I am a beginner grower. Alright, so I live in a rural area around Baltimore. More in the counties not in the city. However a main problem I’m having is, to be safe, I will probably plant in pots in March and move inside of the weather seems risky. Then, I will probably plant into the garden in March. I plan on not having a complicated nutrient system, and providing all the nutrients through the soil with super soils. Obviously if I detect deficiencies I will add nutrients through water. Anyways, my main question is, is the Maryland Growing season- starting from may- long enough to grow from start to finish a high quality feminized plant ready for harvest? Because I looked it up and the winter solstice doesn’t start till September, so will my fem plant have enough time to flower before it gets too cold? Usually September is not too bad but October can be a roll of the dice. I want the fem plant to have enough time to flower enough to get a nice thc level and food taste etc… how many weeks or months does that take? Because I’m gonna be angry if I’m growing a nice fem plant, and it does really well, and then some early frost comes in October or it’s just really cold and the bud doesn’t get to be the quality I want. And if the answer to all this is no, it won’t, should I just spend the extra money on autoflowering seeds? But another question arises for me, do autoflowers produce as much as a well-grown fem outdoors? The strain I am decided on currently is Purple Haze as I like it and have read about it, it seems quite resilient for outdoor growing, and I mention I will be using organic pesticides such as neem oil to help. Thanks!
Autoflowering plants do not typically produce the same as a healthy photo period plant outdoors. I tried both last year and the photos were 3 times bigger than the auto, and the auto was still pretty big for an auto. Unfortunately I lost my photo plants to mold and bud rot because they went more than a month longer than my auto and got the early rainy fall season.
That’s what I had mostly read, but I suppose I have to decide on 1/3 a harvest or no harvest at all. I don’t think I’ll have the problem with rain in fall as far as Maryland climate, or maybe I will, I don’t know haha. Just need the fall to be warm enough while the plants flower.
I will be much better prepared this year for outdoor! Either all autos or indica dominant photoperiod strains. I might just do one and Scrog in my greenhouse. I just don’t usually have the weather in fall to grow a sativa in my climate (pacific northwest)
Just curious, how much did your autoflower produce vs. how much your other plants would have produced?
Auto was over 4oz. The photos would have easily been over a pound between the 2. I had a journal on it if you wanna check it out
Sure, what strain?
I grew a Northern Lights auto and 2 Alaskan Thunder F**k photos
Yeah if I were to do an auto it’d be northern lights that also looks resilient. I’m still torn, do I get a much smaller yield or risk losing a fem plant? I’m thinking screw it just go for the fem, and plant it in a decent sized pot around March and if I expect bad weather just move it inside till I plant the whole garden. By the time I plant it in the garden, hopefully it’ll be in veg stage and will have enough time to give me a high quality harvest.
That sounds good too. Do autos and photos!
Then you can see what your climate will adhere to
Alright, sounds good to me!
Indica heavy strains easily finish in Maine before frost. MD should be no problem. I Set out transplants 2 weeks before last frost in the spring.
My experience is that outdoors plants start flowering when the dark period gets to 10 hours or so, strain dependent. Sativas take more dark to start flowering and then die when the killing freeze comes, 9 feet tall and covered in immature flowers.
Any suggestions on what Indicas or Indica dominants grow well in Maine? They’d also grow well in md I’m sure.
I think I’ll try Northern Lights autoflower so I’ll undoubtedly be done in time, and it’s and Indica dominant. It says it’s nicely disease resistant etc…
@MDGrower I had good luck with northern lights and Hash Plant. I think any indica heavy strain will be fine for you.