Light cycle shenanigans: Will I kill 'em all?

[pinkus]

I'm going away for several weeks this summer and I've been weighing options to keep the ball rolling so to speak. garden tenders have been tried in the past. They meant well and tried. I'm not mad .

The goal of course is to keep some moms or clones alive and well (or at least recoverable) without flowering or growing into the lights.

so here is the idea: have the light come on 6 times for an hour each time. This should give me 3 hours of darkness in between each on period. Are there any special things I should take into consideration I haven't thought of?

Thank You in advance IC Brain trust

 

[Diego]

No offense, but putting your plants through a light cycle like that might make them Herm. I would ask a close friend if you could store them at their house. How do you plan on watering them as well.

 

[sourpuss]

Less light more stretch no? No idea what will happen.

 

[pinkus]

No offense, but putting your plants through a light cycle like that might make them Herm. I would ask a close friend if you could store them at their house. How do you plan on watering them as well.

Why would I take offence? I can't see that being one of the consequences. Maybe it could push them towards intersex, though they would be put back under either an 18/6 schedule or 11.5/12.5 in my current scheme as soon as I got back. After that I assume they would sync back up with normal cycles fairly quickly.

Let's pretend I have all the other variables addressed and focus on light cycle. In other words I'm hoping someone (a botanist) who has knowledge of UNnatural lighting schemes would chime in.

despite the catchy thread title I don't really think they will die... Primarily stretching is my main worry.

Thank you both for the replies

 

[pinkus]

This brings up the question: Is stretching a function of less total hours of light or the initiation of the flowering response?

 

[Tonygreen]

How long is a few weeks?

I had to throw some girls in the first week of flower into a torture chamber for 3 weeks.
I used a little 2 foot t5 and left it on 24/7. This was a 3x3 closet with 4 plants. If you got the watering down you could do something like that. Low watt light 24/7.

Who cares if they stretch you could just take clones when you get back and in two weeks youd be good.

They will stretch like fuck and you will have some die off of lower leaves.

 

[pinkus]

Actually just a couple of weeks...17 days would be max.

Thank you Tony.

Of course, I'd rather keep them healthy (and short) if at all possible. That's why I wasn't going the low watt/24/7 route: IME it WILL stretch like a mother doing that LOL

They would be under T5s. My thoughts were the short bursts under a sufficient light source to keep them healthy, but not letting them go into flower through this photoperiod trick.

 

[Tonygreen]

I think yer gonna get stretch either of our ways. When the lights out the babies are lookin for it so they stretch, even if you avoid flowering or herm.

Make it easy I say and just plan on taking clones when you get back

If you have big ones youve been vegging awhile and dont want to lose the time growing root mass you could always just prune em good of all the stretchy shit and they would explode again proper under good light when you get back.

 

[pinkus]

I think yer gonna get stretch either of our ways. When the lights out the babies are lookin for it so they stretch, even if you avoid flowering or herm.

I understand what you are saying, but I'm not in agreement about them stretching for the sun in dark periods. IME if two identical clones are given the same light intensity, the one give more hours of light will grow faster up until flowering is initiated.

Thanks again

 

[Only Ornamental]

Hi Pinkus,

Just to avoid stretch (aka shade avoidance response) it should suffice to use the 3 hour light interval, even when you have the lights on for only 15 minutes.
I grew in 12/12 with a 15 minutes lights on (only a cheap 10 W LED!) every 3 hours during the night and the plants (two Ciskei and one Rosetta Stone, grow diary HERE) did neither flower nor stretch during the night. Obviously, they grew well during the day and only stretched visibly the nights where I forgot to switch on the 'night light' timer.

It might trouble them if you have days of 1 hour and nights of 3 but in theory, they won't sense a 3 hour night (or at least a 2 hour) and hence 'think' that the sun shines in permanence but won't grow much due to an overall low light integral (which in your scenario it would be like 6 hours lights on, right?). If you think that's short enough... Guess you could as well shorten the 'day/-s' even more. Try it right away with a plant or two; you should see how it goes already after a week or two!
IMHO and like you already said, because the plants won't flower, there's no harm even if they get troubled and their inner clock messed up.

 

[stoned-trout]

whatever you do cut some clones and stash em in the fridge.. either in baggie or stuck in glass of water...I tried garden helpers 2 x... both times were a fail... the fridge clones saved my ass

 

[pinkus]

whatever you do cut some clones and stash em in the fridge.. either in baggie or stuck in glass of water...I tried garden helpers 2 x... both times were a fail... the fridge clones saved my ass

DOH! I've even got some in the fridge right now. That would be the ultimate power saver wouldn't it? Thanks for posting today... I was going to cut the moms down to size today. But now I think I'll let em grow until just before the trip (within reason) and trim them down the night before I leave and fridge em

I'm still going to let a garden helper water them a couple of times... It truly is amazing how often a garden helper means well, but things go south I had one that was so embarrassed it took him months to talk to me after handing them back over to me. I told him I wasn't mad, but the look on my face surely told him he was the next organism to die

 

[pinkus]

Thank you for the info OO. It's exactly what I was hoping for.

 

[Elmer Bud]

G`day Pinkus

I`m thinkin T5s .
The blue does keep internode distance to a minimum . On say 16 / 8 so keeping in vegg but giving the minimum energy to the plant .

Keep the lights low and let the plants grow into it vs place the light higher and possibly encourage more up ward growth ?
How about a vert lamp and the plants at a distance ? Not as much vert growth and not as likely to grow into the lights and possible fire hazard ?

Leaving irrigation on timers always worries me though . 1 popped hose could lead to a cluster fck of problems with land lords / cops etc .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

 

[stoned-trout]

one time my plants were in trays and my friend a fucking old farmer drownd em.... I said you can grow fields of plants but cant water the trays correctly lol....good luck bro..you can take nice long vacation and know atleast the fridge clones are safe.. a month no problem.. I cut em extra long as sometimes end gets mushy on a few after a while several weeks ,,,recut and root,,,,

 

[pinkus]

Thank you elmer. I'm doing the T5s, but I am going to go with my more radical approach. ...along with the fridge failsafe

 

[Elmer Bud]

G`day Pinkus

Never done the cuts in the crisper .
Though I have been aware of it since I read Ed Rosenthal describing it back in the 90s .

Sam S says he does it . And has great success .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

 

[pinkus]

G`day Pinkus

Never done the cuts in the crisper .
Though I have been aware of it since I read Ed Rosenthal describing it back in the 90s .

Sam S says he does it . And has great success .

Thanks for sharin

EB .

That's why the DOH!!! I've been doing it a long time myself. I think they actually root faster

 

[stoned-trout]

florists been doing it forever....peace

 

[Elmer Bud]

G`day Pinkus , Stoned Trout

So no special prep ?
Cut longer than you may actually use ? Any water / humidity in the bag ? Bag open vs closed ?
In the crisper ?

This info may well come in handy one day .

Thanks for sharin

EB .