shade vs. cfls

Greetings - I'm doing a closet grow (first grow). I have 400 cfl watts for 3 plants (now in flower). I have a balcony which gives me 5 hrs of direct sun, so I put my girls out there if I'm home. I always take them in when the sun goes away. Should I leave 'em outside? Is the shade better than the cfls? It seems as if it would certainly be ...

Only a light meter can tell you for sure.

Depends on how deep the shade vs how many cfl's. Generally speaking, a somewhat shaded outdoor area is going to be better than a few cfl's.

kinda what I'm doing right now. During the day, the plant gets sun as much as it can (up until almost dark), then goes under CFL's overnight.... staying pretty healthy thru the process...

How hot does it get on your balcony during the direct light ?

Im in SoCal - not that hot



thanks, everyone

I do have one of the 40$ meters. Went out on the balcony (it's about 3:00 PM here). The meter showed I'm in almost darkness compared to the reading I got directly along side my plants. The reading was MUCH higher. I also jumped out on Google and found that shade lumens are about 1000, whereas my 2 cfl fixtures add up to over 12000 lumens. I think I'm wrong - many more lumens with the lights. (The shade on the balcony is indirect).

If the temp outside and inside is not a big difference, try growing outside as much as you can then bring them in under those CFL's... alot of people argue there will be shock to your plants by doing this, but I haven't seen anything that says MY plant is unhappy when I do this.

Also, measure how many LUMENS it is in direct sunlight.. I would be very interested in finding this out.

Cfl's will grow the plants way bushier and taller from my experience, "this was only in veg, both indoor where male." I grew 2 short riders indoor under 20/4 lights and 2 outdoors and the indoor ones took off! The oudoor plants where about the same height not nearly as bushy though but they where 2 weeks older than the indoor!

This was my first grow but for the most part everything was done right. I moved the one possible "outdoor" female, indoor. Here's a few pics before I cut the indoor to compare, they where both the same strains "shortrider," from the same bag.

First is the outdoor one that I moved inside 10weeks veg "always outside."

Second is the indoor one that was 8 weeks. started with 120w total true watts. Ended up with 250w.

I'll bring them in soon as the sun goes away ... They have been put in the sun since they were seedlings - No ill effects.


Stoner - thats a huge diff between your 2 plants. I'm convinced!