Total Darkness?

[harrica]

Hellow Friends,

First time at flowering and was wonder...I have both veg and flowering going on in a room, seperated by layers of plastic and mylar. The flowering room at 12/12 and the veg at 18/4. When the light is on in the veg room (400 wt mh) and not on in the flowering room (1000wt hps) some light creeps into the room....will this totally screw up my flowering cycle or is it no big deal? I have tried reall hard to make the room as dark as possible but with limited funds......I appreciate all thoughts.


cah

[Cranky]

basically yes,if ya have light leaks it can stress ya plant out and you could end up with hermies:(

a tube of decorators chalk or mastic squirted on the frame work before wacking the mylar on so it sticks and seals is one option..the other is lots of duck tape..

but either way,,,try and get them light leaks sorted asap;)

cranky

[theyorker]

Hellow Friends,

First time at flowering and was wonder...I have both veg and flowering going on in a room, seperated by layers of plastic and mylar. The flowering room at 12/12 and the veg at 18/4. When the light is on in the veg room (400 wt mh) and not on in the flowering room (1000wt hps) some light creeps into the room....will this totally screw up my flowering cycle or is it no big deal? I have tried reall hard to make the room as dark as possible but with limited funds......I appreciate all thoughts.


cah

Not sure how you can do it, but you should have complete darkness. You can go to Home Depot and they have a type of expanding caulk that will seal your joints really well. Good luck.

[Pothead420]

When the light is on in the veg room (400 wt mh) and not on in the flowering room (1000wt hps) some light creeps into the room....will this totally screw up my flowering cycle or is it no big deal?

some help clearing this issue up would be nice:) i know light will shock the plants when in dark period and to much will revert it back to veg. us indoor growers usualy have a dark period like a total blackout. but naturaly out doors its light enough to see at night were as i cant see shit in my room. im bringin this up because im having small light leakage prob currently its barley coming out but
i dont have the funds to fix it . and is there an acceptable amount of light before the plant is affected?

[Cranky]

i used to have alot of hermies due to light leaks,as soon as i sorted um out i stopped haveing um;)

cranky

[gorilla]

I have heard that moonlight is not enough light to disturb a plants natural growth, and it hardly registers as any lumens. ( i'm not a scientist lol )

but i can understand your thinking. you should be OK if it's really just a SMALL amount of leakage, but still I agree with the others. Throw something in front of the light leak. better safe than sorry.

[Even Crazier Van Guy]

As can be evidenced by simply going outside at night, complete darkness cannot be obtained...

so let's discuss what happens to outdoor that grows outside...the plant will veg until it reaches critical photoperiod (lights out eq. approx 12hrs), then, it will start to flower.

one needs to keep in mind that it was growing in this light/semi-dark cycle it's whole life, so it is accustomed to this semi-darkness at lights out. this has been going on for millenia - it is a genetic timetable imprinted on the organisms.

now when we have it in artifficial "sunlight" (grows), we are disturbing the natural cycle that is "set in stone" and manipulating it to suit our timetable (extremely shortened). Forcing it like this increases the chances of problems when conditions we introduce are not ideal (the light leaks), hence, light introduced during the "forced" dark period has a much greater chance to revert it back to it's natural course - vegging, as it would be doing if it was growing naturally, cuz we are USUALLY forcing it to flower prematurely.

The plant, in turn, will either get confused and turn hermie; more likely, will turn out of flower and start to reveg; or will simply take longer to finish if the problem was present and is fixed before too late.

well... that's the opinion of this pathetic grower on light leaks during flower. That's how I think of it, anyways... hey... can I interest you in some land???:rolleyes:

[drumin]

Light leaks MIGHT cause problems. Like my pappy always used to say, "Caulk is cheap".

[Pothead420]

i think im gonna make a dark room between to veg and flower rooms basicaly im going to build a box around the veg room door big enough to open the door and wrap up the box in black/white poly so you enter the darkroom then into the veg room then it wont matter how much light makes it thru the door cause the dark room will be sealed tite

[CB]

one needs to keep in mind that it was growing in this light/semi-dark cycle it's whole life, so it is accustomed to this semi-darkness at lights out. this has been going on for millenia - it is a genetic timetable imprinted on the organisms.

now when we have it in artifficial "sunlight" (grows), we are disturbing the natural cycle that is "set in stone" and manipulating it to suit our timetable (extremely shortened). Forcing it like this increases the chances of problems when conditions we introduce are not ideal (the light leaks), hence, light introduced during the "forced" dark period has a much greater chance to revert it back to it's natural course - vegging, as it would be doing if it was growing naturally, cuz we are USUALLY forcing it to flower prematurely.

The plant, in turn, will either get confused and turn hermie; more likely, will turn out of flower and start to reveg; or will simply take longer to finish if the problem was present and is fixed before too late.



This is how I have always understood it as well :)

indoor we must control the dark period and try for complete darkness if we can.

I sat in my new flower box with the lights off for 15 minutes then fixed any light leaks I could see... one should not be able to see there hand in front of there face

[majestyk5]

i have a light proof entrance to my flower box. if i need to i can open the door and feel the plants at lights off. not that i would feel up a poor helpless plant in the dark.:D

[CB]

not that i would feel up a poor helpless plant in the dark.:D


not what I heard ya perv :p

[Dawg]

Just to post a bit of useless knowledge on light.
From the Wiki
1 lux=1 lumen per square meter
Full moon on a clear night=.25 lux
Sunrise or sunset on a clear night=400 lux
average min. sunlight= 32000 lux
Average Max sunlight= 100000 lux
Give or take +/- on high altitudes or equitorial locations

Puts "photosynthesis" in perspective don't it. :p

But for the fun...average brightly lit office is only 400 lux. In a closet you might be loking at 10-20 lux. Distance and type of source of light GREATLY determines what the possibility hermieing due to a light leak. I got a chart in my random chart thread that shows how much artifical light diminishes. Depending on the light leak might be a problem and might not depending on the light source and other variables. Just becuase you can "faintly see" the light doesn't mean the plant can...it takes a certain amount for the plant to trigger itself into the daylight period. But play carefully. I've played with different light sources several feet away from the plant with bagseed during dark just to see what would happen. But don't recommend it unless you like to see what the limits of a plant are. :p

[Pothead420]

:420::mosh: