Disrupting the plant dark cycle with portable lighting

[professorchaos]

I was reading up on gas lantern method to disrupt the night cycle to prevent early flowering and ensure a solid vegetative phase. The reason being is I'm in a zone 9 area where sunrise-sunset time period for 14 hours is minimal. Even with civil twilight taken into consideration. I started some random seeds I was given for an outdoor grow about a month ago and noticed two of the plants are showing pre-flower pretty early. The other 2 are not.

I checked my daylight hours online and I'm hovering at just above 13 hours of light now with civil twilight. 12 and some change without civil twilight. This def is borderline close to solid flowering times. Now I know outdoor grows naturally don't have 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness like in indoor set ups. The plant starts to trigger flowering as the daylight begins to diminish as I can tell from literature. I read up that farmers and gardeners would use the gas lantern method to interrupt the night cycle to prevent plants from ending their veg period.

The idea I get. What I can't seem to find is how much light is needed. I currently am using a 1000 lumen LED work light focused on the plants a few hours after sunset to disrupt the dark cycle. It's a 5k spectrum so def in the veg range for lights despite not being an intended grow light. It's lighting up an area about 1 meter by 1 meter. Hopefully it works. I'll know soon if the flowering ceases. I'd go with a hard wired operation and timer but the growing area is nowhere near a power outlet so battery powered is the current best option.

Has anyone done this method? Any solid data indicating how much light is needed to disrupt the flowering hormone? Tips and suggestions?

 

[Homesteader]

Depends on strain. You may need more than 1000 lumen though. Seen people use about 35 watt bulbs work but again, strain dependent....not sure the lumen but I would shoot for 5k to 10k. Only one way to.find out though

 

[N1ghtL1ght]

if needed just let that light run longer, phytochrome pfr is highly light-sensitive but some strains even flower under 14h light so just ensure they get 2 equally short dark periods per day

 

[mancorn]

Ed Rosenthal article - Preventing Flowering in Marijuana Plants

How can I keep my cannabis plants from flowering? — Ed Rosenthal

“How can I keep my cannabis plants from flowering?” I am referring to young plants germinated from seeds or clones that are hearty enough to bring outdoors. Now I want them to grow larger, but if they go by the natural light cycle there are over 10 hours of darkness which will trigger flowering.

www.edrosenthal.com

 

[Aelpha]

I know, right? I cannot find a timer to ignite and extinguish my gas lantern. LOL.
I'm using GLR to keep cuttings outside from flowering in August when daylight is 14 hours.
I have a small hoop house to keep these young plants thriving through autumn when daylength is 12 hours and less.
I wonder how short of daylength will support veg growth while using GLR? I would like to continue this vegetative growth while there is a minimum natural daylength of 10 hours. But since I still cannot find that timer for my lantern I am using 150 watt incandescent bulbs which on timer and I certainly can schedule for daylength extension with same timer. But this really all about minimizing energy consumption to veg and meticulously prune these cuts for three months and then when I must finally bring inside due to cold I will flower them. They will be quite hardy so I think they will flourish inside in warm temps and higher dli.