Hi, Yes, I'm an outdoors newbie. I've been fairly good about reading these threads over the years. I've never had to actually post a question because eventually I have always found the answer. Well, not this time. Ha! I have found indirect answers, but I'm curious to know if there are others in my situation or have been in my situation- and would like to know what they decided to do. I decided to do my grow outside for the first time here in Central Cal. Started by seed indoors back in mid March and put them outdoors in mid April. We get VERY hot weather here (triple digits on up past 110 degrees) usually by this time in May. Instead, for the first time in probably a decade, we have had cloudy skies, light to heavy rain, and temperatures dropping to 50's to 60's. This wouldn't be so bad for a few days, but we are going on a few weeks now. Everyone living in this area is shocked because this weather is unheard of this time of year. I do not think anyone in THIS area would have expected this, let alone plan for it. In hindsite, I would have brought them inside 2 weeks ago, but now we are passed that! I am absolutely positive my little crop isn't the only one out here suffering from mother nature. At least in my case it's a personal grow. I'm not sure what I would do if this was my business/livelihood. My plants are currently sitting in 5 gallon fabric pots in an unobstructed FULL SUN area. After about 2 weeks of this cloud cover, rain, and dropping temps- one by one I have watched them go into flowering in the past week. At first I thought it was just pre-flower, but now it's clear they have moved on to flower. So now I am at a crossroads. Should I just cut my losses and let them do there thing? Should I try some of the different techniques found around here to force them back into veg? Do you have specific advice on what YOU would do in this situation? Maybe let one go, try something different on another, etc. I'm just curious to know what other more experienced outside growers would do. Please don't yell at me for being a newbie and coming here to ask. I can research all day, but maybe I missed an option and I DO know I have some options. I know this is the risk for outdoor grows. My life won't be over if they continue their flowering 3 months early... but if there is some incite/tips that someone out there would like to share? I'm all for listening. Thanks in advance!
You can get them to reveg. Simply add supplemental lighting to them. Many hang a single CFL right over the top of them and leave it on a couple hours past dark every night until you see them reveg. At that time the daylight hours should keep them in veg.
The problem is they won't finish flowering. They will get half flowered then reveg and come Aug1st when they should start to flower they will be a real mess of half exploded flowering tops and revegged parts. Been there and done this more then I care to admit. Depending on how deep into flower they are you have a couple of options. Add enough light to force them back into veg and keep the light on till Aug 1st. Light deprive them and continue flower for 6-8 more weeks. You'll need to keep them at 14 hours or less of light per day. Fire more seeds and they will veg through June and July. The 2 clamp lights on the shed with 25 watt CFLs are enough to keep my summer plants in veg for the next 2 months as they were grown under 24-0 and any darkness will drop them into flower sure as hell. I set these out about the 22nd of May. BNW
Both of you had the same idea I was leaning towards- adding supplemental light. @BrassNwood - I'm going to take you're exact advice. I appreciate the thorough info with pictures! I honestly did not know what would happen if I just left them be. I assumed they would go through their natural flowering cycle, but from your experience... it sounds like that is not the case! I have one plant that is probably too late to catch, so I will bring it inside for it's dark periods. The rest just started flowering about 2-4 days ago, so I think I'm okay on supplementing more light. Thanks again.
I am in the exact same situation and i have just made the same post, i have searched and searched for an answer but somehow just stumbled upon this post. It is a real pain in the ass but i do feel a little sketched out having a light on in my yard, have you put out your light yet? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Fortunately for me, my house sits a ways back from prying eyes. I know exactly what you mean though. Turning bright lights on at night in your back yard probably might draw unwanted attention from your neighbors. Even with my house not having close neighbors, I made sure my lights were sitting BELOW the line of my fence. Mine also sit facing more down than anything, angled more towards the ground. From a distance it looks like an ambient pool light (I don't have a pool lol). If you can't do that and your house is close enough, you can maybe clip them up on your house (like BrassNwood's shed pictures?) to make them look like security lights? I have also seen people make custom tents using plastic pipes and dark material. It's really light weight, you can make it any shape, and they put the lights inside of it. The light is diffused by the dark material- meaning not so bright to your neighbors. Downside is that you have to manually move it every single day. Which reminds me- pipes are your friend! You can customize many things with pipes from your local Home Depot. You can even build yourself a light stand at the height you want! Also, if you are really really paranoid about it, you can always shut them off at midnight. Or change the schedule to when your neighborhood is less busy by turning them on at 2AM (shut off when sun comes up). Either of these ways will give them about 4 extra hours of light. It's better you leave them on all night like the others have said- to make sure your plants stay in veg, but from what I have read on here, you "might" be okay with just the extra 4 hours. 24 hours of light takes the "might" out of the equation! I'm a newbie with the outside stuff, so I'm learning as I go. Hope this helps- if not- hope someone has better ideas than me! If anything- be creative. I'm sure you'll figure it out.
How times change! Thirty years ago, or so, when I was living there, the San Joaquin Valley outdoor grown harvest wouldn't be ready til' nearly December! Are you growing auto flowers? You didn't mention the size of the plant's frame. Are they actually elongating? That's the first sign photo-sensitive plants are entering the reproductive phase of life. I wouldn't think rain and overcast days would affect photo-period sensitive strains. If they're auto flowers, I'd think the most reasonable option is to build PVC framed tents covered with three mil. plastic during rainy periods.
I’m having the same problem. I bought clones from a local club and put them outdoors on April 15th. This is my first time growing and I later found not to put them outside until Jun (according to a local hydro shop) they just got transplanted into 7 gallon fabric pots with fox farm ocean floor and get lots and lots of direct sunlight. Two of the plants are getting these flowers and I’m wondering if like you I’m too far gone to stop it.
