One Shorter Day

[The Practice]

Disclaimer: I'm sure this has been asked before but I have found no info after extensive research. I apologise in advance if I'm repeating old posts.

 

Hi everybody, a friend of mine is planning on propagating some plants indoors under artificial lighting before moving them outside (in Melbourne) once established. The purpose being to provide a comfortable start to the youngins and get them strong before exposing them to the harshness of nature.

 

Her plan is to start them in early September inside with 24-0 days, then move them out a week into October after the last frost has passed. At this stage the time between sunrise and sunset will be around 12.5 hours (and obviously increasing every day thereafter).

 

I'm well aware that changing the day length from 24 hours to 12 will induce flowering, but what if the day lengths then continually increase?

 

Essentially there will only be one shorter day, but will this shock the plant or cause any adverse effects?

 

Alternatively she can grow them inside under 12.5 hours of light but I would imagine this would be unfavourable. Although in saying that, I imagine this is what would be happening naturally or if one was to grow outdoors from start to finish.

 

I'm clearly very confused and I'm only a little bit high, please help me understand!

Edited August 1, 2015 by The Practice

[crow]

IMO all plants need a dark period.  I'd use 18/6 rather than 24/0.  If you account for the civil twilight at the time you're planning to plant out you'll find the light hours are actually more like 13.5 so they should be fine, maybe reduce the light gradually, eg from 18 to 16 to 14 then outside?  Can't be that hard...

 

Hopefully your friend is aware that plants started outside that early could end up very big

[The Practice]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not sure if she's aware of that or if she cares about size, but I'll pass on the info

[crow]

Um, actually just came another post by Lou (who knows her stuff) and she said that in Northern Vic there's not enough light for vegetative growth until early November. 

 

So you'd need to put a solar light or lights next to the plant to prevent it going into flowering if planting out earlier.  Depending on where your friend is...