spring crop???? harvest is in 4 and a half months

[caliprop215]

Anyone doing a spring crop this year ???? I know you harvest around april or may but the big qhuestion is when do you plant?

I know you plant after the frost but when's that?

If anyone has spring pictures or harvest feel free to post.

I've done outdoors for three years now but only the main harvest not the spring so any info would be greatly appreciated. Smoke fellow friends and have a good one.

I'm on central cali by the way

 

[D.D.]

People are going to differ in their ideas about the definition of a spring crop, but for me it is any strain that i can plant on 4/20 and harvest around 6/20.. for me this would require a 60 day seed to finish auto strain adapted to northern climates.

I plan on a spring, summer, and a fall season for 2013.. and plan to experiment with ideas for a winter crop this winter.. but of course i dont believe i can pull a successful winter grow at my latitude.. not even inside of a solar-heat collecting grow mound.. but if i find the right beans... Guerrilla Winter here i come!

Generally speaking though, if i can put an auto in the ground on 4/20 i will consider it a spring crop.. if its a standard sativa i consider it my summer crop, but i always put something in the ground on 4/20 whether it lives or dies, reveges and mutates or whatever, something (even if it is only one seed) i will put in the ground on 4/20.

Growing up on a farm we would start our veggies much earlier using hoop houses.. i grow my smoke far away from home though, and a hoop house would look way out of place way out where i grow my smoke at.

 

[stasis]

What about throwing well-vegged clones out in Light Dep around March and heating it at night....? I did an earlier season Light Dep last summer, finished end of July. Turned out very good.. Fully finished flowers.

 

[gobbler3447]

If mild weather continues.......

If mild weather continues.......

Considering this years mild weather, down here in God's country, a spring crop may just be a possibility. Temps next week indicate a 28 to 30 degree temp, cloudy with no frost instead of clear sky and heavy frost, covering 6 or 8 plants would be no prob..any colder plants would freeze. If I bring started plants out of grow room and plant in late march, I can see a june harvest.. 215, you have planted that ever flowering seed in my mind! We all know that weed is NOT addictive but, growing is for CERTAIN!!

 

[stasis]

Without heating these ideas do not work.

 

[Kcar]

I plant in the middle of February. Harvest around beginning of June.

 

[caliprop215]

Thank you everyone for the input


I'm looking to plant asap. I wanna start on the january or february 1st. And harvest anytime before may 1st. Cuz on may 1st I plant my main outdoor that day so as long as I can pull a harvest from 1st of january to 1st of may would be awsome. I know people do it. I would just like some tips. I'm pretty sure I will have to cover them at night like somone mentioned above.

Any info and pics will be greatly appreciated

 

[stasis]

Your Exuberance to get growing is admirable. But we all know Ya got to have a good Plan, and Nature makes the rules...

Without warmth at night (and day, maybe) LARF is the result. Powdery Mildew Infestation, possible Botrytis Outbreak, these things thrive in cool, dmp enviornments - such as the weather in Jan-Feb, the coldest of the year in CA.

If One can keep 'em warm then a crop is possible. To throw valuable stock out in JAN is a complete waste of plants, otherwise.

ALso, if one embarked on this path, obviously, starting with well-advanced vegged plants and going straight to Flower would be the best path to take.

Experience is the best teacher.

Good Luck.

 

[D.D.]

Many things will mean the difference between success and failure.
Achieving and maintaining acceptable temperatures, proper light levels and timing
factor in heavily, and this has been well covered.. good documentation is easy to
find concerning minimal warmth and lighting requirements.

The strain you choose is going to have just as much influence upon success or failure.

Look all around at all of the vegetation growing outside all year long...
Especially, and maybe not the best example, but the most common one would be grasses.
Go outside during February and pull back some snow to expose some nice green grass.
hummm... it isnt even frozen, is it? even though some grasses died during the fall, while
some grasses will die out at the end of spring, and others during midsummer...
but its all grasses, they all have a similar appearance, and they are all different strains.

I have seen pictures of Cannabis growing up through the snow, but dont know the strain.
Memories of pulling snow away from the strawberry plant and picking strawberries come
into my mind right now... and id love to have some more of those strawberry plants.

Will those Cannabis plants that push through the snow and keep on growing contain
desirable levels of THC? ...i dont know.. i dont even know where they come from.

BUt my point is that different strains/species of the same plant contain different genes.
SOme are programmed to grow in the summer, some in the rain forest, some in desert,
some in cool damp areas, and some will even push right up through the snow.

This is why i dont doubt the guys story about obtaining some seeds from an old dude
who had grown it exclusively outdoors in Alaska... speaking of which, i need to find that thread.

later

[edit]
Yeah, here is the thread about the Alaskan Spice

The strain has been grown solely outdoor for over thirty years.

Mandala#1 might hold its own with cold and snow, but hows it do under winter light spectrum?
Some are speaking "waste of seed", but i wouldn't care to do a test run with 2-3 seeds.
[/edit]

 

[DimeBag65]

i have plans of approximately the same thing cali... i figure if the weather stays mild veg clones in january, plant in the beginning of February ..

hoophouses, or framed in greenhouses that you can close off at night with a tarp or black out plastic, supplimental lighting , and a propane heater to maintain temperatures at night..

i figure veg weather isent nearly as important as flowering, so by the time they have vegged through february maybe into march? than flipped to flower through april and may...

above ground beds or smart pots might help with the root zone temperature as well..

and will probly want to have a separate greenhouse or hoophouse so you can have your summers crop of plants vegged and ready to throw in as soon as your spring crop comes down...

anyways thats the basics off the top of my head

 

[stasis]

If that is what this whole hypothesis is based on, That plants grow thru the winter so why can't cannabis..?

Can;t fool Mother Nature. At least Up North where I am. Maybe in Santa Cruz. Probably not.

 

[CanniDo Cowboy]

Spring crop? Well, sort of...Growing outdoors in the middle or late part of winter is basically the same game as growing indoors. Think about it. Your plants, in order to survive and go the distance, can not be in an actual exposed outdoor garden. They have to be in a controlled environment which is to say, some type of frame/structure with supp lighting, heating etc. IMO, to consider growing outdoors thru winter is basically saying you have no place to grow indoors. Isnt it?

A nice & sunny but winter day with a high temp of 50 degrees doesnt do much good if the plant container is also at 50 degrees. And the winter sun is not nearly as beneficial to the plants, in terms of daily length of exposure and it's lower emitted heat, as the summer sun. The vitality just isnt going to be there unless you can create a summer-like environment. The one thing you will constantly battle is inclement weather, whether it be rain, snow, frost, cloudy days, cold-ass winds etc, which means cover, lighting and heat. The same requirements as is necessary for indoor except that outdoors, the necessary amounts of lighting and or heating, can change daily, depending on weather. And if the structure isnt ultra-insulated, youre wasting time & money "outdoors" in winter. Rain gear and mud boots, going to and from, are optional...CC