Minor light leak in my 12/12 - Am I in trouble?

[ontariogrow]

hey guys,

I have a room with a 400 HPS for flowering. In the same room i have a cupboard which i have done a pretty good job of shielding for light which houses a 2 foot, 4 flouro gorw light for clones and seedlings in veg, so it's on 24/7. There is a very small amount of light leak that i need becuse air travels through the cupboard first, then into the grow room - then gets vented... has to be there - can't eliminate it or I won't have airflow.

How much trouble am i in? Am I never going to flower or go all hermie? I have had my first grow in flower for 11 days and not seeing many signs of bud growing yet - just pre-flower stuff mainly - so far all girls...

advice? Someone tell me to calm down, or someone tell me I'm screwed, just so I can stop wondering

my room :

 

[KarlJay]

WOW we are almost on the exact same schedule and have the same closet type setup!

Ok, 1st off I don't know how much harm if any will be done by some light leakage. I've heard people say that nature doesn't have perfect darkness when the moon reflects the sun.

What I was going to suggest, is a blocked fan or duct fan.

A blocked fan is where you make a baffle or box with opening in one end, then it goes over the fan. In other words have a new wall on the side. That wall will have a hole on each end.


Outside

---| Fan |-------------------------------------- <-Wall 1
----------------------------------| Hole |------ <-Wall 2

Light source

If the light does make it out, you can paint it black and/or put in several 1/2 baffles like this:
______________________________________
|....................| <-Partial Baffle
|......FAN.........|....................
|....................|...................|
|....................|...................| Hole for Air
|........................................|
|........................................|
|_____________________________________


You can also do this on the other side to get some cross flow.

Not a hard job, just take a 1x1 lumber and some plywood and hole saw.

The ducted fan is just one wall with a fan, then ducting going down or to the back so the light doesn't come out. If the duct is black or non reflective.

I have to vent mine pretty soon and I'll probably make a duct that goes down one side.

 

[KarlJay]

I just notice, it looks like you are using Panda sheets. You could just put some wood under it and use it as a baffle instead of making a 2nd wall.

 

[Hiker]

You need to make a baffle to block the light. You WILL have problems if you don't. Some strains or more sensitive than others, but why risk it?

 

[DrOfDank]

Nature may not give you complete darkness, but it doesn't give you sinsemilla, either...

 

[ontariogrow]

Nature may not give you complete darkness, but it doesn't give you sinsemilla, either...

I have essentially made a baffle duct on the outside of the vent with some cardboard the black side of the panda sheets. It's keeping out ALMOST all of the light but no matter what I do i still get a few little streaks of light... nothing direct

I have to stand in there for about a minute before i can make out the plants so it's PRETTY good - do I need to go further somehow? Not sure how

 

[DrOfDank]

I had a couple of pinhole light leaks with my last grow that I didn't know about until after harvest. The end product was great - except for a few seeds. Just a few, but there were seeds. I have found that any light leak will cause at least some hermie-ing.

 

[ontariogrow]

I had a couple of pinhole light leaks with my last grow that I didn't know about until after harvest. The end product was great - except for a few seeds. Just a few, but there were seeds. I have found that any light leak will cause at least some hermie-ing.

damn - mine are worse than pinhole - basically like a gentle moonlight - I suppose I need to rethink the clone/veg cupboard some more

thanks for everyone's excellent input!

 

[ontariogrow]

I also need to stop walking in to check the clone cupboard during dark time!! I'm an idiot - it's my first grow and I am so protective of the babies I can't help constantly checking them

 

[Madscientist1]

1. Yes in nature it's never completely dark however it's not the sun that is creating the light either it's the moon light so that was invalid. There are some spectrums of light that will not effect your night cycle and I believe that is green light and apparently moon light.

2. I've seen A little leak induce a single branch to develop male flowers and it pollinated that whole branch and I believe if It had a strong enough gust to blow that pollen around more It would have had other plants get pollinated.

