FROST: general rules from experience....

Socal Desert? You in the high desert? That's where I stay!

ok so most information was on plant survival, but what about how the frost affects potentcy, trichromes and smoke. i have experienced plants that lose their potentcy once frosted

I've never experienced that in 4 years of growing outdoors.a frosty will certainly stop a sativa dominant plant from finishing.

Would you still be able to harvest if your plant died from frost late into flowering?

old thread had to post my results from harvesting a plant that died naturally from -2 and snow for 2 days the plant was all leaning over to one side with all the fan leaves dropping and turned a very dark greenish, black color so i harvested it anyways it was almost 2 weeks early and to my suprise the smoke wasnt too bad. btw it was a long flowering sativa

I'm in Maine, and have some experience with frost.

1st... A "soft" (only below barely below freezing for a couple hours) frost, isnt really a bad thing, I find it improves flavor, and pushes out any left over fertilizer.

A "hard" (below 28*f for several hours) frost on the other hand can be tricky. Some plants can handle it once or twice, others cant take it. Depends on the strain more than anything I think. The plants that can handle it, seem to benefit from a hard frost once or twice before harvest, but once they have gone thru a hard frost, time is limited.

This thread really eased my anxiety. Its still the middle of August and I was worried about our first frost towards the end of September.

I am getting concerned with my grow being able to mature enough before first frost. I live in New England and have a plant that sprouted in early June but I made a lot of noob mistakes which stunted its growth. Now its almost a week before September and its just starting to grow past a foot long with 6 good tops. I don't know if it will have enough time to start to flower and mature enough before it starts to get cold. Has anyone had this kind of experience starting a late plant like mine? Appreciate the feedback.

Reigning said:

I am getting concerned with my grow being able to mature enough before first frost. I live in New England and have a plant that sprouted in early June but I made a lot of noob mistakes which stunted its growth. Now its almost a week before September and its just starting to grow past a foot long with 6 good tops. I don't know if it will have enough time to start to flower and mature enough before it starts to get cold. Has anyone had this kind of experience starting a late plant like mine? Appreciate the feedback.

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Trim the smaller stuff off the bottoms of the branchhes, and focus on the tops. I've seen plants 8" tall produce over a qp....

So should I just cut the first little branches off that I topped? They don't seem to be growing like the other four. They are a lot skinnier and looks like they wouldn't produce much.

Reigning said:

So should I just cut the first little branches off that I topped? They don't seem to be growing like the other four. They are a lot skinnier and looks like they wouldn't produce much.

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If theyre not groeing, and dont look like theyll produce much, than sure, cut them off, but.... witout pics, its hard to give solid advice.

The idea is... you only have so much time left, and rather than letting the plant use up its resources to grow the smaller branches, which will produce smaller buds, just cut them off, so the tops get all those resources...

Here's some pictures from today of my girl. Its 8/27/13 and first frost is always around anywhere from late September to early October. The scraggily lower branch that looks supercropped was taken off today to try and give more energy to the other five bigger ones. Hopefully that helps.

sirdankestofhempshire said:

Socal Desert? You in the high desert? That's where I stay!

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Hey man, me as well. i dont want to get to personal, but where ya from? Apple Valley?

Gotta love it eh!! First frost warning and were not even passed the first week of september lol.
So does heavy dew and high humidity raise the temp that frost damage can occur? They callin for +4 or 5*C (39-41*f) but there is a frost warning.

i know this is old thread, but I was told when the plant warms up after first frost that is when most of the budding occurs. This is my first time growing outdoor (cronic bagseed) and it turned out to be a nice purple plant, but it was late in the season. I was also told if I keep my plants inside over night I will be able to control the budding. is this true? or should I just wait and see? I stuck a needle through the stem to hurry the growth and I have been using 10-15-10 on it. The plant looks incredibly healthy only its too goddamn small. heres a pic. I know its small, thats the point of the post, help me get some purps guys. I need good info from experienced growers.

Reigning, I really like your first plant, what did you do to it to make it supercrop, i heard something about "spidercutting" or something, I was told sticking the pin through will hurry growth and is a form of supercropping. I was shown plants that grew so large the stalk ate up the rusted pin, but he said it happens so gradual, the rust wont affect the plant unless you pull it out or attempt too. It seems to have done more to my plant than the liquid fertilizer im using. friends have been telling me nasty tea concoctions but the expert that I have been asking, tells me the 10-15-10 is more than enough. I almost did an eggshell, water, grape and molasses emulsion until i was advised not too, as the nutrients are not controlled. And may do more harm than good, so im sticking with my liquid fert, water, and goat shit fertilzer/top soil and mulch. Should be enough for my purple princess.

heres a few pics before she turned purple a week or 2 ago. Ive been trimming it as much as possible, arguably too much so im gonna let it grow for a while now.

WillyD,
Wow, the needle through the stem is a new one for me. I am not sure if that is really a good idea, the wound is an invitation for pests and also stunts growth. I have been growing Medical M.J. for about a year and a half, but "thoroughly" studied the subject and growing of it for about 20 years in my spare time. I love to help out someone in need. First things first. The cannabis plant will trigger flower when the night's dark period extends with the end of summer, this timing depends upon strain and location. Moving it indoors at night and out during the day can trigger flower earlier, if you can completely control light conditions. It must be absolutely dark, but also have a supply of fresh air flow otherwise it will confuse the plant making it go from veg to bloom and back again, also further stunting its growth. The good news is that if you want it to grow bigger it should with a little more time, it is called bud stretch and can double the size of a plant from veg to bloom. You will need to change the fertilizer to a bloom formula as well. That would be a 0-10-10, like Alaska Morebloom or something similar. Depending on your soil, you will want to take it easy on the nutrients. I know the urge to blast that sucker to make it grow well, very well in fact, but I have found that less is more. More healthy, that is. 1/2 strength is a good first dose with any new nutrients added, plain water for a week at the very least two to three is recommended, and then normal from then on. Stop using nutrients long before you think it will be done, 10-14 days minimum and flush thoroughly 3-4 days before harvest and let the soil dry out before harvest. I currently use Super Soil and organic compost outdoors and have the absolute best growth with no nutrients. If you are planning on continuing to grow look it up "Subcool's Super Soil". The recipe is on this site. Also look up Subcool on Youtube. I know it takes forever, but watch every episode. He covers almost everything you need to know.
On the topic of this threads discussion, here are some pics of the frost I got last year at the beginning of October right before harvest. I thought they were dead, but as the sun came up I watched in amazement as they slowly picked themselves up with one quick shiver after another all through out the greenhouse.

Ok so here she is 3 weeks in after seeing the first initial preflowers. Tiny buds about all the size of the width of my thumb. Its getting towards the middle of September now with night temps reaching 43F at the worst. My question is basically will she bud up enough before frost? October is 3 weeks away which would only make it 6 weeks flowering and I know my plant needs way longer considering it is sativa dominant. Here are some pics to help out anyone who has any good advice.I am expecting her to bud up a LOT more. Am I wrong in expecting those buds to double in size? so far they are only popcorn size.

Mine are doing well , at the day it it 18 - 20 Celsius ( I am in Europe ) and at night is going arround 7 - 8 Celsius , they will be fine , i will post tomorrow my Monster's Ladies .