I've only been growing from cuttings or clones for outdoor grows only since 2018. Last year I tried some seeds for the first time and it didn't go well but I was able to get 3 plants through to harvest. This year I'm starting completely from seeds for my outdoor grow. All of my seeds germinated and became seedlings and are still alive, (Major victory for me!) but they all wound up being leggy even though they have been growing in a south facing window with about 9 hours of direct sunlight hitting them. Is the only answer to this, to grow during the seedling/Solo cup phase under grow lights or is there a way to grow from seed for outdoor that keeps them from becoming leggy?
Growing from seed without a grow light for outdoor grows?
- Thread starter jokerlola
- Start date
Doesn't have to be a grow light when they're small. Even a desk led up close can help stop them from getting leggy, but even a south facing window won't be enough, unfortunately.
window adjacent is rather weak light so most everyone starts indoors under lights, then once you get her (them) stabilized you can begin process of hardening off for outdoors
plus the 9 hours light is gonna shoot you in the foot, I’d bump that up to 18/6 ASAP
plus the 9 hours light is gonna shoot you in the foot, I’d bump that up to 18/6 ASAP
- Thread starter
- #4
They were getting a total of 14 hours of sunlight. They were getting about 9 hours of direct sunlight from sun up until about 5pm and then 5 hours of indirect sunlight until sundown because the sun no longer comes directly through the window after 5. I guess I could have germinated them a little later so they could have went directly outside, but our weather is so unpredictable this time of year in Colorado. We went from 90 degrees, without a cloud in the sky to 31 degrees and 6 inches of snow within 24 hours! We have been warming up again in the last 2 days so I put them outside at 5pm to get the remaining day's direct sunlight.
Is it that they just need longer direct sunlight than 9 hours and they would not stretch if I had a greenhouse with the full 14 hours of the day's sunlight or that they need even more light than the day can give them right now in my area?
It's really more about the dark hours. As you approach 12 hours of darkness the plants will be triggered into flower. Right now the days are still getting longer and will do so for about another month until the summer solstice on June 21. After that the number of dark hours gradual increases and slowly triggers the flowering response over the next couple of months.
BUT, light energy matters, too. Generally, the more light you can get at your plant during veg (hours and intensity) the better the growth you will have. So adding some light before and after the sun will also help. Some growers even go 24/0 to max this out. I think it's best to give them a rest like happens in nature so, for me, 18/6 is preferred.
Azimuth nailed it as always!!! Yes sir Jokerola your days aren’t long enough at this time, need supplemental light hours….
a few curly cfl (compact flouresent light bulbs) does wonders to get babies prepped for their outdoor spots. It’s warmer than a window, light output is constant - not indirect like reflected thru a window. CFL’s are cheap and no they won’t grow big buds but will get your chicks started up nicely.
new seedlings shouldn’t go outdoors right away anyhow, the sun can scorch them plus they are defenseless against pests. Grow them up under a light indoors & then slowly harden them off for outdoors a little bit at a time. Once you‘ve got about 4-5 nodes of growth above the cotys they should be ready to start hardening off
not a pro just a gardener, I’m indoors guy experimenting with my first outdoor grow this year but I’m pretty confident this ^ is where you need to be
a few curly cfl (compact flouresent light bulbs) does wonders to get babies prepped for their outdoor spots. It’s warmer than a window, light output is constant - not indirect like reflected thru a window. CFL’s are cheap and no they won’t grow big buds but will get your chicks started up nicely.
new seedlings shouldn’t go outdoors right away anyhow, the sun can scorch them plus they are defenseless against pests. Grow them up under a light indoors & then slowly harden them off for outdoors a little bit at a time. Once you‘ve got about 4-5 nodes of growth above the cotys they should be ready to start hardening off
not a pro just a gardener, I’m indoors guy experimenting with my first outdoor grow this year but I’m pretty confident this ^ is where you need to be
The usually hours for direct sunlight are from about 8 am till 6 pm. The early morning light is weak and so is the evening light. This link to a wiki article has a few charts that give an idea of just how weak the early and late light really is.
Daylight - Wikipedia
Also, the glass itself will often reduce the amount of light that comes through a window. Some window glass is tinted or coated to reduce the glare and bright sunlight coming in to a room so even more reduction of available light.
- Thread starter
- #8
My plants were getting direct sunlight from about 8 am to about 5pm, so about 9 hours of direct and about 4 to 5 hours of non-direct mostly in the afternoon. I've been now moving them outside at around 5pm to get as much direct as they can get and to harden them off. They are close to being up potted and placed outside permanently if the night time temps will stay above 50. My windows are not tinted or coated but I've heard that even clear glass filter out certain UV rays. I've never had an issue with cuttings or clones with this and stretching but I will probably need to get some sort of grow light for seedlings for next year if I continue with seeds.
Windows allow visible light to penetrate, but block 25% or more of UVA, and 50% or more of ir light. Double pane windows or tinted windows block more. So it’s not nearly as good as natural sunlight.
...until now with the seeds.
I am just trying to eliminate the possible causes of why there does not seem to be enough light.
That brings up another point worth thinking about for any of us in the Northern Hemisphere. First Day of Spring was March 20th and the sun rose and set on an east-west line. Since then the sun rise has started rising and setting a bit north of that line each day and at the high point of the day it is more and more straight up. By June 21st the sun will rise and set at its highest point north of that east-west line and should be close to straight up for most of us at mid day.
For the past few weeks I have had more natural light coming through my north windows, especially for the several hours after and before sunrise and sunset. The bright sunlight that these plants needs that is coming through my south facing window is just enough to put the shadow line on the window sill or about 2 inches. The room is nicely lit but it is not that bright sunlight that plants need and makes a person think about sunglasses.
I gave up on trying to start plants from seeds and have them grow without stretching. The type of plant did not matter. Figured out a work-around or two.
- Thread starter
- #11
The windowsill I put my plants in is tall windows over a wide ledge that is part of a section that protrudes out from the house so this time of year, the sun comes in unobstructed with full sunlight. When I was only doing cutting and clones, I would get the cuttings in March, have them rooted by April and in small planters by May and outside and in 5 gal Smart Pots by Memorial Day. The cutting and clones never showed any signs of stretching maybe because they were technically mature plants? I tried my first seeds last spring and when they didn't die from damp off, the 3 that survived stretched and got leggy. Tis year, all of my seeds survived but they got leggy again. I have an old fluorescent light fixture I'm going to turn into a seedling light set up for next year to avoid the stretching. I have no desire to grow inside so I don't want to spend money on a grow light but I can probably get some LED replacement tubes for this fixture to use as a seedling light that would use less wattage than the T-12 tubes it has now.
