Hi all, I’m new to growing and live in the Pacific Northwest (Portland, OR) where it appears Gold Leaf Femanized will be ready to harvest in late September, or Early October.
First, can someone tell me why literature only defines how long cannibals plant flower, and not the total growing cycle? This would help trememndously with my next question.
Second, I have an indoor grow tent and want to start my seedlings long before putting them outside to maximize the potential size and yield of the plant once ready to harvest outside.
Here’s what Im thinking…. If Gold Leaf has a flowering period of 8-9 weeks, and I “assume” a veg period of 10-12 weeks (again, I can’t find this number anywhere), I would have a total grow cycle of roughly 18-21 weeks. So, if I need to harvest by the first week in October, I could start the seedlings as early as May 1st; however, Im wondering if I could extend their grow cycle and start the seedlings indoors as early as…. Mar 1st, for a total grow time of 28 weeks? I wouldn’t transfer them outdoors until May 1st or so, perhaps middle of May after 8-10 weeks of indoor growth?
Because photoperiod plants can stay in the Veg stage basically indefinitely. Its whats called keeping a mother plant. Hypothetically one could cut clones. Root them. Then flower them, repeatedly off one mother for years.
Flowering occurs when, indoors you switch from 18/6 hours on/off to 12/12, or outdoors the seasons change and the days begin to shorten. That happens at different rates on different dates all over the world so its kinda hard to pinpoint for all.
But in your indoor-outdoor plan, they will veg until outdoor lighting hours trigger the flowering to begin
All of the information that has been provided is excellent. I just want to clarify a couple of things that may not be clear to a newer grower.
When you start a plant indoors and move it to the outdoors there are several essential things to consider. Moving from inside to outside can be stressful for your if there is a large temperature difference and the sun is a lot brighter than your grow lights. My lights for instance a just a bit less than half as bright as the noonday sun. My lights are very bright as grow lights go.
If you are moving them outside in the early spring the daytime temperatures may be a bit low and the nighttime temperatures are definitely lower in my area (latitude 44.5 about 60 miles south of Portland).
The bigger issue is the length of day. In April the days are just about 12 1/2 hours. If you go from 18 hours of daylight to 12 1/2 hours of daylight your plant will start to flower. If you put them out in June the days are about 14 hours long (a bit longer actually) but getting longer every day.
If you want the plant to continue to veg into a huge plant before flowering then you should wait until late June to put your plant outside. If you want the plant to go into flower for a late June harvest then put them out in early April.
If you put your plant out in May then it will likely start to flower but before it finishes the days will get long enough to cause the plant to back into veg (re-vegging) and later go back into flower when the days get short in the fall months.
I hope that this rambling post is helpful and not too confusing.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that all of this is purely theoretical from my perspective as I have never moved a plant from indoors to outdoors. In fact, I have only gown indoors so have absolutely no experience with outdoor growing.
Hi Merlin, Thank you!! That is Exactly the kind of detail I was looking for and trying to figure out. “I can see clearly now” and it all makes sense!!!
No problem! What you’re saying makes sense to me as well. It’s a Great place to start- Thanks again for taking the time to chime in, I greatly appreciate it.
I put her out late March. I wasn’t much into strains. I was just growing bag seeds. When this one showed strange growth in May, I was told it was a “hemp” plant and didn’t think much about it.
I didn’t know about reveg at that time. Last year I ran an experiment with revegged plants. I had a few clones I put into flower. Then I chopped the tops off them and put them under 24 hr lighting and started feeding them for veg.
I also put some clones out at the same time. They were a little over a month in veg. All of those went into flower and then revegged. It wasn’t planned.
This year I did about 8 reveg plants (started from clones in Nov). They all revegged and I culled them down to 3 (one was a runt that took her sweet time and I just never gave her away).
Lots of learning in the last year has led to some changes in my grows. Nothing goes outside between April and June. Lighting in my tents is at 14/10 for veg. Revegged plants will be a part of my future grows. The buds seem to be bigger and more potent. I’ll have to pay more attention to the plants to combat pests, mold and rot, but it is doable…
Some really great information there @oldmarine. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
I am sure that @bugle and others will really benefit from your experience.
Wow… Loving all of the great knowledge from your practical experiences. I’m taking notes and storing them now. Based on everyones input in this thread, I’ve come up with a plan for this year and will let you know how it goes!
