Lighting Auto Sweet Tooth Grow Log

[Resin87]

ok so I just read this article and I think it might be the solution to my problem I have one small plant under a big light (250w CFL) on a 20/4 light schedule do you think that if I stepped her back to 18/6 it would give the plant some rest and hopefully solve the leaf curling. Still doesn't explain the yellowing and the yellow spots. Here's what I read.

Too Much Light
Yes, it’s true, you can give your marijuana plant too much light. Cannabis does not receive full sun from sunrise to sunset in its natural state. It is shaded or given reduced light levels because of adjacent plant material, cloudy conditions, rain, dust, twilight periods in the morning and late afternoon, and light intensity changes caused by a change in the seasons. Too much light mainly serves to bleach out and destroy chlorophyll as opposed to causing marijuana leaf cupping, but it often goes hand-in-hand with high heat for indoor marijuana growers. Turn down the time when the lights on in your marijuana grow room. If you're using a 24 hr cycle, turn it down to 20 hrs. Those on 18 - 6 marijuana growth cycle can turn their lights down two or three hours. Too much light can have many adverse effects on marijuana plants. Concentrate on developing/maintaining an efficient and robust root system.

 

[sativalover]

1. Today is day 16 and I think she is starting to get better I have noticed that the yellowing has stopped and has not appeared anywhere else on the plant only the old leaves have curled and the new leaves seem to be in good health. Here's some pictures tell me what you think I also took some photo's of her roots I think she'll have to be transplanted by the end of the week. I'm going to try the tiering suggested by noods hopefully things will be well and good by the end of the week.
   
   
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   now from the pic of the roots you can clearly see what i said
   the roots are swollen but have little to no "hairs coming offf them
   this can be from a couple of things you can also insulate the black airpot from absorbing too much heat from the light
   the increased distance of light will only do so much for the small container absorbing the heat radiation from light to increase temps
   i would only worry about mold or fungus growth in pot w/ shadded soil if humidity levels are high and you are at a constant excess of moisture in container and surrounding grow area(most hydro has almost all area covered to lessen unwanted growth in res (forms af algea) due to light hitting the solution during feeding times then flushing back into res upon draining )or you are introducing more pollutants into environment from "fresh air source" than
   this is in part the reason for bubbling solution to retard growth as much as possible while giving extra source of ions to exchange another reason some use h2o2 hydrogen peroxide to solution but this is deviating from the point here
   people mulch regullarly around the base of plants to retain moisture and introduce a layer of light protectant from harsh heat increasing the soil temp and scourching shallow roots
   if you are experiencing this kind of root development from the pic especially in the higher circulation obtained in an air pot than you are overwattering and prob alittle high on the alkalinity side in your soil which is ridding your nitrogen out of place looking at the extreeme dark green is also an indicator looking healthy but the beginning of an issue i can see your roots are being baked and retracting from the sides to get away from the heat looking at the soil it is clear it has been getting too hot and not just naturally air pruning as noted in air pots
   in testing this last strain i kept cfl's only a finger width less than 1/2 " from leaves but kept larger pots shadded and while using 90-100 degree temps(to promote heat stress issues to show) throughout growth at 24 hours light didn't have theese problems for a reason because i grasp what i am telling you fully
   while this was for a seed run and i treat them dif than consumption product you can still understand how the process it self works
   others don't but i always buy a temp guage w/ a long probe attachment usually ment to be run outside and i place the probe into the bucket usually dir beneath the most intense light which usually will be your hottest area and if in the middle of alot of containers the ones around the perimeter will evaporate faster and have the most room to displace heat
   the ones in the center will be insulated more than the ones around the edge so they will hold moisture and buildup heat faster
   i understand this doesn't dir apply to you but w/ the concept understood you can see how it effect you
   this is part of the reason it is rec to have air flow from bottom up towards the ceiling extraction to promote less excess humidity around container level
   i would start by shadding and insulating the pot as rec before and giving larger container
   the only thing giving less light through further distance from source or lessening photo period really is giving us time to fix what is going on more than the plant really needs the rest
   you must look at it like a domino effect or a chain reaction
   once a problem shows the more intense the energy source the more intense and dramatic the problem will progress
   giving the rest slows down the amount of reaction happening until we solve the issue the plant is showing
   if you held your hand above a fire you will feel the damage long before you see blistering flesh
   well that is because the damage was progressive depending on the time and intensity of the heat from fire this is the same principal we don't see what is happening untill it is more severe
   i will talk alittle more about it to ya later gotta run for now
   a fan blowing upward on pot towards light will help some
   dry out soil faster and reduce heat but only to a smaller degree than insulating the pot​

 

[Resin87]

Ok so what your saying sativalover is to wrap the pot I have some white Mylar that would reflect heat away from the pot and I can put the cardboard around the base really want to try solve this as she hasn't grown much in the last 3 days. I can transplant if needs be I have a 5.7l square pot ready but would this not put her in more shock..I can sort a fan out to blow straight onto the pot.

