Forcing Indicas to Turn Purple Indoors during the heat

- I've noticed that my outdoor indicas become purple late in the season in response to a lower temperature at night. When the temp drops, they start to get purple. I really like this about some of my plants.
-Now I have only grown outside up until this point, but recently I got a nice indoor setup going. I am growing some purple varieties that turn purple when the temp drops, would it be feasable to use a cheap air-conditioner (Ive seen tiny ones less than $100) either directly in my grow-tent, or in the small loft where my grow tent resides outside of the tent near the filtered air intake to lower temps down to around 50 degrees or a little lower for perhaps a couple hours every night during the last week or two of flowering, in order to artificially induce the cool temperatures of the end of autumn and make my indicas show thier beautiful colors? or is there something inherently dangerous with this idea, like freon, for instance, or anything else that might become a flaw and end up killing all my ladies off.
- I'm just curious right now, but in a relatively short peroid of time I am thinking about trying this if nobody sees any problems with it. I still haven't done much research on this topic yet myself, It was just a thought I had while stoned and making a post for someone who wanted to know what the purplest strains are, and how purple they were. haha, the stoned mind works in such great ways... most of the time.

Just get a purple strain Easy as that.

Hank.

Hank said:

Just get a purple strain Easy as that.

Hank.

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- Hank, thanks for the tip. but maybe you didn't understand what I'm trying to do/say/ask. I am growing a variety that turns purple more in response to lower temperatures as opposed to just becoming purple when it is relatively mature. I've harvested several types of purple outside that on a season where summer carried into September pretty good and it was ready for harvest without experiencing many nights below 50 degrees, there was very little purple showing, just a little bit on the calyx tips. On another season where the colder night time temps were already kicking in by september, the same variety will have developed much more purple pigmentation than in a previous, warmer late harvest season. In case anyone was wondering, it's "Fuckin' Incredible" by Visc (vancouver island seed company)
- Now I am growing indoors and will be flowering in a place that has great temps for growing, but will never get below 60 degrees at night. not even close to the temps I've seen make this variety turn more purple than green. I need something at least 10 degrees colder than that to get the pigmentation I really like.
-So Im just asking if there is something fundamentally wrong with having an AC unit run during flowering, during the 12 hours of dark, to get the temps down lower for just a couple hours during thier "night". sort of replicating what mother nature did that made this same variety a little better on the year it had some cold nights and turned more purple than usual.
- I do understand that some varieties will turn very purple regardless, but even they might get more purple in response to a week of cold nights. It is not simply that I desire a purple plant, I am trying to get a certain variety of plant to turn more purple than it is going to when I flower in a couple weeks. I hope this clarification helps someone tell me. If anyone has ever needed to use AC to keep plants cool because they have a hot grow-room, they could tell me if its safe for the plants. I'm wondering about cooling them off when it is dark and already slightly cool. will it hurt them at all? how cool can an adult plant get at night without damaging it? that sort of thing. any help appreciated.

you can use an ac unit sure, but they don't actually make things cooler, they just remove heat. All ac units do the same thing, so you need an exhaust for the ac heat, thats why the window unit hangs from the window, feel the air coming from the outside, it's hot as fuck. So you need to be able to exhaust it, simply laying an sc unit down in a room and turning it on won't lower the temp one bit.

Good Luck
P@ssw0rd

P@ssw0rd said:

you can use an ac unit sure, but they don't actually make things cooler, they just remove heat. All ac units do the same thing, so you need an exhaust for the ac heat, thats why the window unit hangs from the window, feel the air coming from the outside, it's hot as fuck. So you need to be able to exhaust it, simply laying an sc unit down in a room and turning it on won't lower the temp one bit.

Good Luck
P@ssw0rd

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- Oh yeah, totally. I don't think I've ever seen an AC unit on anyone's floor I have a home-made grow closet in a mid-sized attic. one window and it's close enough to where i could just put the AC unit in the window and it should be close enough to lower temperatures in the grow area, especially when the light is on it's off cycle.
- I guess now that it's been established that there's no inherent danger just in the use of the unit to cool the air in the room, which I had kinda figured, I'm looking to find out about how cold I should wan't to go during the "night" cycle. In nature the pigmentation starts to look better after its below 50 degrees. But a little more won't hurt too much, might increase the natural process I'm trying to augment. Am I alright so long as temp's stay above freezing? or is there a particular temperature that I should not go below because if I did it would start being harmful in any way. (keep in mind, I might not actually do this... It's just something I thought of when I was hella blunted. I might though, If I feel compelled)
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts

well put it one and see how low you really can go, I would think you would have trouble getting down to 50 and holding it there.

Let us know how it goes, Good luck

P@ssw0rd

Saw a nice little setup similar to this unfortunately it died (used one) before actually needing to be put into action. PS if anyone knows why the condenser would be able to get icy cold one time it turned on and a week or two later get turned on and not get cold anymore (it wasn't in use), just let me know. It was going to run during the day when the lights were on.

ya have it outside your tent.. if its strong enough i dont see this not working= its gonna work man!! my indoor is turning purple currently in its last week of flower.. check out my journal in my signature if you wanna see. I got lucky tho the temp in my closet is cool except when the light is on so thats how i get my drop in temp

- Ok good, I'm thinking that at least this is not a BAD idea. It started out with a concern of it getting too hot in there on one of the few days it gets above 85 degrees or above, which is rare where I live but I wouldn't want a heat wave coming through and killing them that way either. I'm growing them in my home-made medium sized grow closet on wheels so I can move it closer to the AC if i need to, also It's in a relatively small loft above a wood shop, not part of any house and it get's to ambient temps during the day so adding an AC unit to this relatively small area might actually get it to a lower temperature, I only think it needs to push cold air in there for a couple hours during the "night" cycle In order to get my results. I dont need them completely purple, This one looks really good with a combo of colors.

