Having problems doing 12/12..what to do?

Although I'm still germinating (have 1-2 day left by my estimation), I'm worried that after I plant the seed in my soil, it won't get enough sunlight. I currently am residing in California, and although the weather is more favorable than other areas of the US, you can still tell that Fall has arrived.

By my count, I get an average of maybe 8-10 hours of sunlight. Even though "sunrise" is normally around 6:30 AM, its foggy and cloudy until around 9-9:30, meaning my plant gets no sun. Since all plants need sunlight, I'm guessing this would affect the health and growth of my beloved plants. So how should I remedy this?

I'm going to be growing three plants, two in two separate 5 gallon buckets and the last one in a 12'' x 10'' inch pot. What I was thinking is that perhaps in the evening, when the sun is down, I can transport the plants indoors to my Study and just stick the plant under my desk lamp, which has a 23W CFL, as well as a "halo" shaped 22W cool white bulb. I would also obviously have my regular overhead lights on as well (dunno their wattage sorry). Could this method possibly work? If I need more lights, I have two flood lights available as well. For ventilation, the pots would be located right next to an open window, and I would have one ceiling fan and one big rotating fan available if more cooling is necessary.

Should I just let the plants be? One of my biggest worries is that all that moving back and forth (its only a distance of about 10 feet) might cause stress on my plants. Even though the plants would not receive 12 full hours of direct sunlight, should I just "let things be" and let nature do her work? I also have one of those garden "solar" lights you plant in your garden - the thing has a charge that lasts about 8 hours; If I just leave my plants outside, would that help?


Thanks for any and all help guys.

moving your plants around wont stress them i do it all the time see my avatar also the only problem i see with your light issue is your plants will want to flower but even with clouds and fog you plants still get light it doesnt have to be beams of direct sunlight ive gotten sunburned on overcast days if your plants do start budding any type of light will stop them you

I really don't think that it's necessary to move the plant inside every night. I used to wonder the same thing about if it will still get the proper flowering schedule outside.. I have one plant in my backyard right now that's about 4 feet tall and it just started flowering. I haven't even moved the plant all season and it's just doing it's thing.. It just started flowering last week and everyday I see more buds poppin up. I think that when a plant was 'born and raised' outdoors then it adjusts to the way mother nature takes care of it. Get what I'm sayin? So you're better off just leaving it outside.

Oh, ok. Its just from reading the Newbie Central section (it seems almost 90% of the guys there are indoor growers), there is all this talk about sticking to the 12/12 regimen, so I got really paranoid that my plants wouldn't do well or hit their full potential if I didn't intensely stick to the pattern. But then again, its easier for them since they can control the conditions - not like we can tell mother nature when to do something right? I always thought it had to be direct sunlight over my plants Ganjaman...never knew that the plants can still absorb sunlight through the clouds.

So both you recommend I just leave it outside? Great, then that is what I shall do (less work for me! ).

Your plants won't get very big before they start flowering because of the shortened days of winter.

Oh I see what you guys are getting at - in the veg. stage, it won't get as big as it would have if I had planted during the summer. Gotcha.

The strain I'm growing is Afghan Kush - since they are short and bushy by nature, since I'm growing them in the winter, does that mean they'll be even shorter than usual?

If that is the case, is there any way to compensate for this during the flowering stage, or perhaps use "outside helpers", such as plant food, special nutes/ferts etc. during the veg stage to help move its growth along? I know that during the first stage, the plants would really benefit from a lot of Nitrogen.

Also, what if I just keep it indoors for the first two weeks or so, under lights, then move it outside?

Yea, if you could veg inside under some CFLs or HPS lighting, and then go outside, it would help increase size/yield.

What about in terms of plant food? Anything I can use to help its growth during the veg. stage? Bat Guano, Molasses, liquid nutes, etc.?

There is a local organics place that sells Bat Guano Powder with a NPK ratio of 10-2-1; they sell it for $17 for 4.5 pound bag...should I get it? In addition, what else do you guys recommend?

build a greenhouse, get an HID MH and turn it on just after the sun goes down, then when your happy with their veg growth, take the HID lamp out of the green house...