Do seedlings stretch towards where a light might be situated?

[MarsBarz]

I'm planning on macguyvering a grow box from an 80 or 90 litre tote to use for germinating seeds as well as sexing clones (when I get to that stage) and I need to know where to situate the bulb in the box.

Ideally, I'd like to place it in the side of the box near the top so that I can take the lid off and not have to worry about damaging the bulb.

Will the plants grow straight up or will they sort of grow at an angle towards the side of the box where the light is situated?

 

[Fenderbender]

They will angle, although mostly the leaves will orientate towards the source.. maybe if you add a bit of reflection or diffusion in the box?
Plants outside will track the Sun all day with the leaves, they start facing the horizon East, at noon they are pretty straight up and in the evening they are facing the horizon West.

 

[MarsBarz]

They will angle, although mostly the leaves will orientate towards the source.. maybe if you add a bit of reflection or diffusion in the box?
Plants outside will track the Sun all day with the leaves, they start facing the horizon East, at noon they are pretty straight up and in the evening they are facing the horizon West.

I'm planning to line the walls of the tote with reflective mylar film, I should've specified that.

 

[Fenderbender]

Well could help, ideally place would be on top though, if it's only germination short time I think you can get away with it, but if you're going tot veg a bit in it.. to keep nice symmetry having good equal distribution of light helps.

 

[HappyHazmat88]

Hey marsbarz, cool Idea on the tote grow box.

Were you intending on using a regular style grow bulb or other?

Have you considered led grow strip lights? They are fairly cheap($10-$20), run at a cooler temperature and should be more than bright enough for seedlings and sexing.

Plus you can attach them right to the underside of the lid keeping the focus of the plant upward.

 

[Azimuth]

You won't need to sex clones since they'll be the same sex as the mother but one trick a number of us have used to sex seedlings faster is to put them under a 12/12 light schedule for the first 10 days above ground and then revert to a more standard 18/6 schedule. We see sex by about day 30 that way.

 

[MarsBarz]

Hey marsbarz, cool Idea on the tote grow box.

Were you intending on using a regular style grow bulb or other?

Have you considered led grow strip lights? They are fairly cheap($10-$20), run at a cooler temperature and should be more than bright enough for seedlings and sexing.

Plus you can attach them right to the underside of the lid keeping the focus of the plant upward.

Just a regular style grow bulb.

I did not consider LED strips. Had I known about those I probably would've opted for those instead.

The primary purpose of the tote box is to keep cuttings alive long enough for me to determine the sex of the donor plants. I always try to do more, so I'm considering utilizing the box for the first one to two weeks of the seedling phase, as the lightbulb is only 8 watts and electricity is expensive.

But looking at the spectral distribution, it looks like this bulb has much more red wavelength than blue wavelength, so maybe not a good idea to keep young plants exposed to it for too long.

 

[MarsBarz]

You won't need to sex clones since they'll be the same sex as the mother but one trick a number of us have used to sex seedlings faster is to put them under a 12/12 light schedule for the first 10 days above ground and then revert to a more standard 18/6 schedule. We see sex by about day 30 that way.

I'm using regular seeds so I have no idea what the sex of each seed is lol.

Does this method have any ill effect on the plant at any other stage of growth, either veg, flower, or on the quality of the buds produced later on? I should add that I'm planning to harvest the pollen of any males I get to use to pollinate a female to get more seeds

 

[Azimuth]

I'm using regular seeds so I have no idea what the sex of each seed is lol.

Does this method have any ill effect on the plant at any other stage of growth, either veg, flower, or on the quality of the buds produced later on? I should add that I'm planning to harvest the pollen of any males I get to use to pollinate a female to get more seeds

None that we've noticed. It's a trick mentioned by The Rev in his new book 'True Living Organics'. Third edition I think.

30 days is much faster than waiting for the seedlings to be sexually mature on their own (60 days-ish) and then getting the cuts to root (another 15 days minimum) and then flowering them out (another 7-15 days of transition time) so savings in time, electric and nutes.

Good all around.

 

[Sativa1970]

I use a DIY box for cloning and seedlings. One tote with a lid. Cut a hole in the lid almost the size of the tote so you just have a lip. Another tote goes upside down on top and sits on that lip. Inside the top tote I mounted ceramic light sockets for standard, screw in CFL/LED bulbs. Moves the light away from sensitive babies and adds some warmth. Cut a hole big enough for my arm in the top and side. Cut pieces off the lid scrap big enough to cover the top and side holes. How much of those holes are covered controls temp and ventilation. Pour water in the bottom if I want more humidity.

 

[SmokingWings]

30 days is much faster than waiting for the seedlings to be sexually mature on their own (60 days-ish) and then getting the cuts to root (another 15 days minimum) and then flowering them out (another 7-15 days of transition time) so savings in time, electric and nutes.

Just about everything I have been growing is a clone. And, clones from clones from clones on down the line.

If the sex of the potential mother plant is unknown and time is important it is possible to take a cutting from a plant that is sexually mature enough and put it into a glass of water and put that into the flowering tent, cabinet or room. The cutting should start to show male or female flowers in about five to 10 days.

Normally, I am not been pressed for time so I do let the first cutting root and get some size to it before putting it into the flowering area. If it is female then I let it finish flowering while the mother is grown and trained so it can provide enough cuttings to keep me occupied for awhile.