Backyard dark period during April question

Hey guys and gals, I have a quick question about flowering (until they really start to smell) in my back yard.

AM twilight is about 6 AM, sunrise about 6:30 AM.
PM twilight about 7:15 PM, sunset 7:40 PM.

If I were to just go outside near 7:30 PM and cover my plants with thick black trashcans and uncover them in the morning at about 6:30 - 7:00 AM would such an unstructured time work without creating hermies? I wanted to utilize the sun but know that some days they would get 11.7 hours of sun and other days they might get only 10 hours and 3 minutes for example.

In short, the schedule would be really random but between 10 hours and 13 hours of light per day. Should I just keep them inside under my 400 watt HPS for an exact 12/12 or would the erratic outside schedule be OK?

Yes you could do that. Id do 7am-7pm schedule

Diabolical666 said:

Yes you could do that. Id do 7am-7pm schedule

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Ok thanks, I'll do that and try to keep the schedule as normal as I can.

Even if you sleep in and the bucket dont come off 10 or whatever, just get right back on your schedule as norm. no biggie

Word of warning; forget and leave those black trashcans over your plants all day JUST ONCE- and they'll be dead. You'll have cooked them.

"Normal" would be doing nothing.You don't have to have exactly 12-12.

ttystikk said:

Word of warning; forget and leave those black trashcans over your plants all day JUST ONCE- and they'll be dead. You'll have cooked them.

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That's right... I didn't think about that. I don't have any plans on leaving for the next few months and have a regular garden I tend to daily but that is a factor because emergencies happen.

FrostyPelican said:

That's right... I didn't think about that. I don't have any plans on leaving for the next few months and have a regular garden I tend to daily but that is a factor because emergencies happen.

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They'll go from chronic to compost in just a few hot, sunny hours. Also, be sure the cans rest on well leveled ground or light leaks will defeat the purpose.

Finally, make sure they're thick enough to truly block all the light. You could give yourself some cheap insurance by covering the cans with panda film brand plastic sheeting- it's white on one side and black on the other- wrap your cans with that white side out and that could help keep interior temps from getting out of hand if you get out there late in the morning sometime.

ttystikk said:

They'll go from chronic to compost in just a few hot, sunny hours. Also, be sure the cans rest on well leveled ground or light leaks will defeat the purpose.

Finally, make sure they're thick enough to truly block all the light. You could give yourself some cheap insurance by covering the cans with panda film brand plastic sheeting- it's white on one side and black on the other- wrap your cans with that white side out and that could help keep interior temps from getting out of hand if you get out there late in the morning sometime.

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Will do, I know, I've read stories of even pin hole size light causing problems. I probably will double up the cans because I can't wrap the outside, would look out of place and we have choppers floating around almost every night.
Thanks a lot for your help.