Question for outdoor growers.

I grow in the corn and Im pulling my hair out right now. I moved from western NY to Vermont and Im puzzled with wtf is happening w my crop. I brought a couple strains with me that finished the 25th-30th of September last year(perfect for corn) and I assumed they would do the same here in Vermont. I have over 200 out there broken up into spots of 14 that are beautiful but they still need 3 more weeks! Im crushed because I know they are going to start cutting soon. All this work, all this planing and my strains are fucking me. Everything was planted between the 5th and 15th of July, just like I do every year. WTF!! Im already worried about next year because I definitely won't be doing these genetics again. Problem is that if I get seeds from someone I won't be able to be sure of when they will finish here. My question is: how could a move only a few hours northeast basically make my plants start flowering 3 weeks later? How is this possible?
 

DrewKitten

Well-Known Member
The further north East you go, the shorter the growing season. In Maine most people I know plant in June. I would assume Vermont is similar . Even in Maine, I live in northern Maine, and my growing season is shorter than southern Maine. A few hours away is a big difference in the northeast
 

jbcCT

Well-Known Member
Yeah I believe it. As you know we have a short outdoor window in the northeast. I'm sure a fair number of us are working off seed rather than cuttings like on the west coast & that's what adds that extra time.

This year I tried to germinate in May and it was still so cold the quickest I could get a seedling in the ground was June 1st. On my bigger plants I won't finish until mid-October.

If possible you need to germinate and have the plants aprox. 6 - 12 inches indoors so they hit the ground running for June. Not always an easy task. Obviously seeds do not start well in the cold and I was still running electric heaters in May this year just to keep me warm. Again I believe it's having to start from seed that makes this a real challenge.
 
The further north East you go, the shorter the growing season. In Maine most people I know plant in June. I would assume Vermont is similar . Even in Maine, I live in northern Maine, and my growing season is shorter than southern Maine. A few hours away is a big difference in the northeast
If the season is shorter, why would they veg 3 weeks longer? That doesn't make sense to me. If the season is shorter that would mean they would start flowering sooner, not later.
 

jbcCT

Well-Known Member
In regards to strain in my own personal experience I have found that pure indica, land races or indica dom tend to grow better than sativas outdoors in the NE and they tend to grow better. I ran a pure Afghan last year next to a sativa dom and the Afghan fished, almost a full three weeks earlier.

Same thing this year. My indica dom will finish before my sativas & they grew bigger & bushier.

I do believe, especially in our climate, finding a strain that grows well to our region increases not only success rate but yield.
 
Yeah I believe it. As you know we have a short outdoor window in the northeast. I'm sure a fair number of us are working off seed rather than cuttings like on the west coast & that's what adds that extra time.

This year I tried to germinate in May and it was still so cold the quickest I could get a seedling in the ground was June 1st. On my bigger plants I won't finish until mid-October.

If possible you need to germinate and have the plants aprox. 6 - 12 inches indoors so they hit the ground running for June. Not always an easy task. Obviously seeds do not start well in the cold and I was still running electric heaters in May this year just to keep me warm. Again I believe it's having to start from seed that makes this a real challenge.
I vegged 240- 20oz containers, under a 1000 watt MH in stages. All were healthy little bushes about 16/20 inches high before they were planted.

Cuttings and clones will start flowering at the same point since it is depending on the hours of the sun. The plant genes would determine how long they would need to mature. You won't actually need much more time, a bit, but not much, since cuttings take a couple weeks to root.
 

CriticalCheeze

Well-Known Member
The further north East you go, the shorter the growing season. In Maine most people I know plant in June. I would assume Vermont is similar . Even in Maine, I live in northern Maine, and my growing season is shorter than southern Maine. A few hours away is a big difference in the northeast

I know this pain all to well... Limit your inventory to 8-10 weekers haha.
 
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