How Do You Manage Your Cannabis Plants When the Weather is Against You?
Are your growing skills ready to tackle the challenges of growing weed outdoors? Learning how to manage your cannabis plants in bad weather helps protect your cultivation in any scenario.
Growing weed outdoors can be very rewarding for growers of all skill levels. Plants thrive in outdoor settings, and the sunlight is exactly what they crave. But what do you do when you’re weeks into your plant growth and start to experience harsh or extreme weather conditions?
Learning these techniques will help you master growing weed outdoors in no time!
Growing in the best weather conditions
Understanding your local weather is the first step for growing outdoors. Cannabis seeds need sunlight, warm temperatures, water, and low to moderate humidity. You’re in luck if you’re in the perfect climate zone like Spain or California. If you’re like us here in Amsterdam, this is the weather we can only dream of!
Over the years, the creative thinking of growers (thanks, Sativa!) has found several solutions to lousy weather issues. Now, cultivators of Amsterdam Genetics cannabis seeds can enjoy outdoor cultivation—even with bad weather.
Strategies for Managing Cannabis Plants in Bad Weather
Use these strategies to maintain progress in your grow when the weather changes suddenly.
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Relocate your plants
If your plant isn’t strong enough to fight the weather, there’s always the flight response. Relocating your plant is one of the easiest solutions to avoiding bad weather.
Since weather is an external factor that you can’t control, fix what you can control. You can resolve issues like cloudy weather by moving your plant to a sunnier spot. For extreme mid-day heat or temperature drops at night, you can move your cannabis plant temporarily indoors until the weather returns to normal.
We recommend planting your cannabis seeds in a pot when growing in locations with lots of weather changes.
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Adapt your setup
Growing cannabis seeds in soil restricts your ability to move your plant. An alternative solution is adapting your grow setup to the current weather conditions.
Too many consecutive days with scorching sunlight, heavy rainfall, or extremely windy conditions are harmful to your plant. These may come unexpectedly during the multiple-week-long growing process. Since this type of weather typically doesn’t last long, you can adapt your setup to accommodate the brief weather change.
Try these:
- Put a tent around your plants for shade
- Build a wind barrier
- Use stakes to support stems
Making your cannabis setup adaptable gives you the flexibility to adjust to the weather. When done right, your plant will hardly notice the weather change!
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Modify your growing process
You can modify your growing routines to suit the current weather. This strategy involves how you treat your plant in harsh weather conditions, and it is great as a stand-alone solution or combined with changing your setup.
Bad weather can cause an imbalance in the amount of natural resources your plant receives. For example, changes in the rain patterns can lead to over- or under-watering. Manage how much water you give your plant if it needs more or less, depending on rainfall. Colder weather can slow your plant growth, so adjusting the nutrients you give your plant can help avoid waste.
Also, be flexible with the time you spend with your plant. Take a few extra moments to examine your plant when the weather is humid to check for pests or mould that like the increased moisture.
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Start your outdoor cultivation in a different season
If you consistently encounter unfavourable weather during your outdoor cultivation, it may be time to consider a different growing season. Picking the right season can make your growing experience much easier.
Plant your cannabis seeds a few weeks earlier to maximise the best weather instead of trying to figure out how to keep plants warm when temperatures drop. For growers fortunate to have multiple cannabis harvest seasons during the year, do most of your cultivating in the drier months to avoid too much rainfall drowning your plants.
Check out these tips for when to grow cannabis outdoors.
Growing Outdoor-Friendly Cannabis Seeds
Growing with the right cannabis seeds will make managing your plant easier when growing outside. Cannabis plants originated outdoors and have the right genetics to survive various weather conditions. The best strains for growing outdoors are climate resilient and have shorter flowering times.
You can find the best genes for growing outdoors in strains like the White Choco and Super Silver Haze cannabis seeds.
Autoflower cannabis seeds are popular with outdoor growers because they have shorter flowering times. These work well in places like Amsterdam that have shorter summers.
See which of these techniques works best for managing your cannabis plants in bad weather!