Laser Irradiation of Seeds for Improved Growth

ganjaballz

ganjaballz

Member
A large number of studies have been performed in the agricultural sector with using lasers to pre-treat various types of seeds for germination. The goals and findings include:

- germination of seeds during periods of extended drought
- elimination of parasites and bacteria
- a "kick start" effect of photosynthesis, especially in seeds with luminous shell coatings
- beneficial heating of the seed when lower output lasers are used (10 mw or less) [milliwatt]
- a proven benefit to "living" tissues of all kinds when exposed to non destructive lasers

A substantial number of the experiments resulted in:
- longer root structures
- faster and heavier growth cycle
- vastly improved bloom / crop cycle

Even seeds denied water in germination were able to germinate faster and better than seeds from the same plant in quite a few cases.

As part of an upcoming grow I plan to test laser treatment of at least two seeds measured against a pair of non treated seeds of the same strain with the same grow technique.

The most common process uses a helium-neon laser of 10 mw in output. These are small, cheap and widely available lasers. For the home lab, the ubiquitous diode based "laser pointer" typically has an output of 5mw. There are lasers available with 200 or more mw of output for less than 50 dollars (US) but combining two of the 5mw laser pointers provides enough output for our purposes.

I'll be using a special laser designed for aligning telescope mirrors which has a variable output of 1-20mw. Photos and results to follow in future updates...

Example experiment of drought stressed seeds treated with lasers:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r385g26420625665/

High output lasers for the home lab:
http://wickedlasers.com
 
ganjaballz

ganjaballz

Member
I'll come back and add the photos once I edit the EXIF data to insure privacy.

I germinated 8 seeds and used the laser treatment on half of them. For once, I have 100 percent germination success using the plate and paper towel method for 6 of them and the soak method for 2.
The lab experiments used 20, 40 or 60 seconds of treatment depending on the size of the seed. Since these seeds are much smaller than the pine tree seeds I used a 5mw laser for 40 seconds on two and a 10mw laser for 30 seconds on the other two.
Results:

Every laster treated seed germinated at 12 hour mark.
Non laser treated did not show tap roots until 24 hour mark.

Removed seeds and placed in starter cabinet after 48 hours.
- The laster treated seeds have longer tap roots, twice as long and thicker than the non treated. They are all about the same among the laser treated seeds regardless of laser output or length of treatment.

- The two laser treated seeds I soak germinated were even better. The tap roots on them were about 1/4 of an inch long.
The plate soaked / laser treated seeds had slightly less growth.

The non laser treated seeds had taproots at 48 hours but just barely.

I use a modified aero grow system as my starter unit. Once I have established plants they will transfer to a bubbleponic system for veg and flower. I'm using quite a few CFL lights for that system.

As you may have noticed I wear latex gloved when handling seeds and young plants. I want to make sure my grow environment is as clean and sterile as possible as well as prevent nicotine poisoning of the seeds / sprouts. (If you use tobacco be sure to use gloves and wash well before handling).
 
ganjaballz

ganjaballz

Member

Laser treating four of the seeds on wet paper towels


Laser treated one seed off the paper towel to see if heat would be an issue (measured surface temp of seed before and after using probe - a 4 degree change was measured after 40 seconds of irradiation).


Laser treated and soak germinated pair after 24 hours. These taproots were the longest, over 1/4 of an inch. After less than 24 hours in the aero grow pod these two seeds are already sprouted (more pics coming).


Seedlings placed in aero grow pods for first week / two weeks. The best plants will be moved into a bubbleponic grower.
 
ganjaballz

ganjaballz

Member
Day 4 Comparison:


Three of the four irradiated seeds have already outgrown the humidity domes.


The difference between the two seed groups is amazing. It will be interesting to see if the output maintains itself through the entire growth and bloom cycle.
 
sguardians2

sguardians2

Well-Known Member
That's what I'm talkin bout, I'm all in.

Was gonna try this on my new seeds but my lazer batteries are dead. :(

Gotta get new lazers!
 
ganjaballz

ganjaballz

Member
I want to stress that although the results are interesting and so far match up with my expectations based on prior experiments using other plant species, I can't call it "conclusive" at this stage without further testing.

