? Malawi grow indoor, finish outdoor ?

[BCJohn]

Question:

Is it possible to grow a Malawi indoor for the first 10-12 weeks for veg and flower, then move it outdoors to finish flowering?

I would need to time the outdoor light to match my indoor flowering light cycle of course. If i do that and make sure that it got a chance to harden off before being exposed to full sun... Would it work?

I don't have to do this. I am just looking at all of my growing options. I am getting into growing sativas and I would like to have options as to how I am going to be growing them. I live in the Far North and have growing season of about 12 weeks. I can extend that out to 16 weeks with some work and hardy plants. Stretching it any further than that takes a heated greenhouse and very cold hardy plants. No MJ strain is that hardy. At least not as far as I have heard.

Anyway, I would like to be able to start Malawi indoors then move outdoors to finish. The problem is the length of the flowering period. If I started flowering indoors and moved them out once risk of frost is gone the light cycle would not work. If I timed it based on the flowering period required to finish, again the light would be wrong. So the only way I can see it possibly working is if I flower for about 8-10 weeks then move outdoors. After that long of flowering it might not be worth moving it though.

I would love to hear from some more experienced MJ growers and especially those experienced with growing Malawi.

Thank you all for the wonderful reading you have created. I am really enjoying the Ace threads.

 

[Zanddar]

Hello BCJohn and welcome.

I mainly grow indoors.I live in a much colder area with shorter growing season than you.

We grow some strains outdoors here.What we do is start them outdoors for the summer in pots.
Use the free sunlight for growth.They will start to trigger flowering outside.The longer flowering strains are moved indoors to finish.
The plants will do better this way than the other way you are thinking of.Less worry about finishing before cold in a stable environment.

Malawi is a very hardy strain and does very well in cold temps,much better than some of my other strains.
You will always find plants that are better or not so good too.
I would suggest you use clones,as they are much quicker to respond to light changes.

Good Luck.

 

[BCJohn]

Hi Zanddar!
Thank you for the welcome and the response.
You have an interesting idea with reversing what I was thinking. I don't think I am in a position to truly do that although I might if I am careful about controlling the size of the plants. I am very limited for space with my indoor growing but almost unlimited for outdoor. That is why I was wondering about starting indoor and moving out to finish.

But if I control the growth in veg and the stretch I might be able to bring them in once we get to the lower temps. It would allow for longer veg and flowering times. Interesting.

I don't live in the south of the country. We get hard frost end of May and beginning of September. Some years we get lucky and September is nice but October means frost and snow so no growing anymore and everything dies.

Thank you for the idea. I'm going to have to think about it and see if I can plan out a schedule that. Might work.

 

[Zanddar]

Well you can start them indoors and move them out.
Unless they are clones or you know for sure how long they take to finish,you maybe chopping them too early if cold arrives.
Size is another thing to consider too.They will get very large outdoors.One plant could fill a light space.
Put them outside early while still small then.
I always grow large plants,so my mind always thinks big is better.

 

[hup234]

You could do it with a hoop house ,just pull a blackout tarp over it after 12 hrs sunlight every day...alot of work and no stealth

 

[kiwigreen420]

hey man you could veg them indoors and finish them outdoors with that 12 weeks of growing, you can force flower them by covering them up like hup234 said, I reckon you could still grow Malawi there if forced to flower.

 

[Tiami]

don't you think frost will kill them? they won't finish before oct/nov.

 

[kiwigreen420]

yeah but force flowering them in may will give them enough time to finish

 

[BCJohn]

Blackout tarp... I forgot about that.

That would be a lot of work. I would need to still control the size and do the tarp. If I top and LST and/or SCROG I might be able to create a quick and secure blackout cover. It is an interesting challenge... Hmm... I got a couple ideas that might work... There is no hiding that though. Even the smallest design I can think of right now would still be a 6x6x6' size. And that requires careful control of the stretch.

Although, if I did the veg and control inside and started to flower then did the move... It might work. I lose out on the benefit of outdoor growth though. Get the strong flower but lose on production.

It is worth thinking about though.
Thanks guys. That just might help.
Cheers!

 

[dubi]

Question:

Is it possible to grow a Malawi indoor for the first 10-12 weeks for veg and flower, then move it outdoors to finish flowering?

Hi BC John,

Honestly, i don't see it clear. The days are too long in summer at your latitude to finish correctly this kind of sativas, if you flower the sativa indoors with 12/12 photoperiod and then you place her outdoors in June then she will probably try to reveg in some way unless you force again darkness outdoors like hup234 commented. Sounds too complicated and i dont think it will work.

At your latitude it makes much more sense what Zanddar said. Start the sativa outdoors from seed to take the advantage of the good summer sun, without spend electricity or equipment for 3 months and then finish the plants indoors. It works very good, the plants come with a big and strong outdoor structure and they later explode indoors.

I would consider to choose an outdoor strain that is more suited for your cold climate.

 

[BCJohn]

Dubi,

Thank you for your thoughts. I completely agree that starting indoors and moving them outdoors in June would not work. I would need to match the indoor light schedule to the outdoor. I would need to flower them indoor for June and July before moving them outside for August and September. It could only be for the final 6 weeks of flowering. Not a simple thing to do.

What I will likely have to do is use a Malawi cross for true outdoor growing.

I like to push the limits of growing in different climates. I've been able to do it with some flowers that are now able to survive our winters. Doing as Zanddar suggested may help me to push the Malawi over time. Imagine a Malawi that could veg and flower in 12-16 weeks outdoors.