how long is too long

[Dr. Funky]

Hello otherwise upstanding citizens, I am wanting to know if it would be detrimental to the quality of my plants if they were to be in the vegatative state for longer than nature intended. I grow in a greenhouse and I am wanting to start my plants in december, keep them under lights untill the sun can take over in Feb/Mar. Doing this will mean that my plants will be in vegatative for 8 or so months, I am totally cool with monster sized plants, but will doing this lower the quality?

 

[Hick]

I grow in a greenhouse and I am wanting to start my plants in december, keep them under lights untill the sun can take over in Feb/Mar.

What you will most likely encouunter with this, is they will flower/or start flowering under the short daylight hours of Feb./March. Unless you supplement light, to extend the number of hours to "at least" 16, untill the "natural cycle" outdoors catches up.
The drawback, is that once the plants discover that the # of light hours are increasing in length,(March, April, May) rather than decreasing, they then start to reveg. rather than continue on flowering. Late June is summer solctice, when the cycle reverses. Daylight starts to dwindle, "natural" flowering cycle is promoted.
"MY" preferred schedule for starting ID to OD, is to raise them on 18/6 or more light, then place them OD the last week of May/first of June.
With only 3 weeks untill the natural cycle begins, they go right into flower mode and stay.

 

[Dr. Funky]

you mean they bud the entire time from June to October or whenever?

 

[Dr. Funky]

would this reveg apply to strains that originate in tropical and near tropical areas, at the equator daylight/nightime is 12/12. Maybe a Haze would be a good choice?

 

[Hick]

There are some equatorial sativas that are climatized for 12/12 their entire life. I'm not in anywhere near a situation//climate to accomodate such monsters. So I've no first hand experience w/ them. I'm not sure that I understand the application you're looking for.
The problem that "I" forsee, would be the 14-16 hrs of daylight we recirve in the summer months. BUT..I really am not sure how they would react.

you mean they bud the entire time from June to October or whenever?

no..I mean that they will immediately start producing "florigen" the flowering hormone. Once it reaches the "critical"point. They start producing flowers.
If you put them out too early, from long artificial light hours, into short natural hours, they often go into florigen production. Sometimes starting to bud, but as the daylight hours increase(up untill summer solstice,June 22). They start to revert to veg.
Then along comes June 22, days start getting shorter. Florigen production begins again..then flowering.
It is just a whole lot of totally unneeded stress, that confuses some strains into sorry yeilds, hermies, ect.

 

[tcbud]

what he said, i took some great clones this year, put them outside (after they had been in 24 hours a day light) the first of may, they went to flower imediately, and i harvested some. the smallest, flowered, then revegged, now they are flowering again. i will next year start my plants inside but as he said above..put them out beginning of june. Hopefully they will grow larger than they did this year.
tcbud