It’s winter in South Africa. No indoor setup? No problem! Here’s a handy solution to stay growing outdoors:
Many of us urban friendly home growers new to the vibe or well seasoned have enjoyed growing beautiful crop this summer and as this season slowly comes to an end many start to head for cover, some literally head indoor.
As for me? I keep growing outdoor.
I stay in a very urban community and street lights have always been an issue. Here by me, they light up the entire neighborhood cause serious flowering issues for my outdoor plants. During season veg cycle I don’t really seem to mind because I couldn’t notice the effect it had.
Not only till the plant transitioned into flowering that I noticed how powerful these massive street lights can be.
(Mind you I am not talking about those basic street lights every something letters in your street. I’m talking about those massive ones that lights up the entire ghetto 
)
Plants never fully get to rest when exposed to those massive lights. They are HPS lights and pack a serious punch all the way from up there…. causing enough lumens to keep the plants from going to bed. What a pain. My plants never got complete darkness until I realized I had this ‘issue’.
Fast forward a season later I started using the light to my advantage.
Changing my complete grow approach I decided to grow in bags so I can move them into dark areas in my back yard, that was the first thing I did.
Then I also adjusted my mothers washing lines in the back yard. Reconstructed the entire vibe so that she has extra ‘washing lines’ but I have a line spun to hang a cloth in order to block out light, to even force flowering. An option I gave myself. Which works fantastic.
This winter will be no different. Already growing and in the ‘winter grow’ mindset. I have already started my plants outside and I have moved them all Under the street light. I am growing both autos and photoperiod plants outdoors. One I’m a bag the other in a grow box. So eventually I’ll be using the cloth hanging technique again. To get that photoperiod lady to flower.
I choose quality genetics and really it helps me get the best results possible for my winter grows.
I mean, you can’t expect big plants unless you are going to shelter them proper and provide proper supplementary lighting and so forth. More green house effect.
I expect my plants to go through a tough time and not really ‘enjoy’ it as much as they would in summer time. But honestly I’m from Cape Town and here are some crazy storms. And my winter crop grows well with minimal issues. Regardless of my results, I still take a fully cautious approach.
Watching the weather reports will help you a lot. You might find a week of intense rain what would be your plan? Personally, I start my winter crop as soon as I can. Allowing the stem to brace as manny winds and build up best resistance for the hardcore winter months and I let them be. If they don’t make it they don’t. You might not have that option.
So watch the weather. It might be practical to move them under shelter or even bring them inside during extreme weathers. I encourage people not to over stress. Know what’s coming in for the week and prep the plant.
Before storms I like to secure everything around my plants to give them that extra chance to live. Once I’ve secured with basic poles and rope I watch what happens. It’s Outdoors after all.
In conclusion:
If anything, I just never wanted to stop growing some cannabis. And the fact that ‘winter’ was gonna stop me due to the lack of an indoor or greenhouse, I was truly disheartened. My relieve and solution came via Street Light. And it’s my hopes that if anything it would be a solution to you too. As strange as it might seem.
This article is via the guys at Natures Nursery. Check them out at – https://www.naturesnursery.co.za/