Natural(sun) vs Artificial (grow light)

[Aqua Man]

I believe that the plants like consistency. I did what you're doing and ended up with hermies. There isn't a lumen meter that the plant needs to fill per day, it literally needs light in time not necessarily strength. The strength creates denser buds etc but you can flower under a 100 watt Aerogarden (been there, did that. Smoked the whole harvest in a weekend )

I also feel your pain as far as your set up. I grow 25 legal plants in the 2nd bedroom of my 8th floor apartment. I have a flowering tent and a vegging tent and another set up for herbs, seedlings, and now some wee cuttings.

There's also evidence that plants can do math (calculus) whereby they predict how long the dark will be and use their stored energy appropriately & accordingly. The math comes in so that they're not "starving" for the last few hours of darkness. This is why consistency is good for them where lights on hours are concerned.

Plants Do Math to Survive the Night

They usually determine this from changing spectrums of red light from my understanding and it's been a while since I read about this so I could be wrong.

I agree with you on consistency. The argument on the 6 on 2 off is about how efficient the plant processes are over periods of time. Some evidence shows under high lighting that the plant processes for photosynthesis slow down and halt once light saturation happens and photorespiration then occurs slowing growth. The idea is that doing a 6/2 cycle would eliminate that. I can say I see no reason to assume that plants have a 24 he clock and feel they will adapt to consistent parameters within reason

 

[Hempire828]

You guys are right they are damn smart... I’ve watched them fall asleep then be waking up for the light... I better just bite the bullet and spend a few more coins and get this project going strong all together...just cant beat consistency... strong light jus makes them denser... just constant light when needed.. makes sense ... thanks fellas... I was about to make some seeds without even trying too...

 

[Home Grow Hype-Girl]

They usually determine this from changing spectrums of red light from my understanding and it's been a while since I read about this so I could be wrong.

I agree with you on consistency. The argument on the 6 on 2 off is about how efficient the plant processes are over periods of time. Some evidence shows under high lighting that the plant processes for photosynthesis slow down and halt once light saturation happens and photorespiration then occurs slowing growth. The idea is that doing a 6/2 cycle would eliminate that. I can say I see no reason to assume that plants have a 24 he clock and feel they will adapt to consistent parameters within reason

They're said to have a "circadian rhythm" which is even our own ability to adapt to different seasons, time zones, sleep cycles.

 

[Home Grow Hype-Girl]

Keep us posted!!

Regarding my hermies .... they still turned out some killer nice dense nugs. I just had to pick seeds out is all. lol

Grow & learn!

 

[ttystikk]

I’m trying to figure out how many hours of natural sunlight would I need vs grow light
(315 CHM). To keep my plant in veg, I understand I need more than 12.. I’m trying to give like 8-10 hours of sun .. the rest darkness.. by the sun being more powerful, would this be equivalent to 8-10 of my CHM.. better yet should my growth at least be the same..And on rainy or cloudy days fire up the 315... It’s hard for me to see trying to be organic with artificial lighting..Or am I begging for a hermie

This might have already been addressed but you're looking in the wrong place. Flowering is determined by the length of uninterrupted darkness, not by strength or spectrum of the light source.

Keep darkness intervals below 9 hours and they'll stay in veg. Increase it beyond 10.5 hours and they'll bloom. Don't make it complicated.

 

[grilledcheese101]

Hell, i have a west coast sour d, that i just noticed hermed, all green leaves and 12/12. Sometimes you cant avoid it. But with the info youve gained you should see alot better results.

 

[Home Grow Hype-Girl]

It is much more common nowadays to find seeds in your Cannabis. And no matter how careful you are, it seems to happen.

 

[Aqua Man]

Plants veg, transition and flower based on increasing or decreasing light cycles. You can trigger flowering by a 5 minute a day decrease in light, or vice versa. Put them on a timer or leave them outdoors.

Not sure what you mean? Like changing duration to 5 mins less the next day can cause them to flower?

 

[Budley Doright]

By the time I leave for work they would be left outside for too long..

There is no such thing as too long in veg

 

[Flowki]

It is much more common nowadays to find seeds in your Cannabis. And no matter how careful you are, it seems to happen.

I'm not sure I agree with that, as far as I know it only points to a bad seed company who don't stabilize or that your personal conditions are creating stress.

@OP it probably isn't wise to keep moving flowering plants around. If you are brushing or slightly tearing leaves/buds during transport rot could develop in those areas. Roots could be getting broken during lifting (pot compression or stem movement) and so forth. You also have the risk of passing on pests to the flowering plants by bringing in outdoor plants.

I would leave the flowering plants alone. Keep the veg ones outside as long as you can and follow tty's advice on minimum darkness. If you are unable to follow that schedule then leave the veg plants outside and what will be will be. It isn't worth losing everything.

 

[Home Grow Hype-Girl]

I'm not sure I agree with that, as far as I know it only points to a bad seed company who don't stabilize or that your personal conditions are creating stress.

@OP it probably isn't wise to keep moving flowering plants around. If you are brushing or slightly tearing leaves/buds during transport rot could develop in those areas. Roots could be getting broken during lifting (pot compression or stem movement) and so forth. You also have the risk of passing on pests to the flowering plants by bringing in outdoor plants.

