Keeping outdoor plants in veg using artificial lights at night?

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Socalschmeowzer

Member
I have some seedlings breaking soil that i want to keep vegging tell outdoor grow season comes along and I'm not sure how much artificial light to give them.

There's about 10 and a half hours of daylight where i live and I'm not sure how much artificial light to give them. 14? But where i live i don't think days get much longer then 14 hours a day. (I could be wrong) But doesn't that mean when i eventually stop giving it artificial light in april it might start flowering?

I'm trying to avoid it flowering so if anyone has any suggestions please leme know THANKS!!:)
 
Grojak

Grojak

Well-Known Member
I know a guy who uses T5 lighting to supplement his girls until mid summer in his greenhouse. What ou could do is just that. If you know there 10 hour or light currently set a time for 8 hours on 16 hours off having the light come on say at 5pm when it starts to get dark and off by 1am you could probably get away with 16 hours of light but depending on the strain you may get some heavy pre flowering.
 
AimAim

AimAim

Well-Known Member
Well a timer costs like $10

If you can keep them in 16 hrs light you should be able to keep them in veg state.
 
S

Socalschmeowzer

Member
Oh wow i didnt know that but I think ill go with 16 just because id rather use less then more. and it forces me to go to sleep and get up at consistant times hahaha:)
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
See it may not be the light but it will be the cold, if you are in a frost free area cool, bu otherwise germ inside to about 12 inches tall them replant in months to come
 
NorthernMan

NorthernMan

Member
Socalschmeowzer said:
I feel like 16 would be the max for me because i dont have a timer right now and my seedlings are looking for light basically
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WARNING! You have to be consistent about how much light you give them. I won't matter how much light in vegetative mode but you must be consistent. If you fluctuate your lighting, you will stress the plant and cause it to become a hermaphrodite. When a plant is stressed by non consistant lighting it will produce male flowers and pollinate itself. The bad news is that your female plant will create unwanted seeds. The good news is that those unwanted seeds will all be female.

When a plant is stressed into becoming a hermaphrodite the male flowers it produces are all XX chromosomes, because it pollinated itself it only has the XX chromosomes were a true male has XY chromosomes.

Buy a timer and be consistent unless you want to create female seeds. You can give 24 hours of light with no darkness and the plants will be fine but don't change the amount of darkness from one day to the next. When your ready to bud cut the light cycle to 12 hours and they will bud.
 
S

Socalschmeowzer

Member
Yeah I don't have the cfl in the backyard but very close to it so if you see my house from a distance it just looks like someone that left an outside light on. (And a lot of people do that around here) But keeping it on 24 hours would be sooooo burnt lol. I turn it off around 8pm so i should be good but i appreciate the concern
 
S

Socalschmeowzer

Member
This was my main concern! People say plant around april 20th here but then its only like 13hours of light and im almost certain my plant would flower. I'm just gonna try this out and take clones from my plant and if it flowers then o well:/
 
Milovan

Milovan

Well-Known Member
NorthofEngland said:
Won't a glowing greenhouse (or veg patch) draw all the wrong kinds of attention???
Click to expand...
Not always. Call me crazy but my first grow in 2011 I had 2 1000watt Cool Tube lights beaming very bright at least 100ft.
into the sky till midnight lighting up the tall trees all around the area with neighbors within a few feet all around my property and L.A. Sheriff Copters circling my grow several times throughout. For months I did this and had not 1 single problem with
anyone or anything. 17 years here and I got to know all the neighbors in front and in back of me all
up and down the blocks and it happens too be all of them are cool with whatever. They all mind their own business and not mine in other words. Cool neighborhood I live in
and It can't be the only one I would think.
Picture 022.jpg

Picture 023.jpg

My last grow I extended the greenhouse on two sides and I did tone it down a lot with only 1 tiny 150watt HPS and a few CFL's and my GSC's turned out just fine. In the pic below they are in veg still.
securedownload (2).jpg

The only CFL's I had going are those few
you see in the pic up front and it was enough to
keep all my plants in veg outdoors.
 
Milovan

Milovan

Well-Known Member
Socalschmeowzer said:
This was my main concern! People say plant around april 20th here but then its only like 13hours of light and im almost certain my plant would flower. I'm just gonna try this out and take clones from my plant and if it flowers then o well:/
Click to expand...
My plants started to flower when I cut down from 24 hours of light down to 18 hours
so I had to go back to 24 hours of light to reveg cause I was not ready for flowering yet.
They probably would have started to flower with more then 18 hours of light I assume cause
when you cut down light plants begin to flower.
 
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
The plants will get huge! I hope your friendly with your neighbors.
When I did it I started clones indoors in March under 18hrs. Planted outside in May and kept 18hrs of light until June 21 solstice (longest day of the year). That kept them in veg until the longest day of the year. Then I turned the lights off & let nature take it's course.
For me, the plants got way to big, good luck
 

Attachments

T

TWS

Well-Known Member
Socalschmeowzer said:
This was my main concern! People say plant around april 20th here but then its only like 13hours of light and im almost certain my plant would flower. I'm just gonna try this out and take clones from my plant and if it flowers then o well:/
Click to expand...
Seedlings after the frost period planted outside will be fine as they won't flower until the 5th or 6th node and that carries you into longer days and when they pop outside they only know what hours of light they get . It's the clones that are touchy and some strains more so then others.
 
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
TWS said:
Seedlings after the frost period planted outside will be fine as they won't flower until the 5th or 6th node and that carries you into longer days and when they pop outside they only know what hours of light they get . It's the clones that are touchy and some strains more so then others.
Click to expand...
Like TWS says, Seeds started outdoors in April should be fine without lights. Clones put outside in April, will want to flower right away....
 
K

kidbroguyman

New Member
Milovan said:
Not always. Call me crazy but my first grow in 2011 I had 2 1000watt Cool Tube lights beaming very bright at least 100ft.
into the sky till midnight lighting up the tall trees all around the area with neighbors within a few feet all around my property and L.A. Sheriff Copters circling my grow several times throughout. For months I did this and had not 1 single problem with
anyone or anything. 17 years here and I got to know all the neighbors in front and in back of me all
up and down the blocks and it happens too be all of them are cool with whatever. They all mind their own business and not mine in other words. Cool neighborhood I live in
and It can't be the only one I would think.
View attachment 2976056

View attachment 2976059

My last grow I extended the greenhouse on two sides and I did tone it down a lot with only 1 tiny 150watt HPS and a few CFL's and my GSC's turned out just fine. In the pic below they are in veg still.
View attachment 2976070

The only CFL's I had going are those few
you see in the pic up front and it was enough to
keep all my plants in veg outdoors.
Click to expand...
How big is your space?
 
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