The Myth About Light Leaks

Guitar Man

Guitar Man

Well-Known Member
I've read countless threads and comments about why an MJ plant will Herm. When I first started growing 11 years ago my first indoor grow went Herm wild on me. All 4 plants produced balls and seeds and I came here to find answers. The conclusion? Find those damn light leaks!!

So I go on a rampage, finding every single sliver of possible light that might sneak into my grow room. The conclusion? The plants still went Herm on me, even after making sure my plants went to sleep in total darkness.

Then I go to the next stage of my grow experience by growing outdoors, using the same seeds from my indoor grow. During the grow and at harvest I didn't find a single ball or seed on any of the plants. This puzzled me but became my here and now answer to this problem. After growing indoor and outdoor for a few more years the same situation prevailed; balls and seeds on my indoor, but not outdoor, unless, the outdoor plant went through a super stressful event, like intense heat. And even then, only a minute Herm event on the outdoor plant.

I also observed the light that would hit my outdoor plants during the evening hours when flowering was taking place. Our home windows are right next to the plants we grow and we never covered the windows to stop the light from tagging the plants. This is where I really began to put the pieces together. If my outdoor grow is just fine with being hit with an outside light source and NOT Herm, I began to realize that light leaks were not my problem.

Well, many years later, through trial and error, my conclusion is light leaks DO NOT cause a plant to Herm, indoor or outdoor. It's stress, period.

And the indoor stress that is wholly responsible for a plant throwing out some balls to pollinate itself is LIGHT. Not a light leak, but your grow lights. This unnatural enviroment where we use intense lights to produce fantastic buds is your Herm enemy.

Now, this part of my post doesn't have anything to do with my above reference, but I actually like when my indoor grow will throw out some balls to give me some seeds. Why? Because they are feminized and the exact same strain I'm growing. The more I grew, the better I got at using the Herm to give me more of the same for my next grow.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I think it mostly comes down to genetics. Good breeders select for the traits they want, while breeding out intersex traits. The problem is, the majority of "breeders" aren't doing much selection. When all you need to do is buy 2 elite clones and reverse one, you have no control over the traits that are passed on. There was a lot of trouble with hermies in the 2,000s from some of the major Dutch breeders who were careless about selection with their regs, and then the first fems they produced were even worse.
 
Guitar Man

Guitar Man

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
I think it mostly comes down to genetics. Good breeders select for the traits they want, while breeding out intersex traits. The problem is, the majority of "breeders" aren't doing much selection. When all you need to do is buy 2 elite clones and reverse one, you have no control over the traits that are passed on. There was a lot of trouble with hermies in the 2,000s from some of the major Dutch breeders who were careless about selection with their regs, and then the first fems they produced were even worse.
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IMO, genetics does play a role when it comes to how bad a plant will herm. I've grown several strains and some are ball happy. lol But like I said, that first grow I did was herm city, but when grown outdoors, no problem. And, those 4 indoor plants were in a very tight grow space, which caused more stress. Now, I only grow 1 plant at at time and the herm problem is minimal.

I'm just sharing my experience in this area and my success in growing cannabis has emerged into a skill I never thought I would like. I don't just grow weed now, I grow an entire garden that feeds our family and friends and shades our backyard with a lush forest of life.

Here's a few pics of our happiness...
 

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Guitar Man

Guitar Man

Well-Known Member
Kassiopeija said:
I once topped a fem plant in veg and the very next day it got a ball grown right at that node below the cut.
stress.
but that can be many things.
and genetics.
genes need to be activated, many genes are just dormant.
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It can be, but my main point is the difference between indoor and outdoor. I've tested this, tried and true. I almost always top my plants, no matter where I'm growing.
 
Guitar Man

Guitar Man

Well-Known Member
Antidote Man said:
1/4 to 1 inch gaps around my collapsible closet doors, in an office room that gets a lot of light, and one giant budding romulan plant in the closet on day 37 with no male flowers. just sharing some facts.
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Excellent! You've proven my point! I totally believe that the "Light Leak" theory is bogus unless it's overkill, like leaving the door wide open to another room full of light. That would in turn become a stressful event.
 
P

polymorphism

Member
Guitar Man said:
I've read countless threads and comments about why an MJ plant will Herm. When I first started growing 11 years ago my first indoor grow went Herm wild on me. All 4 plants produced balls and seeds and I came here to find answers. The conclusion? Find those damn light leaks!!

So I go on a rampage, finding every single sliver of possible light that might sneak into my grow room. The conclusion? The plants still went Herm on me, even after making sure my plants went to sleep in total darkness.

Then I go to the next stage of my grow experience by growing outdoors, using the same seeds from my indoor grow. During the grow and at harvest I didn't find a single ball or seed on any of the plants. This puzzled me but became my here and now answer to this problem. After growing indoor and outdoor for a few more years the same situation prevailed; balls and seeds on my indoor, but not outdoor, unless, the outdoor plant went through a super stressful event, like intense heat. And even then, only a minute Herm event on the outdoor plant.

I also observed the light that would hit my outdoor plants during the evening hours when flowering was taking place. Our home windows are right next to the plants we grow and we never covered the windows to stop the light from tagging the plants. This is where I really began to put the pieces together. If my outdoor grow is just fine with being hit with an outside light source and NOT Herm, I began to realize that light leaks were not my problem.

Well, many years later, through trial and error, my conclusion is light leaks DO NOT cause a plant to Herm, indoor or outdoor. It's stress, period.

And the indoor stress that is wholly responsible for a plant throwing out some balls to pollinate itself is LIGHT. Not a light leak, but your grow lights. This unnatural enviroment where we use intense lights to produce fantastic buds is your Herm enemy.

Now, this part of my post doesn't have anything to do with my above reference, but I actually like when my indoor grow will throw out some balls to give me some seeds. Why? Because they are feminized and the exact same strain I'm growing. The more I grew, the better I got at using the Herm to give me more of the same for my next grow.
Click to expand...
I agree with you 100% I ran commercial light deps for many seasons with holes in my tarps, and lots of light leaks. Never a nanner when I was using stable clones. Bruce Bugbee recently ran some experimental trials (not sure if he has published yet) and determined that cannabis plants cannot perceive light below 10 nanomoles p m s. This is enough light to read a book with large print.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
What is Dr Bugbee actually saying, canna's is light sensitive and a pin hole will cause hermies, or merely stating its light sensitive?
 
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Big_B

Big_B

Active Member
Star Dog said:
What is Dr Bugbee actually saying, canna's is light sensitive and a pin hole will cause hermies, or merely stating its light sensitive?
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"Photons during the dark period delay flowering in short-day plants (SDP). Red photons applied at night convert phytochromes to the active far-red absorbing form (Pfr), leading to inhibition of flowering. Far-red photons (greater than 700 nm) re-induce flowering when applied after a pulse of red photons during the dark period. However, far-red photons at sufficiently high intensity and duration delay flowering in sensitive species. Mechanistically, this response occurs because phytochrome-red (Pr) absorbance is not zero beyond 700 nm. We applied nighttime photons from near infrared (NIR) LEDs (peak 850 nm) over a 12 h dark period. Flowering was delayed in Glycine max and Cannabis sativa (two photosensitive species) by 3 and 12 days, respectively, as the flux of photons from NIR LEDs was increased up to 83 and 116 μmol m-2 s-1. This suggests that long wavelength photons from NIR LEDs can activate phytochromes (convert Pr to Pfr) and thus alter plant development."

the plant needs n number of hours of uninterrupted dark to convet the chemical that prevents flowering to the one that induces flowering, light converts this chemical back.
 
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