Ok what now?

[vaughn17]

I am not a cannabis grower or user until recently when my Physician prescribed CDB oil. I tried the oil, thought it helped but though the price was ridiculously high and the quality suspect. So I decided to grow my own as a experiment this summer. I purchased some supposedly quality seeds (feminized) from an online store here in Canada and germinated in early April. I had two nice plants by mid April and then transplanted into large fabric pots into a small greenhouse in late May. The foliage growth has exceeded my expectations as both plants are two meters or more and very bushy. I did not fertilize with the exception of using worm castings. But I have a big problem. No flowers and I am living in a cold area of Canada.

Basically I thought something "magical" would happen come August 1st but nothing did, I suspected it was the lighting and contacted the seed supplier who confirmed I needed 12 hours of darkness each night to induce flowering. I purchased some black plastic and have been faithfully covering each night for the last week however no signs of any pistils yet. So here it is August 20th and I will be facing frosts during some nights in September and wondering what my options are. A couple of thoughts are:

- I could buy a timer and put a small electric heater so when it dips down close to freezing the heater will come on.

- I could try and bring one plant inside to finish it but would have to buy lighting, I do have a shower stall that would work I think for space.

What would help me is how long am I waiting here to being able to harvest something? I was told the heritage of the seed is:

AC/DC Clone X Columbian X Thai X Swiss X Nepalese Landrace X (Some sour diesel)

I have a couple of pics if that helps.

Any suggestions?

 

[MIMedGrower]

Sorry to say it can take 2-4 weeks to start showing flowers if it is in 12 hours of darkness.

 

[vaughn17]

Thanks for the reply, would it be quicker if I increased the hours of darkness? Also care to estimate on how long from flowering to full buds that can be harvested?

 

[MIMedGrower]

Thanks for the reply, would it be quicker if I increased the hours of darkness? Also care to estimate on how long from flowering to full buds that can be harvested?

No. It will take as long as it takes for that plant of that strain. They all can be different even from the same seed pack. And the same goes for flowering time but to estimate add a couple weeks to the breeders estimate.

 

[az2000]

germinated in early April. I had two nice plants by mid April and then transplanted into large fabric pots into a small greenhouse in late May.

FWIW: Next time plant some autoflowers. They don't depend on seasonal/light change. They take 10-13 weeks until harvest. If you had planted a couple of those late May, you'd be harvesting them right now.

They're not real great for indoor growing because they're typically grown with 18/6 lighting indoors. You can get as good or better yield with photosensitives indoors, using 12/12 in flower. (Indoo micro growers make sense, when space is a concern.). But, there are many people who like growing autos indoors. Many people do. (But, outdoors, to get an early harvest or two, they're perfect. Free light.).

 

[vaughn17]

Hmm, thanks for the tip, should have come here before choosing seed it seems.

 

[vaughn17]

Sorry one last question if I may, once the plants do flower must I maintain the 12 hours of darkness each night? Or can I get lazy with covering them?

 

[Seraphine]

You could try giving it some bloom booster aka phosphorus and potassium. Sometimes that helps to stimulate flower when you have the appropriate daylight/night time hours.

 

[Madbud]

Sorry one last question if I may, once the plants do flower must I maintain the 12 hours of darkness each night? Or can I get lazy with covering them?

Try covering them for a full 24 hours. Once they flip to flower, nature takes over with longer nights. I don’t think they can finish before october at this point.

 

[Seraphine]

Sorry one last question if I may, once the plants do flower must I maintain the 12 hours of darkness each night? Or can I get lazy with covering them?

I’d maintain covering them until the natural light cycle is similar to the light cycle you created when covering them. Last thing you want is reveg.

 

[az2000]

You said it's a cold climate. I wonder if you'll need to heat the greenhouse? I've never depended on natural light. I wonder how that works when the days are becoming short enough or flowering, but becoming too cold too.

 

[Seraphine]

That strain appears to be sativa dominant (as a lot of high CBD strains are), you’ll be lucky to get a few weeks extended to the growing season with that green house. Frost will kill the plant. I would make back up plans to move her indoors before your first frost date if she’s not done flowering. What’s your first frost date?

 

[Seraphine]

You said it's a cold climate. I wonder if you'll need to heat the greenhouse? I've never depended on natural light. I wonder how that works when the days are becoming short enough or flowering, but becoming too cold too.

Same here. I think outdoor growers have to harvest early if they run into unfavorable conditions. Things like frost and bud rot become a problem.

 

[vaughn17]

Try covering them for a full 24 hours. Once they flip to flower, nature takes over with longer nights. I don’t think they can finish before october at this point.

