Need advice on adjusting lights for a indoor/outdoor grow.

[ClumsyTomato]

This is my first grow and my first post and wanted to see if I can get advice on the two clones I have. I want to have them for a outdoor grow but wanted to veg them inside for a while first so I can get some good size plants. I started them on a 24 continuous light when I got them from the store and have been growing for about a month. Also I have been letting them sit outside in the sun most of the day to harden them and get more sun. In retrospect I understand I did that wrong but it’s my first real grow so a little learning.

So I realized I need to shorten the light cycle so I wouldn’t shock them into flowering when I planned on moving them outside. I was planning to put them out in June so about 5 weeks to cut that back. I figured if I started with a 20/4 cycle and work down from there in the 5 weeks I wouldn’t shock the plants too much. I think it might have been a mistake as well but I’m unsure. I started the 20/4 three days ago and I’m worried I might have still shocked them a little. (In addition I accidentally left them outside half a night a few days before I started.) I’m getting weird leaves. Some coming out 5 fan leaves, some 3, and some just 1 leaf? Also a little spike in growth.
So my questions are do you think they are starting to flower? If so will they revert to veg and flower later in the season since they will be staying out side starting in June? Should I continue cutting down the light, if so how fast? Or should I just put them outside and let them adjust now?
Sorry a lot of questions I just want the best harvest and yield for my effort! I know I’ve made a few mistakes just need a little help fixing it.

Here is my setup.
-Aceple 85w LED
-In 10 gal pots but have 30 gal fabric pots ready for transferring.
-Organic potting soil from local store.
-Using Cal-mag and Recharge microbial
-Strains are Black Jack and Dream Queen

Thank you for any advice anyone can give me, I am open to any ideas!

 

[Newber]

set ur timer to 18 on 6 off, and just leave them on that schedule until flower.

 

[ClumsyTomato]

set ur timer to 18 on 6 off, and just leave them on that schedule until flower.

I’m trying to get it to 16 on 8 off so it’s closer to the schedule outside for when put it out. I just cut back 4 hours, do you think cutting another 4 so soon will shock it even further into flowering? I feel like that would be counter productive.

 

[Matthewstever]

My humble opinion says....and what I'm doing because I messed up my timing...
Switch them to 12/12 and let them start flowering. Can't be avoided, they're trying to flower anyway...
When the weather is good, put them outside. They'll have to take time to reveg...but you'll be increasing their amount of light this way...and they should then flower again normally when the time comes.
Mine are going out next week with 3 weeks of buds on them. Thankfully we have a really long growing season here...if you've got a short season outside, you may as well finish them indoors as reveg can take a month sometime

 

[ClumsyTomato]

Aft

My humble opinion says....and what I'm doing because I messed up my timing...
Switch them to 12/12 and let them start flowering. Can't be avoided, they're trying to flower anyway...
When the weather is good, put them outside. They'll have to take time to reveg...but you'll be increasing their amount of light this way...and they should then flower again normally when the time comes.
Mine are going out next week with 3 weeks of buds on them. Thankfully we have a really long growing season here...if you've got a short season outside, you may as well finish them indoors as reveg can take a month sometime

After a lot of thought I think what I’m going to do is set lights to the same schedule as they are going to be on outside since they are going to have to adjust to that anyways I might as well get it started now and let the girls decide what they want to do. That’ll be around 16 on so they might start to re-veg a little sooner if I start now. I won’t have the option of finish flowering indoors as they will be too big. So I’m going to get that started today and see how the girls adapt. If they want to flower now that’s fine or if they want to go the full season that’s even better. I just hope they don’t get stuck in some sort of limbo where they don’t flower or veg and the season ends. Let’s see how this goes!

 

[Aqua Man]

Ok so here is my opinion. A cannabis plants needs to be mature I order to induce flowering. This can take up to 6 weeks. Now why is this important because even if you change the light cycle a plant that is not mature will not start flowering.

If they are clones however it's likely they are mature from the get go.

If they are seeds you have some time where you could drop from 24hr light to 16hr light without issue.

So how to tell if a plant is mature? Probably the easiest is look for alternating nodes. If the nodes are alternating then the plant is mature. I won't get into all the identifying factors as you can easily Google all that shit.

But if these are seeds less than 3 weeks old you should not have any issue changing the light cycle as you desire.

If they are mature then it's still unlikely to cause an issue but it has happened. Dropping from 24hr to 20 hrs of light is not going to be an issue but dropping 24hrs to 16 may be. Once you get around 10+ hrs of dark then you need to be cautious.

So in short if it's not mature change the light in 1 swoop and be done.

If it is mature then drop to 20 and then 18 a few days later just to be safe even though it's highly and I mean highly unlikely. As I said it's the dark period that counts not the light period.

 

[Aqua Man]

Opps I guess I should have actually read the whole post and looked at the pics

 

[ClumsyTomato]

Ok so here is my opinion. A cannabis plants needs to be mature I order to induce flowering. This can take up to 6 weeks. Now why is this important because even if you change the light cycle a plant that is not mature will not start flowering.

If they are clones however it's likely they are mature from the get go.

If they are seeds you have some time where you could drop from 24hr light to 16hr light without issue.

So how to tell if a plant is mature? Probably the easiest is look for alternating nodes. If the nodes are alternating then the plant is mature. I won't get into all the identifying factors as you can easily Google all that shit.

But if these are seeds less than 3 weeks old you should not have any issue changing the light cycle as you desire.

If they are mature then it's still unlikely to cause an issue but it has happened. Dropping from 24hr to 20 hrs of light is not going to be an issue but dropping 24hrs to 16 may be. Once you get around 10+ hrs of dark then you need to be cautious.

So in short if it's not mature change the light in 1 swoop and be done.

If it is mature then drop to 20 and then 18 a few days later just to be safe even though it's highly and I mean highly unlikely. As I said it's the dark period that counts not the light period.

They are definitely mature I’m sure of that. So do you think I should gradually increase the dark or go straight to 16/8

 

[Newber]

18 on 6 off for Veg, 12 on 12 off for flower

 

[Aqua Man]

They are definitely mature I’m sure of that. So do you think I should gradually increase the dark or go straight to 16/8

Like @Newber said I would just go 18/6 then maybe reduce light to 18/6 over a couple weeks in small increments to 16/8 if ya really want but I don't feel it necessary