Do Roots Really Grow In The Dark?

[herbsnbuds]

Thanks, herbsnbuds, for the information you shared. I guess I'll have to go for the auto-flowering strain because I believe they can produce faster results. The 20/4 cycle might just be a great idea.

Glad I could help out! I'm going to grab some Auto Berry and of course some Lowryder on my next seed purchase. Always wanted to do a Sea Of Green!

 

[GangaKing]

Auto-Flowering is new to me. Guess I better head to a book store. If I saw it in an ad would probably think it was a gimmick! Glad I saw it here.
I like the idea 18 on 6 off. Then, when you decide to enter the flowering stage, is that when you dial back to 12 and 12? Or, if it's auto-flowering will it tell you?
Thanks, I can't get enough of this site. Come here to check things out and end up hours later scratching my head wondering where the time went.

 

[herbsnbuds]

Auto Flowering plants are genetically different than the standard cannabis plant in the fact that it will flower on its own schedule without any light changes. Meaning you don't have to change the light cycle. They are usually dwarf plants (1-2 ft tall at most) and will in most cases complete their life cycle in shorter periods of time. (60-70 days). If I'm not mistaken, these plants were genetically modified or in other words do not occur in nature.

A regular cannabis plant will require a change of the light cycle in order to induce flowering.

If grown outdoors, nature automatically does this since the days get shorter. The cycle from germ to flower is usually between 6 and 8 months. (you want to start outdoor in very early spring to have a Sept. or Oct. harvest.

For an indoor plant, most growers start or vegetate at either a 24/0 or a 18/6 light cycle (or somewhere in between) and then to induce flowering, switch to 12/12 to trick the plant into thinking the season has changed and it needs to flower.

The flowering period on a non-auto-flowering strain will vary depending on the strain but will usually be around 7-9 weeks (I've seen them go for 3 months though so like I said it varies).

Hope that helps.

Check out Marijuana Seeds (cannabis Seeds) High Quality Low Prices for info on the seeds for these auto-flowering strains.

Lowryder 2
Auto Berry
Auto Widow

 

[pitster]

Makes lots of sence

 

[Stonercool]

heres what ive noticed from the years ive been gardening.
fact-- roots die when air and light hit em.
fact-- photosynthesis happens when the sun or light hits the plant.
probably the only reason a plant can even tell its day is that the plant is growing and photosynthesising during that time. taking up water and all that.
its a pretty basic trueth that the more roots the more fruits....so wouldnt it make sense that the plant grows up and out during the day with all that it does. then when things calm down and slow at nite the anchor probably has to catch up and start spreading out itself.....i could be totaly wrong but it makes sense to me.

I think you're partly right.

Photosynthesis is begun when the light hits a plant, but that doesn't mean it ends when the light is off. The process continues with the stored energy of the sun, kind of like a solar cell works.

The more sun the plant gets, the more energy it will get to grow. This makes sense to me. but when you introduce darkness, that's really at the point when the roots should be fully formed, isn't it? or at least most of the way?

Another way to look at it is that when you have roots, they're under the soil in some plant growing processes. So it makes sense that roots can grow when it's dark - it's going to be dark under that soil, after all, isn't it? The roots aren't going to stop growing because they're under soil.

No, they're going to get energy from the rest of the plant that is up in the sunlight.

It's a complicated process, to be sure, isn't it?

 

[herbsnbuds]

I'm going to have to agree with Stonercool in the fact that it is a complicated process. So here's my short version...

The roots are always in the dark under soil and will also grow out of the soil if in a dark environment. If the roots hit light and air, they will stunt the growth of that individual root stand so as to avoid the conditions and focus its energy elsewhere in the root system. The purpose of roots is to seek out water to use to convert the carbon dioxide the leaves gather into sugars through a process known as photosynthesis. The roots will grow in every direction until they reach a point where either there is no room, or they meet light (which is why they don't grow out of the ground).

The light reacts with the chlorophyll and produces the energy needed to strip the CO2 of its carbon and release O2 back into the atmosphere. If the light is turned off, the process stops and the CO2 is no longer converted to sugars. The plant does store the sugars but I believe the only reason to turn the lights off is to save some $ on the energy bill. There doesn't seem to be much difference in the way the plants grow, but the light is what they need so 24/0 is probably better than 18/6. The more light the better.

I spit it up and use a 20/4 cycle for my veg now. More light but turning them off still saves some $ and also helps cool the room down a bit.

The bottom line is the roots will grow whether you turn the lights off or not so its a personal preference.

 

[GangaKing]

What does Hermiing mean?

 

[herbsnbuds]

What does Hermiing mean?

Turning the plant into a hermaphrodite (male and female parts) to pollenate itself producing only female seeds. Can occur when the plant suffers a lot of stress during the flowering stage by either extreme changes in temperature or interruptions in the light cycle.

The plant will think the world is coming to an end around it so it changes to produce offspring very quickly. If the plant starts out female, it will produce only female seeds because the genetics are only coming from 1 source instead of 2. Since the plants genetics are female, all the seeds will contain only female genetics.

Hope that helps!

 

[sojolove1]

How much light is needed from germinating to seedling stage. I keep hearing that some leave it in the dark until the seed sprouts? I introduced lights right away to my plants and they are slow at forming roots.

 

[herbsnbuds]

seeds germ faster in the dark but u want to introduce light within 24 hours of seeing leaves to prevent stretching

 

[GangaKing]

Thanks, and thanks again for the germinating in the dark. Never would've guessed it. Can see I've much to learn!

 

[7thtoker]

yeah hell yeah they grow forsure in the dark.

a buddy of mine use to claim that 'weeds need their sleep to!!'

 

[MrsLonely]

Awesomeness! Thanks for this post, im just starting out and anything could help, but this is particularly helpful because i was doing things pretty backwards. I planted 7 bagseeds and only 1 ever came up and now i know why! thanks much!

 

[puzzu]

WHAT TO DO AFTER Germinating cannabis seeds . do i have to leve tham in the dark and when i put them ander 1000w

 

[Tweaktion]

we can work on a machine while its on, its just more efficient to do it when its off.
simaler in thought to the plants, it repairs its current machines better at night. (but is not limited to night)

 

[vicb13]

I have a quick question for DWC. What is prime water temperature?

 

[Inxter2009]

 

[SkeeterGirl54]

It blows my mind when I think of all the different combinations of lights, nutrients, water, etc .... that a person can expose the girls to. The different combos increase exponentially

 

[HashBank]

I grew my roots in the dark and the and 10 days later they all died but thanks anyway

 

[DUBGIB]

When flowering you should switch to 12/12