Complete darkness during Veg?

[cypher420]

Hey so i'm 3-4 weeks into finishing my very first grow and wanted to start some new seedlings in order to switch them to flower when my next batch is done.

This would mean i have a grow room and a flower room. Only problem is my grow room does not give 100% darkness. its just a little room under my stairs i use since the smell is never that bad during veg. So would it be ok for me to keep them under 24h cfls during veg? or should i really be looking at a 20/4? and if so would the 4 hours HAVE to be darkness and no light leaks?


right now seedlings are germinating in paper towel, will plant in 100% coco fibre once popped. They are Lemon Skunk, Super Lemon Haze, and Rocklock.

cypher420 Reviewed by cypher420 on 08-08-2010. Complete darkness during Veg? Hey so i'm 3-4 weeks into finishing my very first grow and wanted to start some new seedlings in order to switch them to flower when my next batch is done. This would mean i have a grow room and a flower room. Only problem is my grow room does not give 100% darkness. its just a little room under my stairs i use since the smell is never that bad during veg. So would it be ok for me to keep them under 24h cfls during veg? or should i really be looking at a 20/4? and if so would the 4 hours Rating: 5

[seventhchild]

there is some debate about the need for darkness during the seedling/veg stages. most agree that 24/0 has no ill affect on growth but some folks believe that a dark period changes the ratio of males to females and /or allows healthier,more robust growth. sooooo........24/0 of CFL is fine....light leaks on a 20/4 no big deal

[cypher420]

oh ok cool that makes me less worried hehe

i was also wondering when do i start the veg nutes? since i'm using 100% canna coco i got the canna coco vega and flore or a+b thing heh its my first time using Coco.

[Prodaytrader]

coco is some bad ass shit. I use it. Dont water that often, coco is a suber absorbant substance and will likely only need to be water every couple days.

20/4 , 24 hours light for the first few weeks are fine. The plant is mostly attempting to develop roots during this period anyway. There is some arguments about roots developing better during the dark. I use about 18 to 20 hours of light for the first couple weeks.

Seeds do not need food for awhile. Wait till you start to see leaves, not the 2 tiny buds that come out with the sprout. Usually at about 2 full sets of leaves you will want to start feeding lightly. 1/4 solution or about 300ppm will be fine for the next week then start bringing it up to about 1/2 solution 500/600ppm. Keep that for veg. Start to up the dosage to 3/4 then full after a week in flower. Depending on your lighting situation, you may even find it usfull to continue with another week of veg in your flower room. Then change the timer to a 12/12 to trigger flower after they have been in the flower room vegging a week while you bring up the ppm to full strength. Make sense? My flowering light (600hps) is so much bigger then my vegging light (T5's) which is why I do it this way.

[cypher420]

coco is some bad ass shit. I use it. Dont water that often, coco is a suber absorbant substance and will likely only need to be water every couple days.

20/4 , 24 hours light for the first few weeks are fine. The plant is mostly attempting to develop roots during this period anyway. There is some arguments about roots developing better during the dark. I use about 18 to 20 hours of light for the first couple weeks.

Seeds do not need food for awhile. Wait till you start to see leaves, not the 2 tiny buds that come out with the sprout. Usually at about 2 full sets of leaves you will want to start feeding lightly. 1/4 solution or about 300ppm will be fine for the next week then start bringing it up to about 1/2 solution 500/600ppm. Keep that for veg. Start to up the dosage to 3/4 then full after a week in flower. Depending on your lighting situation, you may even find it usfull to continue with another week of veg in your flower room. Then change the timer to a 12/12 to trigger flower after they have been in the flower room vegging a week while you bring up the ppm to full strength. Make sense? My flowering light (600hps) is so much bigger then my vegging light (T5's) which is why I do it this way.

oh ok that is a good idea and makes sense. They just sprouted through soil and barely starting the two first leafs so i guess i have a bit to wait for nutes. you agree that it doesn't need the "complete" darkness for veg? only thing i'm worried about if not on 24h lighting in my veg room.