Pointless to plant too early; even after last frost?

Hey everyone,

I'm trying my hand at growing this year, but am unsure about the best time to transplant (planning to start my seeds early indoors). There are so many things that I am concerned about. A few of them being:
1. If I plant too early i.e. temperature is in the 50's F, will they grow or will they not grow until the temp warms up?
2. I hear a lot about photoperiod, if I plant too early, will the short days cause my plants to flower prematurely?
3. It is often overcast in the late winter, early spring, will the lack of light cause my plants to become spindly?

Thank you much in advance. Oh and because it is probably relevant, I live right on the line of USDA hardiness zones 8 and 9.

Unless you want them to get massive, I like to wait till its consistently warm. I started in march before and they were pretty sluggish at first with it still being kinda wet and cold.

Start them indoors around feb. late march start putting them outdoors to harden up to the weather. In April transplant them and your good to go. They will get big but that's what we want.

8 Weeks. That's your answer if your living in 8 and growing outdoors. 10 weeks at the top end with co-operation of "Mother Nature". Get the best strain genetics you can in those flower ranges.

If your planting outside , don't kill yourself. If your in your spot by June your good.
Indoors? who cares!
Deception, diversion, and diligence will bring it in.
Ciao...

remember when you put out early, its prolly the only food around for some critters...peace

Good point Brimck,
I will be sure to take extra precautions. In addition to repellants, I'd thought I might plant a more desirable food source, such as corn or grasses, about 100 yards away.

Also, thank you to everyone that has replied so far. I appreciate the input.

You want them in the ground early enough to get situated and veg properly. Go by what I said and you'll be amazed at the end product

I will do that. This evening I transplanted two plants into an ad hoc soil mix which I threw together. It was in the low 70's today with about 96%-86% RH, but we will be getting another cool snap next week with lows in the high 30's and highs in the low 50's; they will be coming inside into my south west facing room until it warms up a bit more.

if you start seeds inside on 16/8 and then put them outside when the day are still short they will bud and reveg. and that will slow growth.....
find out how much daylight you will have on the day you plan to put them out....and set your light close to that...(over 13 hours)
or you can use supplemental lighting outside...but that's not stealth

I have always gone by the available daylight at my latitude. If I put plants out befor May 15 I find that they will start flowering. Mid May to June 1 seems to work best for my area, 40 deg. N.

NietzscheKeen said:

I'm not using any lights, just sunlight from the window and a cfl for what it's worth. If they do happen to start flowering in the spring will they re-veg when summer hits? Is that really a problem if they do? I have a few in pots right now and they are outside getting about 9.5 hours of sunlight; they are still seedlings. Is this a terrible thing?

At my lattitude on April 2nd I should have 12.5 hours of sunlight. Is that enough to prevent flowering? April 2nd should also be safe from any freezes.

Thanks for the replies. I don't mean to seem ungrateful.

Click to expand...

i started my plants indoors for 4 weeks , at age 2 weeks i changed thier light to 12/12 for 2 weeks to sort the males and females out , then planted outdoors at about 1 foot and topped , they hardly grew for a few weeks while reverting back , and a couple that took 2 months to revert back are now about 10 times smaller than the ones that went back to veg quickly ,
from my experience (which isnt very much) id wait until the days were definetly long enough to veg

Sidebar: I think mine have begun showing sex. This is my first time, so I don't know for sure if that is what that is. If I upload some photos maybe I could get some expert opinions.

just use google image search ...you're looking for small balls or hairs for females....
also check out pics of reveging plants when your at it...they look fugly...

I think they might just be stipules. I only have one node and 4 leaves, I imagine it's a bit immature still for it to show sex. Heck if I know...

I usually go by the time of my last known frost. Usually I can plant earlier and have no issues. I also use this tool to make sure I'm not planting too early and accidently put them into flower.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php

NietzscheKeen said:

Hey everyone, I'm trying my hand at growing this year, but am unsure about the best time to transplant (planning to start my seeds early indoors). There are so many things that I am concerned about. A few of them being: 1. If I plant too early i.e. temperature is in the 50's F, will they grow or will they not grow until the temp warms up? 2. I hear a lot about photoperiod, if I plant too early, will the short days cause my plants to flower prematurely? 3. It is often overcast in the late winter, early spring, will the lack of light cause my plants to become spindly? Thank you much in advance. Oh and because it is probably relevant, I live right on the line of USDA hardiness zones 8 and 9.

Click to expand...

the best formula for me has been to start indoors 3 weeks before the last average frost date. so if you start them then, keep them inside for 3 weeks, then put them out after last frost risk is past (dont forget to harden them off) you have to match up the length of sunlight as best you can, and when u do, take into account the civil twilight and nautical twilight. this is the time at dusk and dawn when the sun is not up, but its still fairly bright out. example, for me, the sunlight on may 1, is about 14 hrs, 20 mins, the civil twilight adds an additional 62 min, and the nautical twilight adds another 76 min. personally, i add the entire civil twilight time, and half the nautical, with good results. that would mean 14hr 20min, plus 62 minutes (civil), plus 38 minutes (half nautical) , which gives me a total of 16 hrs, for may 1. so i would want to match their indoor lighting schedule to that, if i were putting them out may 1. BUT i have found that i can reduce their indoor lighting by up to 30 mins per week, without putting them into flower (as long as i stay above 14. so istart mine at 17.5, reduce to 17, wait 1 week, reduce to 16.5, wait week, put outside at 16. you can find your day length and civil twilight nautical twilight at site i think called www.sunrisesunset.com. also very important the lighting schedule matches relative to the time of day. if your outdoor day when you plan to put them outside begins at 6 am till 8pm, you want your indoor lights to be on the same daily schedule. it sounds like a pain in the ass, but ive seen countless times people start indoors on 20/4, or even 24 straight, then put them outside, under a 16 hr day, and then cant figure out why their plants started to flower in may, hopelly helpful info for you