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Most seed banks tell you what their strains should do. We can tell you what ours actually did, because our customers have been writing it down for nine years. This article is built from three sources: 236 reviews growers left on our strain pages between December 2017 and October 2026; the 174 harvested diaries that 86 growers have logged for our strains on GrowDiaries; and the growers who tagged us on Instagram and X during the 2024 to 2026 seasons. We did not filter out the bad ones.
A note on the numbers in this article: harvest dates, flowering times and yields are ranges, not promises. They vary depending on growing conditions: the grower, the method and the season's weather. "Mold resistant" means mold tolerant: less prone to mold and slower to be affected. No strain is 100% mold resistant. How we set these numbers →
The reports at a glance
| Source | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 236 reviews on our strain pages | 84 strains; 192 grown outdoors (81%); average 4.4 stars, 160 five-star and 9 one-star, all kept |
| 174 harvested GrowDiaries logs | 86 growers; 128 rated harvests, average 8.4 out of 10; 57 outdoor diaries |
| Instagram and X | 8 growers with harvest or plant-health details, 2022 to 2026 |
Where reviewers said where they were, Ontario led by a wide margin (28 reports), followed by British Columbia and Quebec (7 each), Nova Scotia (5), then Alberta, the Maritimes, Vermont, Maine, New York, Virginia and California. That is a fair picture of a Canadian outdoor season, from the fog of Cape Breton to the heat of the Okanagan.
When growers mentioned a harvest month, October came up 55 times, September 37, August 11 and November 6. In other words, most outdoor plants from our catalogue finish in October in Canada. The strains that genuinely finish in September are the exception, and we name them below.
Mould and mildew: what held up and what did not
Mould is the question every outdoor grower in Canada asks, so we counted. 54 reviews said the plant stayed clean of mould, mildew or bud rot. 32 reported a problem: 17 powdery mildew, 12 bud rot, the rest unspecified. The other reviews did not say either way.
No strain is 100% mould resistant, and these reports prove it: the most-grown strain in our catalogue has both kinds of report. But the pattern across strains is clear enough to act on.
| Strain | Clean reports | Mould or mildew reports | Total reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec White | 5 | 0 | 8 |
| Grape Skunk | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| Quebec Black Gold | 2 | 0 | 13 |
| Quebec Early Bud | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Lemon Kush | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| CBD White Widow | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Quebec Blue | 9 | 6 | 21 |
| Poison Skunk | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Quebec Gold 2.0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Quebec Super Skunk | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| CBD Jack Herer | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Only strains with at least two mould-related comments are listed. Clean means the grower said there was no mould, mildew or rot; a problem means they reported some.
Quebec White is the standout. Eight outdoor reports, five of them praising its mould resistance, none reporting a problem. One grower in September 2024 wrote that his Quebec Whites got no white powdery mildew while the other strains around them did. Grape Skunk is close behind: a Southern Ontario grower cut on October 2, 2025 with no insects, powdery mould or mildew, and another dried it beside a mouldy batch without it catching anything. Its one problem report was minor mildew on an 11-foot plant.
Quebec Blue needs the plainest description, because it is our most-grown outdoor strain by far. Nine growers reported no mould or rot, including one on the Pacific coast, one in rainy, foggy Nova Scotia, and one who lost 25% to mould while the strains next to it lost 80%. Six growers did report powdery mildew or some rot, and one called it weak against mildew. It holds up better than most in a wet fall. It is not immune.
Quebec Super Skunk and CBD Jack Herer are the two we would not call mould resistant on the strength of these reports. Three Super Skunk growers reported powdery mildew outdoors, one calling the line not stabilised; two Jack Herer growers had mildew and bud rot in a late October finish. Both pages now say so.
Which strains really finish in September
Thirty-one reviews flagged an early or September harvest. Set against the reports that said a plant was late, these are the strains with the clearest September record in Canada:
| Strain | What growers reported |
|---|---|
| M 39 Granddaddy | Early September in Northern Ontario (2023); one 2020 plant not done October 21 |
| Quebec Early Bud | Mid-September, twice (2023, 2024); a month late at 49.5° latitude in 2025 |
| Quebec White | September 29, last week of September, first week of October (2024) |
| God Kush | September 22 in Virginia (2025); mid-October in Ontario (2024) |
| Cinderella 99 | September 20 (2024); October 19 in Cape Breton (2025) |
| Black Runtz | 17 oz by the third week of September (2024); another not ready October 20 |
| Durban Poison | Late September in Ontario (2020); another grower saw finishes spread from October 1 to 31 |
| Quebec CBD 20-1 | Mid-September and late September in Edmonton; but one Ontario plant not ready at the October 30 frost |
Notice how often the same strain appears with two dates three or four weeks apart. That is not the seed; it is the season, the start date and the latitude. Every report from 49.5° north, whether Black Gold, Early Bud or Quebec White, ran later than the reports from Southern Ontario.
