Clones vegging slow outdoors?

[Lazyman]

Hey all, I'm trying an experiment (again) to see how well plants veg outdoors, to see if they are faster than my indoor veg room. So far I'm not impressed.

My most vigorous strain (Jackpot) typically grows clones 1-2' tall in 4 weeks indoors, even under T-5's. I figured more light would benefit them, so I took a batch of rooted clones and planted them into 4" pots outside to get their feet (after hardening them off gradually over a week.). After several weeks I have lost a handful of them to wilt, but the ones that survived have only grown maybe 3" and added one pair of leaves.

Figuring it must be imbalanced temps (80*F day, 52*F night) I even put them in a big wagon and bring it inside every night to keep them warm, but growth remains slow.

Im using the same medium, strains and ferts as my indoor grows, so the only real difference is light and maybe temps.

Am I alone on this or should I just go back to vegging indoors?

Thanks all,
LM

 

[ghettochild]

There are so many factors in this. I prefer the sun.

 

[cave]

i am not sure how long you wait after repoting maybe have the clone more established and potted indoors for a week or so and then harden them off and keep them outdoors what strain are you using i know my clones where slow to start but that was be to weather being not great

 

[Lazyman]

Yeah I had some rooted clones I stuck into 4" pots of FFOF, and put them outside under an awning so they only got indirect light for a few days, then I started putting them into the sun for an hour or two and more and more until they could take the sun without wilting etc. The strain is Jackpot, shiva skunk X Afwreck, extremely fast growing strain, it grows 2X as fast as anything in my garden, indoors. After a month outside most of them are still 6" tall!

 

[SCARHOLE]

My box clones were faster at first,
But after 2 monthes the outdoors clones are bigger.

And the sun will flower em better than my cfls

 

[.clunk]

Most of my outdoor clones are growing much faster than they would inside, but there's a few stragglers for sure - I would say that out of 50 clones I planted, there's probably 5 in total that are sucking hind tit for some reason. I wish I knew what was causing the stragglers and what I could do to keep them all uniform.

I planted 8" tall clones in HIKO trays (good root plug) on June 9th, yesterday I visited the patch and they are waist high and getting very bushy, in fact some of them had grown nearly a foot in the last week now that the weather is getting better.

The only deduction I can make is that the smaller ones which are not doing so well may not be receiving as much water. Every other variable is exactly the same so I can't figure it out!

 

[THC123]

the clones will veg slower outdoors yes , cuz you don't have as much hours of light

but normally they should grow bigger and bushier and show more vigor , my mommas have become nice bushes outdoors

But when talking abotu vegging for an indoor grow i would stay indoors as you can decide how compact they grow,

 

[Lazyman]

Yeah I guess the extra duration of light indoors really compensates for the lower intensity, oh well, I still have a month to veg them indoors, just was hoping to save on some veg room power bills. Oh well.

I agree that once they get bigger they grow faster outdoors, but not when they're small. Maybe I should do it the other way around, veg them indoors til they're big enough to utilize the sun, then leave em outside for a few weeks to pack on some mass.

 

[shrpshooter]

i would deff put them in something bigger than a 4 in pot unless u r plannning on watering a few times a day

 

[feenom]

sounds like you might be under watering outside? you also want to take into account that under the cfl's you may be seeing taller growth but not as bushy. 80 to 52 F temp swing is not to radical to inhibit growth. outside things take a bit of time to catch, plus you should have them in bigger pots. try transplanting them and then hanging a cfl over them at night for an additional few hours and i think you will seed great results.....

also you should take into account humidity differences from indoor to outdoor.... your indoor is most likely to have higher humidity depending on where you live, which is more favorable for the veg period. you could raise humidity outside by building a mini hoop house with pvc and painters plastic from home depot. but if you do this be sure to monitor day temps by opening the ends and using a fan....

 

[Lazyman]

Hmm no I checked on them 3-4X a day outside, watering as needed to keep them moist. I tried varying degrees of light, from mostly shade to a shadecloth stretched over a cart, sitting in the sun. I would pull the cart indoors at night and put a pair of CFL's over them to keep em warm and lit, but I saw very little growth. Humidity is pretty stable, usually around 50% indoors and out, light breeze 24X7 too.

I would love to have a greenhouse, but it would be visible from the street in the only place I could put it. Damn!


I just moved them to my indoor setup so they're gonna be fine I think, I just wish I could move them outside when they're bigger (to veg a couple weeks in the sun) but there's just too many of them. Oh well, I guess I'm giving up on this for now.

Thanks for all the help guys! You all rock.