Hello ILGM
I have three photoperiod plants in organic soil in 17 gallon fabric pots. The strains are Purple Sunset, G13 Haze and Pineapple Express #2. I started them indoor they sprouted around Feb 21… they grew indoor under 20/4 lighting. I thought I would grow them indoor the entire time but they grew too big for the area so I gradually acclimated them to the outdoor Sun by June 1. They are definitely showing female signs with lots white pistols and I am afraid they will re-veg if I don’t do something.
At the garden center they recommended to give them a 24 hour dark cycle then let them be outdoor and they will flower just fine I’ve researched and found I could also give them light deprivation by covering them every day so they don’t get the full days outdoor sun. Obviously the light deprivation every day is more work and knowing myself I will forget a day here and there.
Does anyone have experience with this? What worked for you?
yes, either you light dep them or they will likely re veg. The way we outdoor folks do this is to grow our plants under lights using the standard 18/6 schedule. This part depends on where in the world you live. For me, I live in BC Canada. In general, if you can plant an outdoor vegetable garden in mid May that is us here. So its not the amount of light the plants see, its fhe hours of darkness that causes the plant to flower. So a month before I plant outside I begin slowly transioning my dark time from 18/6 to 16/8, the 8 hours dark covers the dawn to dusk pretty closely and does not trigger flowering. The plants then can continue veg until August, then flowering begins like normal but you have huge plants! And I mean BIG!
Many California and Oregon commercial grows are now using light dep to get 3 crops a year. It does take effort and you cant mess it up. They normally grow some trees too because they have the space and why not? Here is a tree
Light dep requires a black tarp with no light leaks and it must be covered 12 hours a day! Or you run the risk of re veg or hermaphroditic plants.
May sound easy but have you ever been under a black tarp in full sun? Can you say hot! So ventilation is still a big deal!
That is an Awesome Tree!!! I don’t think mine will get that big in the little 16 gallon pots!! So I would need to light dep them for 12 hours per day until the real sunlight is matching the 12 hours per day? I’m in Central California Coast Santa Cruz County. What if I moved them to the part of my yard that is partial shade? The daylight hours are about 13 hours per day right now. Do you think covering them from 7pm to 7 am would work? Right now I have double black garbage bags that fit over them. But I suspect that they will outgrow that during the stretch pretty soon.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
Tessa
Yes you would have to light dep unless the plants are auto. They will finish long before August. As I said, it isnt the amount of light they get that matters, its the hours of darkness that matters. You need 12 hours a day of darkness and the rest as sunny as you can get.
Crooked hoses and large fans. If you snake vent pipe light gets trapped. So guys hang them toward the ground from the roof ends. Place the inlet hose in a shady spot etc.
Its not cheap or easy to do light dep
So outdoor growing is awesome, but there are a few things to consider. I am not sure where you live, but the length of day in your area is used in consideration for when to put your plants outside.
The first thing that you did right is to acclimate them to the outdoors, as they need to be hardened off. As the summer solstice approaches that signifies our longest day of the year. Here in New England where I live, the longest day is June 20th at 15hrs 10mins 26secs. If I was to put my plants out before that, the days are not long enough. The days are still increasing in length each day by about 2 minutes, so putting them out before that the plants will definitely continue to grow, but then after the longest day the days begin to decrease. With that said the plant should be put out on the longest day rather than before as it may send it into flower. My plants are always started 2 months before the Solstice, and always are too big to manage inside, so I move them outside and use a trick called Gas Lantern (No, I didn’t create it). I hang lights, such as cool white florescent bulbs near my plants linked to a timer. This keeps the plants from going into flower prematurely. I start my plants at 18/6 and then ever so slowly use about a 15 minute decrease every 10 days on the timer in the amount of light that the plants get. Once the summer solstice arrives, my plants are experiencing a light cycle closer to what mother nature produces.
Sorry if this is all too much or unclear, I certainly am much better at explaining in person. If you have other questions feel free to message me and I will try my best to help. If the are starting to show signs of flowering there is a chance that they will reveg, and not much you can do, except learn from your mistakes and observe what the plants are doing. Look at it as a cool experiment.
Thank you so much! That is excellent information! I really appreciate it! I am covering them with double black bags for 12 hours per night right now. I am awaiting a blackout little tent I ordered form Home Depot. Hopefully they don’t outgrow the bags before that comes!
In order to keep them in their flowering stage, do I have to cover them for 12 hours per day until they finish? Or just until they are into flowering long enough? Or just until the daylight hours are closer to 12? Or until the days start to shorten (after June 21)?
Ok, so are you saying that they have started to flower? If they have then I personally would do the 12/12 light schedule. Plants that reveg in flowering and tend to do wonky things. In terms of covering them with a plastic bag, I would be a bit concerned with that, as the plant has no air circulation, humidity or heat control. Plants in flower need 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness. The daylight hours where you are won’t reach 12 hours until long from now, so i guess now that you are in flowering keep them flowering but make sure that they get the darkness they need.
Do you have access to clones near you from a friend or nearby dispensary? You could get some clones and plant them out on the Summer Solstice. If you don’t and will wait until next season to grow again try starting 2 months before your longest day or even 6 weeks. Use a 18/6 light schedule indoors and then you can try moving them outside when they get too big for you to have them inside and use the GAS LANTERN technique, which many Cali growers use as you have weather that allows for plants to get outside as early as May. This technique allows for you to grow big plants because you can start them so early.
When I got a closer look at the last two it makes me think they are still in veg state and just showing sexual maturity. I think I can just let them grow without light dep. but the first plant seems to really be in pre-flower so I think that one needs the light dep to prevent re-veg. What do you think?
Thank you so much!!
@TessaMaria I didn’t see anything indicating male. Will you other awesome peeps chime in?? In terms of hermaphrodites…that can come from stress too of which could happen in a case like yours where they were inside then out and so on and so forth. This is actually an great learning experience and will only make you an stronger grower
They are doing well! Thanks for asking i am doing the light dep on one shes a pineapple express(I think…got the tags mixed up…). Frost is starting to form so I think she will complete the flowering cycle just fine as long as I keep up the light dep:)
