From a fellow grower: One of my questions, and something I will be experimenting with more this year, is to induce flowering a bit early (maybe mid July) to be sure I’m finished by the end of September, maybe a bit earlier, so the sun is still nice and strong during mid to late flowering.
Question is about covering them…
I know I can cover them for 12 hours to achieve this, but can I cover them for just an hour or so ( say 7:00 at night, the sun sets here in July about 8:00-8:30) and then uncover them when it’s dark to avoid any moisture problems associated with keeping them covered till morning. Also it is much more convenient to uncover at night than in the morning with my schedule.
The short answer is yes, as long as the plants are getting 12 hours of dark. As far as moisture is concerned, nature is pretty moist as the temperature changes. Twice a night, dawn and dusk, there is a spike in humidity due to rapid temp changes. Personally, I would cover them all night and uncover them at the chosen time. If you cant automate it you will need to be responsible. Otherwise yep uncover in e dark sets in.
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My whole thought process behind this was…
Usually my garden starts flowering by early-ish August, which here consists of a 14.5 hour day and 9.5 hour night (actual sunrise to sunset). In July when the nights are still over 10 hours I was hoping to start covering a couple, trick them into getting that extra hour they will have come August (when the natural light cycle starts them flowering) and uncover them when it’s dark to resume life with the rest that were not covered. Once the uncovered plants start flowering, I will not need to cover them anymore since they are now on the actual light schedule I was simulating. Doing this I would only have to cover them for a couple weeks and be that much ahead in the flowering department without dedicating myself to a month and a half of covering plants every night. Is this correct? Or should I say, will this work? Do they need the full 12 hours to trigger them to flower? (we don’t get 12 hours of dark here till harvest time anyways). Or will just simulating the natural cycle when it occurs do it? It’s something I’m going to experiment with anyways but was just looking for someone else’s opinion.
Simulating the natural light will work, as long the dark periods are longer than the long period, you’re golden. @swalks08
Welcome to the growing community.
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