Power outage during flowering!

Well this Monday began my fourth week of flowering for my first grow. It was going as well as I could have expected and the buds were really starting to fatten up and lookin scrumptious.

Well this Sunday there was a major ice storm and my town now looks like a war zone with huge old trees snapped in half and all over the streets/houses/cars. Anyways our power went out Sunday night and has been out since (besides some sparatic power on Monday) It looks like we won't be getting power for a week or maybe more.

What should I do, am I fucked? Should I just harvest now? The plants are just sitting in the dark and looking sad without their HPS.

I know nothing about growing, but cant you get a generator? I dont know your power requirements but i have a small one that easily powers an A/C unit in a motorhome, and there very useful for other things too.

I know nothing about growing, but cant you get a generator? I dont know your power requirements but i have a small one that easily powers an A/C unit in a motorhome, and there very useful for other things too.

From what I have heard all the generators are sold out, and I can't afford one in the first place =(

yeah generators are steep in price too. if you have no power how are you on the computer talking to us?.....................peace

IMO i think u have to harvest, if u go a week w/o light im not sure whats gonna happen, but they could all die.

yeah generators are steep in price too. if you have no power how are you on the computer talking to us?.....................peace

At my parents house, they live in one of the only areas in town with power. And it's not an option to bring the plants here

Run an extension cord all the way from your parents house! Get one of those pedal power lights! But you are in a shitty situation, where about do you live?

A few days without light won't kill them, maybe they can last a week I really don't know,
it's a long time

The good thing is it won't make them go back to vegetative growth. The plants are monitoring the length of the dark period, not the length of the light period. A long dark period makes them "think" it's fall, so they flower. In your case the length of the dark period is exceptionally long but that's ok, the plant can't go back to veg.

Actually, don't go in there frequently with flashlights, if you do they'll think the short dark period between your visits was a short night, and short nights = vegetative growth.


The main problem is the plants aren't making any sugar, but as they've finished their veg growth, they have all that stored sugar to use. I don't know if it'll get them through a week of darkness though.


Use a green light to check on your plants, they'll go yellow for sure but that's reversible. If they're obviously dying, like beyond hope then harvest the buds.


Good luck, what a bummer

yeah i agree dont go in with a flash light or anything cause youll end up with hermies........peace

i think you'll be ok.. just wont get the density and yield that you may have under normal circumstances.. You'll probably have to harvest early but let them go a week or so after the lights come on and keep an eye on them. Also try to keep cold drafts off of them.

gl man.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I think I'll wait until Friday to see if the electricity will go back on, if not then I may just harvest them (but like ya'll suggested, depending on their health) Oh and it's like 40 degrees in the grow room, and I only have taken a peek once with sunlight.

Oh, and I'm in Oklahoma to answer whomever asked where I was

It sounds like the temp may be your bigger problem here.

It sounds like the temp may be your bigger problem here.

definitely! I guess there's no way to warm things up?

definitely! I guess there's no way to warm things up?

No way to heat things up Yea I should have mentioned the temperature earlier....So that's the biggest deal here?

If this kind of thing happens often in your AO you could always get some deep cycle batteries and a trickle charger to make a backup power array. If your power usage wasn't to great, and you disconnected all non-vital equipment (fan, sensors, etc.) you could get some decent run time out of it. Plus you could use it for other electrical devices that might prove useful in a black out.

Kind of elaborate, but I would recommend it to anyone with unreliable power, grow or no grow.

You could probably make a generator out of your car battery. Thing is, you'd have to leave the car running outside. Probably don't want to do that... lol

I think I'll wait until Friday to see if the electricity will go back on, if not then I may just harvest them (but like ya'll suggested, depending on their health) Oh and it's like 40 degrees in the grow room

I think you have the right idea to chop either tomorrow or Friday.

Some growers purposely give the plants an extended dark period just before harvest, on the idea that this makes the plants think that it is the end of viable sunlight season, which causes them to plump and put on extra resin in a last-ditch desparate effort to be pollinated before dying. But that is a 24-72 hour dark, not 5+ days -- after that much time their energy will have been spent and and they will start to wither. So even if the power comes back on Friday, I think you would be better off harvesting than trying to continue flowering after 5 straight days of dark.

And those cold temps work against you as well, shortening your time window, thus my suggestion to possibly chop tomorrow rather than Friday.

Don't know how much smokable bud you'll get, but it will be better than just tossing the whole grow.

Sorry to hear about this, I'm sure there are many other growers in similar situations. Good lesson to buy a generator before you need it. Not just for your grow op but heat, fridge/freezer, cooking, survival basics.

Well I went to chop them down today but didn't have the heart.

They still look very healthy, the only difference is the leaves are more brittle, slightly more yellow and the fan leaves are starting to turn inwards.

Would there be any adverse effects for me to continue waiting, should I really just chop them down? And btw, I still don't have power and living with my parents is driving me insane!!!!

I would keep waiting, the way you describe them they'll still be fine if the lights came back on now.
I'd be a sad thing if you cut them down today and the lights came back on tomorrow!

I would keep waiting, the way you describe them they'll still be fine if the lights came back on now.
I'd be a sad thing if you cut them down today and the lights came back on tomorrow!

Yea that would definitely make me cry.

The only thing is that the power lines are downed in my back yard and I have no idea how long it'll take my electric company to get around to it. The only people without power on our block is our house and then our neighbors to our right/left, so I doubt three houses are a big enough priority for them to do anything about it for awhile...