light changing and hormones

TheGambino

Member
Okay so I did something my last grow... which I thought was going to be a horrible round from stress but turned out to be the best round I have had so far.
Details: 8- 1000w lights, 16-plants per light, room temps-80F, humidity 45%, co2-1300ppm, nutes- house and garden aqua flakes A/B, cal mag, silica, roots excel, some other random guanos EWC etc, ppms- 600-1100 wk 1-8, ph-6.1, soil- ocean forest, 3 and 5g pots, strains- super glue and sherbet.

K now u got the details my dilemma is this: I created a new veg room with passive air intake (no fan pumping in air), the plants kinda suffocated with co2 around 240 for about 6 weeks, last 2 weeks I fixed the problem and flipped into flower after an 8 week veg. I believe from the lack of co2 they got nutrient locked cause the stems were suppppppper purple, almost black, leaves showed some dmg like calmag deficiency but they still grew. Flipped into flower and gave them a week veg in the new 3 and 5g pots with good ol high co2, lights on at 50% for 3 days then 75% for 3 days then 100%. They were growing slowly but the leaves looked a lot healthier, purple stems stuck around the whole flower cycle.
Now here is where it gets fun.
Once I vegged them in the 3/5g pots for a week to get over transplant shock and light shock I threw them from there current 18/6 to 12/12. They were not as big as they should of been and the purple stems still there but I couldn't wait for stressed plants to never get better so I flowered em to see how they do (not like I had any other veg plants ready to transplant). I expected them to be shit, but they surprised me immediately by jumping into flower from basically day 1 of 12/12. they skipped the whole first 2 weeks of stretching and spend those 2 weeks producing buds. the plant cycle didn't finish 2 weeks earlier, it still ran 8-9 weeks (sherb finishes earlier but I push her), it just spend the 2 weeks getting huge/long white hairs. These buds were buds that ive only seen in experienced hydro operations, just donkey dick buds. my lowest nugs were the size of my tops from previous rounds.

So this round I tried to emulate everything I did last round but they are tall as shit and in week 4/5 with what I now consider tiny little white hairs/buds forming.

Now I searched hard in my brain to think of anything I did differently, trying not to succumb to the idea I need to co2 starve my plants and nute lock them to get this desired effect again.

And I think I might have found it. My last round was in the transition season from winter to spring/summer, so longer days and hotter temps outside later at night so I had to push my light times back which were currently on 12/12 week 1 of flower from 6pm-6am in the winter. Now its spring and summer by the time the flower round finishes I needed to push them back to 10pm-10am but I was already in flower, didn't want to do a big 4 hour dark period all at once to already super stressed out plants. So I cant remember exactly how I did it unfortunately :( but I know I stretched it out over days, so I either pushed them back an hour a night for 4 nights, or I put a day break in between each hour push back.
So basically I now think I triggered some hormones by giving them 12 hrs light and 13 hrs dark for 4 days either consecutively or with a day break in between. and I will try this next round in like 5 weeks.
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
All that to have me say,,,

The pH is too low. You had poor P uptake. (colored stems)
Co2 use in veg is NOT worth the cost of doing it! The return on the cost is way off....

Extended dark periods at harvest are a myth!

ALL strains should be run longer then 99% of you novice growers think - period!

For Co2 to be really effective in bloom. You must run hot and humid. If your running 1200-1300ppm....88-90 F and match the RH to the VPD charting for that temp. Something like 80% if I remember right.

1500 is not worth attempting to run as it's next to impossible to make that high a ppm actually be effectively utilized by the plant -it's a waste!

16 plants a light with 1K's? That's really overkill for SOG style growing..... Run bigger plants and less of them under 1K's....6 was always my limit, and that was pushing it. 4 is better.

What nutrient and when do you flip to bloom nutes?
Your in soil. The plant will take all the SI it can use from the soil....Extra is a waste of money.
Same for Ca/Mg! If you add a 1/2 cup of Dolomite lime to the FFOF per bag - b4 use. You won't need to use any Ca/Mg supplements..... OF is low on Ca and Mg for MJ growing.

What is "transplant stress"? Really, I mean it. I run my plants to the roots coiling around the bottom of pots. Time to transplant. I pull the root ball and turn it over and score the bottom with a knife in an X pattern. Cutting through the roots.
You then trans into the next size your up potting to and water with normal feed and add 5ml of Kelp extract per gallon. 8 -10 days for the roots to spread and into bloom they go.

I never run 12/12. That's actually rather un-natural for the plant. I run 11/13 and have better results for longer term run's. Many choose 11.5/12.5 and do just the same.....

No increased P for 2 -3 weeks and I don't drop N levels in synthetic or any "bottled" nutrient use till late bloom - like 2 - 3 weeks before finish....strain dependent.

(light shock - what is that?) The manipulation of light intensity = Not needed. Simply adjust the lights height...if need be. As for an extra hr of light making a hormone change - Nope, don't work that way - sorry.

The nutrient problems caused the end result of little stretching. N may have been low also...

Your quality will increase by running longer.
Skip the stressing as that can lead to problems as the plants do any environmental shifting!
Consider elevating the K levels with Ksulfate. Might consider Mg sulfate too or either or.

Questions?
 
Top