# moonlight?



## 3rdbase (Nov 2, 2009)

just curious ...ive only been doing things indoor but my question 1 does moonlight affect outdoor flowering plants if the plants are not to receive any light at all for fear of hermis ..2 what if your indoor grow room gets moonlight or a very small crack of sun light off to the side during lights off period..3 how much light or how long of exposure to any kind of light will stop the sleeping process .... my room is dark pitch black and i know in scientific terms what happens to the plant im just curious about the moonlight and exposure..
*http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciammag/*


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## brushybill (Nov 2, 2009)

i would not allow any light at all in my grow space, if i absolutely have to get in after lights out i use a green light, obviously, plants can take moonlight outside ,or we would not have marijuana at all, how much is too much for indoor plants is something i hope to never find out


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## 2Dog (Nov 2, 2009)

well..I have grown outdoors succesfully and the moonlight was never an issue. I think it takes a brighter closer light to have an effect?!..


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## Locked (Nov 2, 2009)

I agree with both 2dog and brushybill...obviously moonlight is not a problem because MJ grows outdoors in nature and thrives just fine...that being said when growing indoors I wld try to keep as much light out of your grow space during dark periods as you can...how much light does it take to cause stress and hermi a plant? I don't know and I try not to find out...until someone goes out in a field on a full moon night and tests to see how much light the moon is putting off at ground level it is speculative at best....


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## BBFan (Nov 2, 2009)

Full moonlight puts out 1/100th lumens per square foot.  I don't think a plant can even detect that amount of light.


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## dirtyolsouth (Nov 2, 2009)

There's a new full moon tonight...  better draw the shades tight.


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## tito13 (Nov 2, 2009)

Can i get that green light from Home Depot, its a green party light.????


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## IRISH (Nov 3, 2009)

no light , means just that. none. zilch. zero. nada. unless you have a herm fascination. ...

when growing inside in a controlled enviro, it's a total different ballgame than OD. were already tricking the plant into flowering, and theres only so many tricks up our sleeve...

i'd go with the no light op dude. a trillion customers can't be wrong. know what i mean?...


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## fort collins ak-47 (Nov 3, 2009)

BBFan said:
			
		

> Full moonlight puts out 1/100th lumens per square foot. I don't think a plant can even detect that amount of light.


 
lumens are measured by 1 candle lit.the moon is so far away you are safe.if you go walking into your playhouse with a candle you are walking on dangerous territory.


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## PeterPotatoes (Nov 3, 2009)

I wouldn't get obsessed with total darkness. I have very little pin holes here and there and no herms. This light though I cant see until my eyes adjust to the darkness. 

Funny story, I think my brother and I spent a good three hours looking for light leaks and pretty much eliminated them all. We decide now to test our passive intake system. We sealed the door and I was crouched on the floor getting ready to feel the intake while my brother outside turned on the fan. This is a 747 cfm vortex, when he turned the fan on the mylar floor lifted up and all the walls started sucking in. I was yelling a lot of profanity at this point and watched as hundreds of staple gun pin hole light leaks appeared . It was never the same

 After reading a lot about light leaks it seems what really hermies the plant is sudden on/off lights. How much? who knows. Zero light would be ideal.

When you think about it the moonlight is really reflected sun light.


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## 3rdbase (Nov 3, 2009)

so your saying .....street lights from across the street wouldnt affect a outdoor plant.either........what if my lights just turned off and within 5-6 min i had to turn the overhead light on a couple of time reals quick,,,,,,,will that hermie a plant.......i wont ask anymore on this point but one more good answer would be great


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## SkunkPatronus (Nov 3, 2009)

3rdbase said:
			
		

> so your saying .....street lights from across the street wouldnt affect a outdoor plant.either........what if my lights just turned off and within 5-6 min i had to turn the overhead light on a couple of time reals quick,,,,,,,will that hermie a plant.......i wont ask anymore on this point but one more good answer would be great


 
Plants don't think, it's all mechanical cause and effect... we trick them into thinking that it's the summer equinox by switching the lights to 12/12 and we only get away with it when it's really 12/12 and if you give them even the slightest light during the dark half of the 12/12 they WILL hermie if they have the gene because it looses the mechanical trigger that you put in place before you screwed it up with light.

It takes a certain amount of time for the plant to switch from daylight respiration(co2 in o2 out) to dark respitation(o2 in co2 out), and when it has done that, if you make it switch back again(by adding light) it will hermie. Someone once told me that without light plants switch to dark respiration in less than 10 minutes... and it is this that is the mechanical mechanism that keeps them thinking that it's June 21 or later in the year.  They have to stay in the dark to breath o2 and break down the carbs it made in the light and use them in the dark... so they have to stay in the dark,  Period... Green light doesn't count because pot plants don't 'see' green light, but it has to be a real green light, not a coated light bulb.  Led greens are a tru green... but i woudn't do it at all, because you are playing with fire, and you might be playing with nanners soon after...


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## dman1234 (Nov 3, 2009)

Moonlight is a natural occourance in Nature,

IMO it cannot be compared to a light leak.

light leak = bad bad

Moonlight= unavoidable and Natural.


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## 3rdbase (Nov 3, 2009)

they WILL hermie if they have the gene???/      do certain strands have a hermie gene more than other confused


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## Dr. Indica (Nov 3, 2009)

It takes less than one half of one foot candle ( about 5 lux ) to prevent plants from flowering. That is a little more light than is reflected by a full moon on a clear night. If the photoperiod is disrupted for 2 - 3 consecutive nights it will cause the plant to revert to the vegetative state. If there is a light leak it could cause only one side of the plant to flower, while the side receiving light at night will continue vegetative growth.:bong2:


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## dman1234 (Nov 3, 2009)

Dr. Indica said:
			
		

> It takes less than one half of one foot candle ( about 5 lux ) to prevent plants from flowering. That is a little more light than is reflected by a full moon on a clear night. If the photoperiod is disrupted for 2 - 3 consecutive nights it will cause the plant to revert to the vegetative state. If there is a light leak it could cause only one side of the plant to flower, while the side receiving light at night will continue vegetative growth.:bong2:


 
now that would be the ultimate re-veg


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## brushybill (Nov 3, 2009)

tito13 said:
			
		

> Can i get that green light from Home Depot, its a green party light.????


 
i use a "streamlight" flashlight , about $19.00 us.  bass pro shops


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## SkunkPatronus (Nov 3, 2009)

only the green one tho...the one that doesn't startle deer.


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## SkunkPatronus (Nov 3, 2009)

3rdbase said:
			
		

> they WILL hermie if they have the gene???/ do certain strands have a hermie gene more than other confused


 
yes, some more than others... i have a blond son, a medium daughter and a dark son, i carry all three genetic variables, they express differently, plants are similar.


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## Locked (Nov 3, 2009)

3rdbase said:
			
		

> they WILL hermie if they have the gene???/      do certain strands have a hermie gene more than other confused



I wld be extremely worried if I was growing bag seed out...Bag seed can be a hermie breeding ground...if you had some killer bud you bought or got from a friend and there was a couple stray seeds in it odds are the plant selfed and those seeds will cary the hermie trait....


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## BBFan (Nov 4, 2009)

SkunkPatronus said:
			
		

> It takes a certain amount of time for the plant to switch from *daylight respiration(co2 in o2 out) to dark respitation(o2 in co2 out), and when it has done that, if you make it switch back again(by adding light) it will hermie*. Someone once told me that without light plants switch to dark respiration in less than 10 minutes... and it is this that is the mechanical mechanism that keeps them thinking that it's June 21 or later in the year. *They have to stay in the dark to breath o2 and break down the carbs it made in the light and use them in the dark...* so they have to stay in the dark, Period... Green light doesn't count because pot plants don't 'see' green light, but it has to be a real green light, not a coated light bulb. Led greens are a tru green... but i woudn't do it at all, because you are playing with fire, and you might be playing with nanners soon after...


 
Hello SkunkPatronus!

