Strech phase outdoors

when the night gets long enough, it will go into bloom phase... so, when you see preflowers, figure 7-14 days previously it was a long enough night to start that sort of growth in the plant... it is a hormonal switch controlled by hours of darkness. go check out your sunset/sunrise times... though you want to add an hour (up to 1.5 with 45mins on each end) of light for 'twilight' as that is bright enough to fuck up the internal signaling... anyway, once it is dark for roughly 10-hours or more, it's going to switch. this value is not constant, but should be similar. region will matter... so look up sunrise/sunset.

Hey, outdoors the most of photodependants start to preflower at ~ 15 hours of light and to flower at 14.30. In Quebec this happens July 27 and 9 August. If alternate grow has started you are at the half of step. The stretch phase is the indoor grower nightmare. Instead it is every outdoor grower's dream, the longer it stretches, the bigger the bud will be. Cheers

In the Northern States like New York, Michigan, and Massachusetts, cannabis will generally begin flowering around July, but you may start seeing buds being developed as early as June. I'm guessing Ontario would be same or close. Yes it is around the corner.

Organo is correct, it is the 12 hour switch that makes photos stretch like crazy and he is correct saying that your auto will grow a little quicker once they start to preflower

Stretch is usually a response to the plants going from 18 hours of light to 12 hours suddenly and is much less pronounced outdoors, where the transition is much more gentle, however some stretching will occur in the first 3 weeks or so once the flowering phase begins. Be prepared for some superior buds though, outdoor buds are much nicer than any indoor stuff in my opinion.