covering outdoor plants?

i'm in south central montana, got 5 plants out there, and i am looking at daylight calendars to see how much light we are going to have over the next few weeks.

by the end of august, we'll have just under 13.5 hours of daylight. we won't reach 12 hours of daylight until almost the end of september. our earliest projected day of first frost falls between sept. 21 and oct 1.

i made a basic mistake when i transplanted from my indoor setup, and put the plants a bit too close together (12-14 inches, shouldve been 2x that), so the area where my plants are at, it looks like 1 big bush when there are actually 5 plants there.

i read this article by ed rosenthal, who i read in high school in my formative growing years, which can be seen here: http://www.mjgrowers.com/book_what_exper1.htm

this leads me to believe that it's possible to achieve flowering a bit earlier, if i time it right, with potential for maximum gain. i dread an early frost. winter was mild here last year, but this year has been odd in regards to weather. it could stay moderately warm until october, or we could get hit with an earlier than expected frost.

has anyone had success in covering plants grown outdoors?

there is no option to move them inside, they are in the ground. they are also not far from me, so it isn't a problem maintaining a schedule of covering them up before dusk, and then removing the cover before i go to sleep so the sun greets them in the morning (i am not a morning person, this would be the preferred method).

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Im in MI & last year I did just a top cover with greenhouse plastic & was fine with no frost problems. but that was last year & it was around mid oct when I harvested. I don't think you should really worry much about a light night frost unless it will be cold as fuck all day. but if you are really worried about it you can check ebay & get some greenhouse placstic 4 cheap & grab some pvc then do a complete cover. and if you can put a little heater inside. but I wouldn't worry that much till the time comes cause u only got a few plants so that would b a quick cheap fix. just my opinion.

You should be ok. Your plants should begin to flower very soon, next few weeks I would guess. You will probably harvest in mid October, depending on the strain, and in case of frost I would prepare a makeshift cover just to be safe. Also check out wall of water, might be a little small but couldn't hurt.- http://www.amazon.com/WALL-O-WATER-3-PACK/dp/B0000DI86C/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1375411457&sr=1-1&keywords=wall+of+water Good luck.

we just had a tornado roll thru here south side of town. quarter sized hail. still hailing. scared to go survey the damage

I wouldn't bother covering the plants. Let them flower and finish on their own schedule. Its not just the hours of daylight. My indicas finish in October and my Sativas hang around till November. Seedlings will die but established plants can take a beating. Main thing is to keep the root zone warm. Think hard about your use of mulch and watering frequency. You can even use manure to your advantage if you time things right. Best of luck

I flower all summer long and finish all of my plants in the fall by building a hoop house with PVC and covering my plants with 6 mil black plastic from 7 pm to 7 am. You must go out after darkness and uncover them and go back out before daylight and cover them back up, this will help avoid moisture build-up and botrytis. I am also in the northern latitudes (45th parallel) and in the mountains and Biological processes slow down or can even cease when temperatures start dropping into the 30's and even a light frost can cause serious damage or even kill your plants.

I usually prefer a few good frosts before harvest. Seems to help push all the nutes etc, out, and I notice a bit more trichs after a frost A large established plant can handle some really cold temps. As loong as the roost dont get too cold, and you dont have a hard frost (below 28* for over 5 hours) I'd say thhey should be fine. the biggest problem with the cold temps at night, and somewhat warmer days is the dew on the buds that causes rot....