growing in cold weather

[namron67]

I have several female plants (I don't know what strain) in 5 gallon containers they are about 14 " tall and 2 are starting to flower.
The temp high and low are 60 deg. and 12 Deg. I keep them in the pump house where the lowest temp. is 41 deg. (heated). I move them into the sun when the temp. is above 45 deg. and then move them back into the pump house before the sun goes down.

I am new to this and wonder if this will work? I am open to any suggestions you may have and appreciate any help.

Do you think they will survive? Will I get a winter crop?

Thanks

[Skihigh]

Are temps celsius or farenheit?

[namron67]

temp. is Fahrenheit

[namron67]

I have been moving plants into the sun when temp is above 40 deg F. and back to pump house which doesn't get below 40 deg F. They are 18" to 23" tall, Trunks are 3/8" thick.

On the night of 12/21/2012 I forgot to put the plants back in the pump house and remembered at 4 AM. The temp was 29 deg. and there was frost on the cars but not on the leafs, I put the plants in the pump house and raised the temp. to about 50 deg. and crossed my fingers. As I was leaving to visit my grand children in Ca. and be gone 4 days, I hung two 24" double 20 watt aquarium/garden florescent fixtures approx. 30" above the plants with a timer set for 10 hours.

When I returned, the plants were still OK with the exception some of the larger leafs were shriveled and crisp, I trimmed the dead off and they look OK they are starting to flower.

My question is " What should I be watching for now?"

[Skihigh]

Got pix?
You'll want those lights about 4-6 inches above the plants (max.) to get much benefit from them.
You're a month or so into flower?..If you're not worried about things going hermie, just a little water and some flower nutes will get it done for you. You ought to make SURE you don't have any male plants though.
Big temp swings can stress the girls to hermie sometimes...If they see a little light in the dark period...same thing. 5 or 6 thousand seeds ain't that bad a deal except seeds take the place of usable meds.
On the other hand, it's kinda fun to toss out seeds all over the country and see what happens come summer:) as the seeds will be female.

[namron67]

Thanks for your response. I'll try to borrow a camera that will take good closeups

[Skihigh]

:thumbsup:

[namron67]

I found that keeping the plants in the 8' x8' pumphouse created high humidity and the potting soil is not drying distressing the plants. The Pistils are turning brown. I Drilled a lot of 3/4
] dia. holes in the pots and moved the plants into the house. The attached picture shows rhw brown Pistils
Do you think they will survive. This my first attempt at growing and as happened all my life I have learned best the hard way. Thank you for your patience and help.288834

[XXXJAYXXX]

Your soil is likely not drying up because the temps are too low.. Im actually surprised they are still alive to tell you the truth.. and if they do make it to maturity.. you will likely have lots of seeds due to the stress those plants are under.. You may want to consider popping a little heater with a thermostat in there to keep the temps up.. get it to at least 75ish during the day, and no less than 60 at night and they should be much happier.. Good luck!

[painretreat]

Thanks for your response. I'll try to borrow a camera that will take good closeups
You may want to post the close-up pictures and fill this out:
http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/173775-cancom-copy-n-paste-troubleshooting-forms.html
Then post it under plant problems.
Sure hope you get a few buds this winter.;) pr

[namron67]

It looks like all the Pistils are all brown the plants llook better but with no new bud growth, I am going to dump them all (10) and try again in April. This time I'm going to add vermiculite to the potting soil, and read more information in this forum.
Thanks again for the help .

[namron67]

Thanks, I'll do that next time I post. The form is a great tool and it let me know what information to include.
Again, thanks for your interest and good idea.

[namron67]

Now I have a BIG problem, I found black spider mites and from what I have read I think I will set all the plants out and let them freeze, it was 7 deg. this am and then I will burn them.

[bitemybud]

I strongly recommend that you invest in "The Indoor grow Bible" by J. Cervantes. It is well worth the $$$; Trust me.

[Horsemanrocks]

It looks like all the Pistils are all brown the plants llook better but with no new bud growth, I am going to dump them all (10) and try again in April. This time I'm going to add vermiculite to the potting soil, and read more information in this forum.
Thanks again for the help .

Vermiculite holds moisture too well....maybe perlite if anything. From the information presented your situation is environmental....warmer and drier would help. But don't quit yet...yes, things look pretty bleak now...but they recover from a lot of abuse.

Use this one to learn from...we all do.

HMR