Hey Twinsun!
So you had asked for some help and I went through your journal and I would say you did an amazing job vegging the girl out, she is beautiful and healthy! Great job so far!
So here is my thought. I do NOT believe the "temperature differential" is a cause, as I run my lights at night, and during the day my plants sleep, there is little to no temp differential in my grow and I've run handfuls of strains and no issues, so I don't think that the temperature differential has anything to do with it.
I have a few hunches that may be the cause of the issues you are having:
I can almost bet that the LED "controller" is the root of the problem. I would remove the controller, get a normal digital timer, set it to 12/12 or 11/13 and you should be fine. I've used similar "programmable" led light controllers and they definitely have a lot of room for human programming error as well as can be faulty. I quickly watched a video on the light you are using and the timer, and there is A LOT of room for error, where you may think that the light is off for all 12 hours, but it could be coming on somewhere in between and messing up the dark period. Its VERY EASY to make these kinds of errors on those programmable controllers. I've done it myself in the past. I would remove that controller completely and use a regular wall/digital timer.
So you had asked for some help and I went through your journal and I would say you did an amazing job vegging the girl out, she is beautiful and healthy! Great job so far!
So here is my thought. I do NOT believe the "temperature differential" is a cause, as I run my lights at night, and during the day my plants sleep, there is little to no temp differential in my grow and I've run handfuls of strains and no issues, so I don't think that the temperature differential has anything to do with it.
I have a few hunches that may be the cause of the issues you are having:
- The timer on your light is not properly working, and the light is either not turning off for a full 12 hours. (Replace the timer you are using with a different timer.) You mentioned a power outage and its very possible that the power outage or surge may have reset your timer or ruined it. Definitely make sure your timer is set properly and operating properly.
- Somehow the light is coming on during the 'dark period' therefore interrupting the plants "sleeping time" It only takes a few seconds of a bright light to interrupt the night and cause a plant to stay in veg.... change out your light timer, check the program and make sure that its at least 12 hours of dark, also make sure that the clock on your timer is set correctly to the right time and AM/PM. check the plants in the middle of their "dark period" to make sure the lights are off. (don't open the tent though, just see if the lights on).
- Because you are manually opening/closing the tent in the mornings, the schedule of the plants day/night may "wobble" if you are late 10 minutes one day, or early 15 minutes another day and so on.. this could very much throw the plant out of its circadian rhythm and not be allowing a full 12/12 schedule. As mentioned in an above post, a plant needs 12 hours of UN-INTURRUPTED light. (I would suggest if possible, leave the tent closed at all times. Dont open it unless you have to (also good for pest control) Try to take all manual processes out of the grow involving light/dark environment and automate them if not already doing so. I would recommend against manually opening/closing the tent every morning, and instead set timers on your AC, lights and other electronics and leave the tent closed if possible. Try to let the plants develop their "circadian rhythm".
- Check to see if another device inside your tent may have a light on it (such as a fan, humidifier, AC, or other device) Any light, especially red light can interrupt the dark cycle and throw things off.
- You may want to try changing your light schedule to 11/13 (11 hours lights on, 13 hours lights off). I have read that certain strains do have trouble during 12/12 and may require a slightly longer dark period. I've never experienced it myself, but I do recall reading it somewhere.
- Check to make sure your LED light is Completely turning off during the "night time". I have used LED's in the past (different brands) that used controllers for timers. The power never completely was cut from the device when the light was supposed to be off, and therefore the LED's had a very soft glow, when they were supposed to be completely off. The solution was removing the "controller/timer" and using a regular on/off digital plug timer.
I can almost bet that the LED "controller" is the root of the problem. I would remove the controller, get a normal digital timer, set it to 12/12 or 11/13 and you should be fine. I've used similar "programmable" led light controllers and they definitely have a lot of room for human programming error as well as can be faulty. I quickly watched a video on the light you are using and the timer, and there is A LOT of room for error, where you may think that the light is off for all 12 hours, but it could be coming on somewhere in between and messing up the dark period. Its VERY EASY to make these kinds of errors on those programmable controllers. I've done it myself in the past. I would remove that controller completely and use a regular wall/digital timer.
my bad..