Cold weather effects?

[TopThumb]

We are starting to get cold(high 30's) nights here and I was wondering if it would hurt my outside plants which are not ready for harvesting just yet, the trichomes are still pretty clear looking but may be starting to turn. Should I worry, harvest now or let things go? BTW, the girls are shishkaberrys and MACs.

[TOKABIGONE]

Hey@TopThumb you might consider throwing an old sheet over them at night and at the risk of giving bad instruction I'd just let it lay on them but be sure to pull them in the morning or sooner if you hear rain or they will be crushed. Even pull them under a carport if you can then you don't really have to cover them, the roof does.

[TopThumb]

Thanks for the reply and advice. I went ahead and put a canopy over them and then plastic sheeting all around because not only is it getting cold tonight but the winds have picked up and now they are predicting rain. I decided to protect them from the wind because the buds are so heavy that one branch has broken at the trunk so I didn't want to risk any more breaking due to wind.

[DeadlyFruit]

That temp is getting into the danger zone. Your plants will be slow growing now and will likely show other signs of stress. Have a look at the forecast for your area and try to see if you have any risk of frost coming or if the weather is going to warm up. You may have to emergency harvest if the risk is there. Also keep in mind that (depending upon the number and size of your plants) you will likely require multiple days to complete your harvest so try to leave yourself some room.

[dilvish]

I agree that temp is getting far too cold and rain could cause them to start to rot in that cold weather. I too agree that ruining the crop by waiting for the weather to improve is not worth it. I will assume these are not in pots so you can't move them. at that temp they will not grow and even if they do it will be incredibly slow.

I would harvest and just make sure you cure the buds thoroughly...that will improve potency. https://www.growweedeasy.com/drying-curing

[TopThumb]

All plants are in raised beds so no moving them. We had one night last week that got down to 31° but that's the only time it got down too freezing and I had covered them up that day. We have had some upper 30° temps but just a few within the last two weeks. Looking at the 10-day forecast the temps don't look too bad but lots of rain. I do have them covered though and although it rained all night, the plants stayed bone dry. Here's a pic of our forecast for the next 10 days, I don't see anything threatening except for the rain but then they are covered. Any thoughts?

[SoOrbudgal]

This is a Bubba Kush flowering now for 7wks inside this cold tent. 60f during day sometimes lower upper 40's f overnight. I got window flaps each end that's the only cross ventalation she gets plus floor flaps. Once it gets down into the 30's for few days that's when mold is gonna get her and i won't take the chance to allow too much of that to take her colas. I'm in So. Oregon we are going to get 7 days of rain and cooler temps. I'm just taking a huge chance and that's all but i won't allow her to get moldy, i'll harvest and give her to a " presser " for her oil.

[TopThumb]

I'm also here in S. Oregon so we probably have the same weather.

[DeadlyFruit]

Agree with all of the above. The temps you are facing aren’t horrible (slow growth but not killer cold) but you have rain almost every day and that can create problems (in addition to further reducing the sunlight). Since your plants are covered and bone dry if you are just trying to let the trichomes amber up a little then you may be able to leave them a bit longer - although they won’t grow much more in that temp the trichomes will probably still continue maturing (I speculate). If you are happy with the trichomes and don’t want increased risk of mold then I would consider starting your harvest now.

[TopThumb]

They are covered DeadlyFruit and dry but I do open up the sides when it's not raining but they are not getting full light. I'm thinking I'm pretty close to harvest but not sure on my knowing for sure. Here is a pic of about
what they look like now, it's not mine but mine are really close.

[DeadlyFruit]

My color vision isn’t great and I often miss ambers. With that said, it looks like you are mostly cloudy with a few still clear and no ambers yet. Under normal circumstances I would let them go a few more weeks to get the amber level I like and to take advantage of a bit more time to bulk up the bud. In your case you are balancing slow growth, frost and mold against possibly having larger and stronger bud. It will be a gamble either way so you may just have to roll the dice on a decision. If you are happy with the amount of bud on the plant I would say you are technically in the (early) window to harvest. If you are not happy you can probably benefit from a little longer but I would absolutely take the cover off whenever you can to take advantage of natural light and to let them breath (I assume even covered they are subject to normal outdoor humidity which is probably high and might trigger mold). Whenever the cover is off I would go over every bud looking for bud rot and if I find any I would emergency harvest (bud rot in a sealed high humidity environment will take over very quickly).

[DeadlyFruit]

It might also help if you post a pic of the entire plant and a close up of the pistils to see how they are doing.

[SoOrbudgal]

Well like others have said it's really hard to judge from this picture @Top Thumb i see 1/2 milky clear. If this was mine i'd wait till minimum all milky no clear. THC will be higher more relaxing and even better with some late amber but we may of missed the window now cause temps are getting lower ??

[TopThumb]

Here are a few pics of mine but they are not the clearest pics. I do uncover them every day unless it is raining. Going by my horrible pics, can anyone give me a hint on what to do?

[TopThumb]

Here are a couple more. I'll try to get some better macro pics later.

[TopThumb]

A better Trichome pic.

[DeadlyFruit]

Nice purple colouring in your bud.

[DeadlyFruit]

Your bud actually looks fairly chunky, your pistils have browned and curled back, and your leaves are starting to naturally yellow. Again, my colour vision isn’t great but I think you could probably start harvest any time. If you still want to try for bigger buds and/or more ambers just keep a really close eye out for bud rot and for hermies (a stressed plant like one in a cold environment can hermie).

[UndergroundFarmer]

Agreed. You could take that one down now or wait another week but probably not much more.

[TopThumb]

All harvesting is done and not a minute too soon because we have a storm coming in tonight with rain and high winds which scared me more than anything than to get up in the middle of the night and see the canopy blown away with half the plants ripped out. Everything is hanging in the drying room but needs to be thinned out of leaves. I'm really happy with the grow this year which is my second year but first with this strain and I think there is enough to last me for awhile I want to thank everyone for their help and tips, you guys are great!

[SoOrbudgal]

I don't blame you one bit, better to harvest something than picking them off the ground. Yes your plants sure looked like they were damn close to finish and good harvest amount. I'm happy for you, glad we got our plants down and we got plenty of our own home grown.

[TopThumb]

Just wanted to share a couple pics of some of the buds, There a about 20 of them which should last at least awhile!

[dilvish]

make sure you check it thoroughly when clipping. You don't want any bud rot going into the jars when you cure it

[UndergroundFarmer]

This site has withstood all the bud rot it can for one season!