Best Cannabis Strains for cold climates

Growing cannabis outdoors is a great and simple joy. There’s a purity seeing the plant grown organically in its natural environment that’s just missing from an indoor grow room. I’m not going into the debate as to whether indoor or outdoor grown weed is better: but it is different. There’s also the added bonus of potentially huge yields per seed. If of course you don’t mind waiting 9 months for the marijuana to grow to its full majesty and reach heights of 7 foot and more. Its also possibly the cheapest way to get your own crop in. No expensive lighting or ventilation, its just mother nature at her best. Except of course mother nature is a fickle woman and your local weather may not be ideal for a sun loving long growing high altitude plant. Cold climate cannabis is possible: but pick the strains most likely to succeed.

So the problem is: which are the best strains to grow outdoors?

Many cannabis strains come into their own outside, where others have been bred to excel within the perfect conditions of a grow tent. You need to consider your local climate and latitude. This will have a big impact on whether you wait 9 months for success or see it all fail at the end.

So here are our best outdoor cannabis strains to grow in Northern Latitudes with Colder Climates:

E.g. Northern Europe, northern parts of US and Canada. Harsh weather, with frequent rains and a short summer you need to look for:

1) mould resistance.

2) Shorter flowering season : aim for plants due to finish in September (mainly Indicas) or else those that are triggered into flowering early (like Early Pearl).

3) Blue strains often come into their own when grown in places with colder autumns: its the cold weather that brings out those blue and purple tones

4) Don’t limit yourself to photo-period plants. Super autoflowers with their longer seed to harvest time (3-4 months) and heavy yields (300g per plant) are ideally suited. See our autoflowering section for ideas on some great autoflowers with maximum yields!

Don’t be afraid to try out those freebie seeds.

This little gem – Easy Sativa from Female Seeds – came as a freebie back in 2011. In our southern latitudes, it was triggered into flowering early – and finished in August, dried and half way cured. It was a joy to watch grow, a lovely daytime smoke, and I have made sure I buy a couple of these now for each outdoor grow I do. The point is that I probably never would have selected this when it came to buying my seeds: but despite what some say that freebie seeds aren’t worth the energy growing them, they can be a lovely surprise Also read our guide to getting a successful outdoor grow