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How Dark Is "dark Enough" For Light Deprivation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BubbaG
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How Dark Is "dark Enough" For Light Deprivation?

BubbaG 26 Replies 11,935 Views
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BubbaG

BubbaG

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#1
I'm sure it's been asked a million times - sorry. My curtains knock full sun down to a light level similar to 1/4 moon night.

Reckon that's good enough? Gonna have to be.. if my plants herm, it will be the first it's happened to me....
 
#4
Thanks man. I only have indirect light leaks, but mostly it's the fabric itself is letting some diffuse light pass, glad to hear it doesn't have to be full dark to get good results.

Curtain opened on auto this morning.... it was glorious lol I sit under the Yeti and Lucky charms and drink my latte and watch the sunrise.

Dude in that thread said something that resonates with my thoughts on light leak stress... I believe it's the on/off suddenness of the light intensity change that drives the flip to flower to occur faster inside than the good ole sun rising and setting outside. I also think that as long as the light is not direct it's ok to have some as long as the level is consistent..... i.e. no on/off excursions between the normal lights on/off time, but a light leak under a door ain't gonna do nothin as long as it's consistent

We'll see I reckon
 
#7
Ive always heard that if you can see your hand its not dark enough. It has to be translated into footcandles. You could run into revegging issues and or hermies. Why not just correct the issue and like that you'll be sure you wont run into problems? Well best of luck to you.
 
#8
BubbaG said:
I'm sure it's been asked a million times - sorry. My curtains knock full sun down to a light level similar to 1/4 moon night.

Reckon that's good enough? Gonna have to be.. if my plants herm, it will be the first it's happened to me....
Click to expand...
I've seen plants in full flower in a room (warehouse, not GH) in 'dark' period that was like twilight. I couldn't read by the light, but I could easily see individual plants, etc. No hermies, no blown out flowers. Nice, solid, sticky, even had RAs in that warehouse and they were chugging along in this weird twilight. Blew my mind!
 
#11
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#14
I have heard that light leaks are not that big of a deal in deps. Part of the reason is the sun goes down after an hour or two anyways, so the light leaks don't last all night.

However on my tent, I had a seam bust about a month from harvest. Not sure if I noticed it right away or not, but right under the rip two plants began growing boy parts. Those plants I plucked the male organs off until harvest, and didn't effect anything.
 
#15
Light leaks are not as problematic in dep as in indoor for the reason Bulldog stated. They can potentially increase the chance of hermies though, especially with certain strains. (And yes, I've seen it happen to a friend)

At what point is it 'dark enough'? Hard to say exactly - and again, it's very strain dependent. Human eyes are much more sensitive than plants, so you don't need 100% darkness. For example a full moon isn't enough light to cause issues with plants, but it is enough light for most people with decent night vision to see very clearly.

However, is is *very* easy to fix light leaks in a tarp, so why risk it? It only takes one hermie branch to ruin an entire crop. Just keep a roll of white duct tape on hand and patch up tears and holes if and when they happen.
 
#16
Blaze said:
Light leaks are not as problematic in dep as in indoor for the reason Bulldog stated. They can potentially increase the chance of hermies though, especially with certain strains. (And yes, I've seen it happen to a friend)

At what point is it 'dark enough'? Hard to say exactly - and again, it's very strain dependent. Human eyes are much more sensitive than plants, so you don't need 100% darkness. For example a full moon isn't enough light to cause issues with plants, but it is enough light for most people with decent night vision to see very clearly.

However, is is *very* easy to fix light leaks in a tarp, so why risk it? It only takes one hermie branch to ruin an entire crop. Just keep a roll of white duct tape on hand and patch up tears and holes if and when they happen.
Click to expand...
Thanks man. It would not be *easy* to fix mine.... the cloth, not tarp, that I am using which is *supposed* to be a blackout cloth but which is also designed to pass air or be breathable as they describe it..... they being Svennsen that is.

So, the cloth is actually two layers, a silver woven sheet outside, a black woven cloth inside.... I say cloth, but it's like strips of plastic woven with tough ass string..

I just saw that Farmtek has a new product in their most recent catalog..... Triple layer Obscura. My cloth is just regular Obscura, but mine is double layer and is supposed to block 99.9% (nfw it does though)... the triple layer stuf costs $2.6K for a 13x100 roll
Image
 
#17
Blaze response would best fit my thoughts bubba

Moonlight is not a complete darkness
And green lights don't effect plants either
I'm thinking your fine . Well I'm hoping your fine after the ton of coin you dropped on that set up .

Good luck
 
#19
I also have the double fabric from farmtek and it is pitch black for me. I can't even walk around without tripping over a plant. However, this is at 7:30 at night and the shadows have already hit the greenhouse. That new fabric you speak of sounds great.
 
#20
something else to consider is spectrum and illumines. Light leaks with high blues will stretch your buds and there are specific threshold that prevents incorrect auxin production, it will depend on your genetics in the amount of direct light during lite cycle. In other words if your plants bend towards a lite leak,,bad,,, to much auxin,,, can be like testosterone to mammals, kinda like what shappening to the latest generations, hormones get out of wack,,, studys are finding some dicotyledons ,,, and I'll bet anyone $1000 that cannabis has the MeGI gene, that not a fair bet cause what I know cannabis does have the MeGI gene (feminizing gene, tthis little fuck wont let girly expressions )... I think if ya fuck around with MeGI enough a guy could make one hell of a male plant,,, Arnold Swartsneggggger....

Anyway, MeGI gene can be a Queen, champ, but if you got here in your gear 3 things will throw balls for sure,,,, lite LEAKS and stress and when bred with Dom hemizygous MeGI to your MeGI and you get full blow DOM Hermies that will devour a garden.... be careful with pollen, who your daddy??? bitch...!

I built an app for android,,,, it does it all for growing and solar install which are one in the same if you dont want to pay for electricity and compost pile and you grow for free.. I just dont get it anyway. doesnt work for IOS,,, cause ios suck,,, thats another topic.... but there are plenty of lite level illumines apps out there for free. Samsung Mega's are the bomb,,, the big screen and sensitivity and spectrum are like none other...

you dont need a scope to find the bad genes.... cpl lite leaks and little stress and you'll know what you got... but many of us are getting fooled with recessive MeGI but that to much for me to interpolate ,,, and even worse trying to describe on a thread...
 
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