# roots exposed to light



## Rushdog86 (Sep 3, 2008)

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


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## lorenzo08 (Sep 5, 2008)

I don't know of the facts you're looking for, but I did find a useful solution when using clear pots. mine are made from gallon jugs in ebb and flow, so I was worried about having any kind of paint or metal in the pots touching the nute water, and plastic usually doesn't block enough light. then I found landscape fabric. the stuff used to block weaks. it breathes well and blocks almost all the light. I line my pots with that. my pepper plants don't have that fabric or anything else in it. the pots are clear and you can see the roots. they are white and I haven't had any problems in the last few months, but doesn't mean he wont have problems. I might have trouble with it in the future if I didn't start using the black fabric. if your buddy uses H2O2, that might help prevent any problems.


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## Stackpee (Sep 5, 2008)

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


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## Stackpee (Sep 5, 2008)

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


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## normlpothead (Sep 5, 2008)

Once I was playing mommy, I made six-hundred clones, and used small clear cups for established clones... For sale... I ended up having 200 left over, I kept em in the little 12 fl oz cups for 2 months, trimming back, and watering a little bit daily... They were covered in green on the inside of the cup. I think it's just algae.

They did fine, I flowered them, ezcellent results, I did let them veg for a couple weeks after replanting though.

If possible don't use clear cups... Light is bad for the roots. It kills them, the roots that is.


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## Rushdog86 (Sep 7, 2008)

awesome guys thank you! stackpee is it called k fungle or wtf is that.


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## moneyweedlife365 (Jan 7, 2009)

No It Does Not Everyone Think They Know About Cannabis But They Dnt


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## aknight3 (Jan 7, 2009)

roots plus light equal infection


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## Silky Shagsalot (Jan 7, 2009)

moneyweedlife365 said:


> No It Does Not Everyone Think They Know About Cannabis But They Dnt


great first post, you must be proud!


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## exclamatio (Jan 8, 2009)

if you are worried why not place the clear cups inside something that will cover them up? Then your friend can easily take them out for a look and then put them back without worrying about any detrimental effects.

It would make sense that the roots shouldnt be exposed to light, after all they are roots


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## DaveTheNewbie (Jan 9, 2009)

exclamatio said:


> if you are worried why not place the clear cups inside something that will cover them up? Then your friend can easily take them out for a look and then put them back without worrying about any detrimental effects.
> 
> It would make sense that the roots shouldnt be exposed to light, after all they are roots


 
awesome idea IMO


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## DaveTheNewbie (Jan 10, 2009)

I was thinking about this ...

everyone knows that light is bad for roots right?

but when i read posts by Earl with his crazy assed space shuttle system, and Stinkbud with his Aero/NFT system they both have heaps of roots all over the place.

They have photos of kilos of roots, they chop them off in masses with no damage, etc etc.

Anyone that has done DWC or Aeroponics has exposed the roots heaps of times.

Then i look at Al B Fuct and his cloning thread. You can see the roots out of the bottom of the rockwool in every photo. In fact he waits till the roots are well exposed until he plants them.

Obviously roots do have a tolerence to light. How much i dont know, but they do.

so the question is : HOW MUCH ??


https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/38569-aeroponic-space-shuttle.html

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/116859-harvest-pound-every-three-weeks.html

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/15030-batch-clones-rockwool.html


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## OregonMeds (Jan 10, 2009)

More evidence of clear containers working:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=88449&userid=30088


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## DaveTheNewbie (Jan 11, 2009)

OregonMeds said:


> More evidence of clear containers working:
> 
> http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=88449&userid=30088


 
awesome link!

Clear plastic bottles for pots, kitty litter for medium, CFL, and well over 1 gram per watt.
if its true hes the weight per watt king!


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## AeroKing (Jan 12, 2009)

So far as I understand it, It's not the roots that suffer, but the nutrient solution or moist soil. When exposed to light, it's perfect breeding ground for algae.


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## lorenzo08 (Jan 12, 2009)

DaveTheNewbie said:


> awesome link!
> 
> Clear plastic bottles for pots, kitty litter for medium, CFL, and well over 1 gram per watt.
> if its true hes the weight per watt king!


