I realize there is no UVB in the grow lights but it seems like I should be able to harden the plants against the intensity of the light to some degree and knock down the amount of time to harden the 400 plants i have. Going from 600 ppfd to 1000ppfd gradually should be a good jump off point.
My thought is to add a 1-2 hour period to my 12 hour ON schedule where the light intensity is higher (currently only at 60% intensity and already reading 600-800ppfd with the taller plants) and then back to current settings. This can be built easily into the Vivosun app and I can start bumping them to 3 hours or 4 hours after they've acclimated to the 2 hour period first. No moving or juggling, just use the primary spaces to harden while the others wait their turn. Ideally, id harden certain plants outside at the same time to observe for any differences.
Anyone else do something similar?
by Far_Albatross1936
3 Comments
You harden for your environment. What’s the point of making it more intense indoors if eventually they will be outside? Your setup can’t beat the sun. There is also humidity and wind. Temperature shifts along with external pressures, that’s not including bugs and microclimates in the plants immediate area.
I’m glad you’re taking a scientific approach and doing something outside, but seems to me like an obvious answer when you ask the WHY you do something in the first place.
That’s also to say all those plants look very leggy. With that leaf development, I would expect them to be half as tall. That could also be from a lack of direct stem stimulation like wind as I see a fan, but not directly on them.
I’m sorry, but are you growing walking canes or peppers? 😛
How are you going to post this without even mentioning the plant on the floor? What on earth is going on here