Yeah mold was an issue for me last season. It was pretty dry all summer until late september when in rained just about every day it seemed. I had to pick 2 of my 4 big plants about a week earlier than I wanted to. I grew a bunch of random strains but by far my best was a little known strain simply called Purple by Ceres Seeds. I bought a single seed spur of the moment to spend enough for one of Attitudes promos. Unfortunately, it didn't turn purple for me, but it was still killer. Started flowering late July and finished the last week of September, so she beat the mold. The smell, taste, and high are all amazing. I actually still have a gram or two of it left that I'm saving for a special occassion, haha. I'd definitely consider growing it again, but not this year. I have a other strains I want to try and only have the time and energy for a few plants. I think it would be good indoors too.
I'm glad you mentioned mold. It's something that really needs to be addressed. Just about every breeder is going to say their outdoor strain(s) finish early and are mold resistant, but I don't think it's that simple. My strategy this year is to pick strains that are indica or mostly indica. That way, the chances are better that it will start flowering early and finish early and hopefully be done before the fall rain. For the most part, I'll be growing strains that finish late September or early October. I did a good bit of research checking out other people's journals who grew the strains before to try to verify the finishing times and also to see if they had any issues with mold. It's so hard to predict though. We could get lucky and have a dry fall or it could be a washout like last year. Also, I decided to be diverse with my strain selections just in case. One plant or two at the most of each strain so I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket. I like having a variety of different smoking options too.
My seedling/veg area is small, so I can only start a few plants at a time. The first batch I'll be starting will be some autos. I know people have mixed feeling about autos, but I did so-so with them last year so I'm going to try them again. I'm fairly confident with my new setup and strategy I can do much better with them this time around. I consider myself more of a "hobby" grower, so having fresh bud in July while my regular plants are still in veg works out well for me. After my first set of autos are out, then I'll start a few of my regular strains. After that, depending on how my first set of autos are looking (they should be in full flower by then) I might start another round of autos. If they looks bad then I'll just start another round of regular strains. With autos outdoors, I think timing is important. Last year, I started them late, so the days were already getting shorter. I only ended up pulling about 2 oz off of three Easy Ryder plants. It doesn't seem like much, but I really don't smoke all THAT much, so it was OK. Last year was a great learning experience for me, so I hope to do better all around. My biggest mistake last year, other than going with random genetics, was not digging big enough holes.
