Professional Marijuana Grower May-June 2019 Issue | Page 28

stop the production of these hormones altogether. When
this happens, a cannabis plant that has begun creating
its fl owers will actually revert back to vegetative growth.
Although reverting back to a vegetative stage can be
a useful tool for cannabis breeders, the vast majority
of indoor growers do not want their cannabis plants to
revert back to vegetative growth after the fl owering stage
has been initiated.
A light leak does not always cause a noticeable prob-
lem, like the fl owers becoming seeded by a hermaphro-
dite’s pollen. However, this does not mean there are no
negative effects to the cannabis yield. It is quite common
for cannabis plants whose dark cycles have been regu-
larly interrupted to grow more spindly as the interruptions
cause the plants to attempt to convert from vegetative
growth to fl owering growth time and time again. One
of the most common questions asked by indoor horticul-
turists in regard to photoperiods and the dark cycle is
how the moonlight affects cannabis plants in nature. Yes,
it is true that in nature the moonlight interrupts the dark
cycle and is seemingly bright. However, cannabis plants
fl owering outdoors do not seem to be negatively affected
by the moonlight’s interruption of the dark cycle.
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28 • Professional Marijuana Grower
In order to understand why this is, we need to take a
look at the inverse square law. Essentially, the inverse
square law states that light diminishes exponentially
from its source. Simply put, the farther the distance
from the light source, the less light energy is present.
In nature, moonlight, which is refl ected sunlight, has a
great distance to travel and has minimal intensity when
compared with the actual sun. In other words, it is the
great distance the light has to travel (past the Earth and
then refl ected back) that makes it relatively weak when
compared with direct sunlight. Artifi cial light sources act
much differently than sunlight. The close proximity of any
light source in an indoor grow space to the cannabis
plants will make the light signifi cant enough to interrupt
the dark cycle. The relative intensity of the artifi cial light
sources is why having a pitch-black, light-tight grow
room is so important.
Look for Light Leaks
The fi rst step to ensuring a pitch-black dark cycle is to
physically check the grow room’s darkness. This involves
more than just fl ipping off the lights for a few seconds,
seeing that the room appears dark, and moving on. Can-
nabis growers should spend at least fi ve to ten minutes in
the grow space during the dark cycle to see how dark it
really is. It can take up to fi ve minutes for the human eye
to adjust to the darkness and become sensitive enough to
detect any protruding light. After waiting fi ve minutes, a
grower should turn around very slowly to get a full 360
degree view of the grow room. A grower should look for
any signs of light leaks. This includes lights on electric de-
vices in the grow room, such as atmospheric controllers,
May/June 2019