Combining Indoor and Outdoor lighting

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Hello from Atlanta, GA!

3rd season rookie here. Starting indoors and feel the babies are off to pretty good start. For me. haha

Weather here has been pretty bad overall with the rain and clouds so happy that I have an “indoor set up”. It’s a makeshift set up but my plan is to get them outside when it finally warms up and not so cold at night and the mornings.

My question is, is it bad for the plants that I am giving them LED lights in the morning (all day if it is bad weather and that has been more often than not) and put them in the window or outside where they get direct sun. Probably 9am to 5:00pm.

Once the shade starts coming at 5:00pm I bring them back into the house and under the lights.

They are still on an 18 hour light schedule - just a combo of sun and LED.

I feel like it’s ok since the temperature outside is still in the 60’s but wanted to check with you all and don’t want to shock them and stunt their growth.

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

Just be careful most people have issues doing this because their grow lights do not come close to actual sunlight and can actually trigger flowering before you planned on it.

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Thanks. Should I just keep them inside under the lights until the weather stabilizes? Late May or early June?

TSD · Apr 11, 2022

I keep them inside until a few weeks before I plan to put them in the ground, then I start putting them outside in the shade for a couple hours a day, then slowly introduce more sun until they go out for most of the day. I usually get mine out towards the end of May, when there is about 15 hours of light, so I also slowly wean down my light timer to line up with when they go out so I don't shock them with the sudden change of light. The sun is a lot stronger than our pretend sun lol.

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

Richudlen said:
Thanks. Should I just keep them inside under the lights until the weather stabilizes? Late May or early June?

Yeah and as TSD said above it's not a bad idea to try to keep the lights synced with the sun as much as possible, without going too short on light cycle to start flowering. (Usually no less than 16 hours of light for vegging). But as far as date to put them outside, it depends on where you live. Here in CO most people put plants outdoors on or after Mother's day. Here the most important month for vegging is June so I like to have plants in the ground before end of May to allow time for roots to take hold. That all can differ depending on your region, so just pay attention to your daily sunrise/sunset times and make sure there's no more frost for the year.

Edit to add- I just noticed you're in Georgia so you are quite a ways south, you might want to think about end of this month, early May at the *latest*

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Thanks everyone! I think I will play it safe and keep them inside until the weather is consistent.

The range from the night and morning lows to the afternoon highs are just so drastic until late May.

It’s just so hard not to want to put them out on a nice sunny afternoon!!

I guess better safe than sorry.

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

Richudlen said:
Thanks everyone! I think I will play it safe and keep them inside until the weather is consistent.

The range from the night and morning lows to the afternoon highs are just so drastic until late May.

It’s just so hard not to want to put them out on a nice sunny afternoon!!

I guess better safe than sorry.

Believe me in Colorado we have 80 degree temp swings all the time. As long as there's no frost these plants will handle just fine. Hailstorms here are a MF'er, though.

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Are nights in the low to mid 50’s ok?

Also, sunlight is not even close to 18 hours in May. More like 14 hours but where my house is situated the plants will get about 8 good sunny hours and the rest is just ok. The LED’s are probably stronger vs my last hours of sunlight.

So I should wait until June due to temps and length of sun?

Now I’m getting confused. It’s like I should start later next year.

dreamnfox · Apr 11, 2022

Deadstill said:
Yeah and as TSD said above it's not a bad idea to try to keep the lights synced with the sun as much as possible, without going too short on light cycle to start flowering. (Usually no less than 16 hours of light for vegging). But as far as date to put them outside, it depends on where you live. Here in CO most people put plants outdoors on or after Mother's day. Here the most important month for vegging is June so I like to have plants in the ground before end of May to allow time for roots to take hold. That all can differ depending on your region, so just pay attention to your daily sunrise/sunset times and make sure there's no more frost for the year.

Edit to add- I just noticed you're in Georgia so you are quite a ways south, you might want to think about end of this month, early May at the *latest*

I am in Colorado, when i put my plants out in may they start to flower, then reveg. I have been puting them out 1st week on July with much better results

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

dreamnfox said:
I am in Colorado, when i put my plants out in may they start to flower, then reveg. I have been puting them out 1st week on July with much better results

Interesting! Are you close to or in the mountains, by chance? I'm out on the eastern plains so I get a little longer day cycle than people up close to the mountains. Other than that, yeah last year I had no choice but to wait to put plants outside in late June and early July. Worst yield I've had in years, for some reason here where I am June is like the most critical month for vegging, every time I plant after June 1st we have terribly stunted plants. But just about all of my neighbors here grow and the general rule of thumb is Mother's day plants are in the ground. I'm also in SE CO so it's generally much warmer here than the rest of the state.

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

Richudlen said:
Are nights in the low to mid 50’s ok?

Also, sunlight is not even close to 18 hours in May. More like 14 hours but where my house is situated the plants will get about 8 good sunny hours and the rest is just ok. The LED’s are probably stronger vs my last hours of sunlight.

So I should wait until June due to temps and length of sun?

Now I’m getting confused. It’s like I should start later next year.

Most cannabis strains won't start flowering until there's less than 14 hours of light. Unless it's an autoflower. Lots of folks can have issues with plants getting shocked during the transplant/transition from indoor to outdoor. Simply going from a mediocre grow light to pure sunlight can sometimes be enough to shock a plant into flower even if the light timing is exactly synced with the sun beforehand. I usually turn my grow lights up to max at least a week before I take plants outside, and I've been doing indoor starts - outdoor harvests for 7 seasons out here now without a hitch. It's a very careful process but if done right you should easily be able to get your plants outside by late May.

