When To Plant Question...

[ston3pony]

I've been reading guides and I keep seeing April-May as the time to plant... But, I live in a cool cloudy climate, so I'm wondering what the specifics are. Obviously it has to be after the last frost. But what else?

What is the tolerable minimum low temperature? 50° F ??
What about minimum daylight hours?

Thanks!

 

[andy52]

why not just start them inside and hardening them off for when the weather i right.you would have a jump on just sowing outside.if thats what u are talkin about.i will start some seeds in feb. to put outside when the weather permits.i am sure these pro outdoor growers can give u way more professional advice.jmo

 

[ston3pony]

No no, that is what I want to do. Going to start clones and transfer them outside. But, what is "when the weather permits"?

Anything above frost is okay? What about minimum daylight hours? They'll just start flowering right away if there isn't enough sun right?

 

[ston3pony]

From a graph I looked at it appears that Portland Oregon (near the area I will be planting), gets 12 hours and 50 minutes of light on April 1st.

 

[Hick]

st3'.. my early frost date is along about the 2nd or 3rd week of May. I used to try to "rush", cut corners, provide cover for them earlier.
What "I" have found, is by keeping clones under 24/0 light, and hardening them off in late May by moving them back under lights at night, I can put them ou June 1 and with only 3 weeks left to summer solstice, they will flower and continue to flower, without a revegging problem.
If you wish to put them outdoors earlier, I advise you to restrict your lighting to a similar number of hours as your OD will provide. Something like 16/8 usually works pretty well.