I would leave the flowering plants alone. Keep the veg ones outside as long as you can and follow tty's advice on minimum darkness. If you are unable to follow that schedule then leave the veg plants outside and what will be will be. It isn't worth losing everything.

I'm from Canada and there's a bit of a seedy weedy problem with the legal bud. A friend has a review site and to date, 40% of the pre roll samples have seeds or seed segments.

When I say it's more common, this is why I think it's happening. As you know, a hermaphrodite is a mutation yet people are growing stress seeds a lot these days. In fact, some ppl are creating them on purpose. But for the seed from a hermaphroditic plant doesn't know itself as a mutation. The stable seed could be male or female but the the stress seed from a hermaphroditic plant can be male, female or hermie.

This is why I think it's more common. But I also think there's a big difference in regional knowledge when it comes to growing.
And, in my research, I learned that many grow facilities are painted with micro-ban paint to kill any microorganisms and mold. That paint contains silver ions so there's a chance that that is causing the plants to self pollinate without the stress!

Crazy days but amazing time to be growing and learning. I'm so grateful to be able to grow my own.

 

[Flowki]

I'm from Canada and there's a bit of a seedy weedy problem with the legal bud. A friend has a review site and to date, 40% of the pre roll samples have seeds or seed segments.

When I say it's more common, this is why I think it's happening. As you know, a hermaphrodite is a mutation yet people are growing stress seeds a lot these days. In fact, some ppl are creating them on purpose. But for the seed from a hermaphroditic plant doesn't know itself as a mutation. The stable seed could be male or female but the the stress seed from a hermaphroditic plant can be male, female or hermie.

This is why I think it's more common. But I also think there's a big difference in regional knowledge when it comes to growing.
And, in my research, I learned that many grow facilities are painted with micro-ban paint to kill any microorganisms and mold. That paint contains silver ions so there's a chance that that is causing the plants to self pollinate without the stress!

Crazy days but amazing time to be growing and learning. I'm so grateful to be able to grow my own.

With the internet a grower has plenty of seed company options and grow environment info. Obviously your situation is different, I'm just pointing out to others that you don't have to settle for high herm rates.

I don't know so much about the paint issues but it does sound like a viable conclusion.

 

[grilledcheese101]

With the internet a grower has plenty of seed company options and grow environment info. Obviously your situation is different, I'm just pointing out to others that you don't have to settle for high herm rates.

I don't know so much about the paint issues but it does sound like a viable conclusion.

I agree but, more seed companies = more herms.

 

[Flowki]

I agree but, more seed companies = more herms.

More seed company's mean more competition and better produce to out compete each other, seeds that herm less is obviously a major selling point. A seed company that has a high herm rate will sink very fast. If no competition then they don't need to care about quality, where can you go?.

Iphone vs sams is a good example of the exception (as a curious topic). Although they have a rival company to compete against it isn't good competition with only two key players within said market. I guess you've noticed, they make very small improvements now it does not serve either company to out do each other by too much. It's essentially a cooperative monopoly, they save a fortune on max innovation that would come with true competition.

 

[Budley Doright]

More seed company's mean more competition and better produce to out compete each other, seeds that herm less is obviously a major selling point. A seed company that has a high herm rate will sink very fast. If no competition then they don't need to care about quality, where can you go?.

Iphone vs sams is a good example of the exception (as a curious topic). Although they have a rival company to compete against it isn't good competition with only two key players within said market. I guess you've noticed, they make very small improvements now it does not serve either company to out do each other by too much. It's essentially a cooperative monopoly, they save a fortune on max innovation that would come with true competition.

I would like to think your right but my personal experience says different re unstable genetics or just bad but still available strains. A lot of the commercially available strains from the bigger names are really not that great and some hermie mofos and yet their still there lol. There are exceptions to the rule and those are the ones I stick with. But like a lot of people I do search for the special one and sadly it’s been a long search lol.

 

[UpstateGarden]

a little of both is the best way to go

 

[althor]

I didnt read all this shit but... the main difference is penetration.

The sun is going to reach all the way to the soil with the same brightness. Your indoor lights are going to lose strength the further away it is. A plant can only use so much light regardless of whether it is from the sun or artificial.

 

[TacoMac]

In the end it's this simple: Lighting is mans attempt to match the sun. So far, we've never been able to do it with anything approaching regularity.

So if you have the option, natural sun is the way to go provided you don't live above or below the 45 degree mark on the earth. If you do, good man made lights are better because you don't get the full power of the sun as it hits from too great an angle.

 

[Flowki]

I would like to think your right but my personal experience says different re unstable genetics or just bad but still available strains. A lot of the commercially available strains from the bigger names are really not that great and some hermie mofos and yet their still there lol. There are exceptions to the rule and those are the ones I stick with. But like a lot of people I do search for the special one and sadly it’s been a long search lol.

Yeah I guess with how easy it is to make bad seeds a lot of company's can do it, giving off the appearance that this is the way it is reliability wise. I suppose I over looked that aspect, and that newb/bad growers probably won't know any better or think the herm was exclusively from environment.

However I still think quality (at a fair price) will always win in the end, unless the market is completely cornered.