3rd Grow - Time For The Light Show

[arellanobrian]

plants are coming along for sure

 

[Kriaze]

Hello everyone, it's been a bit of a weird one here today. I decided that rather than give the plants extra dark time I would leave the lights on for longer so that I could switch the dark time to during the day instead of night. The plants really didn't like it at all. The seedlings in the second tent look to have some light burn and heat stress, plus the temps in the main tent were back up to almost 86F. I also had a concern that now the dark time is during the day that the open intake fan might allow too much daylight into the tent.

The first fix regarding the intake fan was easy enough. Instead of having the fan stuffed into the opening I put it inside some ducting then held all the in place with the tie cords. This should hopefully stop light from leaking into the tent and it hasn't affected the air flow in the slightest. The temps seem to have dropped to a more reasonable level too now that I've remembered to switch the timer on the fans. I had them off while the light was still on by mistake and that didn't help the temperatures. They're now back down to a more comfortable 80F and the plants are back up and praying to the light.

Question, does everyone leave their fans on even during the dark period? I was on the phone to my mate today and he told me that I should be turning them off when the lights are off, but I thought that the air had to be circulated whether the lights were on or not? Any advice or opinions regarding this would be appreciated, as they're so loud that it would be nice to be able to turn them off when the lights are off. At the moment I have set them so that during lights out they come on for 15 mins every half an hour, I'm not sure if this is the preferred way or harmful to my plants so I'd love to know what everyone else thinks.

Here is the intake fan nicely wrapped in the ducting which should hopefully block any light from entering the tent:

Now the seedlings also had their lighting period extended so that I could switch the lights off during the day, unfortunately they look to have gotten some light burn and heat stress so in turn I have moved the light higher and now that they will be back into a rhythm they should pick up (fingers crossed).

Here they are looking a little the worse for wear:

The Big Freeze:

The White Widow:

The Bubblegum XL:

The Amnesia VIP:

As for the girls in the main tent here they are after being a bit toasty for longer than they usually would (especially as I'd forgotten to switch the fan timer over to the new light settings) :

The LSD:

Incredible Bulk 1:

Paradise Nebula:

Incredible Bulk 2:

Now for some good news I was checking around with a few of my mates to see if I could get hold of any UK Cheese seeds or cuttings and although it was a fruitless exercise so far I have some wonderful news that has really made me happy. A friend of a friend has the same phenotype of the Plushberry I grew on my last grow. He's prepared to give me four cuttings in exchange for some BlackJack which I don't have but another friend does, and they're prepared to sort that trade out for me. I'm just so overjoyed at the fact that I'll have my hands on this strain again. I'll be keeping a mother or two and cloning off it for as long as possible, hopefully I'll even be able to make some seeds of it. If that's the case then trust me, I will never intentionally let that strain go again. All the best everyone

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

The little ones will recover to be big and bountyfull. Lookin good

 

[Kriaze]

The little ones will recover to be big and bountyfull. Lookin good

Cheers Mr Am4zin. Hopefully it won't have stressed them too much. Any ideas regarding the intake and exhaust fan being on while the lights are off? I'm trying to reduce the noise levels in here but am unsure as to whether it would affect the plants

 

[Weaselcracker]

Hey Kriaze. I have my out vent fan hooked to a thermostat. It's one that plugs into a wall, has about six feet of cord running between the wall and the actual thermostat, and has an outlet which I plug my fan into. I bought a couple of them from a grow supply place. About $80 each, but probably things wherever you are would be cheaper than they are wherever I am, they usually are.
I leave the thing set to 75ish, as is 24/7. The fans don't come on during lights out because it doesn't get hot enough for the thermostat to kick them on, though the dehum may change that a little. There's plenty of airflow during lights on. I don't worry about them needing fresh air at night because don't they produce oxygen themselves at night like good plants are supposed to? I think it's important to keep an oscillating movement fan going though to keep a little circulation.