- The strain I am trying to beautify is really pretty with purple. Its shade/fan leaves turn turn dark purple, while the veins on the leaves are lime green. Calyxes are mostly lime green fading to purple at the tips of them. Lot's of trichs, even outdoors. If it is a warmer season the leaves are a really dark indica leaf with lime green calyxes. Either way it's covered in trichs.

- I dont think it makes a difference in potency or anything, I just think this Fuckin' Incredible looks great when it's purple. It's one of the most powerful varieties I have out of the 9 strains I have either growing, sprouting, or still in the package. This plant is VISC's flagship strain, so they won't tell me whats in it, the bastards! It is, however, Fuckin' Incredible. I have another of VISC's strains called Blackberry. It turns purple no matter what, It is just darker with lower temperatures.

- Thanks guys for helping me out on this one. I figured it would work but you never know. Password, you made almost as many posts as I did! I thibk I can get it cool up there, we will see but It can sometimes get to ambient temps during the night up there so in the summers here thats like upper 50's. It's also a relatively small loft so I think It might be possible to get it down below 50, even lower if I am able. Also, I noticed the 1911 you have on your avatar, are you into guns? ClosetFather thats awesome you have a place that gets cool at night and makes them change pigmentation faster. I'm wondering if you know how cool it gets in there at night. Also thanks for the confirmation of my idea. I figured it might work but I needed to be sure. And Homerdog, that sucks about your buddies crop, was he using AC to keep hot temperatures from building up? was it the AC that killed them?

-I guess if I really wan't to find out the temperature range cannibis can survive in I might have to do some research. It will be 2 weeks to a month before I start flowering, and I think I really only need to do it for a couple weeks for just a few hours each night, so I may implement the plan then If I have the time and money. I will update my progress in a grow journal I will soone be starting. I've got 7 of this variety so I should get 3 or 4 females of this strain alone. This will be a good summer!

Your idea is right on, lots of good grow rooms i have seen have Ac units not for the purple strains so much, but just to keep good temps. Theres no reason that you cant experiment with lower the temps at the end of the cycle, this will def bring out some of the purps strains.

This has worked--putting ice cubes on the dirt right below the plant...it also gives a slow water release which is nice...thought about using dry ice but it's kinda pricey. The AC unit helps too but doesn't really bring it down that much.

P@ssw0rd said:

you can use an ac unit sure, but they don't actually make things cooler, they just remove heat.

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ah hahahahahahaa man this made me laugh for a whole sec it makes no sense but he was stoned technically there is no such thing as cold in science there is heat and there is no heat simple POTHEAD!!!

SmokeAronAnonAthon said:

ah hahahahahahaa man this made me laugh for a whole sec it makes no sense but he was stoned technically there is no such thing as cold in science there is heat and there is no heat simple POTHEAD!!!

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tru that, that thing about AC units not making things cooler is BS.....Even if you aren't exhausting the hot air, they still make portable room AC that recirculate the air and cool it down

- Just wondering, when you go outside during jacket weather do you say "my, there sure is a lack of heat out here" lol
just messin' with ya
- I hope to create this "lack of heat" in my grow-module. It's a small area as well, I think I at least have a chance of getting it below 50 degrees, when the ambient temp during that time is usually around 60. It's a smaller area than my old apartment, and our AC could get that fucking place REALLY cold. I think All I'm really gonna need to do is have it on during the night, when the lights are off. I may be able to, and if not I'm not out any money. already got the AC unit, I'll just have to move it

yeah I was thinking of doing that allso

lol get a 5 ton chiller that should make them shits dark purple

lol, well, If I can get everyone else that lives here to let me move the AC unit out to my grow-room during the hottest part of the Summer, then I'll know! I just don't know if I have good odds or bad odds yet. It depends on the weather. One of the main reasons I'm going half indoor this season, because we are supposed to have a crummy summer here, so I might be able to, and If I can, I will!

There's other ways of forcing non-purple strains to turn purple... Take ClearEx, for example...

Hmmm, I've heard of it before, and was unaware of that effect. Do you know what causes it to help the colors show up? do you think it is similar to Humbolt's Own Purple Maxx? it is supposedly formulated to turn purple plants even more purple as well, I learned about it since starting this thread. I like the sound of clearex for many of it's other uses as well!

marijuanajoe1982 said:

I like the sound of clearex for many of it's other uses as well!

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What happens when the temps get colder is called nutrient lockout. What your seeing is the lack of chlorophyll (green) production which allows the other colors to be seen. Same thing with trees. The color is always there. You just don't see it because it is masked by all the green chlorophyll.

So any hidden colors can be brought out by cutting out all of your nutrients before harvest (flushing). Flush long enough and you will see all kinds of beautiful colors you never see normally.

Flushing also makes your bud taste sweet. I use Clearex for the first 24 hours and then straight water for at least 2 weeks. Earl flushed a White Widow plant for 6 weeks and it turned totally purple!

flush with cold water always works for mates ov mine