Light dep. Mad science. Questions answered and raised.

Perplexus says:

This thread shall be a clearing house of knowledge regarding lightdep in a greenhouse situation. Ive done a great deal of research and am just beginning to scratch the surface of the amazing potential of light dep in an out door situation. I would like to discuss how to really maximize the potential of black box. This includes auto covers, cover designs, year round black box, out door sea of green, issues like mold, humidity, how to use guerilla blackout techniques. There are many.factors that effect bud formation, not just 12/12. So how can we use all the information to really.push this technique. So that about does it. Please feel free to add or ask anything you feel is necessary. The next post will outline my current project and plans for the next year. I will be chronicling individual projects in my grow journal. Stay tuned. Also for more on rediculous project, check.out my grow journal.
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/719776-colorado-greenhouse-light-dep-winter.html#post9580165

Thanks for posting!

And yes. Buck is right. It really is as simple as cover it, uncover it. And thats fine for him. I am interested in the science behind it. Tweaking it and.playing with it. So please, join the discussion.

you cover the greenhouse with a tarp every day and then you take it off at night.

that's all there is to it.

Okay. The current situation: I have a green house with several varieties in it. I have been pulling the cover since aug 15. and have several ladies that are looking ripe. I have taken clones of most of them and have been vegging them since mid aug. the big plan is to veg these ladies all winter long and come back here in april and put some of them in two greenhouses. intentionally dep one and let nature do the other. as ladies finish in the dep house, replace them with new veg from a different location. my goal is to create a perpetual light dep with harvest happening from jun 1 continuing for 4 months. yall see what im saying?

I am growing the following varieties:

Snow Bud
Frisian Dew
Pineapple Chunk
cherry lime
Royal Queen Flower Power
Pamir Gold
Critical 47
Pain Killer
Lemon Skunk
Tangerine kusk
San Fernando Valley

UncleBuck said:

you cover the greenhouse with a tarp every day and then you take it off at night.

that's all there is to it.

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Yay my first buck troll! Im so proud!!!!

What about trying to favor evening or morning in an effort to utilize more red spectrum? Just for starters?

perplexus said:

Yay my first buck troll! Im so proud!!!!

What about trying to favor evening or morning in an effort to utilize more red spectrum? Just for starters?

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i have found that plants do enjoy sunlight.

12 hours at a time works best for flowering.

so you'll be pulling the tarp daily the whole time? in that case how do you deal with the nightly humidity spike? I like the idea you have for sure - it just seems that by the time a lot of plants are almost done, they're prone to botrytis in that muggy environment. many folks deal with that by stopping pulling the tarp, but then you're possibly introducing other problems like photoperiod fluctuation - some strains mind and some don't. if you're on a 12 hour schedule, chances are that you're already utilizing both morning and evening spectrums.

they do seem to enjoy it. Thanks for the valuable insight. luckily my greenhouse already has one of those clear covery things. pretty sure i can really capitalize on this sun thing. especially around the solstice!!! but again, i still wonder about the effect the increased red light of dawn of evening has. and which, if either is better? trolling is cool, but itd be cooler or yo had something useful to add....

hoonry said:

so you'll be pulling the tarp daily the whole time? in that case how do you deal with the nightly humidity spike? I like the idea you have for sure - it just seems that by the time a lot of plants are almost done, they're prone to botrytis in that muggy environment. many folks deal with that by stopping pulling the tarp, but then you're possibly introducing other problems like photoperiod fluctuation - some strains mind and some don't. if you're on a 12 hour schedule, chances are that you're already utilizing both morning and evening spectrums.

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well, right now i am favoring the evening, but with my exposure i think i should be using the morning, as i get more direct lght sooner. im favoring the night mostly for convenience. i can still go to town and party, as long as im home to cover before light... and thats hy i dont have to worry about too much moisture. i can wait till its already cooled down a bi to cover. this helps some. also, being in the high deserrt of colorado, mold is al!ost a nonIssue. ..... However. you do raise a good point. I think with the addition of another.bank of solar panels ic ould concievably run a dehum or two.

