Really basic questions - I warned you

[NewlyGrowin]

Good day folks,

I can't even say I am a grower yet, I am still in the research phase but man the questions. I don't necessarily want to do it perfect the first time but don't want to do anything boneheaded.

If I may...

I have 10 seeds and am germinating two right now.

I have an Aerogarden Bounty (No please don't stop reading! I know, I know!), which is actually what prompted me to look into this. Now I am thinking it is not such a great idea from what I have been reading. Does anyone have any thoughts from the standpoint of a "new grower"

Here are my stats, these are autoflowering and feminized.

Type: Indoor / Outdoor
Growing: Easy - Moderate
Flowering Time: 8 Weeks
Indica/Sativa: 70% Indica, 20% Sativa, 10% Ruderalis
THC: Moderate - High
THC%: 15.08% Laboratory Report THC Chart
CBD: 0.9% Laboratory Report CBD Chart
CBN: 0.3% Laboratory Report
Country: Netherlands Netherlands
Yield: Up to 250 gr Indoors/150 gr out
Genetics: Original Northern Lights

I also have some fertilizer from Advanced Nutrients.

So the questions!

1.) I am thinking for 1 or two plants the 47W LED will not be enough. And was thinking of building some sort of CFL cluster of lights to add to it. Good idea? Bad idea? Not needed?

2.) I was also looking at a VIPARSPECTRA lighting, specifically this 450W grow light but my space is limited. Is this worth the $190 price tag?

3.) These are supposed to be autoflowering, so do I just crank up the lights all the time and let it go? I was thinking I needed to schedule it 18+ hours of light per day then back it off to 12/12 for flowering but the auto "just does it?"

4.) Soil versus Hydro. I have a spot in my garage I could build a space bucket of sorts. I was thinking of 2 of these, one on top of the other to create a closed container, CFL's in the top, soil in the bottom, and intake/exhaust vents at soil level and at the top, respectively. It holds 20 gallons. I was thinking I could put multiple plants in it with mutliple CFLs. Does this sound like a good idea over the AeroGarden?

5.) Fertilizer - Are the instructions on the containers appropriate for this type of crop or do I need to find some instructions elsewhere? I have found things that direct me to use some, but not really "dosage."

Sorry for the deluge of questions. I don't need this to be perfect but it would be great to have a good crop the first time around and I REALLY don't like screwing things up.

Peace and much thanks!
NG

 

[Blew Hiller]

1& 2) If you plan to keep growing, buy the better light (and opinions here will abound). 420 sponsors @TimberGrowLights and @GROWant offer excellent options at varying price points. Hard to find a thread here where people bitch about buying the better light, always the opposite though....
3) Autos prefer either a 20/4 or 18/6 schedule...all living things need a break and dark times are when roots grow best.
4) I am a soil guy...many here are hydro. Both work.
5) Fertilizer and Nutrients will differ on the final grow method. I use good soil and it has (mostly) all the nutrients the plant needs. You can buy good bag soil does the same. Can't speak for hydro, but I know there is a def a process of adding nutes.

 

[TorturedSoul]

This is probably going to end up long and rambling (as that's what I do ). And you might have other replies which address your questions before I manage to finish this, because I'm typing one-handed today.

I have an Aerogarden Bounty (No please don't stop reading! I know, I know!), which is actually what prompted me to look into this. Now I am thinking it is not such a great idea from what I have been reading. Does anyone have any thoughts from the standpoint of a "new grower"

Don't they sell Phototrons any more, lol (you'd have been better off).

Aren't those things like $150? If so, can you still return it? You can get an el cheapo 3'x3'x6' grow tent for around $85 to $100, and if that only has a 47-watt light (assuming it's actually being ran at 47 watts and not some fraction of the number like many LEDs grow lights marketed to newish growers are), and while $50 won't buy you much of a new light, I've just had a look on my local Craigslist and saw several 400-watt HPS setups (complete, but you'd probably want a new bulb) ranging from $35 to $75 each, a 600-watt one for $75, and one 1,000-watt switchable (HPS or MH) one with a crappy reflector for $75. Plus the usual old HPS and MH warehouse lights for $25 (which could be made to work with a little effort, although you'd want to start saving for a decent reflector immediately).

