My indoor grow is an outdoor grow?

Thought this might interest some people. I live in Spain and wanted to utilise the long sunny days we have right now. So my plants spend the days in front of open balcony doors. They get good light all day including 5 or 6 hours of direct sun. Then when the sun goes down i move them under 5 x 25w cfl's for another 4 or 5 hours, then lights out until next mornings sun. (several people commented in one of my earlier threads that the extra period of artificial lighting was a good idea).

Meanwhile i'm building a grow room where I plan to flower the plants under more / bigger lights.

Well, all was going well until a few days ago when the lowest 2 leaves of all my plants started to turn yellow. I use good soil, distilled water only and don't overwater. I posted a thread asking for advice on the yellow leaves and the general consensus was a nitrogen deficiency so I went to the grow shop to buy ferts. Well, the guy in the shop said something interesting which I welcome your comments on. He said that my grow was actually an outdoor grow and that the extra artificial light was not needed, and was even a bad idea that he thought was causing the yellow leaf prob. He suggested to stick to the sun, let off the cfl's and give the plants a rest when the sun goes down.

What do you think?

sounds like good advice.

Anybody else agree or disagree with the shop guys advice? Or anyone done a grow like this?

well ya know, just one of my blazed ideas... maby theres somethin that reacts when the two different types of light are in play?

harlem ave said:

well ya know, just one of my blazed ideas... maby theres somethin that reacts when the two different types of light are in play?

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I wouldn't be surprised by anything to do with weed growing harlem. It seems to me an odd business...or perhaps I just over-analyse everything.

I suppose when u think about it, it kinda makes sense. I mean all u people who r growing outdoors don't bring your plants in at night and stick then umder lights do you? (if anyone does i'd b interested in hearing about it, lol). I was working on the assumption that I was an indoor grower just using some sun, but maybe i had it backwards.

hes right no artificial light would be better

I have been doing the same as you the past week. No problems yet. They are going to be outside as soon as night temps are warmed up though.

Im in Spain too.

You can grow some good shit here outdoors.

Though i am only growing indoors now.

If your strain is better suited to outdoors, let it grow with the sun man.
The weather here is almost perfect...

_forbidden_

gardenandcats said:

I have been doing the same as you the past week. No problems yet. They are going to be outside as soon as night temps are warmed up though.

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Thats good to hear gardenandcats. Will u flower outdoors or get them in? And can i ask u how many hours of light yours r getting, and how many hours of DIRECT sun? thanks.

6hrs of direct sunlight will work.

_forbidden_ said:

Im in Spain too.

You can grow some good shit here outdoors.

Though i am only growing indoors now.

If your strain is better suited to outdoors, let it grow with the sun man.
The weather here is almost perfect...

_forbidden_

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Thanks forbidden, I appreciate the comments. If i had a garden i'd put it there, but sadly i live on first floor. I want to do an indoor grow in the winter but right now i didnt want to waste this sun, lol. It takes a bit of work to keeo then in direct sun all day because (of course) the sun moves. I reckon they r getting about 5 hours of direct sun a day - hope this is enough.

DoobsDay said:

hes right no artificial light would be better

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Thanx DoobsDay. Do you have first hand experience? I mean have u done a similar grow?

i dont live in spain but ive grown outside

I bring plants in for supplemental lighting regularly. I put them under 400 and 600W HPS for maximum light exposure during 12 hour light half of flowering cycle.
I sometimes bring in vegging plants also on rainy or very overcast days to boost their light intake.
I have been doing this for many years. I have never noticed any adverse influence, in fact, I am convinced it helps speed up growth for veg and budding plants. I have never used cfls(except for seed starting along with 48" floro tubes) and know very little about them.
My hunch is that something other than the lighting is causing the problem?

Wavels said:

I bring plants in for supplemental lighting regularly. I put them under 400 and 600W HPS for maximum light exposure during 12 hour light half of flowering cycle.
I sometimes bring in vegging plants also on rainy or very overcast days to boost their light intake.
I have been doing this for many years. I have never noticed any adverse influence, in fact, I am convinced it helps speed up growth for veg and budding plants. I have never used cfls(except for seed starting along with 48" floro tubes) and know very little about them.
My hunch is that something other than the lighting is causing the problem?

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Thats all v interesting. Its what i thought - that extra lighting couldnt hurt and would actually help. And, yeah, yr right, what about cloudy days? I think maybe my leaf prob is something else as u suggest, maybe too much water, maybe ph. But should i stop the extra lights until flower? Thats what i gotta figure out...

yea you could do like wavels suggested to insure your plants get max amount of light, just remember the sun is the best source of light in the world.

Yeah whats wrong with extra light? Maybe guy in shop was off the mark. I'd gone there to buy fert and he put me off that too - said that my soil is good enough for 4 weeks before fert. Is it any wonder that im confused?

Lots of people supplement with artificial light theres nothing wrong with that. You need to figure out what the problem is with your plants IT'S NOT THE EXTRA LIGHT. Go buy a good ph meter and some ferts.

A second thought. Are your plants getting a regular light cycle.

Do they go to the doors for sunlight at the same time everyday and do they get the same amount of cfl everday. If not then you need to get them on a good schedule.

A unusual light schedule will stress your plants and can cause problems.

light will not turn your leaves any shade of yellow, if not properly hardened off the sun can burn a plant used to week flourecent lighting, but the leaves will look bleach white. supplemental lighting can't be bad for your plants, but the sun is more than you will need, i doubt your plant would notice the difference of a few extra cfls, though it will help from dusk till dawn...

when you say the first set of leaves turned yellow did you mean the coteledens? because that is normal, as is the bottom few sets of leaves over time, by flowering much of the bottom third of the sunleaves will yellow no matter what you do. if your plant is fairly young use about 1/4 strength, high nitrogen fertalizer (thats the first number N-P-K) never use more than half strength, marijuana is a weed and doesn't need as much as rated for tomatoes or cucumbers.