Starting Indoor - Transplanting Outdoor

In February I acquired about 300 seeds via an Amsterdam seed bank. All of these strains of seeds are designed for outdoor growth in a warm to hot climate. Starting early this month I began experimenting with 20 of the seeds, attempting to learn the growing process. During these past few weeks I've read every piece of online literature I could find on the growing process. To follow is a description of what I've learned thus far and the questions I still have concerning what I'm trying to do. Please note that I live in a warm southern (US) climate and the soil is typically very sandy here.


The first thing I did was place the 20 seeds in a cup of water. I left them in approximately a day and some sprouts started appearing, though not on all the seeds. I planted the seeds in plastic cups with holes punched in the bottom and left them outdoors where the daytime temperatures were in the low to high 70s and nightime was dipping down to the 50s....direct sunlight generally lasted 6-7 hrs. I only ended up with 8 of 20 seeds sprouting. I know that the termperature hurt my germination greatly, but I also have the question : Do I plant the shoot part of the germinated seed (The white part sticking out of seed) up or down when I plant?

So about a week into growth I start to read about indoor grow rooms and light cycles, and how the plant will start growing faster under more light (Natural or artificial). I read about MH lights, Flourescant, Sodium, etc. and I start to read about indoor growers using light cycles (24 hrs a day at start sometimes) to grow their plants. So I decide , at night after the plants have already been in daytime sun, I'll take my little 1 week old plants inside under a set of 100w flourescant lights with aluminum around them to reflect them. Basically 1/2 day natural light and 1/2 a day of flourescant light. The plants basically tripled their growth rate and I saw need sets of leaves appearing everying 24-36 hours doing this. Keep in mind the outdoor light is still only March Sunshine of 70-78 degrees with fair winds.

I also read about how the plants flower and the light cycles they receive. Basically what I've read is that if a plant is being given a certain number of hours of light (Above 12) and then that plant receives less light during its vegetative cycle that plant will trigger itself to begin flowering (More light growing, less light makes the plant think it's nearing fall and the flowering process begins).

So, I cannot plant outdoors because I would prefer to make sure they are healthy vigorous plants before I stick em in the real ground and I cannot complete the entire process inside my home due to several restrictions and risk factors.

I have purchased a 1000 watt MH light w/reflector, a ton of Milar reflector, Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Soil, some fancy feed liquid designed to help the vegetative growth cycle, and a few hundred 5 inch by 5 inch peat pots. I plan to plant and grow indoors 20-40 plants a time through their vegetative cycle and then transplant them to rural areas with pine forests nearby. No site containing more than 10 plants. The light available outdoors will last approximately 15 hrs upon transplant. So during the indoor phase, I believe that I can only light the plants for 12-13 hrs or the plants will prematurely flower outdoors, correct or incorrect? Also, using this system of 12-13 of light per day, I could continuously do a 3-4 week indoor outdoor transplant system until the light outside went beneath the indoor mark, Correct? I guess what I need is a further explanation of how the light affects the flowering process.

Also, transplanting the 5" by 5" cups outdoor in sandy soil, I would guess that it's necessary to dig a foot or two hole and fill with the same planting mixture I'm using inside the peat pots?

Please note that you need not respond to the dangers or wherabouts of outdoor growing, as I understand that entire part. My main problem is the planting and light cycles needed to successfully start in an indoor environment and tranplant to an outdoor one. Thank you in advance for your responses.