Green Utopia
New Member
OK - been doing the reading and thinking (and smoking).
First - the pics on the site for the SIMM institute are amazing! That is definitely one helluva operation. Or was. Shame they are in a fight.
So about the dark period:
The quote you sited is all over the web. But its not on their site. I'm sure it could have originated 5 years ago when their site was a little more active. But all I see are folks quoting the quote. And the quote sounds like something someone heard.
In fact - they are pretty clear on their site that they use natural light and supplement it. They grow in a massive greenhouse. While it would be possible to do a small sample (as that quote suggests) - if you've looked at the pics of their grow or read his growing philosophy you'll see there is pretty much no way they would be able to do this on a regular basis. This does not mean we can't. We're not growing in a huge greenhouse. So we could turn off lights. So its possible this is a technique that favors the small grower and that's why commercial ops have not embraced it, and that's why we don't see greater acceptance.
Its funny you pointed out my Tomatoes example - when I re-read my post I realized what I was making it sound like. To clarify - what I mean is that the light affects flowering in two ways. 1 - shorter days tell Cannabis plants to mature faster. 2 - less light is less energy to the plant. So what I meant was if you cut back the light - you will force the plant to flower sooner, but you'll also be depriving it of light energy that I think it wants.
There are some folks up here that do this, and I've experimented - but not enough to have any conclusive results. Put it this way though - I noticed no difference either pro or con - so you could save some electricity, but not sure about increasing quality.
And lastly on the purple coloring. I think you highlited the right parts. That's a great summary of purpling. It conveys nicely the two aspects. Being that its a discussion of genetics, not growing, it does not suggest whether the purpling is beneficial, but it does describe the forced purpling by cold when the genetics are not pre-disposed as a deficiency.
So upon further review - I guess I'll try another shot at the darkness. If no obvious results then no more of that. Re the other things - I think I'm gonna stay at the stressfull ends of the recommended extremes. For example if temps are perfect 69/78 then I think 67/81 is enough stress. If humidity is supposed to be 40-60% then I think 35% is enough stress.
I will also keep an eye out though - cause there are lots of stressful (to the plant) things in growing that need to be overdone to get it right. It seems abusive to pinch off the top of a plant, but do it right and you get 4 tops. Super cropping - if you just bend the plant a little that's LST, but if you bend it more than 90 degrees on itself it triggers hormones and that's super cropping.
There's plenty of food for thought here. Great convo.
First - the pics on the site for the SIMM institute are amazing! That is definitely one helluva operation. Or was. Shame they are in a fight.
So about the dark period:
The quote you sited is all over the web. But its not on their site. I'm sure it could have originated 5 years ago when their site was a little more active. But all I see are folks quoting the quote. And the quote sounds like something someone heard.
In fact - they are pretty clear on their site that they use natural light and supplement it. They grow in a massive greenhouse. While it would be possible to do a small sample (as that quote suggests) - if you've looked at the pics of their grow or read his growing philosophy you'll see there is pretty much no way they would be able to do this on a regular basis. This does not mean we can't. We're not growing in a huge greenhouse. So we could turn off lights. So its possible this is a technique that favors the small grower and that's why commercial ops have not embraced it, and that's why we don't see greater acceptance.
Its funny you pointed out my Tomatoes example - when I re-read my post I realized what I was making it sound like. To clarify - what I mean is that the light affects flowering in two ways. 1 - shorter days tell Cannabis plants to mature faster. 2 - less light is less energy to the plant. So what I meant was if you cut back the light - you will force the plant to flower sooner, but you'll also be depriving it of light energy that I think it wants.
There are some folks up here that do this, and I've experimented - but not enough to have any conclusive results. Put it this way though - I noticed no difference either pro or con - so you could save some electricity, but not sure about increasing quality.
And lastly on the purple coloring. I think you highlited the right parts. That's a great summary of purpling. It conveys nicely the two aspects. Being that its a discussion of genetics, not growing, it does not suggest whether the purpling is beneficial, but it does describe the forced purpling by cold when the genetics are not pre-disposed as a deficiency.
So upon further review - I guess I'll try another shot at the darkness. If no obvious results then no more of that. Re the other things - I think I'm gonna stay at the stressfull ends of the recommended extremes. For example if temps are perfect 69/78 then I think 67/81 is enough stress. If humidity is supposed to be 40-60% then I think 35% is enough stress.
I will also keep an eye out though - cause there are lots of stressful (to the plant) things in growing that need to be overdone to get it right. It seems abusive to pinch off the top of a plant, but do it right and you get 4 tops. Super cropping - if you just bend the plant a little that's LST, but if you bend it more than 90 degrees on itself it triggers hormones and that's super cropping.
There's plenty of food for thought here. Great convo.
