Leftwood said:You are right, it will work either way, but the outside method is definitely better in my opinion. The diurnal fluctuation in temperature is of great value to plants: warm during the daylight hours to increase photosynthesis, and cooler at night to decrease respiration and thereby building stronger, sturdier plants. Even if you lower your house temp at night, it takes a long time for the temp to go down, especially at this time of year, so the duration of the lower temperature is far less. And the day/night temp fluctuation needs to be at least 10°F to even begin to match nature. In addition, you will never attain the full goodness of natural light with artificial lighting. The down side is that you will wait longer for visible growth.
Even if you're not into species and only do regular cultivar crossing and seeding (like me) this is some darn good, sound advise. For example, I've moved more than half of my seedlings that I just planted around the 1st. of March into the greenhouse already. I do so when the first true leaf is barely visible. The reason: too hot in here and nights are too short. I like to hold daytime temps. of about 70-75'F and nighttime temps. of about 50'F. Nights are longer out there, too; in here the lights come on at 4AM to 8PM. Even if the temperature should drop into the 30's in the greenhouse like when I disconnect and forget to reconnect a small heater, it's no problem. And don't think of my greenhouse as like the pampered commercial greenhouses, either. Mine is basically a poly shelter to protect the plants from the tougher elements of wind, heavy rain and hail, etc., but it works really well for building strong, sturdy young plants. The sooner you can get them out of the house, the better.
Edit: picture added showing in house temp and greenhouse temp 10:46 PM Monday night.
