Light Deprivation Greenhouse

UncleBuck said:

i get up at about 10 am every morning to turn off my lights and feed my chickens. if the chickens aren't squawking, which happens often, i am liable to miss lights off. happens plenty during every cycle, never seen anything weird happen because of it.

they seem to do fine as long as they always get 12 hours of dark. i have some stable strains and some that love to hermy, they've behave the same way whether i get them to the minute every time or miss by an hour a handful of times.

still fun to watch newbies freak out about missing by 20 minutes.

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Yeah, the "OMG!! MY TIMER WAS OFF BY 1 MINUTE!!!" threads are good for a passing chuckle. The folks that instruct them to tape every crack and disable all the light sockets within 20ft are great too.

kpmarine said:

Yeah, the "OMG!! MY TIMER WAS OFF BY 1 MINUTE!!!" threads are good for a passing chuckle. The folks that instruct them to tape every crack and disable all the light sockets within 20ft are great too.

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You've got to be kidding me.
Link please...

heckler73 said:

You've got to be kidding me.
Link please...

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It was more of an exaggeration. I have seen more than my share of people freak about a light being on that slightly leaked through a tiny gap in the tent. There's also a number of folks I've seen freak about a light for being on too long for one day. Then there's always the folks who tell them that they need to prevent even one photon from entering the tent. I urged them to play on the side of caution too; until I did my light-dep attempt. Now, I suspect that there's more to hermies than a minor light cycle shift.

kpmarine said:

It was more of an exaggeration. I have seen more than my share of people freak about a light being on that slightly leaked through a tiny gap in the tent. There's also a number of folks I've seen freak about a light for being on too long for one day. Then there's always the folks who tell them that they need to prevent even one photon from entering the tent. I urged them to play on the side of caution too; until I did my light-dep attempt. Now, I suspect that there's more to hermies than a minor light cycle shift.

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hermans are a genetic thing (in my mind). if they are gonna herm, they seem to do so by nature rather than nurture for the most part.

it's still good to err on the side of caution, but i've been very surprised at how rather bright a dark period can be.

do you have issues with heat?

Kill a Watt said:

do you have issues with heat?

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nope. those box fans can clear the air out of there nice and quick. i'll leave the front door open on hot days and just make sure they're not thirsty.

well, my minor kludges worked. i had my wife close the GH up with me inside and it is darker than midnight with a new moon and clear skies in there! still some very, very minor cracks and light leaks, but nothing bigger than the skinny side of a dime.





i simply cut the long sides to allow them to overlap the short sides and added a few more cinderblocks to hold everything. for the roof, i just attached some larger sheets of plastic onto my slabs and placed some bricks over the plastic and on top of the seam to minimize the little gaps as best i could.

i'm still gonna tinker to make everything a bit more secure. for example, those long stilts will probably be made into an A-frame of sorts so that it puts pressure on the overlapping plastic all the way down, instead of in just those two spots. and the long walls are gonna get another few inches of lumber above what's already there so that the plastic overlaps by a few more inches, instead of just barely overlapping like it does now.

but that's a job for another day.

as it stands now, it will probably take 9-11 minutes to take off and put on every day, which satisfies my requirement that the cover be removable/replaceable within 10-15 minutes by one person. and i still have $14 in my pocket leftover from my budget, meaning this got done for a whopping total of $386. i estimate that i'll be able to do 2 (possibly 3) cycles of harvests, and estimating a pull of 3-4 pounds per harvest.

project came in under budget, two days past my desired completion time, and satisfies all initial expectations. now to await results.

UncleBuck said:

now to await results.

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well, i have good news.

just inspected each and every plant for signs of flowering, and i am happy to report that they are all throwing off pistols now after 5 days of light deprivation.

i've been putting the cover on starting at 5:05 - 5:15 pm every day and then removing it sometime around 11 pm - midnight. gotta say, it's by far my favorite daily chore.

off to do some gardening now, this hot and dry spring has been awesome. hopefully it holds all summer long.

