Growing inside versus outside

Hi All,
I am in the process of germnating - once they have the little rooty hooty pocking out i plan to pot them in small polyurethane cups in soil but keep them inside until they are say 4 inches tall then transplant them outside in larger pots and in full sunlight.

My question is - do you see a problem having them inside in the first month or two - but sitting by a window sill that has good sun light coming in from the outside. The room is quite hot and faces west aspect?

i cannot use lights - is filtered sunlight OK for starters even if growth is slower initially?

probably not, id say leave out side during day bring them in at night.

lex...

can you supplement the window light with a couple CFLs?

one main problem with the window light is the LIMITED hours of light your plants will receive.. most window plants end up STRETCHING.. yikes

Make sure you poke holes in the bottom of your cups, for drainage.. and don't use CLEAR or opaque cups (ideally soil, should not be exposed to light)

and NOW you KNOWM

Are CFLS normal lights ? - im in australia so i think maybe the terminology is diffrent - if they are normal lights - how many watts do i need? we get 100 watts per globe here as the strongest for a normal lamp - i dont think this willbe enough - it looks like i will just have to get them into my greenehouse outside then - does that sound better MR Knowm??

thanks for your input

as far as i know cfls will be soon the only lights left to buy for you guys down under. the 100W bulb will be probably one of the type Edison invented and this are no good at all. not for growing and anything. with normal light bulbs you get about 10-20lumen per W, floros and cfls give you about 100 lumen per W, MH about 120lum/W and HPS about 150lum/W.

so for veg the plants you can go with cfls but for flowering you should go for hps or the australian sun

i just started and im in serious need of help. what do i do when there in now 4 leaves coming out the top and the first leaves are continuing to roll to the bottom. do i still leave them outside during the day and bring them in at nite n is it still 18 hours on life 6 off? n when do i fertilize them? please help right now im pouring about 200ml a water on each plant for 24hrs. n its getting sun. what do i do next?

people are always saying that CFL lights are no good for growing this is totally not tru you just have to know how to use them all the time i here people saying things like 170 watts of cfl wont grow you one good plant now thats just rediculaous.... my firend gets great results with a 1000 watt HPS but he is envious of the results i get with my CFLs of course tho it is on a smaller scale but to say you get crappy budds from cfls is just total bull!!! if you know how to use them you can get better results than HPS due to the better spectrum... don't get me wrong tho people seem to have this idea that CFLs are for begginers this is not tru it takes more attention to place all the little bulbs than it does to place one big one (as with HPS) so its not the easiest thing but u can get the same results with CFLs if you are an experienced grower. if you are a begginer the best type of light is a mettal halide, buds arnt quite as big but the plants are healthier and less chance of leaf burn ect.

Daniel K said:

i just started and im in serious need of help. what do i do when there in now 4 leaves coming out the top and the first leaves are continuing to roll to the bottom. do i still leave them outside during the day and bring them in at nite n is it still 18 hours on life 6 off? n when do i fertilize them? please help right now im pouring about 200ml a water on each plant for 24hrs. n its getting sun. what do i do next?

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You need to relax are u doing this indoor or outdoor...are u useing lights? 18 hours is fine...make sure ur only watering ur plant ever 2 or 3 days and ur plant sounds like its getting over watered remember the less water the roots are going to dig deeper to find that water source and u dont need for worry about fertilizing them for another 6 weeks they should get healthy and strong before u wanna fert them..b.c u could shock them with nutes and burn ur plants or stunt its growth