Light and Darkness Flowering Outdoors

Outdoor
#1

All the literature I read says the plant’s nighttime must be completely dark during flowering.

I live in the city, with lots of light pollution: streetlights, neighborhood porch lights, etc. Not to mention the full moon every month. I have had no problem with my outdoor plants coming to flower after the solstice or growing nice buds under these conditions.

So what’s the deal?

Also, how do plants that grow near the equator know when to flower, when all the days are 12 hours long? I’ve had plenty of fine Colombian over the years, and did enjoy herb in Uganda a few years back. Both countries are on the equator.

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#2

Anything under 50 ppfd (the light respiration point for cannabis) won’t cause any harm. It’s when you get strong light leaks over 50 ppfd that it can cause issues.

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#3

Also, days at the equator are shorter but there is still light for 13 to 15 hours during the spring and summer months so they’re still getting over 12 hours of light. It’s when the days shorten to under 12 hours that they start to bloom and flower.

Even at the equater daylight shifts with the seasons it just doesn’t vary more than 2 or 3 hours.

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#4

I have been checking further. In Entebbe Uganda, the day length on every day is between 11hours 53minutes and 12hours 7 minutes long. I found this interesting article about equatorial cannabis and how it has adapted to make flowers where the photoperiod is a constant 12 hours:
Equatorial Cannabis - Sensi Seeds

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#5

I found if you get too close to the street light they won’t flower. I put a female clone there and it never flowered like it sisters. It was just for the sake of experimenting. I wondered the exact same thoughts as you about Moonlight in ambient neighborhood light messing with my flower times. These Never seem to be a problem.

Later I Used this to my advantage to keep a stinky greasy diesel male vegetating. Kept it bonsai chopped (discretion) and the pot tucked deep into a Laurel hedge directly under the street light. No one ever knew. Basically a guerrilla male grow right on the street. Then when my fall crop was in I pulled it from the street light to pollinate my sacrificial clones for seeding I had ready. Grew balls right away.

I do this most years now…

Noddykitty (near Seattle)

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