Neighborhood/street lights interfering with flowering (?)

[Organilush]

My first grow.

I have a few plants in my backyard. Unfortunately my neighbors on both sides have super bright "security" lights that have sensors so they turn on right after sunset. (A HPS on one side, a metal halide on the other).

Through out this summer I've had the plants positioned and a simple tarp/barrier set up so that they are not receiving any direct light from either side. But they still don't receive absolute darkness at night since there is residual/ambient light from the neighbors.

The plants are starting to get a bit taller now, especially with the stretch going on, so their tops are growing above the barrier and are being hit with a little bit of light as of the past 3 nights.

Ultimately I intend on building a simple hoop structure over them within the next week or so...so they're out of any late season rain that comes through, and to block them from the light coming from the neighbors.



Anyway....


I'm just wondering about how much my neighbors lights might interfere with flowering? Do plants need absolute darkness?...Or do they still pick up on the day/night cycle even though there is some slight ambient light around them at night?

I'm sure there's some technical numbers out there in regards to how many lumens it takes over a certain amount of time to disrupt flowering...or something along the lines of that...I'm just interested in a general rule of thumb or the basics of street/neighborhood lights interfering with flowering (I imagine I'm not the first person in this scenario).

IIRC I read some thread a while back where someone was growing in their backyard and there was a street light nearby, and they claimed the plants still flowered just fine...but another thread where someone was in a similar situation, they claimed that the light totally messed with the flowering cycle. (I'm sure there's lots of variables going on here, assuming the strain/genetics playing a big part too)


As of the 1st of this month, my plants do appear to be going into their stretch/flowering phase...So apparently the lights haven't bothered them yet (but their tops have been exposed to the light the past 3 nights, they're about 40 feet away from the neighbors lights so not all that close).



-Lush


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[caliprop215]

Im in the same position with a street light tho...i would say its just a little more then a full moon so im worried but not too worried lol....3 of my plants just started to show flowers other 8 havent.the light is about 50 ft away and 25 ft up the pole or so.... We will see what happens

 

[HHILL]

If you see the shaded branches flowering (nugging up) but the tops in the light from the neighbors then you should shade the tops... saw a photo of a monster plant in greenhouse once with 3/4 in full flower, the 1/4 of the plant still in veg was under a 1000 Watt HPS

 

[caliprop215]

If you see the shaded branches flowering (nugging up) but the tops in the light from the neighbors then you should shade the tops... saw a photo of a monster plant in greenhouse once with 3/4 in full flower, the 1/4 of the plant still in veg was under a 1000 Watt HPS

U may be on to something there ive never heard of part of a plant budding and growing at same time. That could be VERY useful

 

[HHILL]

U may be on to something there ive never heard of part of a plant budding and growing at same time. That could be VERY useful

It was Sam the Skunkman that posted up a pic and description a couple years ago of that plant, maybe in the greenhouse section, or biggest plant ever grown thread or something. I didn’t think it was possible for part of a plant to flower and another part to keep vegging.

 

[CrushnYuba]

I have never seen a branch full on flower to completion and another keep veging entirely. I don't know if it's possible with the hormones responsible for flowering. But i have definitely seen part of a plant start to flower and another part not all the time. Usually it's the lower branches on a plant that get shaded that start to flower. But they never seem to stack to the point off nuggets.

I got a cheap lumen meter off Amazon for like 10 bucks. They aren't too sensitive with very low levels. If you are at 0 or 1 you are definitely fine. You can still see pretty well at 0. I use them in my light depp greenhouses. With light depp small tarp leaks don't matter because it's not the entire night so it won't make them herm. But with your situation if those street lights are on all night it would be more like a light leak on an indoor grow. I doubt very much that it will prevent your plants from flowering, but u might get some nanners and it could go to seed.

 

[BOMBAYCAT]

So I got a motion sensitive security light for the back yard last summer. I was thinking of the rippers though but all the stray cats and damn Raccoons set it off all summer about every third night. The plants slightly hermied on me. A couple had so many seeds I threw them away. The rest were smokable if you cleaned them a little. That reminded me of college days when all you could get was seeded. The light was turned off for this summer grow.

 

[CrushnYuba]

I have motion solar security lights in garden's. Don't use them anymore but They were never a problem. It depends how often they are going off. Going off once or twice a night for 30 seconds is no big deal at all. Seeding could have been from something else. Last years late season heat was an issue in my area. Allot off people's crop went to seed.

But the OPs security light problem doesn't sound like motion activated. Sounds like it's on a timer and goes all night. That's another ball game.

 

[Donald Mallard]

It was Sam the Skunkman that posted up a pic and description a couple years ago of that plant, maybe in the greenhouse section, or biggest plant ever grown thread or something. I didn’t think it was possible for part of a plant to flower and another part to keep vegging.

ive seen a few plants do that over time ,
fully flowering on one part of the plant ,
and veging on another ,



multiple yields from one plant during its life ...



im fairly sure they were african or crosses of ,

anyhow i havent seen that trait since ....

 

[DenverJim]

Its never completely dark in my garden. I used to worry about the light from my neighbors security light. the street light hits a whole area of the garden but doesn't bother flowering. my theory is that the sun is so intense that the plant doesn't react.
I have had mixed results with preflowering and putting outside. A Blue moonshine and Durban just keep flowering after they flowered for 3-4 wks. I had another a purple wookie x sunshine day dream completely herm. but a chocolate trip f3 that was almost done started to reveg. The buds are fluffy now. Good for hash.