outdoor vs indoor question

[andybm]

Well I have some plants I started outdoors and brought in and some I left indoor the whole time... now the ones that were indoor the whole time have much longer stalks than the ones started outside. oh and they're all the same strain which is to say they came out of the same bag. Now is this normal? Did they maybe not get enough light outside? Any theories?

andybm Reviewed by andybm on 07-17-2010. outdoor vs indoor question Well I have some plants I started outdoors and brought in and some I left indoor the whole time... now the ones that were indoor the whole time have much longer stalks than the ones started outside. oh and they're all the same strain which is to say they came out of the same bag. Now is this normal? Did they maybe not get enough light outside? Any theories? Rating: 5

[Rusty Trichome]

... now the ones that were indoor the whole time have much longer stalks than the ones started outside. Did they maybe not get enough light outside? Any theories?

I think you've got that a tad backwards. Inadequate light can cause stretching.

[andybm]

so do I need more light inside? I have 4-26 watt cfls and 1-70 watt hps on 'em right now, and it seemed to be adequate.

[CovertCarpenter]

...would have to have a bit more info to answer your question properly.

How many plants, and how much square footage are you trying to cover with the 4 CFLs and 70w HPS?

Without more info, I'd hazard a guess that your light levels are ok for the first bit o' vegging, but you will prolly need some more "oomph" for going to flower.

Rusty's right (of course) about the stretching...

[andybm]

right now I have 6 plants in my closet corner, now the light covers a 2x2 space or so. I don't plan to flower all of them, maybe 3 if they're female. this is my first time. so when I go to flowering would moving to 4-40 watt cfls give enough boost?

[CovertCarpenter]

...then it might be enough, at least for the first half of vegging, and maybe a bit into flowering. Try to give 'em "warm white" 2700k colour temperature CFLs for flowering, if you can. If you wanna go exclusively with CFL lighting, try to budget a couple of extra weeks for proper flowering, as flourescent lighting doesn't usually have the same level of 'canopy penetration' as a decent HID light.

As a basic rule-o-thumb, tho, you want to get somewhere between 7000-10000 lumens per square foot of coverage, so you might wanna double the lights you have in mind (assuming a 40w CFL puts out about 2500-2700 lumens).

For vegetative growth, you want a mix of 4100k and 6400-6500k colour temps. If you have it in your budget, try to pick up a decent ballast and a HPS 400-600w for the flowering time. Also budget for some heat removal if you go this way--you don't want to stress your lovely little girls when they're flowering. Don't ask me How I Know This

Hope this helps!