I looked into Aerogardens when I first heard about them, thinking it might make a nice present for Mom to grow some kitchen herbs in. I figured... you know, the things probably cost $40 or $50, but if she enjoyed it, it'd be worth it. Boy, was I shocked at the actual prices of them, lol. She'd have eventually discovered they were triple-digits and would have gone apesh!t. But, anyway, I did read some reviews - and there were several talking about how soon the things broke down, and a few of them mentioned that they'd emailed about getting them fixed within the warranty period and had been ignored. Which surprised me, because I later read that Aerogardens were <GAG> a Miracle Gro product and for all the bad things I could (and often do) say about the Scotts MiracleGro monster, I always figured the company was large and well-known enough that they'd honor warranties. After all, when they got caught selling bird seed that was full of... bird poison (LMFAO), they eventually ended up paying people off, IIRC.

You could grow a lot of fine cannabis in a 3'x3'x6' tent. I guess you could grow a couple less-than-24"-tall ones in an Aerogarden. Looks like a fine concept and all but, honestly... IDK. Millions of people made fun of everyone who got suckered into buying the old Phototrons in the '70s/'80s/'90s, but it was technically possible to get (some) bud from one and a couple people probably did. Actually, a friend had one years ago and after swapping out the laughable U-shaped fluorescent side lighting for something stronger and adding a really cheap HPS (70-watt, I think) to the top, ditching the stuff at the bottom and just running soil in it... did pull a few small harvests from it.

But assuming you decide to keep it (or, more likely, cannot return it)... I just did a quick search for some grow journals using them. I actually found several, but most were in the Abandoned section. Still, a few made it to completion. First, here's a short thread with some information:
Aerogarden
and the completed grow journals:
Nonamebrand's Aerogarden - Auto Fem Dwarf Lowflyer - 2016
First Grow! - Aerogarden Ultra With Mars Reflector 48 Using CK Dwarf Low Flyer
Med Gom 1.0 & Massive Midget In A Chilled Aerogarden With Mars Hydro Reflector LED
Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom 1.0
Chilled Aerogardens - Auto's Fastberry & Pineapple Express - 500 True Watts Of LED

I hope you can find a lot of useful information in those; strain recommendations, good modifications to the setup, et cetera.

Here are my stats, these are autoflowering and feminized.

Type: Indoor / Outdoor
Growing: Easy - Moderate
Flowering Time: 8 Weeks
Indica/Sativa: 70% Indica, 20% Sativa, 10% Ruderalis
THC: Moderate - High
THC%: 15.08% Laboratory Report THC Chart
CBD: 0.9% Laboratory Report CBD Chart
CBN: 0.3% Laboratory Report
Country: Netherlands Netherlands
Yield: Up to 250 gr Indoors/150 gr out
Genetics: Original Northern Lights

Got those from Crop King Seeds? Auto-flowering strains would definitely be a good idea. SMALL rooted 100% indica clones might be even better, since they'd start flowering immediately instead of three(?) weeks into the grow, but autos are known for staying pretty small if/when they run out of something (primarily root space), so they ought to be workable. If people can grow a bud in a shot glass sized Solo cup, you should be able to grow some in an Aerogarden. Since (I'm assuming) you've used CKS, you might consider their Dwarf Low Flyer auto-flowering strain. The name infers that they'll be midgets.

I am thinking for 1 or two plants the 47W LED will not be enough. And was thinking of building some sort of CFL cluster of lights to add to it. Good idea? Bad idea? Not needed?

I'd expect to add lighting of some sort, yes.

