Harsh Sunlight And Flowering Phase

[Xhale]

my friends.

I am growing mostly outdoors and greenhouse for 2 seasons, and am quite happy with my supply chain. My new set of questions is about sun and flowers.

Johannesburg has a really harsh strong sun. This is typically great for the veg phase (as long as the crop is sufficiently humid). I am *feeling* that the flowers and snow on the leaves are a bit too delicate for this intensity. What do you think?

Attached are photos of 2 sister clones. I want to leave the mature plant to a spot that gets direct light in the morning and afternoon but protected from midday sun. In total, she will get over 5 hours of direct light and 7 hours indirect light. Then I put her to sleep in a darkroom for 12 hours.

I want to leave the less mature (but flowering) plant in full sun of 9 hours and 3 hours of indirect light and “in bed” for 12 hours. When her flowers start looking fragile, I will treat her as described for the mature plant.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Xhale]

- These plants are blueberry widow from msnl.
- the mature plant is about 6 weeks flowering (timed from preflower date in mid Feb)
- the less mature is about 10days since the switch to 12/12.
- here’s a better pic of the snow
- comments on the scrog setup are welcome
- comments on the lack of lollipoping on the mature plant are noted and ignored :) I am loath to cull the small heads that already developed. I am lollipoping the rest of my plantation (thanks for the advice Mr Puffdaddy, our local legend who operates in gauteng)

Regards
Xhale

 

[BudBogart]

Looking good. You might want to protect the roots from sun by placing burlap, cardboard, anything, against the pots to keep the sun off the roots.

 

[Xhale]

...keep the sun off the roots.

Yes. Thanks. I’ve been planning to do this. Will act on it soon.

 

[Jimster]

Plants will usually grow well in full sun as long as they are accotomed to it and introduced gradually to prevent sunburn. Many growers don't consider that plants can get badly sunburned when going outdoors from indoors. It usually takes a week or two of gradually increasing exposure to the full sun...new growth will be automatically acclimated, but older growth can often burn and shrivel up. Plants grow outdoors from seed are ok unless they are sun sensitive to begin with.

 

[Xhale]

These clones have been well acclimatized to the outside. I started the cuttings inside (late Jan) for 2 weeks then outside in the shade for a week and full sunlight for the past 5-6 weeks (end March now). So they will be able to handle the full light. Im simply after the sweet photo of sugar frosted colas :)

 

[oldskol4evr]

i would put about 4 inches of humus and manure on top and then take straw to mulch the plants,i also love in a triple digit area and this is how i combat the problem,what i did last year was take a old canopy like you would take to the beach,mine got tore up in a hurricane,so i went on line and got desert camo netting took with wire ties and put over the 10x10 top of it and zipped it on,gets all morning light till about 11 am then again after 3pm,worked out great and even with stood another hurricane with 65 mph winds,i grew mine in 5 gal buckets,plants got about 5 ft tall with a lot of training to keep um down,14 weeks in them and worked out fine,2 of the girls i breed,acupoco gold with blue dream another with acopoco stud and brass monkey a strain a homie made

 

[Xhale]

...canopy...gets all morning light till about 11 am then again after 3pm,worked out great and even with stood another hurricane with 65 mph...

Man, i been doing this for a year now:) i use the garden fabric like in this picture. Basically, I put my plants underneath this fora week or 3 after i move them from inside to outside (either In a pot, or in the ground). I make the hoops out of the broken pool-cleaner pipes. Mine are the stoner version...nowhere as neat and pristine as this :)

 

[Anthem]

One of the challenges with a greenhouse/hoop house is heat. Not sure if you have the end closed up or not. Do you use any equipment in the greenhouse to exhaust the air? You would be surprise how quickly it heats up in the greenhouse. If you do not get the heat under control the plant will suffer. Loses smell and trichomes IMO.
If you are getting sunburn on the plants, I had it occur. Plant leaves will start to get really dark and the ones underneath the top leaves will have striping for the top leaves blocking the light. There is a product called alumisheild that comes in different percentages that will block a portion of the light. I used it in mid summer and it works well.

 

[Xhale]

These hoops have worked perfectly for me. I only used them during the transition, so the plants are still small and there is enough of air flowing through. I do leave at least one end open...mine is not the nice neat hoop:) think of a poorly draped umbrella, and you might get the picture:). I’ll take a pic in the morning to show you my example. 9pm here:)