Re the in vent. I would make a light baffle by using a short length of ducting or stovepipe of the suitable size, get a short straight section or two, a 90 degree bend section, and paint the inside black and put the fan in there.
Maybe you are ok as is but it seems likely that light would get in. Should be easy to figure that out though by blackening either the tent or the main room and peering down there.
I use just the out vent at top, and a passive vent at bottom - veg room has a 90 bend. Flowering has a bend and also a passive flap door thing I made which sucks open from the vacuum created by the fan.

 

[Kriaze]

Hey thanks for the info Weaselcracker, I love the idea of not having to run the fans all the time...some peace and quiet while I'm working would be great. I just tested the tent with the lights out and there's a tiny smattering of light showing but only pinpricks of it and it's mainly around the seams of the tent. I suppose it hasn't been much of an issue before so shouldn't be now but I will look at investing in a better tent in the future. I have two and one has a pretty good outer covering and crap poles, the other has solid poles and a crap covering. It will be awhile though as my wishlist is long enough as it is. Plus I ordered another composter today so that I can make a batch of soil for use while the other is breaking down. This fun little hobby is a lot more expensive than I first realised, although I could always just stay a bit more basic in the future once I've got the knack of organics.

Thanks for the reply and I'll plug one of my smaller oscillating fans into the main tent for lights out. All the best

 

[Weaselcracker]

The light leaks don't matter during veg. But during flowering, zero light leaks is the only way to go, Kriaze.

 

[Kriaze]

The light leaks don't matter during veg. But during flowering, zero light leaks is the only to go, Kriaze.

I've heard two different sides to this Weaselcracker. I've heard the same that no light leaks can be tolerated and then I have also heard/read that light leaks are not a problem if they're not too large so long as they are constantly in the same place. I think that the theory is that even at night the plants will get a tiny amount of light from the moon and stars. I have no conclusive evidence that either is the only way to grow but yes I would prefer no light leaks at all. Still they haven't gotten any worse since the last two grows and the plants made it through, although maybe it causes some of the problems that I go through.

It would be interesting to find out if there's a definitive answer to the light leak theory. If I don't find out for sure I guess there will only be one way to find out

All the best

 

[Weaselcracker]

No I think you're probably right- a consistent light leak and the plants will be used to it and ignore it. I've just had so many nanner outbreaks from little glimmers of light that I try to avoid it. Also - if there is a hole of some sort between the tent and the outside room, will that really be consistent? Won't the lights be going on and off at different times?
Not trying to compicate things- just lookin out for you and your babies.

 

[B A R]

What they found is that an increase in positive differential resulted in elongated stems. What this means is, if night time temps were substantially lower than day time temps the node lengths ended up being spaced further apart resulting in a longer overall stem.

This I can vouch for. In my Veg Tent plants have a lot of stretch. Notice the temp differential; Low is during lights out and high is during lights on.

Veg Tent

In my Big Tent during veg I get tight node spacing.

Big Tent

The light leaks don't matter during veg. But during flowering, zero light leaks is the only way to go, Kriaze.

This I also can testify to. You can F up and play around with your timer to your hearts content during veg without any ill effects but once you flip to bloom it becomes mandatory to keep the same exact light schedule from beginning to end.
As far as light leaks go during bloom Relaxed Lester (known as Lester Freeman now since becoming a MOD) proved that as long as you have the same consistent light leak it won't bother the plant even if you don't close your tent during lights off but the outside lighting is the same.
Think about it like this:
Urban or suburbian outdoor plants deal with street lights from a distance and outdoor plants in a field deal with moonlight without hermies. But if you have outdoor plants near a roadway they'll hermie every time due to the inconsistency of car lights.

 

[Kriaze]

Hey I appreciate your thoughts and help Weaselcracker. I might have to rethink this one through, although now the lights are off in the daytime the main problem I was thinking about was opening the curtains during the day if I have to come into this room, rather than the light switch which didn't seem to have any known effects last time. Sunshine is probably much stronger though so I'll look at what's available. Once I fix it I'll update the pics

 

[Kriaze]

This I can vouch for. In my Veg Tent plants have a lot of stretch. Notice the temp differential; Low is during lights out and high is during lights on.

Veg Tent

In my Big Tent during veg I get tight node spacing.