2.) I was also looking at a VIPARSPECTRA lighting, specifically this 450W grow light but my space is limited. Is this worth the $190 price tag?[/quote]

Like most cheap LED grow panels, that's not actually a 450-watt panel. It's a 210-watt one. But, with that being said, it's a lot more light than you have now. And people seem to like that brand. People also like GROWant and MarsHydro - both of which happen to be sponsors of our forum (in other words, those two companies help pay the upkeep so that we have this massive cannabis resource to benefit from), and they both have several inexpensive LED grow light panels.

3.) These are supposed to be autoflowering, so do I just crank up the lights all the time and let it go?

Basically.

I was thinking I needed to schedule it 18+ hours of light per day then back it off to 12/12 for flowering

No.

but the auto "just does it?"

That's why they call them auto-flowers . Most folks use either a 18/6 or 20/4 light/darkness schedule with auto-flowering strains. You can use less hours of light per day, but there's no reason to do so (and an obvious reason NOT to) unless you are flowering photoperiodic strains in the same room.

Soil versus Hydro.

I'm probably the opposite of most people, but I tend to recommend that new growers start with some (really simple) form of hydroponics. You don't have to worry about what's in the soil to start with (because there is no soil, lol), when to start adding nutrients, and the things you do have a more or less immediate effect. Some folks figure that last part is a negative, thinking that soils ability to "buffer" things makes it newbie-friendly. But consider this: You do a thing. You do another thing. You do... several things. Oh, drat and darn - your plant looks like it has a problem. WHICH of those several things caused the issue, lol? With hydroponics, you do a thing, you do another thing, you WHOOPS, there's a problem. Must be the most recent thing you did, then .

Plus, if you're paranoid, you probably don't want your neighbors seeing you lugging in bags of soil/perlite several times a year.

DWC stands for deep-water culture. Which is a fancy name for growing a plant in a container of water. You need a reservoir (container); many people use five-gallon buckets, I've always preferred 20- to 25-gallon Rubbermaid type storage totes for the additional capacity (but one of those is capable of supporting a LARGE plant, so probably larger than you're wanting). Need something to hold the plant. There are "net-pot bucket lids" which are exactly that. I've been known to use the biggest Solo cup I could find and just put as many 1/4" holes in it as I could. You'll want some kind of media (Geolite, Hydroton, some other brand of "expanded clay balls," or something similar. Stick that in your pot (or cup, whatever). Plant's roots go in that. If you just throw a seed into a container of those clay balls, it'll fall to the bottom, so this works best with at least seedlings. Some folks will start their plant in a rockwool cube, but I like perlite, a perlite/vermiculite mix, a perlite/coco coir mix, or even some sort of soil/soilless medium. It's easy to gently rinse off the media (don't wait until you've got a 3' tall bushy plant, though, lol). If you miss some, no worries. You'll need some sort of aeration device - that's an aquarium air pump and some air stones or an aquarium power head (costs around $20 at ChinaMart). With the larger reservoirs, I used both. Massive amounts of DO (dissolved oxygen) in the reservoir is the key to a successful DWC grow. It helps support healthy white roots, means you generally have to use a little bit less nutrients (plant works more efficiently), and can save your bacon if the temperatures get extreme (high).

There's also "hempy" - which is passive hydroponics (no pumps or active aeration devices). Grab some kind of container, even a two-liter pop bottle, put a hole in it a couple inches up the side, fill it with perlite, perlite/coco, or perlite/vermiculite, stick your plant in it (you could start a seed directly in this), and go. Productivity is somewhere between soil and DWC hydroponics. This might be better for multiple small plants, whereas DWC (as mentioned) can support larger plants, even (literally) trees. I wouldn't use a hempy for a LARGE plant because I'd have to make the reservoir (area below the hole in the side) large enough that I didn't have to add water/nutrients several times per day, lol - and, if I did, I'd start worrying about stagnation (lack of oxygen). But it's fine for small, even moderately-sized ones. If you want to keep a small(?) mother plant and constantly flower rooted clones in a perpetual grow, hempy works great.