At the other end, growers told us plainly which strains are not for a short season. Fruity Pebbles: "not a September strain, late October at best." Acapulco Gold: buds only starting at the end of September in Vermont, and "flowers too long for Ontario." Hash Bud: not before mid-October. Sensi Star: a late finisher that caught grey mould in Eastern Ontario.
What growers actually harvested
Twenty-seven reviews gave a weight. Most outdoor plants landed between 300 and 600 g dry, which is in line with what we publish. A few went far beyond it: 1.7 kg from one Fat Bastard in Eastern Ontario (harvested October 1 to 7, 2024), 3 lb dry from a single Quebec Black Bud, 1 kg plants of White Widow and Girl Scout Cookies in Southwestern Ontario, and one Zkittlez grower who reported 5.2 kg outdoors in 2020. We print those as reported; they are the top of the range, not the expectation.
The low end is just as real. Two Grape Skunk growers had poor yields on otherwise healthy plants, a Nova Scotia Animal Gelato gave minimal yield from April to the end of October, and a Quebec White harvested in November gave little. Yield depends on growing conditions more than on anything we print.
What 174 grow diaries add
GrowDiaries is where growers log a plant week by week, with photos, weights and a rating at harvest, so it is harder to exaggerate there than in a review. Our strains have 276 diaries on the site; 174 reached harvest, logged by 86 different growers, and 128 of those harvests carry a rating. The average is 8.4 out of 10. Forty-four growers gave a full 10, and the lowest score is a 2 for Big Jack ("nice colours but that's about it, smells like grass, very little trichomes"). Fifty-seven of the diaries were grown outdoors, and the ones that reached harvest tell the same story as our reviews, with weights attached.
| Strain | Grower, place | Outdoor result logged |
|---|---|---|
| Hash Bud | Northern_Ent, northern Canada (hard frosts mid-October) | 740 g dry from a single plant, harvested in rounds from October 3 to 16; "super robust against bud rot." A second Hash Bud from seed gave 178 g and 16 clones gave 54 g each. Rated 9 and 10. |
| Bubble OG | Northern_Ent, northern Canada | An 8-foot plant with 16 colas gave 690 g dry, taken down October 24; it fell over in a windstorm and was fine. Clones cut October 23 "ideally would get another two weeks, but the season is done." Rated 8 three times. |
| Quebec Blue | Edgee777, Northern Ontario, 2023 | Seed popped April 30, cut October 17, 348 g dry, no mould. "Finishes a little late, mid-October, but worth it." Rated 10. |
| Quebec Blue | HighRez | Powdery mildew from the weather; the grower harvested about a quarter of the plant. Rated 6. |
| Quebec Gold 2.0 | Astroboy | Started mid-May, finished mid-October, 453 g dry. Rated 8. |
| Jackberry | Northern_Ent, northern Canada | Turned deep purple in mid-September with the cold nights; 209 g dry. Handled a cool spring better than most. Rated 9. |
| Quebec Blast | Northern_Ent, northern Canada | "Easy growing, strong indica." Hit by hail on September 7, still gave 118 g dry. Rated 9. |
| Grape Skunk | snoopdogguy | Over 7 feet tall through a July of heavy rain and humidity; 875 g wet, no mould reported. Rated 10. |
| Blueberry | THC123 | "From gale-force winds to 3-day rain storms, she has held strong." Rated 8. |
| Blue Dream | bruxup, Toronto, 2020 | Tall and sativa-leaning, "very resilient and hardy," but branches bent in rain and wind: give it support. Rated 8. |
| Fruity OG Kush | Thekongie | "Had to cut lots of buds last week because of bud rot." Diary not finished. |
| Auto Gelato | R2d2420 | Powdery mildew at week 4 and again in flower, treated with a milk spray; 45 g dry. Rated 8. |
| Auto Cheese | Jerrylarrydalton | Pulled two weeks early after worms started bud rot; about 57 g dry. Rated 6. |
| Northern Lights Fast Version | Valueinvestor1991 | "Flowers starting to show just in time, season ends end of September due to cold." The diary stops there, so we still have no outdoor harvest date for this strain. |
| Auto Jack Herer | SimtechBen | Flowered quickly but had to be finished in a tent because it got too cold outside. Rated 10. |
Grower handles are public on GrowDiaries. Only diaries that reached harvest or recorded a clear outcome are listed; 29 of the 57 outdoor diaries were abandoned before harvest, which is normal on the site.
