New to the grow world and have received great feedback thus far on this forum.
I have 2 Purple Haze seedlings that broke ground just over 2 weeks ago. When should transplant to the 3 gallon fabric pot?
Couple things to note… soil is FF ocean. These girls will be outdoors once weather gets warmer and will be in a 10 gallon fabric pot too. On warm days I do put them outside to get natural light. I use a small grow light cause I don’t have the cash flow for an expensive one being they will be an outdoor grow I didn’t think it was necessary to go broke for a light.
I’m in Maryland and weather should start being in the 70s consistently mid April (hopefully).
So, should I transplant now or wait until week 4? Am I hurting the quality by using this light now….even though they will be outside soon?
TIA
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You can transplant when you are ready. Many of us use clear cups for starting seeds. We put the clear cup inside an opaque cup to keep light from the roots. Using this technique, we can inspect the roots to inform us as to when to transplant.
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If you put them outside before mid May you will cause them to flower. It will mess them up. The days are too short and the plant thinks it’s fall. I would wait till may at the earliest to put them out. At May, they sometimes still flower a tad but quickly grow back to veg as the days get longer. If you do it in April you will definetly flower them out at your latitude, regardless of daytime temps. It’s all about sustained hours of light.
Your purple haze regs, not autos right?
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Yes learned that just the other day from another member…. Next year I will do that.
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@noddykitty1 thanks for the info…. But I’m confused.., why will they flower too early if placed outside in April? The days are getting longer and longer so isn’t that good? How many hours of daylight is needed for veg state?
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In April, the days are still too short and nights too long in many northern hemisphere locations, signalling the plant to begin flowering prematurely. So she’ll go into flower early and then in may/June she’ll re veg her self causing significant stress and ultimately ending up with lower yields. Especially starting them indoors under 14-18 hours of light and then moving them out side to only have 11-13 hours of sunlight is enough light change to signal flowering. I agree and would wait until may maybe mid.
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Ok got it…. But I can put outside in April and the bring in and supplement with my grow light until May??? As long as I keep the same amount of hours of light per day …. Right? I was just hoping to get better light using the sun vs spending $200+ on a light.
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Moving them in and out will work great. Just keep them above 16 hours light. Most strains will flower closer to 14.5 hours of light. 12 hours is just standard op indoors.
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Yes. Thats actually what you want to do when transitioning to outdoors. Start with like 4 hours of direct sunlight each day and work your way up to leaving them outside permanently…its called hardening off. Helps the plant get used to the intense sunlight. Thats what i do at least. For transplanting general rule of thumb is you are in the window for transplant when the leaves are wider than the container. I usually go from solo cup to 3 gal around day 21 and then go from 3 gal to 20 gal around day 49
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@noddykitty1 and @Solidgold91
Thank you both SO much…. I’m a bit worried because I’m currently doing approximately 14 1/2 - 16 hours with the grow light…. Have I completely messed it up?
Also did you see my light? I’m currently using just the Blue light and not the red and blue…..is that ok???
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That light is low intensity and intended for seedlings and supplemental light for succulents and other low maintenance indoor plants. Your plants are getting old enough where they will start demanding more light-they appear to be stretching already. If you are already giving them direct sunlight i would try and increase that amount and you could probably lower your indoor light closer to the plants.
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I agree with above 
I had the same light when I very first started and sucks to say I ended up just buying a tent. Mainly because where I’m at is a no go still. If the weather is nice I would definitely listen to above let them get their light from the sun but once it starts to go down give them that indoor light and lower it. Ideally 18 hours of light is recommended in veg. 6 hours of darkness. If supplementing the light from like dusk until like 11ish or longer you’ll want at least 50-100w light if you still notice them getting leggy with dropping the indoor light.
You can even help prevent them from flowering prematurely by doing a “night time interruption” have the light turn on for 5 minutes each time at 12, 2 and 4. All in all I think you’ll be fine as long as you’re able to meet that 16 hours of light threshold.
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A short-day plant is really a long-night plant. Long nights is the signal to flower. No matter how many hours light they get. Just don’t let them get 10h continual darkness. After they have hairs that is. Cuz they can’t go into flower when they aren’t sexually mature. Your sleep schedule will work for them. When you’re up they’re up. Unless you’re in bed more than 10 hours and then you got bigger problems.
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@TigerLilly, you are good. No damage done. Those are not mature yet so nothing to worry about. Bump them up to 16 and you are good to go. The weak starter light will get you to outside, no need to replace it unless you are going indoor for flower. Not to disagree slightly above, but if I were you I would not do 18 since you want them out sooner. Go 16 so it matches them closer to outside. The 18 drop to 16 can confuse them and make them throw some pistils early if they are super sensitive.
Honestly, most equatorial strains (haze) need closer to the 12 hours to flower, it usually only more northern latitude strains that are so light sensitive around 14/15 hours on.
If they do flower you just have to hack off all the buds come June 1st to reset the hormones to veg. This can seem counter intuitive to chop off all the buds. Way easier to prevent spring early bloom and put them out later. Honestly I put most of my stuff out after June now and they grow too big anyway. It’s easier and less work than fighting the cold and low sunlight schedule. Just a humble tip for next season for you…
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Here is the light schedule (picked random city) for Annapolis Maryland.
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Thanks, the light is basically right on top of them… So I may need to go buy a better light…
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LOL… I just looked that up… Thank you! I was shocked to see have the 14 - 15 hours is not until mid-late may. Next year I start later… Hopefully I can get these to harvest without issue.
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Again, thank you for all your input. I’m up at usually 5:30 -6:00 and turn the light on, then to bed between 9:00 - 10:00, so they typically get about 15 - 16 hours of light. I know my light is crap, so I’m going to return it to Lowes and buy a better one on Amazon. This way as they get older and require more light they will get it from a new light until I can get them out outdoors mid to late May. Really appreciate all you help and input.
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@noddykitty1 … Sorry one more question, should I keep the light on just blue or switch to both blue and red???
Don’t pull the trigger until you verify your selection with the master growers (on this forum) that have been advising you.
Edit: If you are keeping that light, turn all of them on.
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