High altitudes affects on outdoor plants?

[WalterWhiteFire]

Howdy Farmers! I live at 6600 ft. high temps around 80, lows around 40 humidity is extremely low. I have grown outdoors in MI for years and just wanted to see how a plant would do out in this crazy harsh climate... I chose flo to be the guinea pig due to its heartyness and beautiful outdoor colors. Perhaps too tropical of a strain. Shoulda went for some Afgan? Its been thriving the last two weeks no night time covering. Yesterday some of the fan leaves started to twist and turn over. Its similar to what a plant will do going from low light to a 1000w. Does VPD play a role outdoors? Anyone have sucess with conditions similar as this? Cuz if my indoor room ran with these stats everything would be dead... Thanks Farmers and thanks Veterans!!!!

 

[waayne]

Walter I've found that some strains grow at high altitude much better than others.
I've never grown Flo but I ran a Afghani Blueberry hybrid for years outdoors and it thrived at altitude

My best high altitude cultivars in the past have been Himalayan, Paki, and Afghani genetics......
On the other hand Skunk strains,South African strains and Northern Lights all performed poorly for me at altitude

I've grown outdoors as high as 9800 feet elevation..........11,400 feet in a greenhouse

Your season is gonna be short and harsh,and there is little you can do about the low humidity and wind outside..
I always mulched my plants heavily and try to provide plenty of water and organic food for them and the heartier more adaptable strains
seem to thrive in those harsh conditions........:cool:

 

[sky high]

"Summer" can run the gamut up here. We >seem< to be in store for a hot/dry one....but you truly never know until it is over what will happen.

Frost/freeze will be your main concern..... starting (usually) sometime in Sept. Hopefully you can cover that Flo....cus it will be touch and go to finish it fully otherwise.

good luck!

s h

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Thanks for the speedy replies fellas!!! Waayne thanks for chiming in about your afgan blueberry! gives me some hope! Also great strain advice for my next outdoor attempt....SH i am black boxing this plant it should be done in the end of july! hopefully no frost worries on this run...

 

[kolah]

I grow outdoors at 9300 feet up. I try to stay with straight indicas and indica hybrids. We have gotten snows up here in June and as early as September. One really has to babysit things up here. A quick afternoon hail burst will wipe you out in a matter if minutes. I love growing in the natural sun but it's surely a challenge. But when all goes well, the results are sweet.

It is said that plants thrive in high altitudes and are more nutrient laced because of it. I have some of Sensi's Seeds Afghani #1 and am pretty stoked to see how she does up here.

I think it is super important to break your seedlings in slowly and expose them to the outdoors gently. (hell, just yesterday we had 60 mph winds and the night dropped down to low 30's) But once they get acclimated they can deal with the hot dry days in the 90's and the cold nights in the 40's and 50's and even sustain above 32 degrees not to mention the violent winds. But below freezing is not so good. I lost some nice plants to frost and freezes.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Thanks guys! Kolah we had insane winds here too! Didnt think of it but Would high winds cause the leaves to twist and flip?

 

[Blaze]

Oh yeah wind can f*ck your plants up and cause burn, stress, etc. Good luck, I am curious to see your results. There has been research that found higher elevation had a direct impact on increased THC content due to the additional UV light. In theory you should be able to grow some unusually potent dank where you are at. Other than that I can't offer much firsthand experience, the hills around here don't get much over 3,000'.

 

[outwest]

As already mentioned, it is my understanding that strains with a genetic history in elevated regions, like kushes, do well at elevation.

outwest

 

[psilobuds]

wouldn't most strains come from high altitude locations originally?

 

[deep buddy]

hey walterhwitefire.
i believe i have some worthwhile hands on exp. and i dont think it is just outdoor plants that are affected.
coming form a place around 200ft above sea level to a place about 5000ft + ihave noticed a huge difference in finishing times, structure and potency( broader profiles, well maybe just different). fwiw.
any ?'s feel free hope that helps, this is something i am very interested in.
good thread

 

[Toker Ace]

In theory being at high altitude removes UV filtration of sunlight. Obviously a good thing. If you can deal with the harsh environment you are good. My first ever grow was outside in CO
at 6500 ft. That was three years ago and I can't get anywhere near the same product indoors. As it turned out the late fall weather was spectacular that year and the girls were out there till mid Oct. showing some gorgeous colors. I watched the weather to keep track of overnight lows and covered up when the predicted went down to about 35F. By that time I didn't want to take chances. I agree with waayne and outwest and I would say Afganis in the CO desert and Kushes in the highlands. Places like Rifle and Nederland respectively. With altitudes being equal, I think the next factor to consider is the humidity when choosing strains.
Good luck.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Hey deep buddy! Thanks for stopping in! Never thought about the altitude effecting my indoor grow, very interesting!!! I have a whole run of cuts I brought up from sea level about to be fired in a few days. In what way did your flowering times alter?

 

[Leewit]

I have not been brave enough to try growing bud outside. I'm at about 6500ft so growing anything outside is dicy. I recently left two clones too near an open window, one got a bit of frost shock, dry wilty leaves. Snowbud is a nice hybrid, I must say. The clone popped right back and is much more robust, half a foot taller and stinkier than its twin. I have occasional problems with powder mildew and gnats with other things I grow, not with the weed. These things are becomming my favorites. Afgani south African hybrid, I'll have to see if they do as well outside.

 

[RodKoehler]

hey walterhwitefire.
i believe i have some worthwhile hands on exp. and i dont think it is just outdoor plants that are affected.
coming form a place around 200ft above sea level to a place about 5000ft + ihave noticed a huge difference in finishing times, structure and potency( broader profiles, well maybe just different). fwiw.
any ?'s feel free hope that helps, this is something i am very interested in.
good thread

What have you noticed with regard to finishing time and potency at 5K?