3. Safe than sorry find a way to keep it 100% dark, you don't want a pollinated plant.

That's my 0.02 cents

 

[ontariogrow]

I've also read that once it starts to hermie it's not turning back - at 13 days into 12/12 am i already too late?

 

[Madscientist1]

I have no clue about turning back. You will know if your too late if you start seeing the male flowers, my recommendation is to be very very careful and cut off any male flowers you see before they open be very careful if you handle them too rough and they rupture or if you cut
one off only half way pollen will come out and It could pollenate your plant.

Good luck

 

[Hiker]

Moonlight is often brought up to defend the idea that the room doesn't need to be totally dark. Moonlight is not the same as a light leak though. Not only is the spectrum entirely different, it's a more diffuse light, like the sun on a cloudy day. Light leaks tend to be a "streak" or "point" of light. These are more focused and WILL affect the plant they fall on. The moon also moves during the night and isn't up every night. Those light leaks are always on and always in the same place.

If you're pretty close now, it may be as simple as shading the intake and/or exhaust ports. For example, when I tested my room by standing inside, it was close, but I could still detect a slight glow coming in my intake. I just used a couple well placed pieces of cardboard to cast a shadow over the opening. It worked great!

Also be sure to cover up any lights on fans or whatever inside the room. I had to make 'hats' for my tower fans, and duct tape covered the indicator light on the heater. Green lights are OK, such as the one on my Ebb&Gro controller bucket. Plants cannot 'see' or detect green light. That's why they are green. They reflect all the green light, ie they don't absorb any.

 

[ontariogrow]

But how will I know when the heater is on? lol - guess it doesnt matter since i'm not supposed to be in there in the dark! ugh... I gotta start following the RULES man!

 

[Hiker]

But how will I know when the heater is on? lol - guess it doesnt matter since i'm not supposed to be in there in the dark! ugh... I gotta start following the RULES man!

I can hear the fan in mine, but putting your hand near it should indicate if it's on or not. If your hand can't detect heat, your heater is broken


Just to clarify, the shading of the intake took place outside the flowering room. I am shading the light source. I reread my post and that wasn't clear.

 

[ontariogrow]

I made a light duct that seems to be working really well! I took some photos and will post to help out others when i get home today

 

[ontariogrow]

thought i would show you guys the vent in case anyone else needs to make something similar - works perfectly!

so this is the ducted piece before the attachment to the door:

then the door prep itself - black marker - haha

attached to the outside - all white to reflect when lights are on

view from inside the cabinet door

works very well if anyone has questions please ask!

 

[DrOfDank]

Good job.

 

[Hiker]

Glad you sorted it out

 

[ontariogrow]

hey i wanted to say thanks for this - it explained perfectly what i needed to do and i had it built and installed with panda plastic and cadrboard and duct tape in no time!

How is your grow going? I am going to check your profile to see if i can find a journal! thanks again

WOW we are almost on the exact same schedule and have the same closet type setup!

Ok, 1st off I don't know how much harm if any will be done by some light leakage. I've heard people say that nature doesn't have perfect darkness when the moon reflects the sun.

What I was going to suggest, is a blocked fan or duct fan.

A blocked fan is where you make a baffle or box with opening in one end, then it goes over the fan. In other words have a new wall on the side. That wall will have a hole on each end.


Outside

---| Fan |-------------------------------------- <-Wall 1
----------------------------------| Hole |------ <-Wall 2

Light source

If the light does make it out, you can paint it black and/or put in several 1/2 baffles like this:
______________________________________
|....................| <-Partial Baffle
|......FAN.........|....................
|....................|...................|
|....................|...................| Hole for Air
|........................................|
|........................................|
|_____________________________________


You can also do this on the other side to get some cross flow.

Not a hard job, just take a 1x1 lumber and some plywood and hole saw.

The ducted fan is just one wall with a fan, then ducting going down or to the back so the light doesn't come out. If the duct is black or non reflective.

I have to vent mine pretty soon and I'll probably make a duct that goes down one side.