Lighting schedule indoor to outdoor

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Ragamuffin

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I have 9 photoperiods that are a couple of weeks old , I am planning on putting them outside in a fortnight or so . I have two sites ready to use . I only have two 100 watt bulbs but they are 1500 lumens each , so far iv just been leaving them on for 24/7 but when it comes to the week or two before they go outside should i start them on say an 18/6 so they aren’t going from full 24/7 to periods of dark outside ? Also to harden them off before they go out is a couple of hours a day for a week sufficient or will they require more before they go outside . My friend has 5 autoflowers at his house ready to go out at the same time but they aren’t to much of a worry regarding lights , do they still need hardened off too ? Much appreciated in advance .
 

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Hello Ragmuffin , love the nic


you need to sync the outdoor amount of light to the indoor amount of light

to do this you need to find out how much light is outdoors

something like this


5952607D-8F5D-4ADE-B911-34942BFD0208.jpeg


as you can see we are only at 13 hrs and 24 minutes which is to early for a photoperiod plant

i like to wait until,15 - 16 hours daylight


to harden them off to the outdoors put them in a place where they get some full sun and then some partial,sun and then some shade

do this for a week or so until your plants can take the sun all day and then bring them in when the sun goes down and put them back under the lights for a couple of hours and then turn the lights off until sunrise

it is trickery to get it right and some plants are different than others so you will have to tweak your plants accordingly

good luck!


by the way , what flavors are you growing?
 
Hello Ragmuffin , love the nic


you need to sync the outdoor amount of light to the indoor amount of light

to do this you need to find out how much light is outdoors

something like this


View attachment 294410

as you can see we are only at 13 hrs and 24 minutes which is to early for a photoperiod plant

i like to wait until,15 - 16 hours daylight


to harden them off to the outdoors put them in a place where they get some full sun and then some partial,sun and then some shade

do this for a week or so until your plants can take the sun all day and then bring them in when the sun goes down and put them back under the lights for a couple of hours and then turn the lights off until sunrise

it is trickery to get it right and some plants are different than others so you will have to tweak your plants accordingly

good luck!


by the way , what flavors are you growing?
Thanks pal you’ve pretty much summed everything up I needed to know . Where I live it says 16 hours roughly of daylight in may and it’s mid may they are going out so hopefully that will be ok . I have 7 Critical+ feminised seeds from iceheads website and 2 white widow x Ak fem from the same website . My friend has 5 auto northern lights that sprouted a few days ago hoping to put them out at the same time as the photo’s .
 
If u stay on the west coast may16 is the date you put your plants outside and they won’t flower i would do 18/6 lights no bringing them in and outside just wait to may16 and put them outside they don’t need to harden off they will be alright no extra adjustments needed
 
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You can put seedlings out right now but if your plants are mature then they will start to bud
 
You can put seedlings out right now but if your plants are mature then they will start to bud
I only started them about 2 weeks ago so they are only a few inches high at the minute but they have grown their second set of leaves underneath so I’m led to believe that’s them just starting the veg period . Around mid to late may they will be going outside so by then they will be around 6-8 weeks old . Another question for big sur , do you think it would be a good idea to leave them on 24/7 until the start of may then from 1st of may change their light schedule to around 18/6 or 16/8 ? That will give them 2-3 weeks getting used to that schedule then when they go outside it will be around the same hours . I will start to harden them off from the first of may onwards aswell so 2-3 weeks of that and they should be good ?
 
I put my seedlings and potted veg outside in the day when it's sunny, so I can turn off the lights inside for 8-10 hours. I bring them back in at night. It's still too cold to leave the seedlings out. They all look healthier after spending a few days in the sun, though. There's also a small but measurable drop in power usage.
 
I have had no problems going from 24/7 lights to living outdoors. I put my plants in a shady area for a few days(bringing them in at night), then a sunnier spot for a few days(bringing them in at night) then full sun(bringing them in at night until temps warm up. Those bulbs you are using could change the dynamic though. 1500 lumens is pretty low and your plants may need more hardening off because of it.
 
I have had no problems going from 24/7 lights to living outdoors. I put my plants in a shady area for a few days(bringing them in at night), then a sunnier spot for a few days(bringing them in at night) then full sun(bringing them in at night until temps warm up. Those bulbs you are using could change the dynamic though. 1500 lumens is pretty low and your plants may need more hardening off because of it.
Yeah il be honest I did wonder about that , I have two of them so technically it’s about 3000 but that’s for all 9 of the plants lol . That’s the main reason iv chose to do an outdoor grow because I don’t really have great lights . I was told my lights were good enough to get them started off and let Mother Nature take over to get them big for a few months . I think from the first of may il try harden them off for an hour or two each day then make it 3-4 the second week before they go out . This is my first year so it’s more trial and error than anything but I’d love for at least a few of the 9 photos to grow well .
 
I have grown seedlings under small CFL bulbs with no problems. If you are not getting a lot of stretch, your bulbs are probably ok. The stalks in the picture do look pretty thin though(maybe aim the fan more directly at the seedlings to make them stronger?). I was just pointing out that jumping up from 1500 or 3000 lumens to sunlight could take more time to gently harden them off.
 
I have grown seedlings under small CFL bulbs with no problems. If you are not getting a lot of stretch, your bulbs are probably ok. The stalks in the picture do look pretty thin though(maybe aim the fan more directly at the seedlings to make them stronger?). I was just pointing out that jumping up from 1500 or 3000 lumens to sunlight could take more time to gently harden them off.
Thanks man I appreciate the advice . I’m definitely going to try giving them a good two weeks of hardening off , the second week il try keep them outside most of the day then bring them in at night
 
What do you guys think ? They are 3 weeks old so far , most look good to me only one is a lot smaller than the rest it’s one of the two white widows . Going outside in 3 weeks
 

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What do you guys think ? They are 3 weeks old so far , most look good to me only one is a lot smaller than the rest it’s one of the two white widows . Going outside in 3 weeks



when is the last frost for your area?
 
when is the last frost for your area?
According to the forecast online it says mid may there could be a couple of frosty mornings and cold nights but then it’s to get warm again at the end of may . Original plan was may the 14th but might hold off another week or two . The sunlight hours for may say 16 hours so I was going to switch them to 16/8
For a few weeks to get them used to that but from what iv read online 18/6 seems a lot better , by the time June comes itl be about 17/18 hours per day so should i just go ahead with 18/6 from now on ?
 
Hope you don’t mind me jumping in on this thread. It seemed like an appropriate place for my question. So I plan to start hardening off my girls taking them out for some shade, sunshine and real wind getting them use to their new backyard starting now maybe to early as I don’t plan to completely leave them outside until early June but it’s gonna be 85 tomorrow… so the month of May will be in and out of the tent. All the reading I’m doing about hardening off have been showing small seedlings. My girls are already gonna be big girls when they go outside is there a difference hardening seedlings opposed to larger plants in vegetation ?
 
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I've had my two clones out full time for two days. I chickened out on the runt and mother plant, but the clones have picked up a lot since I put them out with no hardening at all. I'm waiting to see what happens with the couple of cold nights coming.

You could put yours out one sunny morning, and check on them every couple of hours. If they don't start sagging, they are probably OK.
 
I've had my two clones out full time for two days. I chickened out on the runt and mother plant, but the clones have picked up a lot since I put them out with no hardening at all. I'm waiting to see what happens with the couple of cold nights coming.

You could put yours out one sunny morning, and check on them every couple of hours. If they don't start sagging, they are probably OK.
They should love tomorrows weather 85 and Sunny WoW
 

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