I have a spot in my garage I could build a space bucket of sorts. I was thinking of 2 of these, one on top of the other to create a closed container, CFL's in the top, soil in the bottom, and intake/exhaust vents at soil level and at the top, respectively. It holds 20 gallons. I was thinking I could put multiple plants in it with mutliple CFLs. Does this sound like a good idea over the AeroGarden?

Most things would .

20 gallons... I routinely grew plants that got around eight (or slightly more) square feet in area (SCROG grows) in DWC reservoirs not much bigger than that, lol. Of course, with soil, it'll be less. But that could still support a pretty sizable plant. I've never liked the thought of multiple plants in one container. People do that, but if one plant ends up with a serious issue (think: disease/virus)... then they all will. But, again, people do it.

Fertilizer - Are the instructions on the containers appropriate for this type of crop or do I need to find some instructions elsewhere? I have found things that direct me to use some, but not really "dosage."

Considering the cost of some of the Advanced Nutrient lines (if one chooses to get all the supplements listed on the feeding schedules), I rather doubt anyone in the universe is using the stuff for tomatoes . One or two, maybe - but the product is marketed to cannabis growers.

Start at 1/4 the recommended dosage, then work your way up. The plant will show you when it's "hungry" (and if/when it has been given too much). Young plants don't need much, auto-flowering plants (generally) don't need much, grows under wimpy lights don't need much... and the nutrient companies are in the business of selling as much product as they can, so they might naturally like it if their customers use more than they actually have to.

At this point in time, a person ought to be able to find (probably multiple) recommended feeding schedules for just about every nutrient line that's been on the market for more than a couple weeks, thanks to the huge number of people growing cannabis and the whole Internet thing. I just typed "advanced nutrients" autoflowering into a web-search engine and got 48,900 results, lol. After you get going, if you still cannot find any information along those lines, let me know and I'll try to get you some links.

Sorry for the deluge of questions. I don't need this to be perfect but it would be great to have a good crop the first time around and I REALLY don't like screwing things up.

Questions are fine. That - along with doing - is how we learn, yes? As you go, you'll learn more, which will give you the foundation you need... to find more questions to ask, lol. It's easy to grow cannabis (it grows wild, all by itself). But knowledge helps you grow more - and better - cannabis.

 

[NewlyGrowin]

Awesome man, thank you!

After I posted my thread a friend got ahold of me and asked me if I needed any grow lamps. How fortuitous? So I am going to be grabbing at minimum one 400W dual MH/HPS light on Tuesday.

Thank you for the perspective!

1& 2) If you plan to keep growing, buy the better light (and opinions here will abound). 420 sponsors @TimberGrowLights and @GROWant offer excellent options at varying price points. Hard to find a thread here where people bitch about buying the better light, always the opposite though....
3) Autos prefer either a 20/4 or 18/6 schedule...all living things need a break and dark times are when roots grow best.
4) I am a soil guy...many here are hydro. Both work.
5) Fertilizer and Nutrients will differ on the final grow method. I use good soil and it has (mostly) all the nutrients the plant needs. You can buy good bag soil does the same. Can't speak for hydro, but I know there is a def a process of adding nutes.

 

[NewlyGrowin]

Ok, for the wealth of insight and information you provided I would expect to pay. So THANK YOU so much for taking the time.

The Aerogarden is actually something I use to grow herbs indoors. I have had it for awhile but don't have anything actively growing in it right now which is why I thought of this. Since I have about 10 seeds to germinate I will peruse the journals you linked, thank you very much for that as well, and try a grow in it just for kicks. I think for a serious one though I am going to go with soil out in the garage. *makes a note to look at grow tents now*

So now I am thinking no less than 300-400W of light.

