i have done afew grows using clear pots in soil, and i always thought oh well the light should help, plants need it so hell why not, yet in the back of my mind i always thought well.. roots are underneath ground in the wild, this is how its always been and there isnt light in soil so over the millions of years roots have never been abel to strengthen and adjust to this otherwise thry would grow about (like some plants do just not this little beauty) yet me being me i wanted to test this..
(i started around 5 weeks ago, came looking for answers as to why it went wrong and well hear i am)
i thought best to set out with a simple hydroponic set up as my kits fairly new and i have only had one good crop off it so far,
my test..
i used 3 trimmings of mother 'jacky diesel'
i let the trimmings root normal for just over 2 weeks so there was some nice rooting to work with and labeled each plant up 1 2 3 and kept them all separate
plant 1: this is a totally normal hydro set up you all know how it works blah blah blah
plant 2: in the waterbowl exposed to the roots i waterproofed a 3W 470NM LED in a small clear plastic box sealed with a glue gun (
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/visible-led/6935832/)
plant 3: i used a 5000k Stanley mounted like the blue led but the blue led wasn't on a hex heat sink (
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/solid-state-lighting/7208898/)
thinking the plants would react well i had the lights running on the same timer as the normal lights so it was from light to weak AND YES i am aware this is to early for full lighting i only use LEDs for my grows its cheap easy and sly
quality not not quantity, however i do personally favor, a SCROG when putting 1 led for each nug
plant 1: worked as expected and is still going strong
PLant 2: ended up yellow yet after stopping the light after 8 days the plant is now on track and growing just as well as plant 1 however is shorter and apart from the bottom set of leaves all others seem to be smaller and slightly darkened and it begs my question.. if i keep 1 and 2 completely the same (now in the same container on the same cycles) what will the effect be for the final growth??
and last but most defiantly least
Plant 3: big fat c*ck up the plant looked fine for afew days but jesus blimey! 5 days water smelt like dead livestock and picked up a green coulour
, but i held it out and fed new water and nuties in each day to keep the algae down and keep running the experiment.. waste of time, the 5000K just promoted algae growth and the plant dindt just die.. but looked more like it dried out, and in a hydroponics.. well that seems a little strange right? i can only assume the light killed off the ability to take in water.. yet it made the roots grow pretty fast and the root count was off the scale compared to 1 and 2..
so my conclusion.. if your going to use clear containers light will affect your roots, bare in mind my set up pushed the boundaries a little but in the right doses.. and the right spectrums, each form has its own advantages, yet play the game wrong and your going to kill the girlys
i personally cant be asked to put the effort again i know how i grow my plants and i know it works,
any one who knows more of the science behind it, could probably use this to work out something that could work for the plants.. but if you dont know what your doing, dont bother doing it, as i said befor.. roots are in a dark place, if they wanted light they wouldnt be there..
ill keep posted on what happens with 1 and 2 its a cronical race