Where I am we get 80-90 degree days with 34-40 degree nights in early May and late September - like I said frost is what you need to look out for. Low 50's is just fine.

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Not really close to the mountains. Just the living the dream in the suburbs north of Atlanta.

dreamnfox · Apr 11, 2022

Deadstill said:
Interesting! Are you close to or in the mountains, by chance? I'm out on the eastern plains so I get a little longer day cycle than people up close to the mountains. Other than that, yeah last year I had no choice but to wait to put plants outside in late June and early July. Worst yield I've had in years, for some reason here where I am June is like the most critical month for vegging, every time I plant after June 1st we have terribly stunted plants. But just about all of my neighbors here grow and the general rule of thumb is Mother's day plants are in the ground. I'm also in SE CO so it's generally much warmer here than the rest of the state.

I am near boulder, that might be the difference. I ended up with taller plants even though i started over a month later. That might be getting everything dialed in better though

TSD · Apr 11, 2022

Deadstill said:
Most cannabis strains won't start flowering until there's less than 14 hours of light. Unless it's an autoflower. Lots of folks can have issues with plants getting shocked during the transplant/transition from indoor to outdoor. Simply going from a mediocre grow light to pure sunlight can sometimes be enough to shock a plant into flower even if the light timing is exactly synced with the sun beforehand. I usually turn my grow lights up to max at least a week before I take plants outside, and I've been doing indoor starts - outdoor harvests for 7 seasons out here now without a hitch. It's a very careful process but if done right you should easily be able to get your plants outside by late May.

Where I am we get 80-90 degree days with 34-40 degree nights in early May and late September - like I said frost is what you need to look out for. Low 50's is just fine.

Same, that's why hardening them off slowly is important. It's usually the last week of may/first of June when I get mine out, never had a plant reveg or go into shock, usually they take off like a rocket. I'm in Northern NY, only a couple miles from Canada.

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Deadstill said:
Most cannabis strains won't start flowering until there's less than 14 hours of light. Unless it's an autoflower. Lots of folks can have issues with plants getting shocked during the transplant/transition from indoor to outdoor. Simply going from a mediocre grow light to pure sunlight can sometimes be enough to shock a plant into flower even if the light timing is exactly synced with the sun beforehand. I usually turn my grow lights up to max at least a week before I take plants outside, and I've been doing indoor starts - outdoor harvests for 7 seasons out here now without a hitch. It's a very careful process but if done right you should easily be able to get your plants outside by late May.

Where I am we get 80-90 degree days with 34-40 degree nights in early May and late September - like I said frost is what you need to look out for. Low 50's is just fine.

My lights are just basic

Deadstill said:
Interesting! Are you close to or in the mountains, by chance? I'm out on the eastern plains so I get a little longer day cycle than people up close to the mountains. Other than that, yeah last year I had no choice but to wait to put plants outside in late June and early July. Worst yield I've had in years, for some reason here where I am June is like the most critical month for vegging, every time I plant after June 1st we have terribly stunted plants. But just about all of my neighbors here grow and the general rule of thumb is Mother's day plants are in the ground. I'm also in SE CO so it's generally much warmer here than the rest of the state.

TSD said:
Same, that's why hardening them off slowly is important. It's usually the last week of may/first of June when I get mine out, never had a plant reveg or go into shock, usually they take off like a rocket. I'm in Northern NY, only a couple miles from Canada.

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Richudlen said:
My lights are just basic

My lights are just basic 36 watt Sansi lights. Pretty good success with my last grow but I know I’m not maximizing my plants.
I don’t have a dimmer so it’s all it nothing. Just got the timer and it has made life much easier! Lol

Thanks for the last few reply’s! All responses were really helpful!!

Sincerely,
Mr. Impatient

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

Richudlen said:
My lights are just basic

In your situation with your plants as young as they are and as early as it already is- what I would do is pay very close attention to the weather for the next week or two, check all your 10 and 14 day forecasts, etc. If you don't see any overnight lows lower than 38 degrees, and if you look outside and some plants and flowers are starting to grow, I say stick them outside. Leave them in the pots for now, that's fine. You can bring them inside at night if it's going to frost. Other than that even if they do get shocked, it's still early enough that you're still going to be ahead of the game rather than waiting until June. That's just me though. Good luck bro!

Richudlen · Apr 11, 2022

Even with such few hours of quality sun? They will get around 9 hours max.

I feel from others that the amount of light they get is the most important concern.

Thanks!

Oldchucky · Apr 11, 2022

The way I understand it is seedlings from seeds can go out in March and won’t revenge or flour. But clones will and you have to wait till 14 hours or so of daylight to put them out

Deadstill · Apr 11, 2022

Richudlen said:
Even with such few hours of quality sun? They will get around 9 hours max.

I feel from others that the amount of light they get is the most important concern.

Thanks!

Try something like suncalc.org and keep an eye on your average daylight. If you're stuck between a bunch of tall buildings or lots of shade or something, there might not be much you can do about that anyway, but even indirect sunlight is probably better than the lights you're running now. The amount of daylight is important but it's the amount of total darkness that actually triggers flowering, plus like I said, it being this early even if they do flower and reveg they'll probably still do better. But imo there is no replacement for sunlight. 9 hours of good sun with a few hours of shady sun is still better than 18 hours of manmade light. It looks like you're sitting at about 13 hours of daylight in Atlanta right now, so yeah in another 3 or 4 weeks you should be prime for outdoors. Keep an eye out for that 14 hour mark and hit it.

Combining Indoor and Outdoor lighting

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Combining Indoor and Outdoor lighting

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