Veg tent inside flower tent... Light spill suggestions

[icedrgn027]

First grow and my original girls are ready to start flowering time. I got a smaller tent for my veg plants. I had so much room in my flower tent I decided to take advantage of heating and humidity by placing the tent in the inside.

Now my first night of split lights, I know my veg tent needs 6 hrs dark and my flower tent will eventually be at 12 hrs of dark. Flower lights go out at 9pm. I figured if I put my veg lights out at 12am they would be back on at 6am and flower lights will be on at 9am. This allows a 3hr overlap where I have light spill similar to a dusk and a dawn.


I am completely new and have no knowledge of how bad lighting spill can be for flowering. I had to open my flower tent more to vent control my RH. My flower tent is 4x8x9. My veg tent is 2x2x4.

What should I be doing here, am I setting myself up for trouble? I also feel the need for some sort of fan/humidity controller but am clueless as to what is recommended. Any and all help appreciated.

 

[Renfro]

Man, I would really get the veg tent out of the flowering tent at some point. I understand that it might not be an option now but down the road.

Humidity control, one method is a dehumidifier. This helps when the ventilation isn't running to combat heat.

A really good controller is the autopilot F60. or f90 if using CO2. Inkbirds are also good for independent control of items.

As to the light leaking into the flower area, I have had a flowering go down in a tent that was in my veg room, so the situation was reversed and I didn't have issues. Of course I didn't open my tent when it was dark inside and light outside. So if you control the light leaks well it shouldn't pose an issue. I was running a Gorilla HD.

 

[Renfro]

Whats the bluish light in the image?

Can you take a pic in the dark (no flash) with the tent lights on so we can see how much is getting out?

 

[icedrgn027]

Yeah thats what your seeing. The bluish light is my veg lights seeping out of vent holes and reflecting into the flower tent. I used nightmode with my camera (no flash) to show how badly. The LEDs on the space heater could be used as some sort of light reference. The first pic was with regular lighting. Second pic, its still really dark...but it's not complete dark like before the veg tent was added. This would only be for 3 hours prior to complete dark as well as 3 hrs until lights on atm. I will def look into moving stuff around again.

 

[coreywebster]

Them little red LEDs want illuminating.

Light leak can be really bad, as in your whole crop will herm, or it can be nothing, depends on the plants. Some will freak out at the smallest thing, others don't seem to freak out no matter what.

I would suggest you run your flowering lights at night time not daytime, nothing to do with the problem but its the common thing to do as it gives less variance in temp swing and its easier to cool at night.

I have done what your trying to do now but I never had my tent illuminated by it. It didn't cause me any issues but I wouldn't do it again.

You want dark time to be dark. No red LEDs, no blue light.

You might be able to throw a light proof fabric over the top of the tent, make use of foil flex ducting as intake and out with a loop in it to minimise light getting out, rather than using your vent flaps.
Or build light baffles over your vent flaps.
Or a combo of all these things to keep it dark when flower lights are off.

 

[coreywebster]

To be honest I would get that space heater out of there and put something safer in if you need the heat.

 

[Renfro]

To be honest I would get that space heater out of there and put something safer in if you need the heat.

Oh snap, good call. I thought it was a little swamp cooler / humidifier. I have one that looks like that same shape in the room I keep the guitars in, to keep the RH% up since Colorado is dry as a bone.

 

[Renfro]

Yeah thats what your seeing. The bluish light is my veg lights seeping out of vent holes and reflecting into the flower tent. I used nightmode with my camera (no flash) to show how badly. The LEDs on the space heater could be used as some sort of light reference. The first pic was with regular lighting. Second pic, its still really dark...but it's not complete dark like before the veg tent was added. This would only be for 3 hours prior to complete dark as well as 3 hrs until lights on atm. I will def look into moving stuff around again.

Can you duct those vent holes straight out of your tent? Oh wait, that would defeat the purpose? Maybe on the exhaust but not the intake of the smaller tent? Build a light baffle for the intake using a cardboard box and flat black paint. Just brainstorming. Really though, ideally you would put both tents in a room and control that rooms RH% and temp. a lung room.

 

[icedrgn027]

Yeah I don't think I need the heater anymore anyway. Basement stabilized after that -50 cold chill left. However I'm also going to assume this also may have been a safety concern I overlooked...similar to a power strip on the floor. I've been fighting high water temps and was looking to get it off of the floor or at this point gone.

