When comparing natural sunlight to LED grow lights, which one truly outperforms the other?

[mr.brunch]

I prefer to smoke the outdoor, and this is in England.
Many people won't even try it though. Weed snobbery is real, and how $100 8th's sell. Marketing outdoor is a lost battle here. Even giving it away.
If it's not obviously outdoor, and you can brand it off as a Sat that took months, it sells off its own strengths. People don't need telling where it was grown. If they know, their programming kicks in, and they get more value from exercising their snobbery, than they could get paying for something that they think grows for free.

I hear you mate, people don’t understand weed in this country… got to have a dessert name and come in a little tub.
And you can see most of it has been tumbled for resin.

 

[Brother Nature]

People have a similar poor opinion of outdoor down here too, mostly as a lot of outdoor is grown guerilla style by criminal organizations and cared for poorly, so on a large scale the examples are bad, but I always do a few plants outside in my backyard each year and if I don't tell anyone they always prefer the outdoor to the indoor. I ran some sour diesel outdoor and indoors last year an the jar or the outdoor was finished long before the jar for the indoor.

 

[Weedhopper]

Mother nature for the win.

 

[Ca++]

I was just musing over this.
When I switch to 12/12, I get a different type of growth. That couple of weeks, is not growth like I had in veg, slowly changing to bloom. No. I think it's a bit different. More structural development, of a meaningful nature. The plant stops keeping it's options open after 12/12, and sticks to a single plan. Making good, with what is has.
I might also draw evidence of this from a plant's dislike of training during this time. They really like to establish in grow, then reinforce that growth during transition.
If this bares out, then transition is worth a better look. Indoors, we see a rapid need to get through transition. Outdoors, it's a different picture (away from the tropics). Transition isn't forced upon a plant as something to rush through. A plant can hover around 13-15 hours light, for some time, outdoors. This gives a good DLI and the signal to transition, without the 'because you missed it' signal 12/12 brings.
If the transition truly exists as a time to toughen up what you managed to grow in veg, then it's a meaningful stage of life. One the indoor plant doesn't get.
Perhaps a week of 14h days, would produce a more capable plant once into later bloom.

My musings cross paths with those of others in this area. The 'why' being less important than the actual results. With related photoperiod trials pointing this way.


I am obviously stoned, so answers on a postcode

 

[Freezerweed]

For what it is worth; One year I preflowered indoors and moved the pots outside August 1st to finish. it was very cumbersome moving large pots with branches extending beyond the pot and some branches broke off. I also had to calculate when to begin the flower cycle so putting the plants outside would finish. I did receive a harvest of tropical bud before freezing temps set in., but to say it was better than indoors, I couldn't. However, outside bud seems to be more aromatic and tastier, that means the terps matured differently than indoors and might be worth another attempt. Maybe I'll do an inside vs outside in the greenhouse in the future. I can't start flowering in the greenhouse because the days are too long to start the flowering cycle with most ladraces.

 

[Rocket Soul]

For what it is worth; One year I preflowered indoors and moved the pots outside August 1st to finish. it was very cumbersome moving large pots with branches extending beyond the pot and some branches broke off. I also had to calculate when to begin the flower cycle so putting the plants outside would finish. I did receive a harvest of tropical bud before freezing temps set in., but to say it was better than indoors, I couldn't. However, outside bud seems to be more aromatic and tastier, that means the terps matured differently than indoors and might be worth another attempt. Maybe I'll do an inside vs outside in the greenhouse in the future. I can't start flowering in the greenhouse because the days are too long to start the flowering cycle with most ladraces.

I get rougher bud tissue consistency, but better smells and some cuts are much stronger outdoors. Indoor, nicer feel but can feel slightly lame in smells compraed to led, especially no uv led.

 

[PH donner]

For what it is worth; One year I preflowered indoors and moved the pots outside August 1st to finish. it was very cumbersome moving large pots with branches extending beyond the pot and some branches broke off. I also had to calculate when to begin the flower cycle so putting the plants outside would finish. I did receive a harvest of tropical bud before freezing temps set in., but to say it was better than indoors, I couldn't. However, outside bud seems to be more aromatic and tastier, that means the terps matured differently than indoors and might be worth another attempt. Maybe I'll do an inside vs outside in the greenhouse in the future. I can't start flowering in the greenhouse because the days are too long to start the flowering cycle with most ladraces.

you may consider darkening. It is not that difficult to realize with a little imagination.
However, you have to be consistent over time

 

[Freezerweed]

I get rougher bud tissue consistency, but better smells and some cuts are much stronger outdoors. Indoor, nicer feel but can feel slightly lame in smells compraed to led, especially no uv led.

