roots exposed to light

a question iv always had; do roots grow at a fast rate when the leaves are not absorbing light?> (darkness).

just thought i would throw my experience in the mix. my new BlackJack seedlings have been in mostly clear containers since i started them. they were 1ltr bottles cut in half, and i decided to experiment with this while i was at it. 2 of them were put in Mountain Dew containers (so it was a clear green) and the 3rd was in pepsi 1ltr (true clear). the MD seedlings never saw anything out of the ordinary the entire time in those cups (all 3 were transplanted 2 nights ago). the one in the clear cup definitely had some algae, but that was the only thing i could see. a little natural yellowing on the youngest leaves, but this has happened to all of my seedlings so far, so i don't attribute it to the algae, probably just soil ran out of nutes and i always wait a bit longer than i should to start nuting.

as for using these containers, i think i may stick to it, but only the MD bottles, probably wont go true clear again. they were great for watering, easy to move around (they are on 24hr light and share half that time with the girls in the flower chamber for the increase in lumens, other half is in a cupboard with insufficient cfl's until i can harvest my bagseed) and were very easy to monitor root development and detirmine (to at least a better degree) the optimal time to transplant.

No light on roots. Buy red cups

Originally Posted by Stackpee

K fungle your roots will get and grow from your roots to steam then your plant will die with in a week.

i've had plants in veg cycle for 2 months in a clear plastic container, and the only problem i keep getting is that there all boy's, (idk if it's related but yeah i probably got lucky)

if the roots are exposed to light for a prolonged period, it will actually "light prune" the roots. if you need a plant to slow down in growth (who the fuck knows why anyone would do this), but exposing the roots to air and light will make the roots turn a yellow-green color and will stop all functionality. this has to occur over an extended period of time...

i have done afew grows using clear pots in soil, and i always thought oh well the light should help, plants need it so hell why not, yet in the back of my mind i always thought well.. roots are underneath ground in the wild, this is how its always been and there isnt light in soil so over the millions of years roots have never been abel to strengthen and adjust to this otherwise thry would grow about (like some plants do just not this little beauty) yet me being me i wanted to test this..

(i started around 5 weeks ago, came looking for answers as to why it went wrong and well hear i am)

i thought best to set out with a simple hydroponic set up as my kits fairly new and i have only had one good crop off it so far,

my test..
i used 3 trimmings of mother 'jacky diesel'
i let the trimmings root normal for just over 2 weeks so there was some nice rooting to work with and labeled each plant up 1 2 3 and kept them all separate

plant 1: this is a totally normal hydro set up you all know how it works blah blah blah

plant 2: in the waterbowl exposed to the roots i waterproofed a 3W 470NM LED in a small clear plastic box sealed with a glue gun (http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/visible-led/6935832/)

plant 3: i used a 5000k Stanley mounted like the blue led but the blue led wasn't on a hex heat sink (http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/solid-...hting/7208898/)

thinking the plants would react well i had the lights running on the same timer as the normal lights so it was from light to weak AND YES i am aware this is to early for full lighting i only use LEDs for my grows its cheap easy and sly
quality not not quantity, however i do personally favor, a SCROG when putting 1 led for each nug

plant 1: worked as expected and is still going strong

PLant 2: ended up yellow yet after stopping the light after 8 days the plant is now on track and growing just as well as plant 1 however is shorter and apart from the bottom set of leaves all others seem to be smaller and slightly darkened and it begs my question.. if i keep 1 and 2 completely the same (now in the same container on the same cycles) what will the effect be for the final growth??

and last but most defiantly least
Plant 3: big fat c*ck up the plant looked fine for afew days but jesus blimey! 5 days water smelt like dead livestock and picked up a green coulour , but i held it out and fed new water and nuties in each day to keep the algae down and keep running the experiment.. waste of time, the 5000K just promoted algae growth and the plant dindt just die.. but looked more like it dried out, and in a hydroponics.. well that seems a little strange right? i can only assume the light killed off the ability to take in water.. yet it made the roots grow pretty fast and the root count was off the scale compared to 1 and 2..

so my conclusion.. if your going to use clear containers light will affect your roots, bare in mind my set up pushed the boundaries a little but in the right doses.. and the right spectrums, each form has its own advantages, yet play the game wrong and your going to kill the girlys

i personally cant be asked to put the effort again i know how i grow my plants and i know it works,
any one who knows more of the science behind it, could probably use this to work out something that could work for the plants.. but if you dont know what your doing, dont bother doing it, as i said befor.. roots are in a dark place, if they wanted light they wouldnt be there..

ill keep posted on what happens with 1 and 2 its a cronical race

Originally Posted by Rushdog86

Hey everybody

I have a buddy that recently tranplanted his clones into small clear cups and loves how he can see the root development. I remember that growing with the roots exposed to light is very bad, i think i remember something about them turning green and getting some disease but i cant remember the specifics. I want to convince my buddy of why not to continue what he's doing but for the life of mw cant find anything other than " you shouldnt grow in clear container". if you can give me some more facts on the disease or have anything related to what im talking about other than "yea its bad" let me know.

Thanks everybody

It's bad. You know, I've been posting on cannabis forums for over 10 years and it never ceases to amaze me how folks can screw up their gardens by ignoring conventional gardening techniques and methods. Ask him if he's ever wondered why commercial growers, nurserymen, grow in black pots. This is about as stupid as using a paper towel to germinate seeds.

Originally Posted by Uncle Ben

It's bad. You know, I've been posting on cannabis forums for over 10 years and it never ceases to amaze me how folks can screw up their gardens by ignoring conventional gardening techniques and methods. Ask him if he's ever wondered why commercial growers, nurserymen, grow in black pots. This is about as stupid as using a paper towel to germinate seeds.

wow...that was extremely helpful.