Indoor growing - flowers?

So, I am often in the habit of growing plants indoors - especially herbs. I do this at all times of year, since formsot this means there is no need to worry about heat, etc. For example, I am currently raising basil, oregano sempervivum and parsley from seed on the window sill.

If a plant's natural flowering time is summer, but it is grown indoors in winter, does this mean that the floewring period will come earlier? As my indoor plants are usually herbs, and so I harvest them as they grow, they rarely get to the flowering stage, so I have not had much cause to observe this one way or another.

 

Simon - I would like to know more myself about this. I think, in part, it depends on the exact conditions the plants experience. For instance, when I first build mysellf a lightbox, I sowed some Salvia coccinea seeds in November and they started to flower in the first week of January. But in that case there were in a completely isolated environment, and had no way of telling what season it was. Outside I would not have expected them to flower till June or July.

I suspect the answer is that they will flower earlier, but only somewhat. If they are on a windowsill, they will still be influenced by the absolute light level outside and the day length.

I have some Echiums growing, both inside the house on a windowsill and also outside in a frost free greenhouse. Although the inside ones are warmer than the greenhouse ones, they are only slightly ahead in their new years growth. I am surprised how much growth the outside ones are putting on inspite of the cold. I suspect they are both controlled by the day length.

 

The plants might flower slightly earlier than expected because of favourable conditions ,Simon, but you can't shift the flowering period significantly with temperature manipulation alone.
Light levels seem to be crucial for the flowering period.
Some plants are short day plants and some are long day plants and flower when the number of hours of light is right for them.
Long day plants flower in the period when daylight is lenghthening and short day when the day is shortening and you can't make them do otherwise without manipulating the light.
Hope this gives you a starting point for your enquiry.

 

You would probably find a lot of info on short day plants in Cannabis growing forums. Not that I would know anything about such a thing.