[phrank]

I posted this elsewhere, and it got zero response, but it seems germane to the topic at hand. Let me know what you think!

I believe the following was found in one of the Mel Frank books. The author suggested starting out indoors with 15 hours of light per day, and reducing said light a half hour per week (i.e. 15 hours 1st week, 14 1/2 hours 2nd week, 14 hours 3rd week, etc.). The author claimed that the first plants to indicate sex under this regimen, would be the first to finish outdoors. The idea being, of course, to find the fastest finishing plants so that they might serve as mothers. Our initial tests seemed to prove this method, but admittedly, our methods were not all that scientific. Has anybody else employed this strategy? Any thoughts on improving it? It may not sound like much, but in the cold and wet conditions of 43 North, every little bit helps. It may also offer a way to take advantage of the greater number of mating cycles per year indoors, to breed better outdoor strains.

phrank

PS BACKCOUNTRY, feel free to delete post if you feel it's to far afield!

Hi Backcountry,

they are outside right now, planted as just rooted clones in mid-july, so they went from 24h light to about 15h light of natural sun with rapidly shortening days.

The hope that the switch from 24h light to 15h light along with shortening days will induce immediate flowering. Thus resulting in about the same flowering time as indoors; I am hopping for 2 weeks overdrive vegging (due to the plant realising it has no time to grow), then 45 days flowering. This is exactly what happens indoors with this strain. The only difference here is temperature, and 15h light shortening days rather than solid 12h. This experiment contradicts the above in the sense that is expected the same flowering times as would be indoors. The key here is planting extra late to take advantage of the rapidly shortening days we have here. I asume this would not work at lower latitudes.

And yes, near here is the home of M39, it is all that you can find on the market. Fast, resistant, rock hard nuggets, easy trim, smooth high. Out here the rock hard nuggets it produces has become a sort of industry standard than actrualy inhibits the introduction of other strains.

[Sheriff Bart]

im at just about 45N on the money and so far today only 2 out of 7 plants are showing flowers...wtf is going on?!?!

i am beginning to be more interested in the autoflowerings so any ideas/links/results etc. would help!

[chubbynugs]

Hey everyone i have a question sort of pertaining to the topic. When is the shut off day that plants wont trigger into flower? Like if i put some plants in my greenhouse like a month from now i know the flowers will trigger but will it stay triggered throughout the winter until they are done? Cold would definately not be an issue where I am from.

Correction, just spoke to the concerned, and actualy they where planted on the 1st of August. So that is about 14h 45min daylight. If all goes according to plan, they should be ready by October 1st which is 11h 45min daylight.

Sheriff Bart, when did you plant? What strain are you using? For a mostly indica strains at that latitude, if you plant before solstice then your ladies will flower much later than if you plant after solstice. Planted a few a week after solstice will already have buds the size of dimes. Planting around June 1st will usually be ready after the first few frosts. Just be patient and hope for good weather. If your strain is mostly sativa then good luck or they may never be ready on time...unless you move them to a green house or keep them indoors over night when it starts getting cold.

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Originally Posted by Mr. Growitall

....they are outside right now, planted just rooted clones in mid-july, so they went from 24h light to about 15h light of natural sun with rapidly shortening days.

I have hope that the switch from 24h light to 15h light along with shortening days will induce immediate flowering. Thus resulting in about the same flowering time as we get indoors; I am hopping for 2 weeks overdrive vegging (due to the plant realising it has no time to grow), then 45 days flowering.....

.....Correction, I just checked my calendar and actualy I planted on the 1st of August. So that is about 14h 45min daylight. If all goes according to plan, they should be ready by October 1st which is 11h 45min daylight.

Well, its been nearly 4 weeks, let alone 2, have you seen any blooming?

Originally Posted by Mr. Growitall

....For a mostly indica strains at that latitude, if you plant before solstice then your ladies will flower much later than if you plant after solstice........

This is a interesting theory, I'm not much further south of you guys, and my plants put out in late April are blooming faster than the ones placed out closer to June.....I've always found slightly more mature plants to be slighty earlier.

chubbynugs- Generally almost any Cannabis strain will bloom hard from mid-October to early/mid-April in the northern hemisphere, and most will be blooming now or soon.

phrank-I agree with Mel on that most definatly! I have a plant that showed sex early like that, and I will use her as the seed mother to the next generation of her race because of her earliness.

Your post is just fine here, but I can't delete others posts anyways, I am not a Mod.

[Sheriff Bart]

well i dont reacall from last year but a plant generally doesnt flower in a month, eh? last year i think we had snow in oct, right off the bat. I recall i lost my whole nice tobacco patch due to it...

i dont know the strains or anything. they were started in april, and outside since they popped. you can look at my gallery to see the pics.

Backcountry, actualy I messed up the original date, they have been in the ground exactly 26 days, there should be signs of flowering, I will find out soon.

I have found that planting early does mean a sooner harvest but plants that are planted after solstice always finish earlier. 3 inch clones planted on solstice grow 2 feet tall. They are ready for harvest in mid-september = earlyer than anything planted before solstice.

Also, in post solstice planting, the moon cycle has an effect on the trigger of flowering. To trigger immediate flowering it is best to plant after solstice right after a full moon. This way, once the plant recovers from being planted it will have the benefit of dark nights to trigger the flowering. So on the next full moon it will already be triggered and not be fooled by the extra light. A plant that has just been triggered into flowering could possibly revert to veg on a full moon.

Sheriff Bart, harvest is usualy done in the beginning to mid november when planted that early. Best stick to strains with good frost resistance if you like to grow monsters.

[Sheriff Bart]

damn growtail, how can you do it that late at that lat.?!?! yea i need to get some good strains...but i am cheap, what can i say...last year my bagseeds pulled it off just fine...