And yes, I did buy these from Crop King Seeds. I figured someone would pick up on that

Thank you so much for all this information you have cemented a lot of what I had already started to understand as well as sent some others into tailspins. All good info!

I will spend some time digesting all this!

This is probably going to end up long and rambling (as that's what I do ). And you might have other replies which address your questions before I manage to finish this, because I'm typing one-handed today.



Don't they sell Phototrons any more, lol (you'd have been better off).

Aren't those things like $150? If so, can you still return it? You can get an el cheapo 3'x3'x6' grow tent for around $85 to $100, and if that only has a 47-watt light (assuming it's actually being ran at 47 watts and not some fraction of the number like many LEDs grow lights marketed to newish growers are), and while $50 won't buy you much of a new light, I've just had a look on my local Craigslist and saw several 400-watt HPS setups (complete, but you'd probably want a new bulb) ranging from $35 to $75 each, a 600-watt one for $75, and one 1,000-watt switchable (HPS or MH) one with a crappy reflector for $75. Plus the usual old HPS and MH warehouse lights for $25 (which could be made to work with a little effort, although you'd want to start saving for a decent reflector immediately).

I looked into Aerogardens when I first heard about them, thinking it might make a nice present for Mom to grow some kitchen herbs in. I figured... you know, the things probably cost $40 or $50, but if she enjoyed it, it'd be worth it. Boy, was I shocked at the actual prices of them, lol. She'd have eventually discovered they were triple-digits and would have gone apesh!t. But, anyway, I did read some reviews - and there were several talking about how soon the things broke down, and a few of them mentioned that they'd emailed about getting them fixed within the warranty period and had been ignored. Which surprised me, because I later read that Aerogardens were <GAG> a Miracle Gro product and for all the bad things I could (and often do) say about the Scotts MiracleGro monster, I always figured the company was large and well-known enough that they'd honor warranties. After all, when they got caught selling bird seed that was full of... bird poison (LMFAO), they eventually ended up paying people off, IIRC.

You could grow a lot of fine cannabis in a 3'x3'x6' tent. I guess you could grow a couple less-than-24"-tall ones in an Aerogarden. Looks like a fine concept and all but, honestly... IDK. Millions of people made fun of everyone who got suckered into buying the old Phototrons in the '70s/'80s/'90s, but it was technically possible to get (some) bud from one and a couple people probably did. Actually, a friend had one years ago and after swapping out the laughable U-shaped fluorescent side lighting for something stronger and adding a really cheap HPS (70-watt, I think) to the top, ditching the stuff at the bottom and just running soil in it... did pull a few small harvests from it.

But assuming you decide to keep it (or, more likely, cannot return it)... I just did a quick search for some grow journals using them. I actually found several, but most were in the Abandoned section. Still, a few made it to completion. First, here's a short thread with some information:
Aerogarden
and the completed grow journals:
Nonamebrand's Aerogarden - Auto Fem Dwarf Lowflyer - 2016
First Grow! - Aerogarden Ultra With Mars Reflector 48 Using CK Dwarf Low Flyer
Med Gom 1.0 & Massive Midget In A Chilled Aerogarden With Mars Hydro Reflector LED
Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom 1.0
Chilled Aerogardens - Auto's Fastberry & Pineapple Express - 500 True Watts Of LED

I hope you can find a lot of useful information in those; strain recommendations, good modifications to the setup, et cetera.



Got those from Crop King Seeds? Auto-flowering strains would definitely be a good idea. SMALL rooted 100% indica clones might be even better, since they'd start flowering immediately instead of three(?) weeks into the grow, but autos are known for staying pretty small if/when they run out of something (primarily root space), so they ought to be workable. If people can grow a bud in a shot glass sized Solo cup, you should be able to grow some in an Aerogarden. Since (I'm assuming) you've used CKS, you might consider their Dwarf Low Flyer auto-flowering strain. The name infers that they'll be midgets.



I'd expect to add lighting of some sort, yes.

