First time grower living in west Africa

[Shugyino]

hello, am a first time grower living in west Africa,I have the option of grow outdoor while I save up for an inverter and solar panel for indoor grow, but I really don't want to wait since I have the seed now, it's really sunny here but am not sure if I can get the 18hrs needed for vegetative weeks, what are my options, I have 3 regular ata tundra, and other auto seed... really need help on what option are best for me....thanks in advance

[Aloner]

You don't need 18 hours of light, even indoors. Folks just do that because they can.

How much daylight do you have? My outdoor grow flipped to flowering when it got down to around 13 hours or so.

Also, welcome!

[UrbZ]

Yes technically if you get minimum 14 hours of light a day you can veg without going into flower. Wont get the biggest plants though.

[Aloner]

Maybe DrPhoton can weigh in, but I'm pretty confident that sunlight trumps any artificial light available and that a lesser amount of sunlight is equal to a greater amount of the artificial variety. Not to mention that sunlight hits the plant equally strong at a very wide angle, while artificial lights really only deliver their maximum payload at the canopy level (thus the greater need for training indoors).

[Minoo96]

Definitely Aloner is right, sunlight gave me huge plants, even though I didn't had long days.

[oldjarhead100]

so are you confused yet lol listen a plant needs light to grow we all know that but in spring as the days are getting longer you can plant when the ground is workable and no danger of frost IDK if you even get frost in africa lol . if you plant it now and the days are getting longer your fine if the days are getting shorter you only have until you get down to 14 hours of light then the plants will go into bloom ,Auto dont care what time of year or how much light they get meaning hours of.so you can start the autos indoors and give them warmth food and love they will grow then if you are going into spring then plant them outside

[DrPhoton]

Sunlight does produce very high peak intensity, over 2000umol per square meter. Where as our 1000w gas discharge can obtain 1300umol per square meter. However the suns intensity fluctuates throughout the day and its duration is obviously less than whats possible indoors. As such indoors makeup for their lower levels of light capacity with constant output and longer light duration.

During the summer in the states, the average DLI can be between 40-60 mol per day. Compare that to an indoor light of 600w at a 18 hour light cycle and you get 58 mol per day. Pretty comparable. However replace the 600w for a 1000w and you get 84 mol per day.

So the sun can provide adequate yield for plants, they also have the benefit of growing as big as they like and provide further yield due to higher levels of light harvesting. You can achieve several pounds in a single plant if left long enough.

[Shugyino]

I finally built a green house cos the rain has been really much

[desertdan]

Is that a local strain?

[Shugyino]

Yes I got couple of them tryna Get some females of them, I haven't perfected my sprouting skills cos I have some auto seeds to try too.

[Shugyino]

Can anyone determine the sex of the plants

[kingfish]

No way, too soon. Unless you're a expert. You won't be able to tell 'till they go in flowering.

[oldjarhead100]

when you top a plant take the top and clone it then stick the clone into bloom room for a week or two and you'll know

[kingfish]

Thanks OJH, I just learned something.

[oldjarhead100]

your welcome but I learned it from Nebula lol