I thought of that but they would cook, right now with day temperatures around 20 - 25C during the day I am have temperatures over 40C unless the door is open. However I will try to go may 10 at day and 14 at night.

 

[vaughn17]

You said it's a cold climate. I wonder if you'll need to heat the greenhouse? I've never depended on natural light. I wonder how that works when the days are becoming short enough or flowering, but becoming too cold too.

Yes it is cold and unpredictable. We have had 2 or 3 nights around 2C already however that is not normal, should be around 10 or 11 right now. In Spring I tested it by filling two 40 gallon barrels with water, capping and leaving in the greenhouse along with some pails of sand. I thought the concept of heating up thermal mass at day would make a difference at night of a couple degrees, turned out it did nothing. The temperature tracked identical to outside temperature :(

However I now have a plan, I will try to heat the greenhouse during the nights and will attempt to maintain nights at +4 or 5C.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...Heater+-+Blue&qid=1566444994&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SBN2N69/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My hope is that this small 500 watt heater will help out just enough, the average freezing temperature at night is usually around mid to late September and in October it may dip around -5 on a cold night. Problem is I have no insulation so I am thinking of buy a couple second hand blankets to toss up at night.... but it is getting to be a bit of a project.

 

[vaughn17]

Try covering them for a full 24 hours. Once they flip to flower, nature takes over with longer nights. I don’t think they can finish before october at this point.

BTW October 31st is a scary thought! We reach 12 hours of darkness around Sept 23 but that is another month of covering. Actually I though of covering it with black plastic 24/7 and then just buying a HPS lamp and timing it to run at night instead of day, that way my nights would be toasty warm... however the plants would still cook during the day in September without ventilation which for me is an open door.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[cruzin]

I only read that it does not require 12/12 for them to flower. Mine been in flower for 2 weeks or so and we have around 13 hours of light now. Ive read they can start to flower when it gets around 14hrs of daylight.

 

[CannasaurusR]

Afew thoughts, I'm gonna assume your just north of toronto... I'm in the Kawarthas ( a week or 2 shorter season) . First thing was the choice of seeds with a landrace background. For up here strains (hybrids) that will finish in 8 weeks indoors are ideal for an early October finish. I have finished longer strains until mid october alright. Most plants will withstand those early light frosts we get before thanksgiving and they will purple up if they survive. You have a light dep tent happening, all you need is a small heater at night in the tent (IF you cannot put them inside. Put your plants on the ground if they are in a container Not on a deck where cold air can get to the bottom. A fruit tree grower can tell you how much of a heater you need, but a light bulb will keep frost off an enclosed engine compartment easily, so I would think 500w is WAYYY overkill. It doesn't need much heat at all to keep the frost off if you have a tent going already. Take your tent off every morning an only use it when expecting frost. IMO forget forcing the flowering time now as the plant is in a flowering cycle at ma natures pace. I would look at night to see if you have ambient light issues (porch light at neighbours, or streetlight) shining on those babies. Ontario is late this year for every harvest by about two weeks, so don't freak. One of my girls is just showing pistils this week while others are forming buds. Just watch your moisture levels under the tent. Outdoors is a challenge here, but done right, (IMO) the quality of the medecine cannot be found in the legal cannabiz offerings.

 

[CannasaurusR]

12 12 lighting is indoor talk at this time. The plants have been sensing declinng light since June 21, outdoors it takes a month or so of declining light for the plant to start flowering. up here first of August is usually when you see pistils. Forgive my lack of knowledge but I believe they refer to the plants internal timer as a Circadian clock?? Forcing by light dep is a labour intensive practice, mostly for production growers, and if you get lazy all you are doing is confusing the plant IMO. For me, vegging inside from january to the solstice at 18/6 pinching and pruning then shove her in the ground a week or two before June 21 works the best. The light will be shorter and the plant will start flowering before Aug1. I have also matched the light cycle indoors to match the daylight outdoors in early june when planting. Work with the outdoor rythym NOT against it, find a short bloomer, an you can always throw some auto crap seeds in the dirt from April on just to make sure you have some smoke through the summer. BTW three week early landrace babies will be stronger than 75% of the legal LP weed through the mail (Which was grown and cured professionally ROFLMAO). Good luck bro and failing is learning, don't give up! My biggest outdoor heartbreak was 2017 the fall was so humid, 2 lbs of Surf Dragon bud was awesome frosty buds.......full of rot. I do not grow un-pinched plants outdoors anymore. Lesson learned!!!! More smaller tops in a bush pinch off tops every week until mid july.

 

[CannasaurusR]

Put another door in the rear of the shed, leave it wide open all day and night until frost is an issue, then only close on those nights, keep the air moving through there, open up asap in the mornings after closing it up, humidity is your enemy in the fall.