Listed Finishing Dates....

[D.S. Toker. MD]

... are problematic enough by themselves but when you throw other factors in, it becomes complicated.

I would give anything if breeders would tell us at what daylength their strains would begin to show flowers along with the maturation time. Most indica leaning strains will begin to flower at around 14.5 hrs of light per day, but some wont start until around 13.5 and those strains usually wont finish in time. A plant that claims to finish in 55 days is great if it starts flowering on Aug 1, but if it doesnt start until sept 1 it probably wont finish well. Black domina is just such a plant. It finishes in 50 days and thats Nov. 1.

Add a day to your finish time for every day the temperature exceeds 95 degrees.

Add 2 days to the finish date for every time you say " my plants really need some rain or im going to have to water." Ive seen a 6 week dry spell add 30 days to the finish date.

Subtract 10 days from the finish date for years that have plenty of rainfall and normal temps.

If you consider these factors, you can predict your harvest date by august 1.

 

[OrganicMonkey]

I don't really care, I suppose if I had a clone or a dialed in strain then it might make a point. I don't find a month that much difference, It's more of a problem if it stretches into November.

 

[hamstring]

I agree with DS to a point because the breeders description is always a little biased to say the least when it comes to harvest time and potency but I guess there’s a little salesmanship in anything you buy.

There is a very large area where a month is the difference between a crop and garbage. Europe, Canada, US (Midwest, North East). I would be willing to guess more guerrilla growers have to worry about a mid to end of October finish than not. Even if it there is no frost the fall tends to be wet and humid in many areas. I by no means know this for sure but I think most breeders come up with all their new strains indoors and base their outdoor harvest time on a few anecdotal stories rather then true outdoor breeding regiments.
PEACE

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

Absolutely right hamstring. From oct 5- 20 is the deal for me. If a breeder stated that his strain would begin to flower under 14.5hrs, then because i know that around here, 14.5 is near the end of july. That would let me really figure out whether a plant will be done by early Oct.

Now, i may have a strain that flowers for "50 days" but then August 1 comes and no flowering. Mid august and then finally, flowering on the first of sept, but thats too late and will throw me into mid to late oct - really too late. Black Domina follows this course. Its a 45 day strain that finished early Nov for me.

If the breeder would have said, "requires 13.0 hrs of light to flower", then i would have known that the strain wasn't going to go into flower until sept.