continental US, you don't want to put photoperiod plants outside before May 15. June 1 to be safe. Earlier than that, the days aren't long enough to keep them in veg.

Oldchucky · Mar 3, 2025

Agreed! Nothing goes out around here before June 1 anymore! It’s just not worth the risk! You don’t gain that much! You could probably go a little earlier the farther south you go! Way better off starting them indoors and then moving them out full-time once you have crossed the safe threshold! The first two years I grew I tried cheating her, and got slapped down both times! Decided these beatings were getting a little monotonous! But to do it twice means I’m a pretty slow learner! L O L

mancorn · Mar 3, 2025

OP said it was outside or garbage.

Oldchucky · Mar 3, 2025

mancorn said:
OP said it was outside or garbage.

Oh yeah! They are survivors! I hope the OP does a little bit better than that! But anything is better than nothing! My buddy sent me a picture of the other day of some seedlings popping up in his garden already! From seeds that fell off, his seeded plant last year! In the north, Bay Area! Fairfield! I think he called them volunteers! But they will Wonk out on him as soon as they get old enough.

mancorn · Mar 3, 2025

It was toasty last week - you have to pop some beans!

Oldchucky · Mar 3, 2025

Yeah, I think It hit 85 in SoCal! Probably beautiful in Phoenix! Just not enough daylight yet! Even autos are going to grow pretty slow with just 12 hours of daylight! I’ll start mine indoors in mid April at the earliest! I think you’re down SoCal way! Could be wrong!

Oldchucky · Mar 3, 2025

Low elevation Arizona is a tough place to grow outdoors unless you really know what you’re doing! So it’s pretty tempting to try and beat the heat by getting an early start. I haven’t seen a whole lot of success down there! No matter what they try!

lenhug · Mar 4, 2025

Oldchucky said:
Yeah, I think It hit 85 in SoCal! Probably beautiful in Phoenix! Just not enough daylight yet! Even autos are going to grow pretty slow with just 12 hours of daylight! I’ll start mine indoors in mid April at the earliest! I think you’re down SoCal way! Could be wrong!

It did!

I'm wrestling with this as well for my outdoor season. Wanted to pop the seeds this week, give them two weeks or more indoor then put them out but I am holding for now...Just!

Cross the 12hr threshold on the 16th here so I'm thinking start in a fortnight or so.

Oldchucky · Mar 4, 2025

Jonesin! If there photos, maybe you make it and maybe you don’t! I’ve tried twice and got burnt twice! I ain’t touching that stove again!

mancorn · Mar 4, 2025

lenhug said:
It did!

I'm wrestling with this as well for my outdoor season. Wanted to pop the seeds this week, give them two weeks or more indoor then put them out but I am holding for now...Just!

Cross the 12hr threshold on the 16th here so I'm thinking start in a fortnight or so.

I’m no expert, but my understanding is that photoperiodic plants have a developmental stage that prevents them from flowering too early. This juvenile period lasts for several weeks, during which the plant isn’t capable of responding to photoperiod cues. So you’ll be safe for a month or so (before you see the alternating nodes) and don’t need to wait until the 12hr.

Not being an indoor grower I’ve never tried an 18 or 24 hr light while they’re in the juvenile phase and then going outside into 12 hr, but should be fine if you do it early enough.

This explanation sounds like it’s not cut and dry by time:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/resources/pdfs/juvenility-in-perennials.pdf

Of course another factor is you can include civil twilight hours because plants do perceive and respond to that early and late ambient light. But this can vary by local factors (a big hill, buildings, etc), but should be worth another 30 minutes on your daylight hours.

Or you can wait a week

mancorn · Mar 4, 2025

Oldchucky said:
Jonesin! If there photos, maybe you make it and maybe you don’t! I’ve tried twice and got burnt twice! I ain’t touching that stove again!

Were these indoor to outdoor moves or 100% outdoor bean pops.

I saw a giant plant some years back that started growing in November outdoors. It looked like it had reveged at some point, but was an absolute monster height wise.

Oldchucky · Mar 4, 2025

mancorn said:
Were these indoor to outdoor moves or 100% outdoor bean pops.

I saw a giant plant some years back that started growing in November outdoors. It looked like it had reveged at some point, but was an absolute monster height wise.

Popped indoors and grow into a node or two in solos Or maybe a few 1 gallon fabrics! Moved them out side, Probably mid April on one and first week of May on the next! I really can’t remember exactly! But wasn’t nearly as early as what you guys are talking about! L O L! And within a couple of weeks when they got old enough the majority of them, flowered! Not all of them! It’s pretty common knowledge around here that if you put your outdoor stuff out before June, all bets are off. And when looking at the final results at harvest, the survivors that didn’t flower didn’t do any better then their successors that were put in after June 1! Zero difference! And other than being north, I grow in a environment that is pretty damn close to Phoenix, Craig!

phxazcraig · Mar 4, 2025

Oldchucky said:
Oh yeah! They are survivors! I hope the OP does a little bit better than that! But anything is better than nothing! My buddy sent me a picture of the other day of some seedlings popping up in his garden already! From seeds that fell off, his seeded plant last year! In the north, Bay Area! Fairfield! I think he called them volunteers! But they will Wonk out on him as soon as they get old enough.

My main crop is 4 plants in a 4x4, but I had only 3 seeds germinate. Not having any other use for them once I replaced them with 4 new plants, I stuck them in leftover coco in leftover pots and put them in the backyard. I'm giving them runoff from the indoor grow every day, pretty much, but I can't even give them full sun through the whole day because I have pretty good tree coverage. Just a terrible place to grow, especially once it hits over 110F in June (and stays there perhaps another 100 days).

Right now, I have one stunted plant that is about 8 inches high and is sort of turning into a bud. Two more that are about 4x that size, both with obvious flower stretch, but only one showing a few female pistils. The runt was never going to be much, but I thought the other two would be interesting to compare with the indoor grow. Both are in the same airpots and coco, but the indoor grow is far ahead in plant mass. The outdoor stems aren't even pencil-thick, but the indoor ones are as thick as my thumb.

Did I ruin these by putting outside too soon?

Did I ruin these by putting outside too soon?

phxazcraig

mancorn

Grownsince95

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mancorn

Ninjadogma

Galgrows

Oldchucky

ArtfulCodger

Oldchucky

mancorn

Oldchucky

mancorn

Oldchucky

Oldchucky

lenhug

Oldchucky

mancorn

mancorn

Oldchucky

phxazcraig

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