 

[sativalover]

1. The only reason it is watered at the moment is that I was told to add some N to the soil to try and amend the current problem I'm usually fairly strict with waterings and tend to keep the soil more dry than wet. I can see what you are saying about the soil ph being thrown off once the soil has been warmed up and over watered. Do you have an idea as to what temps I should be looking at in the soil. I can go down to the local grow shop today and see what they can give me. I'll leave her dry out abit more she's starting to show sex and was hoping to transplant her when this happens. Do you think this would be a good move or should I wait till the current problem has been solved. Thanks again for your help.

2. -
   
   this is very crucial think about this high temp water around 80 degrees will reduce the amount of absorbtion of macro nutrients
   if in a res it is best to maintain watter to 65-69 to hold proper oxygen amounts this decreases fungal and bacterial growth as well
   if the exact same water taken and divided into two containers one colder and one hotter
   the water at 77 degrees will be a 7.0 ph the same watter 95 degrees will show a ph of 6.84 the water is measured at 68 degrees will produce a 7.08 measurement
   so even water that is thought to have a proper temp but placed into a higher temp medium the increased temp of medium will swing ph because of changing ratios
   a true 7.0 ph is only obtained when there is exactly the same amount of +hydrogen atom to -hydrogen atoms and this will be effected by temp dif(this is why ph=is measured and ph means "potential hydrogen" for those unclear
   this is one reason it is said to buy a ph meter that will account for temp changes
   this is a concept that while is understood by most some may be confused why they took a reading then after water set for a while doing nothing other than letting the temp change than a drmatic dif is shown in the readings w/ no ph adjuster added
   temp change is one reason benficial microbes release more + hydrogen ions (producing more acids which lowers ph) during your daytime cycle as opposed to -hydroxide ions (producing ph up increase) during your dark cycle
   if you are helping maintain this balance a rest period is less needed because the buffer your giving helps keep this in balance rather than tipping the scale in one dir too much
   cautions and anions are what needs to be properly balanced w/in your nutrient and waterring soulltion
   more cautions the lower ph will be more anions the higher ph will rise one reason chelated elements are used because they maintain solubility at a wider range of ph levels
   this is one reason is really is crucial to have a plant nutrient that has some nitrogen derrived from urea this will work w/ nitrogen to keep ph levels from going too high as it helps maintain a proper acidic levels and adds beneficial food source for beneficial microbes​

 

[sativalover]

Ok so what your saying sativalover is to wrap the pot I have some white Mylar that would reflect heat away from the pot and I can put the cardboard around the base really want to try solve this as she hasn't grown much in the last 3 days. I can transplant if needs be I have a 5.7l square pot ready but would this not put her in more shock..I can sort a fan out to blow straight onto the pot.

i would do something like attach the mylar to cardboard as to provide more insulation and mylar to reflect but mylar alone could reflect but still allow more heat in
if you can find some bubble wrap and attach mylar to it then wrap container w/ this but still allow enough room to not smother benefits of air pot all together reducing all air transfer
insulate(reflect) heat out not in is what i am tryng to say not trying to turm pot into a baking dish just trying to keep some heat from absorbing into container and reflect as much as possible
you will have no unwanted growth on top of container by covering unless a moisture problem is being repeated if alittle green is seen on perlite in container on top than soil has been too wet too many time and let to stay at hgh temps neede for unwanted growth
the onlt thing transplanting it will do is give a better buffer than what it has buffer for heat and buffer for medium exchange
yes you can stress it but truth is it is already stressed and in the long run if the damage continues it will die anyway and if you have seen no new growth in the three days than it is safe to say it is already stressed to the point of not growing well in medium
but it could have had three days to reach roots out of possibly toxic soil into newer soil giving it some relief
if this was thought about a few days ago
i still stand by what i said in diagnosis one way or the other the root zone temp looks to be needing a lowering
but insulating w/ reflective material or adding more medium the roots are getting too much heat from the pic which will cause everything you have witnessed in your plant so far w/ nutrient uptake issues
the less evasive way is to insulate provided the soil hasn't already become too alkaline from precipitants starting to form instead of nutrients being able to be absorbed(one reason for chelated elements being used like mentioned in other posts because they can be used at wider ph ranges and will produce precipitants at a slower rate giving more time to be used before chem reaction takes place to bind them up)
so if the medium was fine you could just insulate container but if medium is thrown out of wack due to the watering and heat excess than only more fresh medium at proper ph will help and aside flushing which only helps relieve medium of precipitants(salts) but the excess watering even in slight amounts will has damaged the mediums ability to expand and contract for good airation to be maintained
if you read all theese posts you can see how it goes in a circle a balancing act a constant exchange back and forth if toooooo much is on either side the balance can't be obtained

