New Grower The dreaded 100% blackout!

[icmoon]

High all,

I would like to know what exactly is meant by the plant has to be in TOTAL darkness for 12 hours a day when you switch Photo's into flowering mode. I am new to all this and I hear all the time comments like "even a street light" or a "car light" or a "slight leak through the zip of your tent" etc.....Will completely trash your crop. This then begs the question that those plants grown outdoors recieve moonlight don't they?

I used to be a photographer and therefore know how much it takes to make a room completely light proof.....It ain't easy I can tell you.

I ask this question because being a newbie I let my indoor plants grow too high and had to raise my grow tent another 3ft. The problem here and now, is although I am trying to keep the light out with bits of cardboard etc for a 12/12 period there is going to be no way I can keep 100% of the light out,.......90-95 Yes,.......100% No.

I am going to paste this question somewhere else as I'm not sure where to post things at the moment so please excuse me if you see it twice. Hope you understand.

I appreciate any input here as I would be lost with out you guys!

The pic below was taken two weeks old and the two autos in the front are doing very well.

Cheers

Cmoon

 

[dankstyle J]

A blanket would work as well as a tarp ,welcome to afn as well ,I use a closet that's l00 percent light free because light leaks on photoperiods can cause hermaphroditism an incomplete bud formations.

 

[islandgrower]

Wouldn't have a problem with autos and light leaks

Sent from my SM-J710F using Tapatalk

 

[AutoWonders]

A 12/12 lighting schedule is the most popular used for photoperiod plants and requires the dark to definitely be dark for basic proper flowering. Autoflowers are crossed with Ruderalis, which is found in more extreme climates, and allows light around the clock if desired. I run my cobs lights continuously. Others use 18/6, 20/4 and 22/2 lighting schedule for their autoflowers. When I grew photoperiod plants, that is when I brought in and hung black out curtains, which aren't really total black out. I still use the curtains today. Makes things more stealthy. Again, you don't need to worry about light reaching autoflowers when they go dark.

 

[icmoon]

Excellent information thanks. I know for sure that I'll go down the auto route in future. Any ideas on cutting my 5ft plants down a bit? Will it hurt or kill the plant or turn it into a homo or bi-sexual whatever?

Appreciate the help,

Cheers

Cmoon

 

[Padawan1972]

Excellent information thanks. I know for sure that I'll go down the auto route in future. Any ideas on cutting my 5ft plants down a bit? Will it hurt or kill the plant or turn it into a homo or bi-sexual whatever?

Appreciate the help,

Cheers

Cmoon

Look into supercropping or LST. for plants

 

[icmoon]

Look into supercropping or LST. for plants

I will, thanks for the info....

 

[Druid]

Excellent information thanks. I know for sure that I'll go down the auto route in future. Any ideas on cutting my 5ft plants down a bit? Will it hurt or kill the plant or turn it into a homo or bi-sexual whatever?

Appreciate the help,

Cheers

Cmoon

If you have light leaks in photoperiod plants they can't properly finish, they're not gonna be able to finish properly. There's gonna be foxtails and whatnot (additional growth on top of the buds), the problem there is that these aren't ripe yet.. and you can't harvest the bud without the tail.. so your weed is gonna be of different ripeness grades even on the same bud. Another thing the plants like to do is develop male bits, that then pollinate the flowers. Which creates seeds. Not too bad in itself but annoying for flower smokers. Or harsh and oily.. if you happen to grind them up and smoke them.
I grow my photo plants during the winter, when days are short enough and grow autos the rest of the year. My first photo harvest this season is actually in ~2 weeks.

 

[icmoon]

A blanket would work as well as a tarp ,welcome to afn as well ,I use a closet that's l00 percent light free because light leaks on photoperiods can cause hermaphroditism an incomplete bud formations.

Thanks for that. I now have a blackout blind over the whole thing at night but gets a bit toasty during the day with the vent at the top blocked........My problem is space. I can only just squeeze the tent in the space I have and I have kitchen units around the sides and a wall/window at the back.

The two pics above were the wrong ones, they are my two autos.

Appreciate the input

Cheers & Respect
Cmoon

 

[Flash]

Damn alot of cannabible info in this thread! Soak it up buddy!