Auto flower in my greenhouse

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Austinb82

Member
Hi there, I have a climate controlled greenhouse (temp, humidity, co2) that I use to grow plants for our landscape design business.

I know photo period strains wouldn’t do well growing in there in the winter without supplemental lighting. What about auto flower strains? Has anyone grown auto flower in a greenhouse in winter without supplemental lighting? I live in NW Oregon so there are quite a few cloudy days in the winter. I’m concerned the light levels may not be enough without supplemental light but I’d love to be proven wrong by someone who has done it before. Has anyone done this?
 
Nutty sKunK

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
Well... this poor guy got chucked outside in December in Scotland at 7 days old in a un heated green house all winter with temps as low as 2c and only 7hrs of sunlight. It ended up going basically dormant until it warmed up in April then flowered twice lol

She was a NL autoflower. If u can control temps perhaps they just grow lanky with lack of light? Only one way to find out but Northern lights I would recommend as it was very hardy!

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Austinb82

Member
Hmm...my greenhouse stays around 65-75 (18-25c) most of the time but can drop into the mid 50’s (about 13c) on really cold nights here cause I still need to upgrade my heater.

Still wondering if it will not grow much due to light levels but wasn’t sure if anyone had tried it. Maybe I just need to invest in some lights (but I may also have to upgrade some electrical first since my heater draws a lot of power)
 
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Austinb82

Member
Well...no response on this one but I did more research and answered my own question. just in case anyone is curious for an answer. It seems like light is equally as limiting as temperature for plant growth during winter months especially in northern latitudes where it is just a small fraction of what it was in summer. So supplemental lighting is essential in a greenhouse in winter.

I just added heating and other climate control to what was previously an unheated greenhouse so I’m still learning all that is required to grow in the winter. Fortunately I have a couple grow lights already from my grow box but my greenhouse is a much better temperature than the basement.
 
Nutty sKunK

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
Austinb82 said:
Well...no response on this one but I did more research and answered my own question. just in case anyone is curious for an answer. It seems like light is equally as limiting as temperature for plant growth during winter months especially in northern latitudes where it is just a small fraction of what it was in summer. So supplemental lighting is essential in a greenhouse in winter.

I just added heating and other climate control to what was previously an unheated greenhouse so I’m still learning all that is required to grow in the winter. Fortunately I have a couple grow lights already from my grow box but my greenhouse is a much better temperature than the basement.
Click to expand...
Well as you could see it took 2 months to got 1cm :D
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Just a couple of hours of supplemental lighting would make a huge difference. I used 2 hours of light shortly after sunrise so it wasn't very noticeable. Autos will grow with short days but really needs about 10hrs of light to get much production from them. You can wrap the pots in insulation like Reflectix then set them on a seedling heatmat. Put it on a timer and keep them warm overnight. I've had plants survive as low as 28F but survive is all they did. With a heatmat your gpod for overnight temps down to about 40F.



Austinb82 said:
Well...no response on this one but I did more research and answered my own question. just in case anyone is curious for an answer. It seems like light is equally as limiting as temperature for plant growth during winter months especially in northern latitudes where it is just a small fraction of what it was in summer. So supplemental lighting is essential in a greenhouse in winter.

I just added heating and other climate control to what was previously an unheated greenhouse so I’m still learning all that is required to grow in the winter. Fortunately I have a couple grow lights already from my grow box but my greenhouse is a much better temperature than the basement.
Click to expand...
 
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