 

[Resin87]

I can completely understand what you are saying and from what you say the lesser of the 2 evils is to tranplant adding extra soil creating a larger buffer but will also give the roots a bit of breathing space away from the current alkaline soil (god i wish this ph pen would arrive im pissing into the wind without it). Now will I do a complete transplant or will I try the tiering method mentioned before by my friend Noods. The damage has already taken its toill and I have notice that the yellow spots are starting to become visible on the upper side of the leaf. I'm going be starting another seed soon but want to get this issue sorted first no point in doing this to another plant. Thanks again for your help with this I have learned a lot from your post

 

[sativalover]

I can completely understand what you are saying and from what you say the lesser of the 2 evils is to tranplant adding extra soil creating a larger buffer but will also give the roots a bit of breathing space away from the current alkaline soil (god i wish this ph pen would arrive im pissing into the wind without it). Now will I do a complete transplant or will I try the tiering method mentioned before by my friend Noods. The damage has already taken its toill and I have notice that the yellow spots are starting to become visible on the upper side of the leaf. I'm going be starting another seed soon but want to get this issue sorted first no point in doing this to another plant. Thanks again for your help with this I have learned a lot from your post

tiering is an awesome way to project root dev downwards and not waste more soil around top layer wher it is hotter and roots tend to try and not grow
i would still insulate container if removing the bottom
but truthfully just showing the roots in the pic w/o and returning w/o transplanting them was more stress than a transplant
for most tiered you will have a ridgid container w/o a bottom usually inserted into another container while it is small
as it shows sex remove outer container and insert container a couple inch to ensure good contact to new medium the roots will stretch out downward in a few days in the constant search for water

 

[sativalover]

tiering will save alot on soil costs overtime if one isn't using fems
growing 10 males in 3 gallons to find they are males after sexing is abvious waste of resources when one can use smaller but deep containers to promote strong tap root dev but not use alot of extra soil to grow plant just to determine sex

 

[sativalover]

if you decide to go full container it will insulate alittle more due to it's larger size and more medium containment of course it is more volume it will insulate the root mass more and remain a more constant temp
it will hold more moisture till the plant is larger but as long as overwattering is avoided proper oxygen and hydrogen levels can still be obtained
the larger the pot usually the larger the chance of overloving the plant just because it seems like you should water when it may not be needed and doing this over and over again well
i think you are learning the results it is
the size ratio of containern to plant will change this so it is impossible to tell how much to water
i always recomend a grower to buy a cheap mooisture meter to check soil moisture instead of things like picking up containers
this is why while yes you can guestimate it all the exacts we go to to produce product it isn't a good idea to pretend this isn't as precisly crucial
would i rec giving your plant extra anything it couldn't handle so why would i rec the possibility of giving too much moisture which starts the whole thing to begin w/
i could tell you to test soil viability like i was taught as a kid by tasting it
or tell you to go get a meter that will more accurately guage the exact levels
i think as you have seen too much can effect other things that one might not think is related in some cases
we add extra perlite to increase the quicker leveling out of moisture(and one might argue the increase of crucial silicates required for plant growth being found in perlite that adds a bonus not known by some either but that is adif post
if you hold soil in hand and it drips it is too wet at that time to properly exchange is the main point to look at
but how do you test the soil in the root zone by this method????
other than taking a handful out of the bottom which obviously will cause alot of problems constantly checking and damaging roots in the process
well one would get a moisture meter w/ a probe on it that will give you a better scale of moisture

 

[sativalover]

talking about the larger pot will also take longer between watterings which in some cases good some bad
you have more weight down below for when plant swells w/ bud and needs colas tied up
some larger plants that are tiered need "anchored" to stop from leaning and up rooting
i think either would be fine and it is alittle harder to overwatter a tier system because it will draw up the moisture from larger container under but will not remain as saturated for as long after watering do to gravity pulling down to the larger container
really insulation is the way i would go if you can get water issues under control in future​