Big Tent

This I also can testify to. You can F up and play around with your timer to your hearts content during veg without any ill effects but once you flip to bloom it becomes mandatory to keep the same exact light schedule from beginning to end.
As far as light leaks go during bloom Relaxed Lester (known as Lester Freeman now since becoming a MOD) proved that as long as you have the same consistent light leak it won't bother the plant even if you don't close your tent during lights off but the outside lighting is the same.
Think about it like this:
Urban or suburbian outdoor plants deal with street lights from a distance and outdoor plants in a field deal with moonlight without hermies. But if you have outdoor plants near a roadway they'll hermie every time due to the inconsistency of car lights.

Hey BAR thanks for the write up. I actually think that it was one of your journals that I got this info from now that I see it written down again. I think it's best that I fix it just to be sure as it's daylight that will be entering the room rather than light from a lightbulb. Damn, another botch job with my DIY, I really thought I'd done enough with running the ducting through a tent. Oh well at least it wasn't the washing machine being plumbed into the gas pipe this time

 

[Weaselcracker]

Oh well at least it wasn't the washing machine being plumbed into the gas pipe this time

Different people have different aptitudes. I'm semi-retarded myself in several key areas of life!
I had a friend who went on a wilderness river rafting trip with a few other guys. At the first overland portage of the trip they stopped and set up camp for the night. They would tackle carrying the raft through the bush next day.
While the other guys set up camp my buddy tidied up the raft down on the bank, and drained the air out to make it 'lighter to carry '!!!!
Apparently they had a horrible time pumping the thing back up again with the little emergency hand pump!
Funny thing is, that guy is practically a genius in some ways- he's now very high up in a powerful organization- really a brilliant mind.

EDIT - just reread that and it sounds a bit like one of those cheesy little Readers Digest parables or something, Lol. It really happened though- this guy was full of such brilliant moments! We were flying in a helicopter at the time he was telling us this story.( At the time he worked for an environmental organization and we were doing some work in the bush. I was along on the trip with another friend kind of escorting these environmentalist guys.)
Anyway, he was telling us this story, talking through the mic on his headset, of how he let the air out to lighten the raft, and we were all cracking up in the chopper. We had some buzzing interference coming over our headsets and the pilot asked us to unplug our headsets one at a time to see if one of them was causing the buzzing. Buddy unplugged his- cutting off his mic and his buzzing earphones obviously. The buzzing continued in our headsets. You could see his lips moving as he yelled triumphantly something like. "I found the problem!! The buzzing stopped!!" This coming right on top of the 'air removal' story nearly killed us completely.

 

[Kriaze]

I'll bet your buddy was having a worse time than those pumping up the raft lol. I know exactly what you mean though regarding semi retardedness in certain areas, it's just that as soon as it comes to DIY I tend to go full on brain dead. I don't know why it is but for some reason I just never seem to get my head around things that need building or fixing, in fact it's so bad that many a time I've had to call friends in for what most people would see as the simplest of tasks. If I see a puzzle on paper it doesn't take me too long to solve, but pass me a few pieces of wood that supposedly fit together according to the destruction manual and I'm in pieces, and so are they

I'll have it sorted soon though now that I've had some sense talked into me. I just can't believe that I didn't think the silver ducting would reflect light into the tent though, what with working with light, reflections and shadows constantly. I think it was there at the back of my mind niggling at me but I treat common sense like I do the wife talking to me (love her to bits but I'm not one for talking Soaps), kind of blank it out after awhile until it starts shouting LOUD.

It's almost 5am here and my eyes are starting to drop out so I'm heading off to bed. I'll probably not be able to sleep now while wondering what else I can mess up with my grow area but oh look what I just found. I believe this is the remains of last nights 'smokeable cosh', I'll see you all tomorrow and I hope you all have a great whatever time of day/night it is wherever you may be. All the best

 

[arellanobrian]

good to here you got some of that cheese man, and always good to stop by your journal to get some great info and opinions from some experts!!!

 

[db003]

so how is the light show coming along?

