Hi
@Keffka, hope this Saturday finds you well. I was wondering if I can bug you on Saturday please? I tend to fire questions as they enter my brain.
So by now I have the impression that based on all I’ve heard so far, the less one manipulates their plant, the more natural all processes will take place. Is that an accurate statement?
Yes, no, and still undecided lol. The majority of what we do is about balance. If we had unlimited space, in the best climate, then I would be all about letting the plant grow as naturally as possible. However, because we’re going indoors in a container there are a few adjustments we need to make for a more balanced grow.
Some things we want to be hands off with, like germination. Some things we need to balance ourselves since we’re forcing the plant into an unnatural existence, living in a container under a light. Since we’re taking away the penetrating sun, we want more of the light hitting the plant as evenly as possible. We balance that by topping and/or training. Since we’re taking away unlimited root space and nutrient availability, we want to balance that by using a strong, mineralized soil.
Most of the moves we are gonna make are about balancing the grow for our situation vs how it would be in nature. If the moves we’re making aren’t related to balance then they fall into an “other” category. Stuff we don’t necessarily need, but it could be useful and help us out. I’ll expand on the others below
Let’s say it is for the sake of the question. It’s about light. I’m always in the market as I believe the quality of LED makes a huge difference. Many lights now have usually an external controller where they give you the sunrise/sunset option. I’m sure you are familiar. In terms of LED/organic, do you feel having that capability would be impt, along the same lines? What about lights that can dim frequencies independently?
Thanks!!!
Lol, I had the same exact thoughts myself. Anything we can do to replicate nature indoors is a positive in my opinion. Being able to control your light to sunrise and sunset itself by gradually increasing power as it turns on, and vice versa would be much more natural than just blasting on full power then cutting off suddenly.
I’ve gone as far as trying to devise a way to replicate rain as my water source for the plants by using a reptile fogger and drip irrigation system. Water doesn’t naturally pour itself perfectly from a spout, and this can actually shock our plants. That’s why oftentimes plants droop or look sad immediately after watering, they’ve been shocked by it. Same goes for the microbes and fungi. They’re a bit more resilient but it’s still unnatural.
Since we grow in containers, we’re already fairly unnatural to begin with so there are certain things that will be luxuries, and those that will be force multipliers. A force multiplier is a change or addition we make that gives us exponential gains. Stuff like mineralizing the soil, training, fabric pots, etc. Those things give us exponential gains, whether it’s better yield, or higher quality. If we had to put a number I would say these things can have 15% or greater effect on our quality or yield.
Luxuries are improvements we make that will give us a bit more quality or a bit more yield. Basically, things that really aren’t cost efficient but will make a difference at the very top end of quality and yield. Numbers wise, these kinds of improvements will have a lower than 15% effect.
When it comes to dimming/increasing the light to mimic the sun, this is something I would consider a luxury. It’s not gonna make a big difference in the grow because of the way plants photosynthesize. It would make balancing the grow and microbes a bit easier. It would also give the plant a runway, all of which would boost your quality a bit.
Being able to dim/increase frequencies would be a force multiplier in my opinion. Being able to manipulate individual frequencies based on stages of growth would give us even greater control over plant morphology than training, as well as allowing us to really ramp up flower, resin, terpene, and trichome production by simulating seasons.
