Cold Adaption

With our beloved autoflower Ruderalis originating in the northern chills of russia, I decided to put some seedlings to an adaptive challenge. These plants are in central Jersey, They have been growing at temps ranging from 35-55 degrees F. I plan to place them in a very miniature homemade greenhouse with clear plastic covering. Open in the day for ventalation, closed at night to avoid frost damage. I'm hoping to quickly adapt and strengthen these to the state climate in an attempt to radicate and spred them in the wild.

This will be done with many others soon to come. For now I'm focusing on aprox 16 half inch seedlings. Then a second wave of aprox 20 more which are in the process of germinating.

This is bagseed, Indica dominance would be nice, but even a hybrid should do well.

The only issue i see is perhaps the light cycle at this latitude, though for such young seedlings I shouldnt have to worry about immature flowering, and If it was an issue hopefully I could reap some early buds.

sounds cool. literally haha. I'm sure they will be just fine if they are covered up at night. I'm going with Satori which is a hybrid. My first non-indica outdoors actually as i am moving back down your way from up north. Starting them in a week or two. I would love to be started now but it is going to be more of a seed run anyhow. Will you be keeping this as a journal?

Im right off in Philly PA, what's your last frost date? Seems to be that Phillies is about a month before the rest of PA and the first frost a month after.

Tell me how it goes, I'd be interested to know if it works, idk if it's gonna be 35-50 F for long. We might even have some snow right here on Friday... how far you from Philadelphia? I'm really interested to see how your operation goes.

It's snow up here, how are you surviving?

Yea we have snow falling as I type. I'm hoping they are ok when I get home. The snow is only atmospheric, it still feels relatively warm, no accumulation.

I have been researching environmental adaption, and from what I have learned, biological organisms make the most drastic adjustments in the very early stages of life. Therefore, these seedlings do in fact stand a good chance of surviving harsh chilly temperatures due to the cool conditions they germinated in.

I am eager to make a journal out of this grow, if only I still had a good camera (gave my Ryobi Tech4 to my brother for free, what the fuck was I thinking?)

I will update soon.

they can survive cold temps when young from my expeireince. probly aint good for em though slows em down a bit

how mini is your greenhouse and what is the size of the containers you have them in?

piney bob said:

how mini is your greenhouse and what is the size of the containers you have them in?

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They made it through not only that bit of snow, but also the whole night last night, probably mid 30's. Now they are enjoying some 50-60's and a nice day of sun. I am going to make the greenhouse no more than a few feet long, just something small and stealthy to keep any serious cold from nipping them. More like a cold frame type of deal, nothing large. And as May comes around they will find themselves in some fertile ground.
The pots are small at the moment, only about the size of a party cup, but earthy in color. I'm using a peatmoss kind of soil, with finely ground leaves on the top for extra protection, nutrition, and camouflage.

As you can see I'm trying to be as descriptive as possible, I would like to get pics up sometime soon, they look nice for sure...

Also, they are only about an inch high believe it or not.

It will be a nice observation for sure. I am in.

I am thinking about planting in their final destination not too far from you with 3 liter bottles over each but i am afraid of them getting too hot...you think that is a possibility within the next 3 weeks? I am going with some satori and it is supposedly a real hardy strain. germinating them this week.

piney bob said:

I am thinking about planting in their final destination not too far from you with 3 liter bottles over each but i am afraid of them getting too hot...you think that is a possibility within the next 3 weeks? I am going with some satori and it is supposedly a real hardy strain. germinating them this week.

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I would say go for it. Sprout them inside but give them exposure to the outdoor chills quickly. Keep the cap off, if that is not enough slice a small portion of the top, it still keeps animals off, and allows rain through.

The way I see it, adaption is our greatest friend using the natural climate and sunlight.

By the way what are you thinking of my https://www.rollitup.org/outdoor-growing/420270-u-s-grow-resource-thread.html ?

wow lots of good info there. Going to have to do some reading. I will be cutting the cap off and inserting the bottle 1/3 of the way into the ground with some slits till the seedlings fill them out. Should i still use heat to germinate or will it shock them? you said yours had a better chance because the cooler conditions during germination + rep

piney bob said:

wow lots of good info there. Going to have to do some reading. I will be cutting the cap off and inserting the bottle 1/3 of the way into the ground with some slits till the seedlings fill them out. Should i still use heat to germinate or will it shock them? you said yours had a better chance because the cooler conditions during germination + rep

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They will only sprout with some degree of warmth so begin with that. Keep it over freezing but still good and cold at first, then they will progress to handle considerabley low temps. I'm sure your feeling the warmer weather as well so I don't know if you're still attempting that. Mine are all coming along nice, hopefully I will get a camera by the time they substantially mature. At the moment they look very natural, small and healthy like the similar early season cold tollerators of the wild.

i wanna know how this comes out ..good luck.