Every year the cannabis seeding season starts at April, and arrived to July many growers arrive to SantYebasi stores asking if it is too late to seed some plants. The anwser is clear: It's never too late to germinate some marijuana plants.
In the northern hemisphere, the seeding season usually occurs between February and May (depending on the final size we want to get we should start earlier or later).
This data doesn't mean it's not possible to seed later on, it just means that seeds seeded during June, July or even during August won't be as big, nor produce as much yield, than the same plants seeded one or two months before.
If our intention is not to have huge beast plants in our garden or terrace, seeding during June or July could be even a benefit, beacause plants will need less atention (due to its smaller size) and will be more discreet for foreign persons walking arround.
To understand late seeding of marijuana strains we should understand three aspects:
1st: A marijuana plant, whatever its genetic is, will never start flowering until she becomes adult (3-4 weeks from germination).
2nd: Mostly indica marijuana seeds, or indica-sativa hybrids, start to flower outdoors on Mid-August (when they perceive the days are shorten enough, and the hours of light have decreased).
3rd: Once the cannabis plants start to flower usually take between 8-10 weeks to be ready to harvest.
Size of marijuana plants seeded in July
As we commented before, a marijuana plant that has been seeded during July, usually has 1-3 months less to grow before starting to flower (early August). This inferior vegetative period could mean even a benefit for less experienced growers, that don't need as much yields to satisfy their consume.
In good conditions, and using fertilizers, it is not rare that cannabis seeds seeded in July can reach a meter height before start flowering. To get that we could use pots between 20l and 40l. If our terrace is small, we recommend using a 20 liters pot, but if we have plenty of space, it will be better to use 40 liters pots. The reason is simple: Bigger the containe will be, less atentions plants will need, specially during its first vegetative stages. Bigger pots offer more substrate available (so more nutrients to feed the plants), and also increased capacity to retain water in it, so it increases distance between waterings.
Flowering marijuana plants seeded in July
The longest day of the year is June 24th. From that date in advance, days will become shorter, and nights will be longer. Arrived to early August, thanks to this decreasing hours of light, plants will start to show symptoms of bloom starting. So all mostly indica plants will start flowering between first and second week of August, while those mostly sativa strains will take a bit longer to start flowering (by the end of August).
Reffering to type of flowering of these plants seeded in July, it will be the same. Once plants start to flower we should feed them with bloom fertilizer and a bloom stimulator, to help them maximize its yields. If all steps are followed properly, plants receive enough quantity of light per day, and we take care of them, it is not extrange to get between 100 and 200 grams of dried flowers (what, for a plant that made its whole cycle in about 3 months it's not bad at all).
Advantages of seeding marijuana in July
More discreet plants, less sized.
Less dedication needed.
Less fertilizer needings.
Less pest probabilities.
Better yeilds than autoflowering plants.
Harvest marijuana seeds in 3 months
A lot of growers use autoflowering seeds due to its quick cycle, less needings, and good yields for a non photoperiod dependant plant. Even these qualities, when we arrive to July, at SantYerbasi we like to recommend seeding normal strains, because they get same or better results, in the same time before harvest (3 months). Due to previously mentioned luminic characteristics, those growers who want to seed plants during July, have the oportunity to choose between more strains, not being necessary to use only autoflowering strains, so they can enjoy strains with better taste, smell or effect accordingly to its particular needings.
Process to follow to grow marijuana seeds in July
1- Choose the strain that better fits our needings.
2- Germinate the seed.
3- Place the germinated seed in a 20l-40l pot, with a high grade quality substrate (a prefertilized substrate like Biobizz Allmix, Canna Professional Plus, or Plagron Allmix will help not to feed plants for a month).
3- Proceed to water plants as needed during the first 4 weeks of growth until first flowers appear.
4- Act with preventive against pests to not suffering unwanted attacks from insects, mites or molds.
5- Feed daily (everytime you water your plants) with fertilizer and stimulator until plants show a 60-70% of its flowers to be mature (6-8 weeks since flowering starts).
7- Harvest plants and proceed to drying period in a fresh and dry plance (it is recommended to use dryiers to make it easier).
8- After 15 days, or so, drying we can plance our dried buds in a cristal jar and start its curing.
9- Between 21 days and a months after harvest we can start enjoying our flowers for consumption.
Recommended material to take care of plants during the whole cycle:
We hope this post helps all those growers that, for many different reasons, hace not germinated their seeds yet. With this post we want to give you options to assure a high quality and quantity crop.
Other articles you may find interesting:
How to germinate marijuana seeds.
Regards