covering flowering plants at night?

so we all know the discussion, and have pretty much come to the conclusion that exposure to regular evening lights doesn't make outdoor plants go hermie, while for indoor plants it can do that.
From what I've read, the best explanation I ott for this was that plants tell night and day according to what they get from the environment throughout their lives, so a plant that is in the closet and gets no light-nights during his veg state with the sharp shift from day to night, may feel a small light leak to be disturbing during flowering.

However that may be, I have had some people telling me that although my plants aren't turning hermie, I should cover them at night not for sexual safety, but for boosted growth. yes, these guys claim that flowering will be greater and more rapid if the plant is covered and receives no light. What do you think? Is this true?

I've been wondering too, because there are two street lamps about 200 feet away (the yellow/orange kind) and I wonder if they are affecting my plants in any way. It is very dark but I can still make out my plants in the dark because of the street lamps. My plants aren't hermi'ng but I'm wondering if the street lamps will keep them from fully bulking up.

My explanation for the above however, is that plants record amount of light received each day and compare to the previous day/days. If you have light leaks your plants are going to record more amount of light than the previous day and lead to hermies. Outdoors it's unlikely to happen because hours of light are decreasing as you get closer to winter.

bump here. this is an important issue for all of us, with hardly any info on it

I strteted to bring my plant in at 7pm and put it Ina completely sealed off dark area and
I would say it sprung about 6 new budsights OVERNIGHt if course I was also doing some lst
and I'm not sure if making it darker had anything to do with that or not, who knows (I guess yes)??? I recommend doing it
if you CAN MOVE your plant if not cover that girl ( blacktrashbag like) just DO NOT upset her light schedule. If anything starts to look funny I would instantly stop!

doing this is good in a few different ways,,,will save on mold from rain at nite,,help with nite bugs if covered properly, and give plant complete darkness,,,either way it is a good thing and if you can manage to cover them up at nite then i would do so..

I don't have much experience covering plants at night but where I live fall is coming and with sunny warm days and contrastingly cool nights covering plants could lead to a fungus if the plants don't get proper airflow. In the morning my sneakers are pretty much soaked just walking across the lawn. Perhaps shade your plants but I'd use caution when trying to obtain total darkness.

I am an outdoor grower so I can't really say with any concrete knowledge what you say about light leaks and hermies for inside growers. That being said your plants outside deal with starlight, moon light, lightning and of course the stray lights of the nights. My experience is that if the plant is in the same setting through its' grow it will do just fine as it does in nature. So that being said let me point out some drawbacks about covering your plant every night: Breaking off branches and buds when applying the cover, trapping moisture under the cover which will promote mold, mildew and insects.
I have covered some plants in the past though not for light, for moisture. Putting them under a cover like a lean to, over inside a greenhouse will protect from excessive moisture (dew) at night or nightly rains. Remember that at night when you have a large decrease in temp. that you will make your covered area especially with plastic a heaven for condensation inside your cover.
I hope that this gives you something to think about before you try this, maybe try doing this to one plant and see if the difference is great enough to risk harming your plants. Happy Growing

OK.

This is something I have long experience with.

I grow my herb in 2 greenhouses and a "cage"(large ScrOG).

The East Greenhouse is exposed to my neighbors porch and window lights.

Because I'm rarely in that part of my yard at night, it took me years to figure out why the buds on one side of that greenhouse were always fluffy, regardless of strain(including one hermie, several years ago).

Anything brighter than a full moon will cause problems. Like a 100w bulb, 100 feet away.

I now drape black fabric over that side of the greenhouse each evening, and the results are much better.

thanks all
with the opinions gathered it seems that most think that giving the plants complete darkness at night will boost / prevent slowing of budding - i'm starting to think it's true, although at first i thought it was bs. I covered one of my plants (the small one which is less advanced in flowering, only now starting to form buds) last night with a big cardboard box (much bigger than the plant), and it actually seems to have made a difference.

I live in a pretty dry climate (though the nights are humid this season) - so i'm not very concerned about molding etc., but I won't take a chance with the big plants, they should be ready in a month. Then again, if I see that the small plant is doing well and that budding is indeed faster and denser, I might try to find an arrangement, perhaps one that hides the lights but doesn't block the air so much. maybe i'll make a big hole in the box and cover with black cloth.

question: does new rooting stress the plant or stunt growth?

for instance, in my totally root-bound plant (3 mature girls in one small pot), if I put soil above the current layer to fill up the pot and cover some of the stem, or transplant it by just cutting off the bottom of the pot and putting in a newer pot - will this stress the plants? I heard that a sudden growth of new roots may stunt the growth for a few days. This will not be good for me.

