Hours of darkness needed for flowering photo outside

[HemiSync]

Hey folks,
I just recently have been trying my hand at outdoor growing of feminized photosensitive plants and was wondering if any of you outdoor growers kept records on hours of sunlight or darkness when your ladies started to preflower and/or flower.? I’m trying to get an idea how much veg time I might have left outside.

Another outdoor flowering question I have is how much light does it take to screw up your plants dark cycle. Would a stray ray of light from the house or passing cars cause a problem? Everything I have read says it’s the hours of darkness that causes flowering not hours of daylight.

Any help is appreciated.
@littleT I saw you asked a similar question awhile back with no answer and wondered what you learned.
@StickMan I know you grow outdoors, any input would be appreciated.

 

[dankstyle J]

The day light hours will be slowing down soon so flowering is gonna start .Yes light from a house or light from a car will definitely affect your plants that's the main reason I just ordered a light dep cover I suggest 7 mil but nothing lower then 6 mil if you want a legit light dep situation with the 5 mill or 5.5 mil light still can leak through an that will either hermi your plant or cause incomplete flower formations.

 

[Another One Bites the Dust1]

Hey folks,
I just recently have been trying my hand at outdoor growing of feminized photosensitive plants and was wondering if any of you outdoor growers kept records on hours of sunlight or darkness when your ladies started to preflower and/or flower.? I’m trying to get an idea how much veg time I might have left outside.

@StickMan I know you grow outdoors, any input would be appreciated.

Regarding the timing of the pre-flower and/or the flowering stage of photosensitive plants grown outdoors, I have found for myself that the main factor in determining this to be strain/pheno dependent. For instance, i have 18 different photosensitive strains going in my hoop house right now , with several female plants of some strains . I have several fast finishing photosensitive OD strains that are well into either pre-flower or even full on flower right now (Lat 48 N). One strain in particular Mighty Durban(Mighty Mite x Durban Poison) with one pheno well into flower and another one just starting to spit out pistils.
Several other strains, MoB for instance has not started to pre-flower yet.


Hope this helps my friend!

Peace

 

[HemiSync]

The day light hours will be slowing down soon so flowering is gonna start .Yes light from a house or light from a car will definitely affect your plants that's the main reason I just ordered a light dep cover I suggest 7 mil but nothing lower then 6 mil if you want a legit light dep situation with the 5 mill or 5.5 mil light still can leak through an that will either hermi your plant or cause incomplete flower formations.

I live out in the country and don’t have a lot of light pollution and if I have to, the ladies are all in five gallon pots, and could be moved to the woods out behind my place where they would have less chance of getting stray light. Although, this would also reduce the hours of sunlight they are getting. So I was going to try and keep them in the greenhouse. I’m not sure what you mean by light dep cover and not sure if it is something I could use in the greenhouse.

I have always been curious just how much light it really takes to mess their flowering up. Heck we have a full moon here so bright I can walk around the my five acres without any flashlight. In my youth I grew weed in my backyard in a urban neighborhood with 1200 other homes and never had a problem growing buds and I know there was stray light coming from neighbors yards, houses, and cars. Would love to find some grower that has actually scientifically tested how much is too much. My kitchen faces the greenhouse and if I leave the lights on and the curtains open my lux meter reads 1 lux on the outside of the greenhouse. Is that enough to screw with them?

The other part of my inquiry was if any of you outdoor growers had actually been noting when your ladies went into preflower and flower according to the hours of sunlight. I have four photo strains out currently in the greenhouse and we are down to 14:50 of sunlight this year. Three of them are still vegging like crazy but I swear I’m seeing preflower on my Barney’s Farm LSD. I know from now on I will be taking extensive notes on hours of sun/dark and when my plants start to flip.

 

[Another One Bites the Dust1]

The other part of my inquiry was if any of you outdoor growers had actually been noting when your ladies went into preflower and flower according to the hours of sunlight..

Again strain and even pheno dependent. I had a couple that started to pre-flower heavy at 15.8 hours of daylight, but most are heavy into pre-flower at around 14.2 hours. Again, these are fast finishing photo strains for short seasons like i grow in.

I know a lot of growers who grow in urban environments like you have with no adverse effects. Yes there are some strains/phenos that are more prone to hermi issues.

I’m not sure what you mean by light dep cover and not sure if it is something I could use in the greenhouse.

Light dep is short for light deprivation. One covers their green house with some sort of black out material the same as flipping your indoor photos. Need to cover and uncover every 24 hours. Personally I have no need to do thus, growing and working with the fast finishing photo strains that I do.

Peace

 

[fryge]

I've never written down the amount of hours, but I do sometimes write down the date they start flowering, so I can look it up.
I currently have 3 plants at the start of flower. 1 early danish strain(thyphoon), 2 own crosses, one of those 2 might be an autoflower-pheno, but not sure. the other is photo for sure. so that would work out to less than 7.75 hours of darkness needed for these plants.
I also looked in my notes for one of the later plants I had last year, that one started flower a month from now, so around 9,33 hours darkness. that plant was harvested on 22-11(normally that would be too late, but this cross had some good moldresistance in it's genetics, so it worked out ok).

about light from passing cars I wouldn't worry at all. I've never had problems with lightleaks/stray light, and I have plants on a balcony next to my window with a curtain that doesn't block light that well. there's also a streetlight at some metres distance(~10?) with nothing in between to block the light.
full moon is brighter as most stray light anyway, and full moon doesn't cause hermis either.
also most of those kind of lights are more yellow, since that's what is most visible to human eyes, but plants perceive yellow less than other colors, so that light looks a lot less bright to a plant.

