Vegging in winter, supplemental light help

[DIYer]

Pretty much year round I get 12 hours of direct sunlight in my backyard, perfect to flower, not so much to veg. Last fall I had plants in a 10x20 greenhouse under 2000 watts for 6 additional hours, 3 in the AM before sunrise and 3 in the evening after sunset for a total of 18 hours of light. But, when the cooler temps hit late September and the sun tilted in the sky they knew what time it was and started to flower regardless. Not even running 3000w worth of electric heaters at night and keeping temps above 60 was enough. Swings of over 30f were happening tween night and day, no good.

So, I'm building a bigger better insulated greenhouse. I popped for 200' of 3.5mm Solexx, and construction is about 1/3rd completed. The new hoop house is 17' wide by 28' long with 28' archs from ground to ground. I also bought a 30,000 BTU natural gas heater to combat the temp drops we get at night here in the South West desert. Come summer time the Solexx should also really keep the heat out too.

A dividing light block wall down the center that rolls up and down automatically will happen as well. I want to both flower and veg at the same time, and my goal is to be able to do both year round whenever I want/need.

My question:
What's the best lighting schedule to run to keep mj in veg during winter in a greenhouse?

I'm sure temps had a lot to do with them telling me what time it was this past fall, but I'm not sure if a few hours at the beginning and end of the day really fools them once the days get a bit shorter and the nights colder.

I've read back in the day before electric light farmers brought gas lanterns into the barn around the plants for an hour in the middle of the night, but I've never tried it.

Thoughts?

Here's a few day old pic.
I've got a bit of the Solexx up, the back wall up, and the front framed and doored as of today.

 

[stoned-trout]

you can just break the night time light cycle with almost any light for minimal amount of time..or ya can blast em all night long..i have used solar lights/ floros ,incandescent bulbs on strings and hps...yeehaw..how much extra light ya give em is up to you

 

[DIYer]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=56595&pictureid=1320734&thumb=1]View Image[/URL] you can just break the night time light cycle with almost any light for minimal amount of time..or ya can blast em all night long..i have used solar lights/ floros ,incandescent bulbs on strings and hps...yeehaw..how much extra light ya give em is up to you

Hey thanks for the reply stoned-trout. I've been thinking about it, and seeing as I've already got a few plants vegging slow, popping hairs, like they know what month it is, I'm not going to bring any out into the greenhouse till I'm ready for them to flower. I'm pretty sure even the bombest gh is going to be change in environment enough to flip them. Few more weeks they'll all be ready to veg so ill just keep pimping out the new digs.

Few more images of progress. I'm doing all the work myself so a bit slow going, but I'm getting there.

The Solexx blocks out a good bit of direct light, even more so in the winter. Should be great for all those hot months, but after growing in a poly film covered greenhouse this fall and getting 90+% lights transmission it feels too dark when i look at that shadow.

Check out that mr heater! I cant wait to get it fired up

 

[BrownGuy420]

I think where u went wrong was some light in the morning and some in the afternoon I would try to just extend the day by 6 hours and also vegging the plants in the greenhouse would allow the plants to adjust to the photoperiod better rather than just toss em from indoor lights to outdoor sun which can cause the plants to flip, and the temp swings could have done it by just stressing the plants into thinking it was that time of year to start flowering....which it is but your fooling them its still summer

 

[stoned-trout]

I did my greenhouses myself too..my big ones I put a plywood board on my jeep Cherokee roof rack and pulled each arch up with rope and attached to purlin then moved jeep 4 ft and repeated...I used hydronic heating in my greenhouses as wood was free..but startup was real expensive ....yeehaw...I will be tossing plants in the greenhouse to flower till end of februrary here in so cal...yeehaw

 

[_tessarecting]

I should have a house up and be doing the same thing...but its so damn cold here...ill look into this hydronic system youre talking about...

 

[stoned-trout]

yup it kicks ass...I got mine made by the Amish in PA. and used modine heaters and the orange lines were from farmtek...it basically circulates hot water..so it heated my house ,hot water and floorboards and heated greenhouses and my aquaponic setup in one greenhouse...by the time you buy the unit,pumps,heater units with fan.bury and insulate lines ect ect ect it aint cheap..but if you got cheap wood or free its worth it...if I loaded the firebox at night before bed it would last till morning...yeehaw...its now someone elses setup as I sold out..it kept warm in the worst new England weather..snow actually insulated a bit...

 

[420somewhere]

Looking good Diyer!

Looking good Diyer!

I am going to run some outdoors again this year.

My problem is that I live in a canyon and I have a hard time keeping the ladies from flowering when I put them out due to reduced sunlight.

It also gets really hot here and I need to use shades to keep them from burning up.

What's a grower to do... Haha!

Nice looking setup Diyer, rep+