2.) I was also looking at a VIPARSPECTRA lighting, specifically this 450W grow light but my space is limited. Is this worth the $190 price tag?

Like most cheap LED grow panels, that's not actually a 450-watt panel. It's a 210-watt one. But, with that being said, it's a lot more light than you have now. And people seem to like that brand. People also like GROWant and MarsHydro - both of which happen to be sponsors of our forum (in other words, those two companies help pay the upkeep so that we have this massive cannabis resource to benefit from), and they both have several inexpensive LED grow light panels.



Basically.



No.



That's why they call them auto-flowers . Most folks use either a 18/6 or 20/4 light/darkness schedule with auto-flowering strains. You can use less hours of light per day, but there's no reason to do so (and an obvious reason NOT to) unless you are flowering photoperiodic strains in the same room.



I'm probably the opposite of most people, but I tend to recommend that new growers start with some (really simple) form of hydroponics. You don't have to worry about what's in the soil to start with (because there is no soil, lol), when to start adding nutrients, and the things you do have a more or less immediate effect. Some folks figure that last part is a negative, thinking that soils ability to "buffer" things makes it newbie-friendly. But consider this: You do a thing. You do another thing. You do... several things. Oh, drat and darn - your plant looks like it has a problem. WHICH of those several things caused the issue, lol? With hydroponics, you do a thing, you do another thing, you WHOOPS, there's a problem. Must be the most recent thing you did, then .

Plus, if you're paranoid, you probably don't want your neighbors seeing you lugging in bags of soil/perlite several times a year.

DWC stands for deep-water culture. Which is a fancy name for growing a plant in a container of water. You need a reservoir (container); many people use five-gallon buckets, I've always preferred 20- to 25-gallon Rubbermaid type storage totes for the additional capacity (but one of those is capable of supporting a LARGE plant, so probably larger than you're wanting). Need something to hold the plant. There are "net-pot bucket lids" which are exactly that. I've been known to use the biggest Solo cup I could find and just put as many 1/4" holes in it as I could. You'll want some kind of media (Geolite, Hydroton, some other brand of "expanded clay balls," or something similar. Stick that in your pot (or cup, whatever). Plant's roots go in that. If you just throw a seed into a container of those clay balls, it'll fall to the bottom, so this works best with at least seedlings. Some folks will start their plant in a rockwool cube, but I like perlite, a perlite/vermiculite mix, a perlite/coco coir mix, or even some sort of soil/soilless medium. It's easy to gently rinse off the media (don't wait until you've got a 3' tall bushy plant, though, lol). If you miss some, no worries. You'll need some sort of aeration device - that's an aquarium air pump and some air stones or an aquarium power head (costs around $20 at ChinaMart). With the larger reservoirs, I used both. Massive amounts of DO (dissolved oxygen) in the reservoir is the key to a successful DWC grow. It helps support healthy white roots, means you generally have to use a little bit less nutrients (plant works more efficiently), and can save your bacon if the temperatures get extreme (high).

There's also "hempy" - which is passive hydroponics (no pumps or active aeration devices). Grab some kind of container, even a two-liter pop bottle, put a hole in it a couple inches up the side, fill it with perlite, perlite/coco, or perlite/vermiculite, stick your plant in it (you could start a seed directly in this), and go. Productivity is somewhere between soil and DWC hydroponics. This might be better for multiple small plants, whereas DWC (as mentioned) can support larger plants, even (literally) trees. I wouldn't use a hempy for a LARGE plant because I'd have to make the reservoir (area below the hole in the side) large enough that I didn't have to add water/nutrients several times per day, lol - and, if I did, I'd start worrying about stagnation (lack of oxygen). But it's fine for small, even moderately-sized ones. If you want to keep a small(?) mother plant and constantly flower rooted clones in a perpetual grow, hempy works great.



Most things would .

