Cannabis, like any other plant, has specific weather conditions that it needs in order to have a successful harvest, and cold weather can create a great challenge to this. Cannabis plants have evolved to grow quickly toward the end of summer and flower during early fall. Trying to create the best conditions during seasonal changes isn’t impossible, but it will take a bit of work.
With the right equipment, you can grow weed anywhere, anytime. The trick is doing it without going broke. If you plan things carefully, you can grow buds than you expect, even during a winter grow.
Outdoor Weed Grow
Growing outdoors is simple if you follow cannabis plants’ natural preferences. However, if you’re planning on growing out of sync with the seasons, you have to make some concessions. The quicker you can get plants to harvest, the more likely you are to keep your plants alive.
Choose the Right Cannabis Strains
If you want your cannabis plants to survive tougher conditions, focus on plants that are tougher by nature. Ruderalis plants offer some useful genetics for your cannabis strains. These plants are typically less psychoactive, but hardier. Using a hybrid plant strain with ruderalis cannabis genetics can keep your crop alive even in uncomfortable conditions.
Also, use autoflowering plants. Your light cycle will be out of whack with what cannabis plants use to harvest, so just ignore it completely. Many autoflowering strains can go from germination to harvest in as few as eight weeks. When you’re trying to get a final harvest before the frost sets in, this is going to keep you in business.
Get Temperature Protection
If you’re growing outside, you’ll need to keep your plants warm. Anything you can do to keep your plants above 60 degrees Fahrenheit will help. Many people use budget-friendly or DIY cannabis greenhouses. The greenhouse effect keeps the inside of the house warmer than the surrounding air, and that can buy you an extra couple of months of growing time. You can also use heaters in a greenhouse, or grow lights that run hot, for extra temperature protection.
Check the Weather
While the exact weather is hard to predict several months in advance, checking the weather channels and stations is a great way to keep an eye on potentially rough winter seasons. If it looks like winter is going to come early, maybe reconsider.
Indoor Weed Grow
Growing weed indoors is much simpler if you want a winter harvest. With indoor growing, you can control the temperature, light, and humidity entirely. There are certainly downsides—you’ll need to pay electrical costs and have available space for a grow, for example—but overall it’s easier to achieve a cold-weather harvest.
Indoor weed grows are also better suited for winter temperatures than summer temperatures, as indoor lighting always generates heat (though the amount varies depending on the type of grow light used). Different grow lighting creates different amounts of heat, of course, but in summer this can be a big problem. In winter, however, the entire outdoors is a source of cool air with which to ventilate your indoor grow.
You don’t have to stop growing weed just because it’s winter. If you’re looking to keep yourself stocked with weed year-round, winter growing is definitely an option. It’s much easier to do indoors, but you can still manage outside if you have a greenhouse. Cold weather cannabis grows aren’t ideal, but you can manage if you have the right tools for the job. Happy growing!