Hi folks, I move in a few weeks time out to the countryside (Australia) where ill be starting my first grow. I've got a 80w fluorescent light for cuttings & propagation, and have a 600w system on the way courtesy of the good people at amazon. I had planned on starting a mother plant in soil, keeping her small and using the bonsai technique. Then, with half a dozen cuttings I wanted to do a bubble bucket system under the 600w. Theoretically, it all sounds pretty simple (beginners confidence I know!). A few months ago I wanted to start a stealth outdoor grow, but circumstances proved that it wasn't possible at the time. However, with winter approaching here I'm having a few thoughts.. I'll explain. Where I live the winters still reach 25-27c (80f) during the day. It's mostly sunny, and great growing weather for other plants. The days do get shorter, close to a 12-12 light cycle which means 100%outdoor grow isn't worth it. HOWEVER... What if ... I had the plants outside in the full sun for the full day, and whipped em back inside at night to be under the 600w? Has anyone thought about this and or done this? What do you think the possible benefits or problems would be? It's important to say that the strains of seed are indoor/outdoor. I have read that natural outdoor light is much stronger than any light system so I would imagine it would help my plants grow super fast, and super big. Further, I could, theoretically, leave the plants out in winter 100% to flower, saving me on lots of power bills. Is it just me or is this plan genius? Much love blazes
Another benefit would be CO2. I would be interested if anyone had done hydroponics outdoors? If I do go down this route, I think I will do 3 hydro (bubble bucket) and 3 soil and compare the results.
Okay thanks. Whats your reasoning behind this? Is it the idea of using hydroponics outdoors? Or is it moving them under lights? If I did this with my broccoli and tomatoes I'd be set, the little moth catapillers only get them at night... haha! Im curious to hear your thoughts, because I cant see it increasing the chance of bugs if they spend less time in the outdoors. I could be wrong, but hey..
any period of time outside is opeing yourself to pest problems. just the way it is. once you get some spidermites, their a real bitch to get rid of!
Oh okay, sweet. Thank you for clarifying. So really you're recommending that I stay away from an outdoor grow all together when possible? Hm, food for thought. I wonder weed has companion plants to keep the badbugs away haha.
Not saying dont grow outdoors. saying dont go from inside to outside back inside. asking for troubles in the indoor grow. if your gunna put em outside, leave em to finish outside.
Im confused again lol. whats the difference to putting them inside under lights (where there are no bugs) and back outside again for natural sunlight. There (hopefully) arent bugs in the room so where would they be coming from...? I assume you mean that, if they catch bugs while they're outside, when I bring them inside again I'll infest the other plants? Is that correct?
haha now your gettin it! lmao thats exactly what i mean. its ok to start inside and finish outside, but dont bring plants from outside to the inside! lol
Ahhh. sorry, Its late here in oz haha. 2am and my brain doesnt work too well. I'm going to be keeping my clones / mother completely separate to my grow room, (house vs shed) so I cant see there being too much chance of contaminating my mother, but thanks for the heads up. Ive been gardening and growing stuff for a while now, and I'm actually moving to start a small organic vegetable farm, I'm just trying my hand at some weed as a side project. All in the name of science & horticulture. Fear not, If I end up doing it this way I will be keeping a pretty detailed journal & credit you with much reputation should your foresight be true haha. I want to run it as a science experiment to be honest. The main reason that got me started on this was how to keep my electricity bill down as my rent is going to skyrocket when I move. If I can go from 20 hrs of running a 600w light to just 8 hours and the worst thing that can happen is bugs, then its definitely worth it in my opinion. Electricity in Australia is like 18-20c per kw. It adds up, very quickly. Thats not even taking into account that during flower I don't need to spend any electricity at all (who am I kidding, I'll just grow more haha). Thanks for your input man