Always enjoy reading your posts. I believe when you refer to "daylight respiration" you are referring to photosynthesis, the process the plant goes through to manufacture it's own food. Photosynthesis is a light dependent reaction in plants- without light it cannot occur. Respiration is when the plant uses those sugars it has created for various metabolic processes, including cellular growth. Respiration is a light independent reaction- it occurs with or without light (that's why plants grow under a 24/0 schedule)- and that is why temperatures are so important to growth- the plant will burn sugars to cool itself, leaving no food for growth.

It is correct that only a plant having the hermi gene has the potential to hermi. Some plants will hermi under the slightest stress; others with the hermi trait could be subjected to numerous stresses and will not self.

Hermaphrodism, while usually caused by light stresses, can however be brought on by other stresses. While interuptions in the dark cycle is perhaps the greatest influence- it is not a definitive one. That is how we can reveg a plant without causing it to hermi.

All that being said-



			
				IRISH said:
			
		

> i'd go with the no light op dude. a trillion customers can't be wrong.


 
Happy Growing!


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## StoneyBud (Nov 4, 2009)

If a grow room is set up correctly, there is no reason to enter it when the lights are out.

That's the real story.

If you make your grow room light-tight, and just stay out of it when the lights are out, then you'll have no problems.

If you build it so that you have to open it while the lights are out, sooner or later, you're going to have a crop of hermies.

If moonlight bothered plants, the earth would look like the moon.

Honestly, I don't understand this fascination that so many growers have with HAVING to go into their grow room while the lights are out.

If there is some reason you have to go into your grow room while the lights are out, then you have built your grow room wrong. It really is that simple.

Fix it. Don't just keep doing it.

Why is this so difficult for some people to understand? I really don't understand.


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## Mutt (Nov 4, 2009)

> Why is this so difficult for some people to understand? I really don't understand.



Because there new at this and trying to learn  and learning something new is always difficult at first 

Also like me lights are out during the day and on at night due to heat probs. work schedules and enviro issues can make this hobby a bit of a PITA  So they try to find a way to makew it work.
Myself...i let sleeping girls sleep


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## StoneyBud (Nov 4, 2009)

Mutt said:
			
		

> Because there new at this and trying to learn and learning something new is always difficult at first


I understand that for the people who are really new, but after reading a hundred times that the dark cycle has to be kept completely dark, I find it strange that some folks STILL want to go into their grow rooms after "lights out", *or* they've set up their grow room in a manner that creates a situation where they *have* to enter it while the lights are out.

It's like someone building a gasoline storage tank and then wanting to have a bonfire on top of it. "Well can't I make a platform and cover it with something so I can light a bonfire on it?" hehe, I guess it's human nature to want to circumvent the common practices.


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## Droopy Dog (Nov 4, 2009)

3rdbase said:
			
		

> so your saying .....street lights from across the street wouldnt affect a outdoor plant.either........what if my lights just turned off and within 5-6 min i had to turn the overhead light on a couple of time reals quick,,,,,,,will that hermie a plant.......i wont ask anymore on this point but one more good answer would be great



Research is your friend here.  Check out pg128 of MARIJUANA BOTANY in the resources section.  To quote part of it:

"It also seems that floral cluster formation is slowed by the full moon.  Strong full moonlight is on the borderline of being enough light to cease floral induction entirely........"

My own experience:  There is a streetlight across and down the street.  Part of my grow was exposed to it, the rest was in the 'shade' of the house and not exposed.  All were clones done inside, same strain, and all put out the same day.  The clones exposed to this little bit of light took two weeks longer to ripen than the ones that were really in the dark.

Dark really means dark and 12 hours of it.:holysheep: 

Go ahead and play with the overhead lights during the dark cycle if you must learn the hard way.  

DD


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## 3rdbase (Nov 4, 2009)

i have this vent ducting that seems to have little pin holes in it where i can see light when the lights are off ... i bought it at the hydro shop ...do u know what kind im talking about ...will this light affect the flowering phase


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## Droopy Dog (Nov 6, 2009)

Duct tape?  

DD


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