Early flowering darkness

[gord420]

I have a plant outdoors now that I want to keep budding to get an early harvest and I have to put them in darkness early now so I was wondering if it has to be completely dark to trigger them into a dark period??

I was thinking on setting up a tarp over my workbench to mimic darkness but a little bit of light still gets through some cracks. Is this still a problem for the plants light cycle? Does anyone have any good ideas on something to trigger them in the dark when there outdoors?

[PURPLE_TREES]

a good general rule of thumb i have heard is that if the light coming in is less than the moon light you should be good. I have heard of people using tarps or trash bags to mimic the winter months as well. Good luck!

[gord420]

Thanks for the help PurpleTrees. I thought more people on this forum would of known this question.

[dirtfarmer]

It sounds like you know what to do, a 12/12 light cycle. No light leaks would be the best. If it is in a container can you move it somewhere dark? If it isn't in a container, can you transplant?

I'm doing the same thing right now, but I am in a container, it is still a pain in the butt. Some bud at the end of May will be nice, though!

[hootskers420]

You really dont have to do much, right now youre only getting about 14 hours of daylight up there anyways. On the longest day of the year youll only get about 15 hours. As long as your plants dont get direct sunlight all day, Im willing to bet that if you just left them, they will continue to flower until finished. Ive been doing the same thing on purpose the last few years so I can get two harvests. I just put them out a little early in a location that only gets probably 6 hours of direct sunlight and leave them. They usually finish around the end of July.

[gord420]

yYu dont have a problem with your plants going back to veg when you just leave them? I thought it would go back to vegetative stage. Hows the bud compared to the ones you harvest at the end of season?

[hootskers420]

Originally Posted by gord420

yYu dont have a problem with your plants going back to veg when you just leave them? I thought it would go back to vegetative stage. Hows the bud compared to the ones you harvest at the end of season?

No, because if the longest day is about 15 hours, and they arent getting any sunlight what so ever for 2 hours after it rises and 2 hours before it sets, the plants think the days are only about 11 or 12 hours. The bud, I have noticed is not quite as high of quality. The main thing is, the plants really need the cold nights to densen up the buds, and there arent a whole lot of cold nights in june and july.