I'm learning on the fly and learning quickly. I'm interested in controlling my humidity and temps remotely as I know some of you are doing. I will be looking into that controller, just no idea what to expect. If temps and humidity stay constant, I can prob get away with just a dehumidifier in assuming. But am novice enough to know to ask around here

 

[icedrgn027]

I think I could hook up the vents to each other's tent. Channel air with the fans or something...which I'll also need to look into or get recommended

 

[icedrgn027]

Them little red LEDs want illuminating.

Light leak can be really bad, as in your whole crop will herm, or it can be nothing, depends on the plants. Some will freak out at the smallest thing, others don't seem to freak out no matter what.

I would suggest you run your flowering lights at night time not daytime, nothing to do with the problem but its the common thing to do as it gives less variance in temp swing and its easier to cool at night.

I have done what your trying to do now but I never had my tent illuminated by it. It didn't cause me any issues but I wouldn't do it again.

You want dark time to be dark. No red LEDs, no blue light.

You might be able to throw a light proof fabric over the top of the tent, make use of foil flex ducting as intake and out with a loop in it to minimise light getting out, rather than using your vent flaps.
Or build light baffles over your vent flaps.
Or a combo of all these things to keep it dark when flower lights are off.

Is there a way to change light schedule, or just bite the bullet and switch the times? Should I gradually move it over an hour per day until lights are on at night?

 

[Renfro]

I can prob get away with just a dehumidifier in assuming. But am novice enough to know to ask around here

A dehumidifier is important because when lights go off and cooling isn't required humidity can spike for a number of reasons. The cooling system isn't required and kicks off and the air cools down causing the RH% to rise and the plants stomata are still open for a little while after the lights go off, transpiring water.

This little chart goes a long way towards seeing how relative humidity can change with temperature.



Air at 50% and 82.4F cools to 75.2F and it's almost 65%.

 

[Renfro]

Is there a way to change light schedule, or just bite the bullet and switch the times? Should I gradually move it over an hour per day until lights are on at night?

bite the bullet is what I have always done.

 

[Renfro]

I wouldn't dick with lighting schedules on flowering plants, especially in early flower, unless I really had to. Just begging for a case of bananas.

 

[icedrgn027]

Since I'm not quite into flower. To bite the bullet, Prob best to give them a long day, and adjust that nightime as it rolls back around. Better than giving them one really short day to fix it?

 

[Renfro]

Since I'm not quite into flower.

If you are in 12/12 with a photo period then you are in flower. Are you gradually dropping daylight hours? You should just go from 18/6 to 12/12 in one night and I count the next day as flowering day #1. Know that some breeders give flowering times that start when you see buds start to form so the flowering time may seem long counting from flip but that number is a consistent and repeatable number with no observation required. We won't be judging when the plants are ripe by time anyway. 63 - 70 days of 12/12 is pretty much the low end of the spectrum with a few exceptions.

 

[icedrgn027]

Yeah I had just started to add hours to my 18/6 this week. So I have not had more than 8hrs of dark yet. I'll move things around tomorrow, getting my veg tent beside my flower tent. Flip the lights.

 

[Renfro]

Something that I just ran across while looking for something else and I thought of this application... Spray paint the inside flat black.

0-5" PERISCOPE

0" to 5" SAF-T-DUCT rigid aluminum periscope. Sections are not reversible. Use where outlets overlap or are very close.

ndaonline.net

 

[Renfro]

That site had different lengths and you can flip the tubes that slide together so that both ports are on one side or opposite sides.

0 TO 18" PERISCOPE w/BAFFLE (BULK)

0" to 18" SAF-T-DUCT rigid aluminum periscope with baffle. Baffles help direct airflow. Sections are not reversible. Use where outlets overlap or are very close.

ndaonline.net

18" TO 29" PERISCOPE (IND. BOX)

18" to 29" rigid aluminum persicope. Two piece assembly, reaches side of most dryers.

ndaonline.net

 

[coreywebster]

Is there a way to change light schedule, or just bite the bullet and switch the times? Should I gradually move it over an hour per day until lights are on at night?

Yeah, when the lights go out just leave them off 24 hours then switch them back on. Making sure they are set to 12hours on.

The veg ones just leave them on until your ready for the dark period and set that to 8 hours.