How dark does dark have to be?

[googolsack]

Hello all, i am hoping for a little bit of input, please. I had a couple of plants in a small grow box in a shed. It was pretty small and simple, and because it gets quite hot over summer i thought i would have the lights come on overnight and i would have the dark cycle through the day, but the plants didn't seem to be flowering properly. I don't know if it might be because of the warm days, or whether my attempts to make the box dark did not quite get the box 'PITCH BLACK'. Maybe a slight combination of the two, i don't know.
Anyway, things weren't working, the plants started flowering but seemed stunted, and looked like they were starting to reveg, but i'm not sure, because they are stilling popping up many pistils.
So i ended up changing the light cycle to having the lights on during the day, and the dark cycle in the night. The thing is if the box is still not 'PITCH BLACK', but still dark, with no beams of light coming in will this suffice.
I guess, in a nutshell, would it be ok if there are 9-10 hours of absolute darkness, and 2-3 hours of pretty decent darkness, with 12 hours light? Any opinions? thanks.


Also, how does ye think thy plants shall fare after having their 12 hours light changed to 12 hours dark, and vice versa??
thanks again.

 

[JHerbz]

Its pretty clear in every book and article ive read it says 12/12 with uninterrupted darkness.

Maybe buy something to hang on the walls/door that covers all your cracks like they use for grow tents. Its not that expensive at all.. for like 100 ft of it.

 

[Robbin Hoodz]

Hi,

when plant receives a foton (even a candle emits like million fotons) it starts reactions in the plants cells and therefore affects the whole plant. So even in nature the plants get light when it is "dark", stars and moon give them light.

But when we no not understand the functions properly on the klorophyl, there is little to say what it comes to artificial lights. That we do nevertheless know, that plants grown outdoors are far more potent as a medicine or in shamanic use.

 

[googolsack]

Hi,

even in nature the plants get light when it is "dark", stars and moon give them light.

This is what i thought, at night it is rarely if ever 'PITCH BLACK'

 

[Azeotrope]

Ever seen plants grow outside? What about the moon? I think this "total darkness" concern folks have is waaayyy overrated.

 

[teemu shalanie]

I use a green light to check on garden at night , hope that isnt stressing them , never really had any problems cause of it I think.
I also agree that it is rarely pitch black outside in nature I do however cover up the lights on dh, and co2 monitor?
peace Ts

 

[HighDesertJoe]

Hi,

when plant receives a foton (even a candle emits like million fotons) it starts reactions in the plants cells and therefore affects the whole plant. So even in nature the plants get light when it is "dark", stars and moon give them light

This is what i thought, at night it is rarely if ever 'PITCH BLACK'

Ever seen plants grow outside? What about the moon? I think this "total darkness" concern folks have is waaayyy overrated.

I saw some where many Moons ago that 300 foot candles for more then 20 mins will mess up flowering and that a Full Moon is 200 foot candles..Good Luck

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i definately had hermie issues due to light leaks in one of my earlier grows...but i have always wondered because outdoor crops are exposed to moonlight etc. but yet they dont hermy.

so who knows....it would be a good experiment to conduct if someone had time/resources..

 

[Space Ghost]

why risk any hermaphroditic traits or stress? why not make it "pitch black"? ain't that hard....

 

[HighDesertJoe]

The only hermaphroditic issues I've ever had growing outdoors was years ago and I just learned in ICMag that it was from trynng to grow Thai..

 

[googolsack]

why risk any hermaphroditic traits or stress? why not make it "pitch black"? ain't that hard....

.......yes, i am working on it, but i am a bit slow...........

 

[bobblehead]

Any of you who think that total darkness is unimportant will have reversing problems, if you haven't already. Moon light has no comparison to sun light leaking into a shed during the day. You're talking about reflected light from extremely far away. If you want to use your shed, line it in black plastic, and then line it in panda film or reflectix. Even better, add a carbon scrubber and vent the air to keep the temps down... You've already got electricity going to it to run the lights, right?

 

[bobblehead]

Leave the light schedule alone and they'll be fine. Light proof that shit. THere is no definitive answer. Some strains are solid and will never reverse, others will reverse if you look at them wrong.

 

[Noobian]

Had a o haze sk1xwhite widow that hermied on me when i made the night period longer at the end of my grow cycle. It must have thought it missed out on the growing season or something so it freaked out and started throwing nanners left and right. Some of them pollinated other plants which . Point is that it's not necessarily just light leaks that can cause hermies, sometimes it's just in the plants genetics

 

[draco]

why risk any hermaphroditic traits or stress? why not make it "pitch black"? ain't that hard....

or... let some light in and see if you get hermies. your choice.

dialed room = TOTAL dark! + a bunch of other important shit...

 

[inreplyavalon]

Ever seen plants grow outside? What about the moon? I think this "total darkness" concern folks have is waaayyy overrated.

you guys are incorrect. It works like this. think ratios.

sun strength / moon strength
Compared to
1000w bulb / pin sized hole in wall with light coming through

The difference is very large. The brightness of the sun makes outdoor plants hardly recognize any other light unless it's a streetlight directly over it, or something that exaggerated.

Interms of numbers it is as drastic as
100,000,000/10
compared to
1000/10 these are not actual measurements of anything, just an example.

 

[HighDesertJoe]

I was told the Sun is 20,000 Foot Candles and a Full Moon is 200 Foot Candles and without extra nute's light temperature and C02 the most light a plant can use is 1000 CF's if you pump up the four, nute's light temperature and C02 the light requirement for optimum growth is 1500 CF's. These figures I'm quoting are from a JR college Horticulture teacher.

 

[microgram]

Go do yourself a favor and pick up some black and white poly from a hydro store.

The light that the moon gives off is so minimal by the time it reaches your plants it's under a few lumens. One watt of incandescent light gives off 11 lumens PER WATT. Someone should go test this with a light meter.

Oh not only that, but I have (non-ganja) plants that don't flower in my window sills because of a street light that's 30 feet away and 20 feet up. (No bull)

a foot-candle can be defined as the illuminance on a 1-square foot surface of which there is a uniformly distributed flux of one lumen. This can be thought of as the amount of light that actually falls on a given surface. The foot-candle is equal to one lumen per square foot.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-candle

 

[draco]

.

 

[googolsack]

draco, i really like your signature quotes.

thanks guys, like i said i am working on it.
I only have a small cupboard, that when the light is on you can only see a mild glow around some of the edges, no direct beams. and this small cupboard is in a darkish corner of a shed.

bonjour