 

[dankstyle J]

I live out in the country and don’t have a lot of light pollution and if I have to, the ladies are all in five gallon pots, and could be moved to the woods out behind my place where they would have less chance of getting stray light. Although, this would also reduce the hours of sunlight they are getting. So I was going to try and keep them in the greenhouse. I’m not sure what you mean by light dep cover and not sure if it is something I could use in the greenhouse.

I have always been curious just how much light it really takes to mess their flowering up. Heck we have a full moon here so bright I can walk around the my five acres without any flashlight. In my youth I grew weed in my backyard in a urban neighborhood with 1200 other homes and never had a problem growing buds and I know there was stray light coming from neighbors yards, houses, and cars. Would love to find some grower that has actually scientifically tested how much is too much. My kitchen faces the greenhouse and if I leave the lights on and the curtains open my lux meter reads 1 lux on the outside of the greenhouse. Is that enough to screw with them?

The other part of my inquiry was if any of you outdoor growers had actually been noting when your ladies went into preflower and flower according to the hours of sunlight. I have four photo strains out currently in the greenhouse and we are down to 14:50 of sunlight this year. Three of them are still vegging like crazy but I swear I’m seeing preflower on my Barney’s Farm LSD. I know from now on I will be taking extensive notes on hours of sun/dark and when my plants start to flip.

I have use the light dep techniques do to the multiple street lights out in front of my house an the random cars i also have a neighbor using a flood light to deter theives my area is rural but without the cover my plants would stay vegging or hermi light obviously affects photo sensitive plants .There is also an advantage to using a light dep methodology if you're interested in getting 2 harvests a year off of one greenhouse I plan on starting some plants in March using a grow light an start pulling the tarp around June an finish a sixty day cycle in julybut outside the greenhouse have my plants vegging an ready to start an finish the season since my greenhouse is restricted to 7 ft height a light dep is probably the best idea as well as running autos towards the end .

 

[HemiSync]

Again strain and even pheno dependent. I had a couple that started to pre-flower heavy at 15.8 hours of daylight, but most are heavy into pre-flower at around 14.2 hours. Again, these are fast finishing photo strains for short seasons like i grow in.

I know a lot of growers who grow in urban environments like you have with no adverse effects. Yes there are some strains/phenos that are more prone to hermi issues.

I live very rurally, closest road is 3 acres from my greenhouse and it probably gets less than 100 cars a nite down that country road. My nearest neighbors, and they are seasonal campers, are two acres off on the right and left with a thick forest behind my place for miles. Nearest town is three miles away population 1000. I live in one of those places where you can walk outside at night and see the Milky Way. Zero light pollution and as I said the full moon puts more light on my greenhouse than my house lights do. Just in case I forget my bug lights have been replaced with green ones

My Barney’s Farm LSD is showing signs of preflower already at 14:52 sunlight at 41 degrees north. Although, my three other photos are showing nothing yet.

Light dep is short for light deprivation. One covers their green house with some sort of black out material the same as flipping your indoor photos. Need to cover and uncover every 24 hours. Personally I have no need to do thus, growing and working with the fast finishing photo strains that I do.

Peace

I could never cover my greenhouse daily, that would definitely look weird to passerbys. I need to find some fast finishing photos and then get them used to the crappy weather we have here and breed them for seeds.
Anything that goes past the beginning of October has a high risk of mold from the wet weather here.

 

[HemiSync]

I've never written down the amount of hours, but I do sometimes write down the date they start flowering, so I can look it up.
I currently have 3 plants at the start of flower. 1 early danish strain(thyphoon), 2 own crosses, one of those 2 might be an autoflower-pheno, but not sure. the other is photo for sure. so that would work out to less than 7.75 hours of darkness needed for these plants.
I also looked in my notes for one of the later plants I had last year, that one started flower a month from now, so around 9,33 hours darkness. that plant was harvested on 22-11(normally that would be too late, but this cross had some good moldresistance in it's genetics, so it worked out ok).

about light from passing cars I wouldn't worry at all. I've never had problems with lightleaks/stray light, and I have plants on a balcony next to my window with a curtain that doesn't block light that well. there's also a streetlight at some metres distance(~10?) with nothing in between to block the light.
full moon is brighter as most stray light anyway, and full moon doesn't cause hermis either.
also most of those kind of lights are more yellow, since that's what is most visible to human eyes, but plants perceive yellow less than other colors, so that light looks a lot less bright to a plant.

Some interesting info there. I’m definitely going to add the variable for hours of darkness to my grow lists for different photo strains. I had a lady push it to mid November and I was running out every couple night to cover it to protect from the frost. Was a real pain in the butt although worth it in the long run.