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kolah
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Trying to get a jumpstart on this years grow,I started some Purple Hammer x Alien seeds and they have been vegging at a buddys house and are under 18/6 lighting. They are in 4 weeks in veg and looking purdy and to repay my friend for using his room (and lights) I told him to take all the cuts he wants from them. I plan to put them outside in mid-May.
I didn't give it much thought until about a couple weeks ago. Being under 18 hours of indoor lighting and then being put outdoors in May is most likely going to trigger them into flower....or if they don't flower it may put some pretty heavy stress on them.
I can't ask my buddy to cut back the lighting times as it would interfere with his grow so I am a bit puzzled and surely do not want to risk fucking up these nice plants.
I did a bit of searching and found this reply from another site :eek:
"It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that you synch your indoor light cycle with the natural outside light cycle before you move them outside. If you do not they will start to flower immediately, not grow, and could get seriously fucked up and not recover. Never do plants under a 24 hour light cycle if they are going to go outside. For example if your plants are under a 18/6 cycle, and you put them out in April when the natural light cycle is at 14/10 they will start to flower. Since the days are getting longer, the plant will get confused, try to go back into veg and not finish flowering. Going back and forth like this is REALLY bad for the plant and I have seen them not grow again for months after this happens to them.
You need to figure out what the length of the days are when you want to put your plants outside for your location. Let's say you want to put them out on May 1st when the days are 15 hours long. If you have your clones under an 18/6 cycle that means you need to reduce the light cycle by three hours before they go outside. The natural light cycle changes by 15 minutes a week which is what you want to replicate. So, since I want to be at 15 hours of light indoor by May 1st, that means by the first week of February I need to start reducing the light cycle indoor by 15 minutes a week. If I start this in February I will be down to 15 hours by May 1st and the plants will not go into shock when I move them outside.
DO NOT RUSH THIS PROCESS OR YOU WILL REGRET IT. The absolute fastest you can adjust plants is one hour a week but this is a little rough on them. For example I was gifted some clones early last summer when the days were 15 hours long and the clones had been grown under a 18/6 cycle. I ran them for one week at 17/7, one week at 16/8, and one week at 15/9, then put them outside and they did OK.
You need to be sure the plants are hardened off before they go outside too. Natural sunlight is far more powerful than even the best indoor grow light and you can burn the crap out of them if you are not careful. Always put your clones under shade cloth or something like that when you first put them outside so they can get used to the more intense light. If the leaves feel "soft" at all they are not ready yet."
I didn't give it much thought until about a couple weeks ago. Being under 18 hours of indoor lighting and then being put outdoors in May is most likely going to trigger them into flower....or if they don't flower it may put some pretty heavy stress on them.
I can't ask my buddy to cut back the lighting times as it would interfere with his grow so I am a bit puzzled and surely do not want to risk fucking up these nice plants.
I did a bit of searching and found this reply from another site :eek:
"It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that you synch your indoor light cycle with the natural outside light cycle before you move them outside. If you do not they will start to flower immediately, not grow, and could get seriously fucked up and not recover. Never do plants under a 24 hour light cycle if they are going to go outside. For example if your plants are under a 18/6 cycle, and you put them out in April when the natural light cycle is at 14/10 they will start to flower. Since the days are getting longer, the plant will get confused, try to go back into veg and not finish flowering. Going back and forth like this is REALLY bad for the plant and I have seen them not grow again for months after this happens to them.
You need to figure out what the length of the days are when you want to put your plants outside for your location. Let's say you want to put them out on May 1st when the days are 15 hours long. If you have your clones under an 18/6 cycle that means you need to reduce the light cycle by three hours before they go outside. The natural light cycle changes by 15 minutes a week which is what you want to replicate. So, since I want to be at 15 hours of light indoor by May 1st, that means by the first week of February I need to start reducing the light cycle indoor by 15 minutes a week. If I start this in February I will be down to 15 hours by May 1st and the plants will not go into shock when I move them outside.
DO NOT RUSH THIS PROCESS OR YOU WILL REGRET IT. The absolute fastest you can adjust plants is one hour a week but this is a little rough on them. For example I was gifted some clones early last summer when the days were 15 hours long and the clones had been grown under a 18/6 cycle. I ran them for one week at 17/7, one week at 16/8, and one week at 15/9, then put them outside and they did OK.
You need to be sure the plants are hardened off before they go outside too. Natural sunlight is far more powerful than even the best indoor grow light and you can burn the crap out of them if you are not careful. Always put your clones under shade cloth or something like that when you first put them outside so they can get used to the more intense light. If the leaves feel "soft" at all they are not ready yet."