20 gallons... I routinely grew plants that got around eight (or slightly more) square feet in area (SCROG grows) in DWC reservoirs not much bigger than that, lol. Of course, with soil, it'll be less. But that could still support a pretty sizable plant. I've never liked the thought of multiple plants in one container. People do that, but if one plant ends up with a serious issue (think: disease/virus)... then they all will. But, again, people do it.



Considering the cost of some of the Advanced Nutrient lines (if one chooses to get all the supplements listed on the feeding schedules), I rather doubt anyone in the universe is using the stuff for tomatoes . One or two, maybe - but the product is marketed to cannabis growers.

Start at 1/4 the recommended dosage, then work your way up. The plant will show you when it's "hungry" (and if/when it has been given too much). Young plants don't need much, auto-flowering plants (generally) don't need much, grows under wimpy lights don't need much... and the nutrient companies are in the business of selling as much product as they can, so they might naturally like it if their customers use more than they actually have to.

At this point in time, a person ought to be able to find (probably multiple) recommended feeding schedules for just about every nutrient line that's been on the market for more than a couple weeks, thanks to the huge number of people growing cannabis and the whole Internet thing. I just typed "advanced nutrients" autoflowering into a web-search engine and got 48,900 results, lol. After you get going, if you still cannot find any information along those lines, let me know and I'll try to get you some links.



Questions are fine. That - along with doing - is how we learn, yes? As you go, you'll learn more, which will give you the foundation you need... to find more questions to ask, lol. It's easy to grow cannabis (it grows wild, all by itself). But knowledge helps you grow more - and better - cannabis.

[/QUOTE]

 

[FelipeBlu]

Welcome to !

I grow Autos with 24-hour lights on. Ruderalis genetics are from areas where the summer sun never really sets. I suppose there could be a loss of yield, but the roots grow just fine. So if you need to keep the lights on for temp control, or want to do it for any other reason (such as achieving DLI with smaller lights), you shouldn’t let concerns about the plants needing a dark period stop you.

 

[NewlyGrowin]

Good info, thank you.

So just thinking out loud, is there a "so many watts per hour per day" guideline that people follow? Something like, "Well I would recommend 300W for 12 hours (Just picking out a number) but if you only have 150W then run it around the clock"?

Welcome to !

I grow Autos with 24-hour lights on. Ruderalis genetics are from areas where the summer sun never really sets. I suppose there could be a loss of yield, but the roots grow just fine. So if you need to keep the lights on for temp control, or want to do it for any other reason (such as achieving DLI with smaller lights), you shouldn’t let concerns about the plants needing a dark period stop you.

 

[FelipeBlu]

The research I’ve done suggests that cannabis does better with a DLI (Daily Light Integral) of at least 30 moles during flowering. This would be equivalent to about 350 μmol/s.m² of PAR for 24 hours, or ~700 for 12 hours. One source suggested that cannabis flower quantity and quality continue to improve up to 60 moles/day. That’s a lot of light!! Like SUN bright!

During veg, you can get away with a DLI of about 25 moles and get terrific growth.

DLI (in moles/day) =
PPFD x (T x 3600)/1,000,000
where T = time in hours

Let me know if ya have any questions.

 

[FelipeBlu]

BTW, if ya don’t want to bother with DLI and PPFD, some growers recommend 50 true watts (Not equivalent watts) per square foot of grow area (not necessarily tent area).

 

[NewlyGrowin]

EXACTLY what I was asking, thank you

The research I’ve done suggests that cannabis does better with a DLI (Daily Light Integral) of at least 30 during flowering. This would be equivalent to about 350 μmol/s.m² of PAR for 24 hours, or ~700 for 12 hours. One source suggested that cannabis flower quantity and quality continue to improve up to a 60 DLI. That’s a lot of light!!

During veg, you can get away with a DLI of about 25 and get terrific growth.

DLI = PPFD x (T x 3600)/1,000,000
where T = time in hours

Let me know if ya have any questions.