Two things stand out. First, the northern Canada grower who logged the most harvests had no mould on Hash Bud, Bubble OG, Jackberry or Quebec Blast across several seasons, but every one of those harvests was in October, most of them in the last ten days before the frost. In the north these are October strains, not September ones. Second, Quebec Blue got the same split verdict on GrowDiaries as on our own pages: a clean 348 g in Northern Ontario, and mildew elsewhere. We are not going to claim more than that for it.
Counting indoor diaries as well, the best-rated strains with more than one harvest are Grape Skunk (five harvests, all 10/10), Lemon OG Kush (9.8 average over four), Hash Bud (9.7 over three), OG Kush (9.3 over four), Quebec Blue and Quebec Gold 2.0 (9.0). Quebec Black Bud and QC Black Gold scored 10 twice each. The weakest are Auto AK-47 (5, "leafy and temperamental"), Biscotti Skunk (6, "weak to disease, could very well be my own technique") and Big Jack (2).
Seen on Instagram and X
Growers also tag us when they post. Most tagged posts are photos without data, so we only counted the ones that said something about harvest or health. In 2026 an Ontario grower posted his whole outdoor season on Instagram: Animal Gelato, Quebec Black Bud, Cherry Pie and Fruity OG Kush. He saw the first signs of powdery mildew on October 1 even though he had been spraying, lost some buds to rot in the wet stretch, cut the Animal Gelato on October 13 and wet-trimmed the Black Bud on October 14. That is an honest picture of a wet Ontario October, and it is why we say mould tolerant and not mould proof. Another Instagram grower runs Quebec Black Bud and Runtz indoors on video and harvested on December 14, 2025. On X, growers posted Quebec Black Bud and Incognito in 2026, Cinderella 99 at day 24 of flower and Fat Bastard at week 6 in 2024, Banana Sherbet "digging the heat" outdoors in 2024, and Fruity Pebbles 2.0 in 2022. GrowDiaries named us a featured breeder in September 2025, and 420 Magazine ran a feature in September 2026. Eight growers in total, which is a small sample; the reviews and diaries above carry the weight.
Where these reports proved us wrong
This is the part we think matters most. Reading all of these reports side by side showed us places where our own pages said more than the growers backed up. We have changed them.
Quebec Black Gold was listed as a September harvest. Thirteen growers reported everything from September to October 18, and two plants never formed buds before frost. The page now says late September to mid-October, with plant-to-plant variation.
Quebec Early Bud did finish mid-September for two growers who said our dates were accurate. But two 2025 growers further north had weeks to go in mid-September. The name promises early; the latitude decides how early.
Quebec Gold Express, Critical Fast Version and Northern Lights Fast Version were bred for a September finish, and we said so as if it were settled. No grower has yet reported an outdoor harvest date for any of them. Their pages now say "target" until someone does.
Banana Sherbet: one 2023 grower wrote that it was "called mould resistant" but got bud rot outdoors. We are reviewing that page.
And across every strain page, "ready in September" now reads "typically ready in September, depending on growing conditions," because that is what the reports show.
The complaints we are not hiding
Nine reviewers gave one star. Two had seeds that failed to germinate, one of them because the seeds had moulded. One lost every plant to California heat waves. Two had Quebec Black Gold plants that flowered too late for the frost. One had the only plant in his garden with bud rot, a Northern Lights. One found Black Gold's flower unimpressive and recommended faster strains instead. One Channel + grower had plants that produced nothing after three months. On GrowDiaries, the lowest scores went to Big Jack, Auto AK-47 and Biscotti Skunk, and one Quebec Blast grower wrote "not my favorite strain or seed company." We would rather you read those here than find them later.
What the reports agree on
Start early. Nearly every late or unfinished plant in these reports was started late or force-flowered too late. Start seeds indoors in April and move them out after the last frost.
Airflow beats genetics. The growers with the cleanest plants, on every strain, mentioned spacing, air movement and harvesting on time. The growers with mould on "resistant" strains usually had dense buds in a wet October.
Latitude is a month. The same strains ran three to four weeks later at 49° north than in Southern Ontario, and the northern GrowDiaries harvests all came in the last three weeks before frost. If you are north of Montreal, treat every date on our pages as the early end of the range.
Read the plant. Check trichomes from mid-September and harvest when it is ready, not when the calendar says. Several growers who cut "a week early" ahead of rain were glad they did.
Add your season to the record
These reports are the most useful thing on our site, and they come from you. If you grew one of our strains outdoors this year, a review on its page with your province, your harvest date and whether it stayed clean helps the next grower more than anything we could write. When growers report something different from what we publish, we change the page. This article is the proof. See also our ranked list of the best outdoor strains for Quebec's short season.
