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“ THE LONG nights of winter are more than long enough to initiate flowering in cannabis , but plants grown in the summer are harvested well before the winter solstice .”
Winter months occur when a hemisphere is pointed away from the sun . The days get shorter ( and the nights longer ) until the longest night of the year at the winter solstice , which is around December 21 north of the equator and around June 21 south of it . The long nights of winter are more than long enough to initiate flowering in cannabis , but plants grown in the summer are harvested well before the winter solstice . Winter doesn ’ t have to mean no growth , however . With the aid of supplemental lighting or indoor gardens , some outdoor gardeners start plants in the late winter . These plants can either be hardened off and set out to flower for a spring harvest or kept in growth until being planted outdoors as large starts in the summer . Spring is much like fall in that it is the other midpoint between the two extremes . The Earth ’ s axis is again perpendicular , though on the other side this time . The short winter days get longer until day and night are again equal at the vernal equinox . The vernal equinox is close to March 20 for the top half of the globe and close to September 22 for the bottom half . It again has lighting close to 12 lit and 12 unlit hours a day . In mild enough climates , a quick spring harvest can be had by setting out plants grown under short-night conditions during the winter early enough for the plants to finish before ( or about the same time as ) spring planting . Cannabis plants grown from seed can be put out earlier than those from clones because cannabis seedlings generally need to be a couple weeks old before they can flower regardless of the lighting . This allows for an overlap where seeds can be planted under the last couple weeks of spring flowering lighting . Then , before they can flower , the nights become too short for flowering . If timed right , it even encourages just a couple of flowers ( but hopefully not many more than just a couple ) to develop to aid in sexing . Flowering can also be prevented with as little as an hour of supplemental lighting during the middle of the night to break up the long dark period into two shorter periods . This progression then starts again . The shortest night is the summer solstice followed by nights that get progressively longer until they are even with the day in the autumnal ( fall ) equinox , and continue to get to longer until longest night at the winter solstice . Then the nights get shorter until they are again even with the day at the vernal equinox , and then continue to get shorter yet until the summer solstice , and the cycle continues .
In nature , the long days and short nights of summer allow the cannabis plant to devote energy to shoot and leaf growth before the shorter days and longer nights of fall induce flowering . Flowering can be triggered at the pleasure of the gardener by giving them long dark periods to simulate the lighting near the autumnal equinox . By understanding and manipulating these principles , many different possible schedules and plans can be developed to best suit gardeners ’ needs and their available resources .
Grubbycup has been an avid indoor gardener for over 20 years . His articles were first published in the United Kingdom , and since then his gardening advice has been published in French , Spanish , Italian , Polish , Czechoslovakian , and German . He is also considered one of the world ’ s leading authorities on crochet hydroponics .
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