Starting indoor, moving outdoor. Monster plants?

petert

Well-Known Member
In Oregon around the 45th parallel in Mid May we are getting 15+ hours of sunlight, which is why my plants are getting 16/8 indoor at transition time. There is more stress from direct sun and wind than 20-40 minutes diference of light time per day. It's worked for me for years with no problems to date.
 

BroJohnson

Active Member
Here's my last word on it: Ppl start them out on 13.5 hrs of light and 11.5 hrs dark because thats what they'll (the plants) b getting when u transplant in april/may, and that's one less stresser on the plants. (transitioning from say 18,17,or 16 hrs inside to 13.5-14 hr.s of light outside is one more adjustment)
this cuts cost on the electric also fwiw
14-10 works fine, 13.5/11.5 is just a friends suggestion that he'd "dialed into" for his neck of the woods ;)

anyway, food for thought...
OK gonna try 14/10 from seeds vs 18/6 and slowly adjusting down to 14. But once they become mature say by week 6 o 7 wouldnt they start to flower?
 

doowmd

Well-Known Member
As long as you have more than 12 hrs light you should b fine. 13-14 hr.s light should vegg those bitches for as long as you want to keep em inside.
(unless they're auto's of course)
 

doowmd

Well-Known Member
In Oregon around the 45th parallel in Mid May we are getting 15+ hours of sunlight, which is why my plants are getting 16/8 indoor at transition time. There is more stress from direct sun and wind than 20-40 minutes difference of light time per day. It's worked for me for years with no problems to date.

That is also an important thing to consider ^^^ that I forgot to mention but alluded to in a previous post (*see "his neck of the woods"*)
I am on the 36th parallel latitude and this affects how much sun I get at any given time of the year. We get about 14 hr.s of light around mid may versus petert's 15. That's one reason I left that link to the Daylight Hours Explorer http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/daylighthoursexplorer.html
It allows you to adjust the settings to your parallel and see how much sun your getting in your area during any given time of the year.

The direct sun and wind stresser's can be avoided by putting the girls out in stages ie set em out in the partial sun for about a week, 5-6 days (bringing them back in at night) before permanent outdoor transplant. Adding a fan to your grow room makes the plants stalks sturdy enuff to deal w/ winds when they go outside.
 

stonerman

Well-Known Member
Ya, I see time and time again, even on this forum, new growers starting plants to early and putting them outside. Once a plant is sexually mature, and is put out in early spring with approx 13 hours (some cases up to 14 hours) it will go into flower. People get away with starting seeds quite early because it takes time for them to become sexually mature, by which time the day light hours have increased, keeping them in veg. I am up in Canada, and I cannot even think about putting clones outdoors until end of may, early june because if not they will go into flower. I start seedlings much earlier outdoors. Any experienced growers know that putting a plant out to early that will go into flower in spring is a waste of time. The amount of time required to go into flower, then switch back to veg takes weeks and weeks, drastically taking away from vegging time. In my experience, a re-vegged plant loses its vigorous growth, after the first time it flowers, resulting in an overall lower yeild. My advice to you is play it safe. Veg indoors for a while, make them big, strong and tough plants, and do not bring them outside until you are receiving at least 14 hours of light per day. Also remembering to slowly harden them off before putting outdoors. You could also cut slowly cut back your indoor lighting to something like 16 or maybe even 15 hours of light each day gradually to prepare them for the outdoors. Hope that helps, happy growing
 

diet coke

Active Member
The most sun I get is 14 hours a day. I have several autos (@15 days) that will be going out asap and then some regs(15days) around the end of march never had much of an issue with flowering early. I should be so lucky :)
I am starting ten more tomorrow , should be a good year
 

psychadelibud

Well-Known Member
Diet coke, at the end of march you put your regs out after veging
indoors for how long and on what light cycle in the beginning and
in the end before you set them? At your location (denver) you are
only getting a wee bit few mins over 12 hours of sunlight and you have
never had a problem with flowering?

Now this is what I like to hear.. Could you go a little more into depth
about your methods and so forth? Only info on the regs, I donty grow
auto. Thanks alot bro!
 

petert

Well-Known Member
That is also an important thing to consider ^^^ that I forgot to mention but alluded to in a previous post (*see "his neck of the woods"*)
I am on the 36th parallel latitude and this affects how much sun I get at any given time of the year. We get about 14 hr.s of light around mid may versus petert's 15. That's one reason I left that link to the Daylight Hours Explorer http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/daylighthoursexplorer.html
It allows you to adjust the settings to your parallel and see how much sun your getting in your area during any given time of the year.

The direct sun and wind stresser's can be avoided by putting the girls out in stages ie set em out in the partial sun for about a week, 5-6 days (bringing them back in at night) before permanent outdoor transplant. Adding a fan to your grow room makes the plants stalks sturdy enuff to deal w/ winds when they go outside.
Well put..Which is why I added my location to my post..In actual fact we are just a hair under 15 hours at mid-May..But like I say...20-30 minutes of extra or less sunlight a day won't trigger anything, as the dsays are still getting longer each day. I think trhe intense sunlight you can get in cali even at that time of year and wind are more a factor. I just kind of eye ball my weather for the week the week I put them outside to decide how to transition them.
 

BroJohnson

Active Member
Ya, I see time and time again, even on this forum, new growers starting plants to early and putting them outside. Once a plant is sexually mature, and is put out in early spring with approx 13 hours (some cases up to 14 hours) it will go into flower. People get away with starting seeds quite early because it takes time for them to become sexually mature, by which time the day light hours have increased, keeping them in veg. I am up in Canada, and I cannot even think about putting clones outdoors until end of may, early june because if not they will go into flower. I start seedlings much earlier outdoors. Any experienced growers know that putting a plant out to early that will go into flower in spring is a waste of time. The amount of time required to go into flower, then switch back to veg takes weeks and weeks, drastically taking away from vegging time. In my experience, a re-vegged plant loses its vigorous growth, after the first time it flowers, resulting in an overall lower yeild. My advice to you is play it safe. Veg indoors for a while, make them big, strong and tough plants, and do not bring them outside until you are receiving at least 14 hours of light per day. Also remembering to slowly harden them off before putting outdoors. You could also cut slowly cut back your indoor lighting to something like 16 or maybe even 15 hours of light each day gradually to prepare them for the outdoors. Hope that helps, happy growing
Would it be better to just start them from seed @ 14/10 or would they benefit from 18/6 and slowly lowering the hours of light to 14 before they go out? I figure less stress on the plants going down in light..
 

stonerman

Well-Known Member
Would it be better to just start them from seed @ 14/10 or would they benefit from 18/6 and slowly lowering the hours of light to 14 before they go out? I figure less stress on the plants going down in light..
Well, I probably I would not cut the hours back as much as 14 hours because up to 14 hours of light could potentially trigger flowering. I would start indoors at 18/6, in theory, more light equals more growth, veg them for a month or two at 18/6, and two weeks before its time to place outside, gradually decrease the light to 15 hours per day to prepare for the outdoors.
 
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