How Important is Total Darkness in my Veg Room?

hello everyone

i have a small 4x6 tent in my room that i am using for vegging under a 600w MH.

currently, i have one oscillating fan circulating air and hitting the plants, and one inline fan ducted to the light hood pushing hot air outside to another room.


My problem is no fan pushing fresh air IN, so i manage by leaving the tent doors open to let in the fresh oxygen. But by doing so, small amounts of light gets in through the window or door cracks during the 6 hour night period.

1) Is it okay to let in a little light once in a while during the lights off period? Is it really neccassary to keep the lights-off period undisturbed, since some people veg 24/7 i feel that it doesnt even matter.. just a way to save a little $ on electricity bills


i know during flowering, it is a must! But i only plan on doing this for my vegging.


also, sealing the windows and door cracks are not an option for complete darkness.

thank you in advance

just make a hole somewhere and the air being expelled will pull fresh air in, always best to leave your plants in total darkness. your best not stressing a plant at any stage of growth.
lu

luciferateme said:

just make a hole somewhere and the air being expelled will pull fresh air in, always best to leave your plants in total darkness. your best not stressing a plant at any stage of growth.
lu

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that kinda makes perfect sense. when all the hot air is pushed out, it should start sucking in air from another source, that being a small vent hole which are placed all over the tent.

i have been so submerged in the most detailed aspects of growing that i think i may be ovecomplicating myself with the most simplest of things

Yeah my grow box just has an exhaust fan up high and open holes down low. You call these passive intake. If you put your hand infront of the intake you can actually feel air getting sucked into the box. Good luck on your temps

Meh, I have my plants off for 6 hours in veg. I have a high florescent light that I turn on to work during the dark period, I don't worry about it. I haven't ever worried about it.

so total darkness during veggin ir required???? i thought it was only total darkness during the flowerin phase...

actually overall it is not cheaper to do a dark cycle in veg. each day you will save money, but overall it will be the same. 24/7 is faster so you wont have to veg for as many days. also its better for the plants to run 24/7 because you will get less stretching. veg on 24/7 and you will cut several days, maybe even over a week in veg time. overall its roughly the same amount of money but its faster and less stretching between nodes.

sorry i didnt answer the question exactly. but i would personally just switch to 24/7. i do 24/7 from day 1 germinated seed or clone, all the way until i flower. also marijuana plants dont need a rest period in veg like some people think. it is a common myth. i've vegged pot plants for a very long time with no rest period. no signs of dying or slowing down.

d6520 said:

so total darkness during veggin ir required???? i thought it was only total darkness during the flowerin phase...

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no, darkness in veg is a waste of time. i do straight up constant 24/7 until flower. its faster and you get less spacing between nodes. you dont save electricity overall either because the total veg time is shorter.

I dunno, I see very little difference between plants at 18/6 and ones at 24/7. I think they actually like the climate changing through the day but that's just my opinion. Not much to back it up except my eyes.

half a dozen of one and six the other, some people have better results with 18/6 - 20/4 or 24/0, i personally get better results on 18/6 during veg and the plants turn out just fine. some people say you can go 24/0 and they will grow ok and they do but others say you will get better results with 6 hours dark. but there are a lot more things to take into consideration aswell, such as heat temps on the night, i suppose the medium would be to go 20/4 and a lot of people do. when i was on 24/0 i got a lot of leaf twisting and under same conditions with a dark period i got none.
at the end of the day you will have to decide for yourself what suits your grow set up, it will take time to see what suits you best.