I don't see many roots that could be exposed in his kitty litter. light allows bacteria and fungus to grow. do you have a problem with your res when you allow light to get to it? yes, same thing here, lots of good nutrition in those roots for bad things to eat. I use black landscaping fabric to block light. I wouldn't ever think about using kitty litter to grow in. who knows what chemicals could be in it, or what it might do to the ph. fish tank stone works well. it's clean and inert.


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## DaveTheNewbie (Jan 12, 2009)

AeroKing said:


> So far as I understand it, It's not the roots that suffer, but the nutrient solution or moist soil. When exposed to light, it's perfect breeding ground for algae.


so if you water once a day and run to waste (not back to res) there shouldnt be a problem ? < thats a question BTW

EDIT : the omega garden foodle has roots exposed to light and air the whole time and its a commercial system

http://plantgrower.net/uncategorized/the-omega-garden-foodle/

so i put forward that in fact you can have roots exposed to the lights as much as you want.


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## indianaman (Jan 12, 2009)

mine are in clear bottles and the roots are fucked up. white fuzz man, slight root rot, and my leaves are fallin off, almost a month in flower but there are no stores this season that are selling pots and shit. i've tried hydrogen peroxide in small doses and that doesn't do shit. for the newbs... don't be real fucked up when thinking up ur grow room. roots need dark. makes sense.


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## lorenzo08 (Jan 13, 2009)

DaveTheNewbie said:


> so if you water once a day and run to waste (not back to res) there shouldnt be a problem ? < thats a question BTW
> 
> EDIT : the omega garden foodle has roots exposed to light and air the whole time and its a commercial system
> 
> ...


if a commercial company does it then it MUST be ok to do! I also trust the news and media and always follow fads. can't ever go wrong this way


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## threepete23 (Jan 13, 2009)

Silky Shagsalot said:


> great first post, you must be proud!


hahahahahaha  I was thinking to myslef "what does that say"


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## Smallsn (Jun 29, 2010)

indianaman said:


> mine are in clear bottles and the roots are fucked up. white fuzz man, slight root rot, and my leaves are fallin off, almost a month in flower but there are no stores this season that are selling pots and shit. i've tried hydrogen peroxide in small doses and that doesn't do shit. for the newbs... don't be real fucked up when thinking up ur grow room. roots need dark. makes sense.


 Mine was fuzzy as a seedling until i gave it some seaweed cont and it fixed the problem. My leaves were dying off, turning into yellow and then it would of dried up. The plant is getting big now check in my thread.


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## Gardener 09 (Jun 29, 2010)

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


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## KlosetKing (Jul 17, 2010)

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.


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## johnnycash (Jul 18, 2010)

No light on roots. Buy red cups


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## Rhyspect (Jul 20, 2010)

Stackpee said:


> 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)


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## WTXgreenery (Jun 30, 2011)

* 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...*


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## harleybuds (Jun 14, 2012)

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-state-lighting/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


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## Uncle Ben (Jun 15, 2012)

Rushdog86 said:


> 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.


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## ScoobyDoobyDoo (Jun 15, 2012)

Uncle Ben said:


> 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.


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## kinetic (Jun 15, 2012)

Uncle Ben said:


> 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.


UB, that's because there are too many people that start out growing mj without ever so much as even helping gramma in the garden. I've never used the paper towel method, if I can sow a roma, basil or oregano in soil, why not mj. If people would start out with something like basil they could learn a helluva lot and cut down on the over conceptualized aspects of gardening. (though basil is a bit of a slow starter).

To the OP, if clear containers were any good wouldn't every big box store in America be selling them? Hmmmm. What colors are roots versus the rest of the plant? Photosynthesis and chlorophyll are also to be brought up. Ever see a massive hydro grows root? Ever see a glass container with it? Nope. Think of the functional capabilities of the root system vs the trunk, stem, branches and leaves. Hell if it were a good idea it would probably have a sticky somewhere on the internets....


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