So I have, among the multiple strains in tent, 6 Red Afro that are doing quite well. My question relates to getting them to ALL change over to the red/purple flowers. 2 of the 6 are now purplish red but the other 4 appear the standard green w/ white pistols. One of the two colored RA plants started turning early after I switched to 12/12, and the other was about 2 weeks later. I’m approaching the beginning of week 6. It’s hot here and while I’ve been pumping in a ton (up to 1400ppm) of CO2, I am having a harder and harder time keeping the temperature down below 75F. I’ve got duct fans pulling air from my home and a portable AC pumping in cold air 24/7. What else can I do to get the other 4 to be induced to change color? Should I let temps rise during day to 85-90F and then cool off at night to create temp disparity? Or is it smarter to keep things as cool as possible (can’t get it below 73F sustainably) 24/7? Finally, is it weird to have a jar of cured bud that is all the same stain but with different colored nugs?
Without the AC efforts, temps would, and have temporarily, soared to 95F. I’d have thought that 3 LED lamps, 2 600W and 1 900W, would perhaps have been excessive. Surprised you’re suggesting I need more light and heat. I actually had two additional T5 in there, making it 5 light sources in total, but removed the T5 because I thought maybe I’d overdone it. How would you suggest upgrading? Higher wattage? Again, it’s an 8x4x8 foot grow space in garage.
Generally LED lights rated by the advertiser as 600 or 900W are known as burples and they are notoriously weak with actual wattage being about 1/3 of what the manufacturer claims. Lighting needs to run at 1200-1500 PPFD for the plant to be able to utilize the extra CO2. The burples are incapable of that.
Are you thinking about upgrading lighting? Horticulture Lighting Group makes lights popular with a lot of growers here. Fluence and DIY with Bridgelux can also be a very effective and efficient light. If you are having trouble with heat then HPS or MH won’t be good suggestions.
If these were purchased through Amazon or Ebay then you got rooked like so many others (myself included). If you look up the light it will tell you the actual wattage: in other words the manufacturers lied to you.
You are more likely running about 600 watts total output, of not very high performance light. The good news is you can veg under it but you will have disappointing yields with loose flower.
The standard metric for standard lighting is 50 watts per square foot as a rough judge. High end LED’s will run more like 30 watts/square foot.
As to the use of CO2: unless, as stated above, your PPFD isn’t high enough, your plants will not benefit at all from an increase of CO2 partial pressures. Additionally CO2 is generally coupled with some kind of intense hydro push of nutes to be able to grow very large plants.
Just an FYI.
As to color changes: a drop in PH (easy to do in hydro) will cause anthrocyanins to develop, cold temps will cause this too.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Not doing hydro so not option this time. Will have to strive for colder temps, I guess.
For what it’s worth, LEDs are Viparspectra and have had a number of good reviews. They worked well on my first grow but that was with different strains and I didn’t supplement with CO2 that time. Can’t speak to the actual PAR values as I’ve not measured them myself but a number of independent reviews suggested greater than 900 at 18 inches. Would love other people’s opinions who have actually used or measured PAR for this brand.
But back to the topic, can anyone speak to the question of the value in creating a temp disparity vs. just trying to keep temps as low as possible at all times?
The reviews are fluffed. I wrote a bad review for the one I bought and the company emailed me to offer me money too take my bad review down. I have a PPFD meter and have measured mine. It’s not too bad directly under the light, but falls off more rapidly than other lights when measured at the periphery. Power, spectrum, and heat are all issues with the older LED technology.
This is the first time I’ve seen color change and the night temps where in the mid to upper 60s. Some genetics comes into play. And yes its normal for the same strain to have different color buds. Its like siblings. They came from the same mom and dad but hair/eye color are different. One might be tall and skinny the other short and fat. Its the spin of the genetics wheel
Thanks for the thoughts and insight. So if you were picking up a sample of xyz strain, and it looked a little like a kids cereal with different colored puffs, you wouldn’t be deterred? Or is it smarter to keep the colors separated? Would a mix vs a consistent appearance say different things about the quality or anticipated experience? Personally, I love the farming of cannabis but I don’t consume at all, and only have an interest in pleasing those friends and family I provide for. So I don’t know how a consumer views these differences.
they say purple buds, if forced color due to cold temps and not genetics, are actually not as potent bc you are making her colder than she likes it to be. It will really depend on the person as far as bag appeal goes. Some might think you mixed different buds for whatever reason but if its good smoke. I don’t see why they would complain
Thanks Kon. Appreciate your perspective and point about purple buds. We’ll see where this grow shakes out. Slight tweak to system tonight and I’m down to 72F. So that’s 10 degrees lower than today’s high. Hope that turns on the colors, for better or worse.
Next grow just started seed soak today. Super Lemon Haze, Chocolate Haze, and AMG are all supposed to be more comfortable in the tropical environment of July / August. Also going to see if I can germinate one Blue Rose, a bonus seed. Will be the only color added to the summer grow.
Just bought another in line fan to dump more cool in the grow tent. In a few weeks, I’ll know where I’m at across the board. Wish me luck.
Side note: looked at some of the other LED grow light offerings. Sophisticated to say the least. Think I’ll reach out to the folks at Fluence for advice and possible upgrade. Hard at this point to understand the apples to apples comparison. Any simplified advice is appreciated, on the light remodel concern.
@dbrn32 is the go to around here for lighting. I bought the HLG and glad I did. Adds maybe 4 degrees to the tent 260xl in a 2x4x7 … dense nugs. Strong lights
Imo you need to find way to drop lights off temp instead of raising lights on temp. There is an ideal leaf surface temp where you’re grow will be “Optimal”. Exceeding that can go bad in a hurry.
