I have my medical card in Hawaii and I am growing outdoors. I started the majority of my plants from seed on December 25th which means my natural light will be less than 12 hours for most of their veg cycle. I have a solar powered led light that shines on them for about 8 hours every night. I've read that the light should keep them in veg but it wont be giving them what they need to grow. I was wondering how this lack of sunlight might affect my plants and if anyone has any experience with a similar setup in Hawaii?
Obvious question would be: why would they? I have heard of growers using CFLs to keep their plants in veg outdoors, although I've never heard of any setup that would really give them the light they need to grow. It seems to me that going from sunlight to LED is probably just stressing the plant, but depending on the intensity of the light, I could be wrong I suppose. Truth is, you should have waited to pop those seeds. IF they survive til spring, I would say some ill-effects to watch out for would be: hermaphrodite, stretching or weak stem/branch structure, and stunted growth come springtime. Then again, they may turn out just fine. Bringing them indoors would be my suggestion, but that's not always an option. Best of luck to ya
Thanks I didn't realize they flower differently outdoors. I wanted to explain my setup a little more. The plants get strong natural sun for about 10 hours and then the light turns on for 8 hours after it gets dark. I've been keeping them covered with a clear plastic tarp to keep out the rain but not the sun so I can control the watering. This is why i thought my light would work. I found this information at: http://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/howtogrowmarijuana.html "The amount of light needed to prevent flowering is quite small (about .03 foot candles95 - on a clear night the full moon is about .01 foot candles). However, each plant mist is illuminated fully, with the light shining over the whole plant...The lights need be turned on for only a flash at any time during the night period, from about 9:00 PM to about 3:00 am. The interrupts the long night period to less then nine hours. Start these night treatments each night or two, until you want the plants to flower."
Seems to me like you already found the answer you wanted. If you re-read my earlier post, you will see that I said that you may see some adverse effects, and then again, you may not. I don't think you are going to get a better answer than that...ha. Grow them your way and see what happens. BTW I quoted this from the same link you posted: "4. Growing conditions affect flowering in many ways (see Chapter 12). Cool temperatures or generally poor growing conditions affect flowering indirectly. Flower development is slower, and more time is needed to reach full bloom. Under adverse conditions, female buds will not develop to full size." Adverse conditions like oh, say, an LED flashing on them all night. Good luck on the islands brudda!