Surviving a major Ice storm...

[Farmbuck]

They are more stronger that we think about cannabis plants... Well for photos anyway. You see we just pass through a MAJOR ice storm last week here up North. Our last one in Ottawa was in 1998 causing major damages in the millions of dollars and weeks of power outage for millions of residents. This one last almost a week without power, so the girls had to endure temperature of 52F and total darkness for 4 days. I did not feed them for 4 days because of the cold in the "grow room". Once we got back our power I was surprised to see how much they survived. Ok a bit frail but still amaze how they are still green and growing. Now the "grow room is operational I wonder if the 4 days of darkness triggered the flowering cycle ? Well I hope not since the timer is back to 18/6.

So is 4 days is the point of no return for keeping the girls in the veg state ? I guess time will tell if they resist the drastic change.

Judge by yourself by looking at the pictures.

FarmBuck

 

[Smallgrow]

Farmbuck that’s crappy that you got hit so hard. We did ok over here in Muskoka

Don’t lose faith yet. My 4 girls survived 5 1/2 days at Christmas without power. I have some limited back up power so they would get about 2-3 hours of real light per day . Aside from that I had a simple small 3x AA battery led that I keep the schedule with. This can defiantly be enough to keep them in veg.
My blackout was during their flowering stretch and boy did they stretch to that low light level.
I was able to keep them at or slightly below room temp so that helped
In the end I was able to pull 8+ ounces out of the run so I was pretty happy after all that.

I now have 2 small but good, strip type LED grow lights pulling a whopping 15w plugged into a modified power supply and deep cycle “motorcycle” battery. It should run those lights and a small fan for a day without charging. Hopefully this will be a bit better then the “tap” light for the next time

Good Luck I got my fingers crossed for you , hope you didn’t suffer too much other damage

 

[Bluey]

4 days. That should be ok but you will have to extend your veg duration to catch up to where you would be if you didn't lose power.

 

[90Gizmo]

I like your emergency preparedness. I had similar needs back when I kept a reef tank. I had four golf cart batteries, about 900 amp hours, to keep the tank warm when the power cut out which happened every time we got a windstorm. Now the wires are better. I still maintain the batteries but I'm sure they have little capacity left though maybe enough to make coffee. I'm about half a day's sail to Ottawa, the only way I've ever gotten there, and liked the party crowd at the docks back then. Good luck.

 

[Going2fast]

Man that sucks. Will be interesting to see what they do for sure.

 

[AGH]

So sorry to hear about your power and storm but glad to see that you and the plants made it through! I've been enjoying watching your chopstick torture and plan on doing something similar after my next grow.

Looks like they're a little sad but I think you can nurse them back to health! During the power outage, did you shine any light on them with a flashlight, lantern, or anything else? When I was prepping for the same storm, I did some research and it seems like the consensus is that a day without light won't flip them to flower and if it's extended, even just a little light from alternate sources is usually enough to keep them from flipping.

If they did switch to flower, putting them back on a veg light schedule should revert them to veg, but as I understand it, that can be stressful for them and can take some time to do. It seems like you're at a fork in the road...switch them to flower (if you weren't able to give any alternate light source at all), keep them on a veg light schedule and either a) hope that they didn't flip to flower or b) give them the time they need to re-veg.

If it were me, I would move forward as if they were still in veg but that also depends on how long they've been in veg...if you were going to flip them in the next week or two, just do it now. If you weren't planning on flipping until later than that, stick with veg.

Keep us posted!

 

[SoOrbudgal]

How are they looking now Farmbuck ? Man I can almost hear you talking about seeing them in this condition. They'll pull out of it.

 

[Farmbuck]

I gave them some cal-mag yesterday so will see in a few days. Now I'm back to 18/6 with a temperature of 76F. I've got a off-grid system but not for the basement so I'm thinking of adding in the "grow room" a few batteries with an inverter and a propane indoor heater for the next outage.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I used a propane heater for many many years as a backup with no issues at all. I've got backup generator also it's gas will run many items but it's a tad noisy but heck it saved food and keep the lights on !!

 

[Farmbuck]

I have a hybrid system SoOrbudgal a combination of propane for cooking and heating, batteries with inverters for fridge and freezer and a solar system for inside lights. Now I need to dot the same for the grow room.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Well that's a excellent system. Yep convert over and then you'll be safe down there in the grow room. I hope your friggin snow is melting?

 

[golfnrl]

Farmbuck sorry about the power outage. I hope your plants recover and do well. Ice storms suck. All of this talk about disaster preparedness tells me I need a backup plan for a power outage. I have not considered that. I have not had any extended power loss for over a decade. The power lines on my block are underground. Across the street they are above ground and my neighbors can lose power in a thunderstorm although it never seems for extended periods. I guess I have fallen into the trap of 'it won't happen to me.'

 

[Farmbuck]

Yup the damn white stuff is melting now...

 

[Farmbuck]

I hope they are recovering !! Except on one of them I saw a single pistil so I'm crossing my fingers she will return to her veg stage. Days will tell.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Aww man come on girls snap out of your fog.

 

[Farmbuck]

I'm switching them to 12/12 they are not responding well to Cal-Mag SoOrbudgal now I'm just hoping to have a few decent buds.

 

[Bluey]

Try some PK also. I wouldn't flip them till they are strong and healthy.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Well shit that's a bummer