Indoor light cycle minimum to stay in veg

[Harry bootlace]

Ok as you know I’m not really an indoor grower.
But I have this grow box
I’d like to set the light on as short as I can but keep in veg, reason is so I can start plants early and move them outside in spring and not have them flower as soon as they are out the door.

If I have 14 hours light and 10 dark, I assume this won’t trigger flowering. But bloody google to be sure and appears lots of talk of using this schedule to flower.

13/11 would actually be better really (13 on 11 off)

I am asking this a bit early in the year really but it’s been on my mind to set up some sort of time/date schedule with spring and daylight hours when I take them outside.

Many thanks

 

[Stackr]

When do you usually start growing outdoors?
Work out the day-length for that date, and use that.
Only a suggestion, and I could be wrong.

 

[Harry bootlace]

Yeah that’s pretty much what I’d like to do, but a plant sprouting outdoors in say 13 hrs daylight its still immature and as it grows the days get longer so when it’s mature enough to flower the days are long enough to keep it in veg. I’m not sure if a small but mature enough to flower plant will start flowering at 13 or 14 hours light.

guess different strains might be different also.

Anyways.

 

[med180]

14 on and 10 off is what I do. Just make sure your "day" matches nature outside in terms off start, stop, length as much as possible to minimise shock and avoid triggering flowers

 

[Harry bootlace]

Ok cool thanks.
When would you put outside?
Just reading up daylight hours and a bit confused if you take daylight hours or you need to use astronomical, nautical or civil twilight etc
14 hours actual daylight wouldn’t occur until very late into summer 27th November for Perth. So hopefully use astronomical (?)

Thanks heaps

 

[med180]

I can't get mine out down here till the 1st of November due to snow and frost and by then sunsets about 8 and sunrise about 6...

 

[med180]

Certain strains are more photo sensitive than others, meaning they're triggered by very small changes in light hours. That's how outdoors some 8 week indicas end up finishing at the same time as a 12 week sativa...

 

[Harry bootlace]

Ahh so looking at Tasmania ( I’m guessing that’s where you are) you get 14 hours much earlier than we do in Perth.

This is November for Perth.

 

[Harry bootlace]

Maybe I need to do at 13/11
Don’t need to worry about frost etc
Just hope they don’t flower at 13/11 before they get a chance to go outside.

 

[Harry bootlace]

Hmm one site seems to suggest you use civil twilight to calculate which would be better if true.

 

[med180]

Seeds can be sprouted outside at very low light hours as long as the hours get longer every week, I've managed starting early like this in greenhouse with heated beds. Clones having been cut from mature plants are always more susceptible to be triggered into flower.
I have successfully rooted clones in a shade house outside around mid Oct to mid nov that kept growing on naturally but timing is essential when moving from artificial to natural light

 

[med180]

Plants still recognise light beyond true sunset and before true sunrise also

 

[Mellow oldfark]

Don't know a lot about this but thinking 13/11 was to excelarate long flowering sativas into quicker bloom.

 

[Mellow oldfark]

11/13 other way around.

 

[itchybro]

use part of civil twilight , it's usually around 30min at the beginning & end of a day = b4 sunrise & after sunset times , for the single hour of daily twilight I'd add about 40min to the day length

years ago i grew a 100% indica indoors under 14:30 hrs , with the idea of doing the same as you , put it outdoors when the day length ( including twilight ) was 14:30 hrs , she was well into maturity indoor when she started flowering under 14:30 hrs , i left it indoor to flower once she started

i never tried to do the same thing again after that but my thinking at the time was i needed more light hours indoor , if i were to try again in Melb , i would aim to put her out on the longest day of the year 22/12 which is close to 15:30 hrs including 40min of twilight , after the 22/12 , days are getting shorter but generally flower wouldn't trigger till around end of Jan early Feb " Roughly " based on that you'd get around 4 to 6 more weeks of veg time before she was triggered & well over any transplant shock & acclimation to the sun outdoors

just my opinion
goodluck with it @Harry bootlace

 

[Old fox]

Harry. I've experimented with lots of different strains with this scenario. There's a few variables. Firstly, how photo sensitive the specific strain is, and secondly how much direct sunlight it gets in its outdoor location. Some strains and geographical locations will trigger flowering within a few weeks of putting them outside, and others will continue veg. through to February. In my experience most strains will veg through continuously if they receive 14 hours indoors, then moved outdoors from ( or after) 1 Nov. If you use the same strain every year, and consistent locations in your garden, you should be able to work out an earlier date to move them outdoors without triggering early flowering

 

[Harry bootlace]

Ok. So seems it’s a gamble
My grow box isn’t big enough to try and keep inside until too late in season.

Think I’ll give it a go under 13 hours light and move out when same length outside.

Both my plots get a lot of sunshine all day.

But I’ll also start as usual outside in spring.

Then if the others just start flowering I have backups and some early smoke.

If they don’t start flowering I’ll have twice as many plants as a need and make a shot load of hash come harvest.

Doesn’t sound too bad either way.

 

[Old fox]

Ok. So seems it’s a gamble
My grow box isn’t big enough to try and keep inside until too late in season.

Think I’ll give it a go under 13 hours light and move out when same length outside.

Both my plots get a lot of sunshine all day.

But I’ll also start as usual outside in spring.

Then if the others just start flowering I have backups and some early smoke.

If they don’t start flowering I’ll have twice as many plants as a need and make a shot load of hash come harvest.

Doesn’t sound too bad either way.

Always have a Plan B.

 

[cromagnonman]

Shit you got me with this one. My experience was in doing the opposite, tricking them into flower out of season. So long ago I can't remember any of the timings I used use.
Used to have a ventilated cupboard with darkened curtains and black inside plastic so if I checked on them during daylight hours I wouldn't disturb them too much.

 

[Harry bootlace]

Ok. I put light from 14 light to 13 light hours
The three small plants I hope aren’t ready to flower and won’t at that schedule.

The larger sour diesel ( clone that wouldn’t die) I guess has a good chance of flowering
I was going to make seeds from her but if that happens I won’t. I’ll just leave and get a few buds.

We shall see. Thanks to this forum I have seeds to experiment a bit.

would be good to have a few plants a foot tall at the same time as id usually be popping seeds and grow some monsters.
We can all dream.