Where I live the area is already getting 12 hours of sun light and last freeze should be this week, lows/highs will be ranging from 40-85 until late spring/early summer. I hear people saying it's too soon, but it's much warmer here, is it too early, or is early the right choice for this area?
I'm In Socal I Started A Month Ago.. You Can Start If Your Plants Will Get Adequate Light, And The Temps Aren't Too Low.. But At 12 Hours Sunlight.. The Nights Are Too Long,, Some Cannabis Strains Flower With 8 Hours Darkness.. Spaceman Charlie..
Your both off base if you don't mind me saying so.. 12-12 is just a number used by inside growers and really has no use outside.. The truth is cannabis triggers to flower around 14.5 hours of light.. But that number is hard to translate to what is really going on outside figuring in dawn and twilight times and the like.. I'll just cut to the cliff notes and make it easy for you.. Northern Hemisphere plant seeds outside no sooner then May 1st.. Set out clones no sooner then June 1st.. Early set out will likely result in incomplete flowering and then re-veg come June screwing up the plants.. Exceptions.. If your where it doesn't freeze like Southern California you can put out fully vegged plants right now for a spring run outdoors and harvest mid May.. You can add supplemental lighting to extend the light the plant gets past 16 hours of light to hold it in veg.. it really doesn't take much light to hold a plant in Veg.. At this time of year a powerful solar light will do the job.. Hang a CFL over them.. Several choices you can come up with.. http://forum.grasscity.com/outdoor-medical-marijuana-growing/1265327-so-cal-growers-unite.html/page-335 So Cal thread.. Might be of some use ..
Thanks for all the info Brass, just been trying to figure out mother nature's own light schedule ya know? But it's all starting to make sense!
You can start seeds now and be fine, because by the time the plants are old enough to flower, the days will be long enough to keep them in veg. If you have clones or mature plants and try to out them put now, they will flower early and spoil your harvest.
does this only apply to clones? ive never had the luxary to get clones since im in a illegal state in south east usa but i do fem seeds ever year and i pop mine end of march and plant out in the hills on may 1 and never had any issues with them flowering before their time
It applies to clones and mature plants. March is a great time for starting seeds. But if you put a 2-3 foot tall plant out in march, it would try to flower just like a clone would because they are both sexually mature.
Most seeds become sexually mature after about a month and for sure by the time it's 2 months old. Before its sexually mature it will not flower with less than 14 hrs of light but the added light at might will help its grow faster. I plant my plants outdoors on Mothers Day. Before that some plant could start to flower while others don't. Having a plant preflower and then reveg only screws up the plants. It's better to pull it and start over because by the time it reverts back to veg it will start flowering a few weeks later. You yield is greatly impacted. Using high amounts of nitrogen help keep them in veg and quickens reveg if it does flower early.