UncleBuck said:

well, i have good news.

just inspected each and every plant for signs of flowering, and i am happy to report that they are all throwing off pistols now after 5 days of light deprivation.

i've been putting the cover on starting at 5:05 - 5:15 pm every day and then removing it sometime around 11 pm - midnight. gotta say, it's by far my favorite daily chore.

off to do some gardening now, this hot and dry spring has been awesome. hopefully it holds all summer long.

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Don't forget to have "the talk". Flowering can be a very uncertain and scary time for young ladies.


=P

Hope to see some pics of the girls soon.

Flaming Pie said:

Don't forget to have "the talk". Flowering can be a very uncertain and scary time for young ladies.

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Doesn't that depend on whether or not he's raising these girls to become nuns?
If they're meant to be virgins, then he needs to put the fear of Gawd in them... but I suppose it's important to teach them about "the birds and the bees", especially the bees. They need to cross their legs ASAP if those come around (assuming there are some promiscuous male plants in the area spewing their chromosomes like Japanese Bukkake).

there are some hermans in there, so i'll be sure to have "the talk" pretty soon.

i'm sure they won't heed my advice, those plants can be total pollen sluts.

the hermans will be rotated out of there soon enough though, so only this first go will be tainted.

it's really tough to get a pic of pistils in the bright sunshine, but i managed.



and here is a group shot or two...





and here is a shot of one of the plants i put out there in march a few days after the equinox. they started to reveg a bit before i got the GH light deprived, and most of them are probably gonna herman for the inconvenience.

well, a glorious first half of may has given way to a very cold and wet second half of may.

just went out there to inspect some of the plants i put out in march, and there was a spot of botrytis on one of the plants that is almost ready. i cut samples off each of them the other day and only one is close to ready, the rest need another two weeks.

so this is me praying for the sun now.

3 days of bitter cold and rain finally passed, i used the sunlight to help me inspect those botrytis patches earlier today. the disease had spread quite a bit.

i decided to harvest rather than lose all. just put down the scissors after a 15 hour session, still have a few more hours to go. tomorrow.

i am smoking the samples i harvested a week or so ago, and they are decent. i still feel i pulled a bit early, but i have an outdoor crop ready and summer is not even here yet. hooray greenhouses!

can't wait to see what happens with better weather in this greenhouse. we've had tons of rain and our high temp was only 50 the other day. i imagine july harvests will be divine.

Looks to be a good investment. Id' like to do the same. Nice job.

just to be clear, i only harvested the plants i put out in march which were showing some botrytis. they were pulled a bit early but still do the trick very nicely.

here's what's left in there about 33 days into 12/12.



headband flowers



LSD flowers



blueberry flowers



god bud turns pretty colors



loving the results. can't wait for round 2 (and even round 3).

UncleBuck said:

the bay area cost of living is part of what inspired the second GH.

i mean, fuck. i'm gonna have to get a goddamn actual job when i get down there. what kind of fuckery is that?

yes, i've been drinking tonight.

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If you ever do move to the bay area, let Black Jesus know.

things are progressing nicely. should be ready for chop soon. i'm a little nervous to go out of town even though i have a trusted neighbor looking after them (they have looked after them for me before).

GDP taking on massive color



LSD

Cool stories bro! plus, sweet garden. I am due for a greenhouse setup, primarily for my food, but maybe some canni! I have been seeing some awfully strange photos of you lately! That bird...... Lmao

just got back a few hours ago and all is well here, harvest starts tomorrow.

just like when i last harvested a month ago, mother nature has decided that my plants need rain to finish. just a shit ton of rain when the buds are densest and most prone to mold. fuck me.

on the positive side though, the neighbor i hired to guard did hear someone grab the back chain link fence at 4 am last night. she looked up to see who it was and they must not have expected anyone to be there, they just said "fuck" and ran off.

it is for that reason that i will not be going to bed tonight.