Although rootbound, the plants seem to be doing fine, they are late into flowering (week 6-7) and i don't want them to go into stress or hurt the budding process. Also for security, i don't want them to grow any taller than they are now, and in their current situation they are growing about an inch per week. would allowing them root-space now create a sudden high-growth? these are single-cola sativas. I do want more and bigger buds. Do you still recommend replanting?

veggiegardener said:

OK.

This is something I have long experience with.

I grow my herb in 2 greenhouses and a "cage"(large ScrOG).

The East Greenhouse is exposed to my neighbors porch and window lights.

Because I'm rarely in that part of my yard at night, it took me years to figure out why the buds on one side of that greenhouse were always fluffy, regardless of strain(including one hermie, several years ago).

Anything brighter than a full moon will cause problems. Like a 100w bulb, 100 feet away.

I now drape black fabric over that side of the greenhouse each evening, and the results are much better.

Click to expand...

Nice post!

I always assumed the same. I didn't bother with the neighbors lights during outdoor veg cycle because there's always plenty of light in the sky during the summer, but I did quite a few security walks around my greenhouse over the course of spring/summer and knew that it'd be an issue that I'd atleast have to take precautions about. I thought about just throwing Mylar up on the inner walls of the West side where it has the biggest threat, as it'd only block out an hour of evening sun in the end, but decided that may not be the best option.

Ended up purchasing a 20' x 30' tarp for $50. Doesn't cover my greenhouse corner to corner on all ends, but it covers about 70% of it and def takes away the neighbors light threats. I agree that it is worth every penny and second that it requires to purchase and cover every night/remove in the early am. I feel if the light cycle is starting to change but you're not quite there to where your girls are showing any signs of preflowering, starting a consistent tarping schedule can help boost your plants into a flower phase and get you earlier flowers. I wasn't expecting one of mine to go off til recently and she started to change the sec I started doing this.

asaph said:

question: does new rooting stress the plant or stunt growth?

for instance, in my totally root-bound plant (3 mature girls in one small pot), if I put soil above the current layer to fill up the pot and cover some of the stem, or transplant it by just cutting off the bottom of the pot and putting in a newer pot - will this stress the plants? I heard that a sudden growth of new roots may stunt the growth for a few days. This will not be good for me.

Although rootbound, the plants seem to be doing fine, they are late into flowering (week 6-7) and i don't want them to go into stress or hurt the budding process. Also for security, i don't want them to grow any taller than they are now, and in their current situation they are growing about an inch per week. would allowing them root-space now create a sudden high-growth? these are single-cola sativas. I do want more and bigger buds. Do you still recommend replanting?

Click to expand...

I just read this post somewhere else.

yeah well... you gotta work hard on this site

veggiegardener said:

Anything brighter than a full moon will cause problems. Like a 100w bulb, 100 feet away.

Click to expand...

Is that brighter than the full moon??

For what it´s worth, my girls grow fine within 50´ of a sodium streetlight.

Spanishfly said:

Is that brighter than the full moon??

For what it´s worth, my girls grow fine within 50´ of a sodium streetlight.

Click to expand...

that's the thing. my girls are also growing very nicely. what people are claiming, and I have accepted, is that they would grow EVEN NICER with no lights at all.

asaph said:

that's the thing. my girls are also growing very nicely. what people are claiming, and I have accepted, is that they would grow EVEN NICER with no lights at all.

Click to expand...

There's never a guarantee that nearby lights will make your plants herm out on you, but it's always a risk. Even if it doesn't cause that, if it's strong enough light it can revert the plants back into vegetative state in NO TIME. So literally, one night of intrusive light or more than normal light from the sky, and you could possibly throw it's flower cycle off, which in turn slows growth and delays the flower process. If it reverts, you're now talking 3 days or so for the plant to get back into the groove of it's flower light cycle and conitunue to produce buds. Like I said in my previous post, if you're looking to maximize your crop, then spending $15-20 for a 10' x 10' tarp to as much as $50 like I did for a 20' x 30' tarp, trust me, the tarp will pay for itself and is like an insurance policy on your crop by reducing light threats, as well as excessive rain (therefore this tarp is also preventing mold & disease, BONUS!)

Full moons are pretty fookin bright!