I think it would merit a clone indoors and clone outdoors test with labeled jars to gage a side by side smoke.

 

[Freezerweed]

you may consider darkening. It is not that difficult to realize with a little imagination.
However, you have to be consistent over time

That was an issue when I wasn't retired. I might try that next year.

 

[Rocket Soul]

I think it would merit a clone indoors and clone outdoors test with labeled jars to gage a side by side smoke.

We had an accidental test like that of our glue trap cut, already strong and stoney. My buddy took some clones out for free veg in the sprong time and they just jumped into flower due to slightly too short days and then flowered out during spring and early summer. Weird as shit cause days were getting longer but it seems like the plants had already decided to flower and just went on. The outdoor was the most stoned i ever was, full facemelt of me and another 5 peeps. Indoor was just regular strong weed but the outdoor was way to much, just rhe 6 or us paralyzed without a word uttered. I think all this will depend on cultivar though.

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

I think it would merit a clone indoors and clone outdoors test with labeled jars to gage a side by side smoke.

But how do you control for dust and insect poop as is common outdoors?

If you straight compare indoor <-> outdoor it is about much more than light. Even if you were able to use a greenhouse and keep everything the same controlling for light intensity will be difficult.

 

[Rocket Soul]

But how do you control for dust and insect poop as is common outdoors?

If you straight compare indoor <-> outdoor it is about much more than light. Even if you were able to use a greenhouse and keep everything the same controlling for light intensity will be difficult.

Of course its more than light, dust and insects wouldnt maybe not be as important to me as more swings in climate, occasional rain and wind. Would dust and insect poo be a good or a bad thing? What would be the pathway to affect the plants genetic expression?
We use massive amounts of predator mites which must poo somewhere on the plant but it hasnt really changed quality either way

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

What would be the pathway to affect the plants genetic expression?

Anything basically. If you change the morphology (training, nutrition, PGR etc.) susceptability to disease (e.g. SAR) it is caused by differential gene expression. If it looks different it grew differently. If it grew differently different genes were expressed.
It's just a fancy term that doesn't mean anything unless you throw million dollar machines at the problem to quantify it.

Regarding Flavour profile: I don't think that it matters that much. I know an absinth producer that took wormwood from a valley in switzerland with very extreme climate (-35 °C in winter) and high quality and grew cuttings in germany with mild climate.
Comparing GC profiles of the two locations but same genotype showed the same flavour components in the same ratio. The swiss plant just produced significantly more.

 

[•Moby•]

We had an accidental test like that of our glue trap cut, already strong and stoney. My buddy took some clones out for free veg in the sprong time and they just jumped into flower due to slightly too short days and then flowered out during spring and early summer. Weird as shit cause days were getting longer but it seems like the plants had already decided to flower and just went on. The outdoor was the most stoned i ever was, full facemelt of me and another 5 peeps. Indoor was just regular strong weed but the outdoor was way to much, just rhe 6 or us paralyzed without a word uttered. I think all this will depend on cultivar though.

Temps might have played a role in this result

 

[Rocket Soul]

Temps might have played a role in this result

Fantastic potency and ending flower in high temps, hard to see the logic there. My guess is that finishing flower with mid summer sun and lots of uv may have been the reason, or just that the cut was really nice. Cant really say, but my alltime favourite smokes are outdoor buds expcept for Y griega; best feel good smoke ever

 

[Freezerweed]

But how do you control for dust and insect poop as is common outdoors?

If you straight compare indoor <-> outdoor it is about much more than light. Even if you were able to use a greenhouse and keep everything the same controlling for light intensity will be difficult.

The stuff without poop and sunlight will taste different. The experiment would be sunlight vs LED.
There is is no comparison when your light meter indoors states the obvious. But the indoor grow can be lengthened to makeup for less intensity, which is why there is some good indoor sativa out there. It is my theory, lengthening flower time indoors until the trichrome is mature just like sunlight which is a shorter time frame. A 11/13 schedule will take longer to mature than outdoors, but no weather risk. Also putting pots outside can overheat the roots and the plant will stop growing. Plant in the ground when possible. The only control point we have then is if the trichrome is mature.

 

[hillbil]

Real Sun would be great except for Law Enforcement and deer and long rainy periods and 110* and Rippers.
Not much hail in the tents.