You obviously don't understand the weather we have been having. If it was ANY other year- you'd be spot on, but the last few weeks... mother nature had her own plans. The weather in this area, as you know, around May is usually lows in 60's and highs at 90's. When June hits, we jump up to triple digits highs. I LOATH the heat in the valley. But lucky us, for 2019, weather decided to be a little different with 3 storms rolling through. We got a lot of needed rain with our lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's. I kept track of the weather and we had almost a solid week with NO sun. Solid cloud cover (with thunderstorms, rain, & hail!). I think all of that, along with the severely lowered temps, made them think we were going into fall. Before these storms, we were already in the 80's for most of April, than we had the sudden 20 degree drop (minimum) with the absence of the warming sun. If anything, they were going through some shock. Here's an article that will kind of update you on the recent California chilly weather: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...g-with-hefty-snowpack/?utm_term=.bbe6f269e211 Also- my plants are absolutely 100% NOT autoflowers. If they were, they would have started flowering in April. I would be on the verge of chopping them up to dry right now and starting a new crop. And PVC pipe! That was the piping I suggested earlier. I couldn't remember the name so I called it plastic piping. Lol. Yeesh.
It's hard to tell in your picture, but it looks like you already got some buds growing. From the picture, I would say you are too far gone for a quick save. I think they say the farther your into flower, the longer it will take to reveg. It will just take you more time. If no one answers here- look into "re-veg" or "reveg". Usually it's done at the end of your season as a Hail Mary to save your plant for next season, but I don't see why you can't do it now. It's exactly what I am doing with the light schedule, but again, yours is farther along into flower, so it will take more time. Please note- I have never done a reveg- so this is all hypothetical from what I have read.
I think your plants are responding to the difference between indoor light hours and outdoor - if the discrepancy is in regard to less hours of natural light. I live in a northern temperate zone and have never had any outdoor seed plant go into weather induced premature May flowering. If it were, I and every other outdoor grower around would have long since been breeding bonsai auto-flowering plants long ago! Personally, without seeing any photographic examples, I think your plants are just forming some early pre-buds temporarily brought on by the light discrepancy. They'll continue to grow vegetative, maybe continuing to form pre-buds at inter-nodes throughout the summer. IMO your introduction of supplemental night lighting will be folly, possibly contributing to hermaphrodites. Rain isn't going to hurt those pre-buds - they're not dense enough to seriously retain moisture yet. Oh, the name for that 3 mil. clear plastic is Visqueen
Actually I DID give you that information. You just didn't read it. From the original post of this thread: "Started by seed indoors back in mid March and put them outdoors in mid April." Planted seeds: March 16th (18/6 Light) 4 weeks Put Outside: April 13th (Mother Nature Light) They have been outside for almost 7 weeks (11 weeks old). Perfect weather until it dropped 20+ degrees and stayed dropped for over a week... with dark heavy cloud cover the entire time. I'm going to have to disagree with you. Every strain is different. Not ALL my strains went into flower, but 2 of them did (6 plants- Cherry Bomb & Ice Fem). They have to be 2 strains that are more sensitive to weather- meaning if it gets even a hint of fall- drastic dropping temps & light change- it's going into flower. With this happening to me, I was able to read about a lot of others having the same experience. It doesn't make total sense. Light should still be penetrating through those clouds (although they were super dark grey) and we know they can survive in lower temps. I can't give you a direct answer as to why, other than this is what I did, this is what the weather did, and here I sit. Next year, I plan to keep my plants inside through end of May. That way I can avoid late weather changes completely.
It's the discrepancy in light. Your plants' are just revealing gender. Probably stimulated by the temperature drop, or maybe genetics contributing as well. In the north, outdoor acclimated, hybrid seedlings started indoors in late April, put outdoors in late May, not uncommonly show their gender by late June. However, flowering doesn't start til' later July. I really believe that's all you're experiencing, and shouldn't unnecessarily stress over it. Save that for the October rains, or alternately, wildfires.
Here is a picture. The reason I might be confused is because of the number of pistils? Usually when mine are beginning their flower they start shooting out the top and at the bud sites- like they are here. Given, I was a day behind watering due to an ER visit (I'm okay!). But in my experience I usually don't get this much pistil action until they are ready to flower.
Oh god! You're right It is going into flowering! Why would you listen to some nobody on the internet?! I don't know anything!! All is lost!!!! Actually, those are a lot of pistils, but it looks like it's a sativa dominant strain. Sativa strains usually do have a lot of flowers. As long as it keeps producing emerging new leaf growth at the terminating points on the main top and branches and doesn't start elongating at the main top and emergent leaf growth doesn't cease giving way to the tops crowing out totally in pistils, I think your plants still in vegetative growth.
Thanks for the info! I really should have posted a picture right from the beginning. I appologize for that- I'm still learning how to navigate this whole forum thing. Yeah- that's usually the amount of pistils I see before it goes into full out flowering- Hence why I was concerned. I think my mistake was bringing them out too early in mid April. I should have supplemented with extra light or kept them on their inside routine until end of May/June 1st. I was really eager to get them outside. Also- you are right. The particular strain pictured is Cherry Bomb, which is a Sativa dominant hybrid. I'm happy that I still have other plants in solid veg. Like I said at the very beginning- this is just a personal grow. Wanted to give outside a shot instead of my usual inside grow. Use the sun to my advantage and reclaim my back bathroom! No biggie if I screw it all up, but I DO like learning from my mistakes! Thanks for sticking with me and giving your 2 cents. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Grasscity Forum mobile app