Deliberately slow growing photoperiod

[Tedmarx38]

A long story short: I’m out of room in my tent and have one photoperiod started that I want to stall. It just got to the proper size to move from a solo cup to a 3
gallon sack.

I want to keep it in a slow veg mode for 90 days outside the tent and am thinking of the sunroom. We’re in PA and keep it at 60-64 degrees.

Two qs:
1. Will that work and if not, any suggestions?
2. We’re way below 12 hrs daylight now. I’ve heard that any light entering a tent during “dark” hours will keep a plant from flowering. But, if I deliberately want to keep it in veg on the porch, will just keeping a regular incandescent light on so the trick?

Happy growing and thanks

 

[013]

Yes lower temps will slow it down and yes an incandescent light will keep her from flower as long as she gets significantly above 12 hours of light each day - should be like 14 hours minimum but most run 18/6

 

[Tedmarx38]

Good stuff. Many thanks!

 

[Azimuth]

Two qs:
1. Will that work and if not, any suggestions?

Yes it will work. I have a spot in my cabinet I call Limbo Land where I keep rooted clones in a sort of suspended animation with low light, little to no nutes, and a daily misting of the top of the soil but no thorough watering. They're in 9oz solo cups and some are 6 months old. Once they get up-potted into my SIPs to veg in preparation for flower, they kick back off.

2. We’re way below 12 hrs daylight now. I’ve heard that any light entering a tent during “dark” hours will keep a plant from flowering. But, if I deliberately want to keep it in veg on the porch, will just keeping a regular incandescent light on so the trick?

Photoperiod strains will flower when there is at least 10.5ish hours of uninterrupted darkness, but most of us do 12 hours to be safe. You can keep them from flowering by simply adding say a half hour of a low light on a timer somewhere in that dark period. Simply break up the dark period so no stretch is more than 9 hours and you should be fine. You don't have to leave the light on constantly.

Doesn't work for autos, obviously.

 

[SmokingWings]

1. Will that work and if not, any suggestions?

I have done the same sort of project with some of my plants when the flowering area was overloaded. I grow in natural soil and do not know how it would work if in a coco coir or peat-moss based soil. Hope that my experiences can help you out or give ideas to think about.

Yes, the sunroom or porch will work. The temperatures you mention will help keep the plant in a type of dormant stage. Is the sun-room heated or are you basing the temperatures you mentioned as being what you notice on a thermometer now or have you checked your overnight lows during the last several winters? The plant will tolerate colder temps every now and then but dropping to freezing or below for a week might be a problem

To keep the plant healthy yet still in that semi-dormant stage I would not recommend an incandescent bulb. Give the plant a quality light, enough to keep photosynthesis going but with minimal growth. Some growers were able to have good plants all the way through to maturity using the 'curly-Q' compact fluorescent light bulbs. There were grow journals showing how they did that. Those would be a better option than incandescent. But either type of bulb is going to be hard to find, even at a big-box home improvement store since household lighting is going to LED bulbs and fixtures.

I gave my dormant weed plants 14 hours of light with a brief period of light in the middle of the dark period like @Azimuth brought up. Put the lights on a timer 'cause that beats having to get up in the middle of the night to go out on a chilly porch. Will your neighbors be seeing the light come on and go off every night? Something to think about.

The plant will still need water but not as much nor as often so you will have to figure out a schedule. As mentioned above there is no need to worry to much about providing fertilizer until they are ready to go back into an active growth stage.

I don't put my Marijuana plants into a dormant stage anymore but I have using our backroom to store my outdoor kitchen herbs and flowers over the winter for several years now. Same sort of pluses and minuses except there is a south-facing door-wall and window. Occasionally I turn on a couple of 4 foot florescent lights with grow bulbs. I water those plants every 3 weeks or so until the end of February. Then slowly increase and by mid-March there is new growth on the the Rosemary and the Geraniums will start showing new flower buds. The other kitchen herbs are kept in a stall until mid-April. This winter there are about 30 herb or flower plants back there and hoping to have it organized by Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[Hash Hound]

mainline topping will slow you down

 

[Tedmarx38]

Yes it will work. I have a spot in my cabinet I call Limbo Land where I keep rooted clones in a sort of suspended animation with low light, little to no nutes, and a daily misting of the top of the soil but no thorough watering. They're in 9oz solo cups and some are 6 months old. Once they get up-potted into my SIPs to veg in preparation for flower, they kick back off.


Photoperiod strains will flower when there is at least 10.5ish hours of uninterrupted darkness, but most of us do 12 hours to be safe. You can keep them from flowering by simply adding say a half hour of a low light on a timer somewhere in that dark period. Simply break up the dark period so no stretch is more than 9 hours and you should be fine. You don't have to leave the light on constantly.

Doesn't work for autos, obviously.

Appreciate the tips mate!

 

[Tedmarx38]

I have done the same sort of project with some of my plants when the flowering area was overloaded. I grow in natural soil and do not know how it would work if in a coco coir or peat-moss based soil. Hope that my experiences can help you out or give ideas to think about.

Yes, the sunroom or porch will work. The temperatures you mention will help keep the plant in a type of dormant stage. Is the sun-room heated or are you basing the temperatures you mentioned as being what you notice on a thermometer now or have you checked your overnight lows during the last several winters? The plant will tolerate colder temps every now and then but dropping to freezing or below for a week might be a problem

To keep the plant healthy yet still in that semi-dormant stage I would not recommend an incandescent bulb. Give the plant a quality light, enough to keep photosynthesis going but with minimal growth. Some growers were able to have good plants all the way through to maturity using the 'curly-Q' compact fluorescent light bulbs. There were grow journals showing how they did that. Those would be a better option than incandescent. But either type of bulb is going to be hard to find, even at a big-box home improvement store since household lighting is going to LED bulbs and fixtures.

I gave my dormant weed plants 14 hours of light with a brief period of light in the middle of the dark period like @Azimuth brought up. Put the lights on a timer 'cause that beats having to get up in the middle of the night to go out on a chilly porch. Will your neighbors be seeing the light come on and go off every night? Something to think about.

The plant will still need water but not as much nor as often so you will have to figure out a schedule. As mentioned above there is no need to worry to much about providing fertilizer until they are ready to go back into an active growth stage.

I don't put my Marijuana plants into a dormant stage anymore but I have using our backroom to store my outdoor kitchen herbs and flowers over the winter for several years now. Same sort of pluses and minuses except there is a south-facing door-wall and window. Occasionally I turn on a couple of 4 foot florescent lights with grow bulbs. I water those plants every 3 weeks or so until the end of February. Then slowly increase and by mid-March there is new growth on the the Rosemary and the Geraniums will start showing new flower buds. The other kitchen herbs are kept in a stall until mid-April. This winter there are about 30 herb or flower plants back there and hoping to have it organized by Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks. Yeah the room is heated as we use it as an office at times but so far it’s all good. We turn it down at night so the range is 60-64 F.

 

[Tedmarx38]

mainline topping will slow you down

Yeah I figured that would be part of the solution!