 

[Kriaze]

Hey db003, it's all just slow and steady at the moment as everything is still in veg. I've no plans to switch into flowering yet as the plants are not big enough for my liking. I took some pictures yesterday but didn't manage to get them posted, I'll do that later today when I get to the PC. Thanks for checking in and I hope that you're well. All the best

 

[Thebreeder]

While growing with LED you want temps around 85 to 87. OG tip....if you want more potent weed flip cycle one week before harvest. Give 24 hours of darkness first. Then switch cycle from day to night or night to day, which ever you are doing at the time. I have been experimenting with this process for about 15 years. 2 weeks before is even better but risky.

 

[Kriaze]

While growing with LED you want temps around 85 to 87. OG tip....if you want more potent weed flip cycle one week before harvest. Give 24 hours of darkness first. Then switch cycle from day to night or night to day, which ever you are doing at the time. I have been experimenting with this process for about 15 years. 2 weeks before is even better but risky.

Hello Thebreeder and thanks for dropping in. I've heard of using darkness before harvesting but never a week before, is there any particular reason as to why it's better to do it a week before and flip the schedule? I'm not knocking the idea as I have never tried it, I may do once I have a solid amount of medicine behind me but I'm intrigued as to the science behind this particular way of growing. Also regarding temps why so high? I've been struggling to keep my temps lower than that for quite awhile (would have saved me a whole lot of trouble earlier on if this advice is correct. If you could get back to me on those two questions that would be great, appreciate the input and thanks. All the best

 

[Kriaze]

Hello everyone, I've managed to get some time at the PC so here are the pictures and a belated update. Yesterday I watered the plants with plain tap water and apart from the light burn on the seedlings along with the LSD still looking ill nothing much has changed. They're growing, nice and steady and I'll flip the lights whenever they fell like they're the right size. They seem to be slow growing but I thought pretty much the same last time, I suppose it's worse as both tents are vegging at the moment and I want them in flower already. Damn I lie, I want them trimmed up and harvested already

I also bought a second tumbling composter for the garden so that I could have one batch on the go while the other is cooking. Along with that I have some 20l smart pots being delivered too. I've seen them on a few grows and I'm going to try them alongside the canvas pot that I have here and I'll compare so that I know which I prefer to use in the future. Once they arrive (should be Monday) I'll transplant the seedlings along with Incredible Bulk 1.

In the meantime this is how the plants are looking in the tents so far.

The Big Freeze took quite a bashing with the light burn when I left the lights on for around 30 hours to make the switch over to the lights being on at night:

The Amnesia VIP also didn't like that move:

Meanwhile the White Widow took it all in it's stride. Although being the last to pop this plant has outgrown the other plants by a fair old margin:

White Widow top view, she's a little beauty and if she can withstand the traumas of my tents I might well grow this again:

The Bubblegum XL is also plodding along:

In the other tent everything is pretty much the same too. Looking at the plants everyday definitely does not make them grow faster, I will now add this as a fact that I'm prepared to share with all growers

Here is the LSD front and top view. Not much change and she doesn't look any healthier than awhile ago. I'm still holding back on nutrients but no change at all. I'm hoping that she doesn't give up the ghost and die on me...Is that cookies I smell cooking over at yours UncleC?

LSD from the top:

Incredible Bulk 1 will be transplanted into a 20 gallon fabric pot on Monday, she's looking good so far:

from the top:

Incredible Bulk 2 keeps plodding on:

from the top:

The Paradise Nebula is a pleasant surprise. It seems the free seeds I was given have actually outdone a lot of the bought strains that I planted. Here she is:

from the top:

That's pretty much it for now. I'm running out of the Plushberry fast because I can't stop smoking the damn stuff. I start out with a jar of the LSD but after a few beers and smokes I keep reaching for that final jar of Plushberry at the back, it works though as I'm usually knocked out after a couple of those. I've had no update yet as to when I'll be able to pick the clones up but as soon as I do they're going to be treated like royalty before being tortured into giving up some bud, and some seeds too hopefully All the best everyone, have a great weekend and I'm pushing some good karma over to you all. Peace