Alright blades, basically I'm making my attempt at my first grow. It's a guerilla grow on some private property to which I am allowed on, it is not in use so being found is somewhat unlikely. I have purchased 5 feminized Kaya Gold seeds from Nirvana and have been germinating them indoors. Currently 3 have sprouted and 2 are lagging a bit behind, but they are all sitting in solo cups on my window seal. My question is, my window is facing southward and while it gets bright as fuck the sproutlings never get direct sunlight. So my question is, will this indirect sunlight be enough to get them large enough before I transplant them into larger buckets and move them outdoors to where they can handle the elements? Or do I need to rig up some CFLs to help them along? My fear is that artificial lighting and artificial light cycles will stress them, and we all know that's not a good thing. Should I just have the CFLs on when its light out, and turn them off at dusk, basically mimicking mother nature? I understand if I were doing an indoor grow they would be on 24/7 right now and 12/12 for flowering. TL;DR Will indirect sunlight in a well light window seal be enough to grow my plants during germination to a size (2-3 weeks) where I can move them outdoors? Or should I supplement with CFLs? Thanks for any help in advance GC, .Carbon
I would go wit the CFL idea. CFL's are great for growing seedlings. In my experience. I like to get them well into the veg stage before putting them outside. I know peole that lived of fthe grid and they don't have electricity and I've seen them have good results starting their seedlings outside. At the right time of year of course. for the veg stage you can do 24/0 or 18/6.
Leaving them on the windowsill is not advised, they will most likely STRECTH for the sunlight and a loooong stem is bad business later on during flowering. I say go with CFLS
First of all, thank you for the replies and advice. If I go the CFL route and take the windowseal out of the equation completely how much wattage will I need per plant if it's only for germination? I know 100watts/plant is recommended with CFL but that's at maturity right? After having the CFLs on for only a few hours in the windowseal I noticed the stem straighten out towards the lights which I assume is a good thing. EDIT: Sorry, my second question is can I do a 24/0 lighting schedule and then move them outside with no consequences? or would it be more wise to go 18/6? .Carbon
Go with the CFL's. Now as for the wattage, for now a bulb or two placed really close to them will do the job of keeping them from stretching and building a root system. Now I'd forget about the 100w/plant idea for now. We're not talking about flowering. I'd put a 42w CFL to cover each SQFT you're vegging in. I'm an indoor grower so I'll do my best for some outdoor advice. I'm nearly positive 24/0 now will be fine to transplant outdoors when the time comes. Just make sure you get a fan on them to simulate windy conditions and strengthen that stem so they don't get blown over. When its near time to transplant them outdoors, I'd probably place them outside temporarily for several hours a day to "harden" them off and get them used to the conditions.
I was taking my plant's outdoor to climatize or harden them off but now i'm having second thoughts about this right now, My plants except for my clones are 2 feet plus tall right now and I don't want them to get too root bound. Your plants are small so I would take them out and harden them off. I don't want to sound like a noob no it all but there is a process to hardening them off. I would be happy to explain this to you.
Thanks for the info guys, I'm doing this grow in a private dormitory so transporting them in and out during the "hardening" process would be difficult not to get caught. To solve this privacy issue I will have my plants in a rubbermaid cooler with a fan system and CFL lights. I will also rig up a mini-CO2 reactor. My main concern right now is the lighting cycles, I have a timer so 18/6 would not be an issue but if I can get away with 24/0 then I will. Does anyone have any concrete evidence that 24/0 THEN transplanting outdoors won't stress my ladies?
I don't have any concrete evidence. But I can tell you that I haven't had any problems doing that. Not any that I can remeber or noticed. But I ALWAYS harden them off first.
I do stand to be corrected on any statement that I make. I know I sound like a know it all sometimes, maybe all the time. But, SERIOUSLY!!! please correct me if I'm wrong on anything. Marijuana cultivation is my biggest passion. I am serious about this. There is so much to learn.
Thank you for the input Farm, so you have successfully germinated plants in 24/0 and then transplanted them outdoors without any noticeable consequences? Heres a picture of my new setup by the way, thanks for the tips so far. These are two 26 Watt CFLs, 6500k lumen.
Nice set up. That will work for now. Does that fan have a really low setting on it? I like to use oscillating fans because I hear it's not a good idea to have direct wind blowing on them all the time. That's not to say that I haven't used a fan like that because I have many times.
It is a fairly mild blowing fan that does not oscillate, I plan on rotating plants in different positions to get different air flow patterns.
This is my grow so far: These plant will be getting transplanted into bigger pot's soon. I think I am gonna build planter boxes.
I would like to add my 2 cents carbon. Maybe it will provide food for thought. Im at 37north, and the sun isnt strong enough here to set a plant in the window sill and not have it stretch. Im not sure of your lattitude, but i hope youre considerably south of me if yours are already in the window. Generally, the only potential advantage to starting plants early is to get more growth from the plant. I found it much more effective to grow a strain that gets big and yeilds big as opposed to trying to get a moderate yeilder to get big. I grow Armeggeddon and its a big yielder. I start the plants on April 21, and i plant them out the first week of may. The plants finish mid to late oct at 9' tall with 2lbs of smoke on it. I dont want them to get any bigger- they can be seen from the space shuttle as it is. PLUS. Cannabis plants produce a hormone called auxin. This hormone impacts maturation and flower development. Auxins develop as the result of lighting. The more light the plants recieve, the more auxins that develop in a plant and the longer it will take to begin flowering and the slower the flowers will develop when they do begin to appear. This is a fact carbon. If you have 2 identical plants and one is started in march and planted outdoors on may 1, and the other plant was started April 21 and planted outdoors on may 1, in every case, the plant started in April will begin flowering sooner and the flowers will pack on faster than the plant started in March. Further, the transplant shock that occurs when an older plant is transplanted, changes in lighting and other factors cause a period of growth delay in the older plant by as much as 2 weeks, while the smaller seedling has no delay and will equal the bigger plant by midsummer. My experience tells me that your results would be much better if you had waited until late april, poped the seeds and planted them. Others may feel differently, but FYI
That is some very valuable information and I value it greatly. I have made a few mistakes in this grow, but it is my first so it is expected, and I am not sure if all 5 of the plants will actually make it outdoors. If it is a complete lost then I may keep one mother and attempt to clone. So my new question is, if I were to grow a mother, would it be too late in the season to get the clones rooted and outdoors before summer?