Keeping Plants In Veg Outside In Late Winter/early Spring

[DjBambu]

Where I live in Northern Cali, outdoor plants that go in the ground outside before June run the risk of going into pre-flower and then having to revert, which can stunt the growth for ~2 weeks.
Last year I put my plants with some regular inexpensive "daylight" LED bulbs from the hardware store outside in May and switched them on for just a couple of hours around sunset. My plants didn't seem to flower, so just a few of these bulbs a couple of feet away seemed to be enough to keep them in veg.
Did I just get lucky, and the days were actually long enough, or were these bulbs enough to trick them into thinking the days were longer? Has anyone else experimented with regular old LED (replacement for CFL) light bulbs?
I will do a personal experiment in the dead of winter with one plant and let you all know what I discover.

 

[GT21]

Where I live in Northern Cali, outdoor plants that go in the ground outside before June run the risk of going into pre-flower and then having to revert, which can stunt the growth for ~2 weeks.
Last year I put my plants with some regular inexpensive "daylight" LED bulbs from the hardware store outside in May and switched them on for just a couple of hours around sunset. My plants didn't seem to flower, so just a few of these bulbs a couple of feet away seemed to be enough to keep them in veg.
Did I just get lucky, and the days were actually long enough, or were these bulbs enough to trick them into thinking the days were longer? Has anyone else experimented with regular old LED (replacement for CFL) light bulbs?
I will do a personal experiment in the dead of winter with one plant and let you all know what I discover.

Hahaha me and my bud jacked up some plants this year in the greenhouse. He put the plants in march and forgot to add a light and i was out of town. You dont need much light at all...you just have to interrupt the 12 hours. You can even just turn the light on for an hour or so in the dark cycle and itll keep them from flipping

 

[DjBambu]

Hahaha me and my bud jacked up some plants this year in the greenhouse. He put the plants in march and forgot to add a light and i was out of town. You dont need much light at all...you just have to interrupt the 12 hours. You can even just turn the light on for an hour or so in the dark cycle and itll keep them from flipping

Even with LED bulbs? I just want to be sure because as you know, there's a lot one could fudge up if they don't work.

 

[GT21]

Even with LED bulbs? I just want to be sure because as you know, there's a lot one could fudge up if they don't work.

You can do it with a 10 dollar shop light.... youre just breaking up that 12 hours of darkness... it is a hormone flip that turns them and it needs 11 to 13 hours of dark.... if you come in and do 5 dark, 1 light, 6 dark...then it NEVER gets 12 hours dark

 

[AudioLog]

Similar question, popping seeds now, will eventually end up outdoors in the ground. Growing in the foothills of Northern Ca. colder then usual this year, other than the obvious, what is recommended room temperature until it's time to begin hardening off. Thx.

 

[Rcubed]

I'm not sure what your temps are up there but I'm in So Cal and were getting high 30s and low 40s night time temps. I'm putting my clones and a Berry Bomb seedling out in the early morning for natural sun while the temps are low 40s. They stay out till sundown when I put them under a 315 cmh. Here's the seedling at 2 weeks

 

[AudioLog]

I'm not sure what your temps are up there but I'm in So Cal and were getting high 30s and low 40s night time temps. I'm putting my clones and a Berry Bomb seedling out in the early morning for natural sun while the temps are low 40s. They stay out till sundown when I put them under a 315 cmh. Here's the seedling at 2 weeks

View attachment 780782

Apologize for the delay, appreciate the knowledge shared. BTW seedling looks nice. Thanks again and happy growing.

 

[Rcubed]

Apologize for the delay, appreciate the knowledge shared. BTW seedling looks nice. Thanks again and happy growing.

No worries, hope your plants are doing well. Here's that Berry Bomb seedling now

 

[tifosi]

I pop my seeds in the beginning of april in socal and never had any start to flower and reveg.I start them in a greenhouse using plastic trays & heat mats.