Growing during winter with supplemental lighting

jumpincaz

Member
Can I make it happen? I live in California. I'm planning on building a 10x10 green house and using supplemental lighting when it gets dark to keep the plants in veg until I decide to flower since there is only 11 hours of daylight outside. I will be also controlling the temps by using a heater in the green house. I plan to start clones in November and harvest by Jan-Feb.

Does my supplemental lighting need to be strong or just enough to keep the plants awake?

Would the plants possibly reveg during flower?

Would there be enough sunlight/hoursduring winter to get some good bud with nice yields?

Any input would be appreciated!
 

*BUDS

Well-Known Member
Yes it will work ive done it a few times. Make sure the timer kicks in just before sundown and keep a small cfl going until about 11-12pm to stop flowering.
Make sure the glow of the light at night till 11pm doesn't look weird to the neighbors. .
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
Another way is the gas lantern method. The length of darkness is what trigger the plant to flower, so if you burn a light for an hour at midnight it breaks the night up into two short nights, making it think it's still summer time. But you need to hurry if you want to veg very long. Springtime will bring the dreaded reveg.
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
Also saves on electric bill. You don't need a lot of light for the plant to "see" it. Folks in Hawaii with the tropical solar patterns use a string of LED lights to keep their plants in veg. There is a light every 8-10 feet and that is enough to do the trick. The cost of electricity is much higher there so this is the only economic way they can veg.
 

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
You don't even have to run it long. Gas lantern routine.

Just turn the lights on one hour in the middle of the night. It will keep them from flowering.
 

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
Can I make it happen? I live in California. I'm planning on building a 10x10 green house and using supplemental lighting when it gets dark to keep the plants in veg until I decide to flower since there is only 11 hours of daylight outside. I will be also controlling the temps by using a heater in the green house. I plan to start clones in November and harvest by Jan-Feb.

Does my supplemental lighting need to be strong or just enough to keep the plants awake?

Would the plants possibly reveg during flower?

Would there be enough sunlight/hoursduring winter to get some good bud with nice yields?

Any input would be appreciated!
The further south you are the stronger the light will be during the winter. If you're not in socal then you may need supplemental light during the day.

Using the minimum amount of light to keep them in veg will make for some stretched out plants with weak thin stems and low yield. If you can run a pair of 400 watt hps or a 1,000 watt hps that would be much better and offset your heating.
 
Top