Ive been favoring the night for.my red light, though i think.morning would.be better, because i get more direct light because of.my exposure? Has anyone ever considered pulling a tarp for.14 hrs, but running red led for an hour on either end?

as for fluctuation.. im still not convinced that there is anything wromg with an hour swing either direction. (sorry about the errors, my tablet is very hard to edit with) As long as there is enough dark to allow for te reduction of toc inhibiyors, there shold be no issues with a slight variation. where is the science behind this worry wth cycle fluctuation. In anu case i aim for 12.5 hours. Up to 13 my interpretation of the science leads.me to beieve that the extra dark allows for fatter nugs faster.

i was usually off by 5-15 minutes a day, with a handful of days missing by an hour or two or three.

the plants don't really mind.

you can easily set up a tarp that works with a ventilation system to prevent mugginess and thus botrytis as well, you just need enough curve in the ducting.

i threw my tarp on at about 5:30 pm every night and took it off once dark, no ventilation during that time, only circulation fans inside the greenhouse. almost zero botrytis on my first run which finished in the rain and cold, a bit more botrytis onthe second run but that was due to larger buds stacked closer together.

and i'm not trolling it's just really damn simple! even a caveman can do it.

So you like the night cover.. Catch the morning Light. Not a morning person then? Lol. Perhaps a ventilation system is in order... But i dunno. Im still pretty frikin dry down here.

And youre right. Its so easy to do. I see all these posts about guys wondering if their crop is gunna finish in time. Im all like, shit, shoulda depd em. Lol. I got a volunteer in the yard, ive just been putting a big box over.

More on my volunteer breeding back crossing soon!

perplexus said:

So you like the night cover.. Catch the morning Light. Not a morning person then? Lol.

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pretty much.

but after a cooler, damper night, you want the sun on them to dry them off ASAP.

Also, can anyone speak to the difference in light during spring and fall as opposed.to summer? Ive been.verry successful thus far with my holy panda cloth, but have been told that if i.want to.dep in the summer, i.must have no.light leaks. Those who say this claim that this is a result of the light being different. Again though, i am.having.trouble finding science to support or directly refute these claims.

UncleBuck said:

pretty much.

but after a cooler, damper night, you want the sun on them to dry them off ASAP.

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Thats a good point. But damn, in mid summer. Id hafta cover at like 5. It would get rediculous hot. Hmm. Guess.id better start devising some sort of vent system. Thanks. Its nice to have a place to talk this all out. Going.a little coocuu here on the ranch.

perplexus said:

Also, can anyone speak to the difference in light during spring and fall as opposed.to summer? Ive been.verry successful thus far with my holy panda cloth, but have been told that if i.want to.dep in the summer, i.must have no.light leaks. Those who say this claim that this is a result of the light being different. Again though, i am.having.trouble finding science to support or directly refute these claims.

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i had a few very minor light leaks in some corners and the buds near them did not mature as quickly. other buds on the same plant were oddly unaffected.

UncleBuck said:

i had a few very minor light leaks in some corners and the buds near them did not mature as quickly. other buds on the same plant were oddly unaffected.

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Your wit has stunned me. I stand in awe of both your cleverness and your grasp of the biology of cannabis. Thanks for your input.

I use a rolling cart to bring 3-6 plants into my insulated shop. Its a very fast and simple light dep. My original light dep consisted of heavy tarps, squirrel cage fan and ladders.

That is boss, boss! Lol. What a simple elegant solution. I need a cart to hold 48 7 footers.

you need a flat bed trailer hooked up to a quad

I plant to put some short legs on my carport this spring & do a light dep before I plant the summer crop. UB made it look easy.......

Light dep is awesome. I want to do some one day.

I keep imagining ways to do an automatic light dep. with electric winches, cables, etc. to pull the cover on/off but they always seem to expensive and complex in my head. Maybe someday when I have more land to play on.