Outdoor Grow Period

[King Bong]

Ok when growing outdoors do you plant in the spring and then wait untill the fall to harvest or is there a certain time period like 4 months where the plant grows till you harvest?

[Weedguru Higher]

Grow period varies greatly depending on your climate. You would want to plant when at night the temperature no longer drops below the freezing point and idealy should be able to get a high of about 20 degrees celcius or more. Here is Quebec that could be anywhere from late May to early or mid June.

The harvest time is a little more complicated, best learned through experience. but I'll try and get you pointed in the right direction.

Harvest time can greatly increase or decrease the levels of THC in your plant.

Marijuana must be harvested when the buds are ripe. The best indicator of this is the color of the buds pistols. You would want to look for colors turning brownish or orangish, this will sorta look like they are dying but the aren't. I'd say wait till 75% has changed color. Every strain of weed will have a different length of time to reach this point, so it is pretty hard to say whether it will be ready in September or October or whatever.

Normally the buds at the tops of the plants will rippen first, so what you can do is cut off the top buds when ready, leaving the others to completely mature. This will not kill your plant. This will allow the lower buds to get more sunlight, hence speeding up the rippening process.

On the other hand you don't want to over rippen your plant because that will eventually cause the buds THC levels to decrease. Look closely at the bud and you will notice small crystals all over the bud. You want these crystals to be clear in color, a sign off over ripping is that they will turn brownish. Don't get this mixed up with the pistil colors!! Use can use a magnifying glass to check this, makes it easier.