For starters, two types of species control is needed - one of random, different species of cannabis seeds and a second made with identical seeds from a single species. This is the only way to allow for differences in growth between the various seed types. My only supply of seeds on hand for this test were the two "designer breed" seeds and a random assortment pack of different types. My next test will be to use seeds from the same type only, quite possibly gathered from my own plant.

The other factor will be to try different types of lasers. Part of this will involve finding the exact output spectrums of the lasers to see if a specific type / color works better. Obviously this will take quite a few future tests. I'd welcome other growers to assist in this effort, if possible.

I'd also like to test using lasers as supplemental lighting in the grow and bloom chambers. My theory is that a laser provides the needed light frequencies and possibly fills in some of the "odd" frequencies most grow lights neglect in various ways. The intensity of the light and the nature of the electrons being "aligned" vs. natural light may stimulate hormonal production in the plants as well. Hopefully, I can purchase some of the full reports from the prior lab work and see if some of these answers are already accomplished.
 
sguardians2

sguardians2

Well-Known Member
Just irradiated 6 Big Bud seeds, 1 himalayan blue diesel, and 1 onyx seed. I always germinate in peat pellets, so I will neve see the tap roots. This is not a double blind experiment, just after researching the idea, I thought it couldn't hurt, and may work out as well as the research data shows.

I'm subscribed, and will update my results along with yours, if it's ok.
 
T

The Lurker

Member
Interesting work, Mr. Ballz. I'm assuming the wavelength used was around 630nm or so; please let us know if you find out the actual stats of your particular model. Its benefits in germination with mj at least may prove valuable. I've seen some of the other studies but to date haven't witnessed this with mj specifically.

ganjaballz said:
I'd also like to test using lasers as supplemental lighting in the grow and bloom chambers. My theory is that a laser provides the needed light frequencies and possibly fills in some of the "odd" frequencies most grow lights neglect in various ways. The intensity of the light and the nature of the electrons being "aligned" vs. natural light may stimulate hormonal production in the plants as well...
Click to expand...
Interesting hypothesis. I think a more likely outcome will be over-stimulation of the reaction centers and antenna complexes and increased flavonoid (anthocyanin) and carotenoid production, but those processes (e.g. Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ)) basically take energy away from the building of plant tissues we're interested in. I'd rather not put the plant under additional stress so it can focus on making flowers instead.

I'd say using coherent light of any sort on post-germination leaf structures will, most likely, simply enhance the creation of prolonged singlet Oxygen and triplet states for Chlorophyll (in Photosystem II, mainly) resulting in oxidation and photoinhibition, as free radical Oxygen starts running around the system creating havoc. Enough of that can cause bleaching (breakup of the Chromophores), changes in pH gradients across cell membranes, and worse, for any tissues irradiated.

Thankfully, a laser's coverage will be very small. Not sure you'll be able to irradiate a large enough area, unless you use attenuating optics of some sort. Which means you'd have to increase the mW of the laser used if you want to keep the same intensity per unit leaf volume, also...

An LED would be an easier way to test the application of monochromatic light sources, while keeping PPFD well within the plant's tolerances.

But if you do those tests, I'd still like to see them. I always happy to be proved wrong! :hump:

Cheers mate,

-TL
 
T

twistedwords

Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity, What is it that you would be trying to accomplish with this technique? I am only curious as it only takes about 18 hours to germinate a seed anyways and about a day for to get them going. So, I am wondering as to how much faster you really think it will go as 2 days is pretty fast in general. Do you think this will cut it down to maybe 6 hours of germination and only 12 hours to get it started? You are only saving about 6 hours for this much work. Also, how long does it take you to do this technique in terms of hours, as such how much time to sit there and irradiate each one?
 
Hip Hop Grower

Hip Hop Grower

Well-Known Member
you can obviously tell were all pot heads, get lasers involved and you can pretty much date anyone who posts in this thread :)
 
T

twistedwords

Well-Known Member
You could just put them on a warm paper towel, in a zip lock bag and the germinate them in the dark lying on a warming blanket for 6 hours. pretty much the same thing.
 
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