Letters to Rev – Environmental Transitions

Welcome to Letters to Rev everyone. This is just a little Q&A with yours truly that hopefully touches upon some information that will be handy for you to know, ya know? Environmental transitions is the name of the game today. Seemingly subtle transitions can have big impacts on your cannabis plants. Some of these transitions can be overlooked, sending you down “rabbit holes” thinking you are experiencing other issues. So, without further ado, let’s roll baybee…

Environmental Transitions, Question #1: Light Spectrum Changes?

FROM: Denny

“Hello Rev. Is it a bad idea to flower plants under different lights then they have vegetated under? My vegetative growing space is under 200 watt, full spectrum, 4000 kelvins. My flowering plants are under 300 watt, full spectrum, 3000 kelvins. All in tents. I move my plants from my vegetative room to my flowering room and for a couple of weeks they are wonky and don’t seem to grow much. I have even lost plants at this juncture. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.”

Rev’s Answer to Q1

Hey Denny. Yup, this is a thing. It’s a bigger thing than most growers think too. Of course, the plant makes some minor adjustments for wattage differences in lighting, but this is no problem whatsoever for plants as long as the wattage change isn’t extreme. Like going from fluorescent lights of 200 watts to 1000 watt HID lights. This would cause instant and obvious big problems unless the HID lights were backed way off for a couple of days.

Spectrum changes cause the plants to change up their operations internally that can cause them to have some temporary problems. But, even temporary problems during flowering aren’t cool, and yields along with other aspects can suffer. My practice with different lights is to keep my plants vegging under their flowering lights for a full two weeks before starting the flowering photoperiod.

Different spectrums cause the plants to use nutrients differently. For one example, when I am flowering under 400 watt metal halide Eye Blue bulbs, HID lights at 6500 kelvins, my plants require more nitrogen (N) longer into flowering. Under 400 watt LED lights at 4000 kelvins, my plants use less N. Hopefully this fixes you up.

Environmental Transitions, Question #2: After an OD?

FROM: Mitchell  

“Help Rev! I have a horrible situation I’m hoping you can help me with. My plants are about to go into flowering. They look pretty good, but for the last month or so they just haven’t looked super happy and seemed to be growing a little slowly. My friend came over to try and help. He brought his own TDS meter. Long story short, thought I was running my plant water at around low 60’s PPM. In reality it seems the actual PPM is up around 80+! I have a cheap TDS meter that has worked fine I’ve had for about a year, but apparently it suddenly sucks.

Here’s what I need to know Rev:

1. Do I need to flush my plants or something before I transplant them into their flowering containers? Am I screwed in flowering because of this?
2. Can you recommend a good TDS meter for me? Also, is there anything else I need to know? Because these plants are very valuable to me and if I lose them or their flowers suck, I’m going to be sick.

Thanks Rev. Your new book is on the way to me and I can’t wait to read it.”

Rev’s Answer to Q2

Damn, well first of all Mitchell, don’t freak out, you’ll likely be fine. This actually happened at a time for you that works well to fix it. The transplant is a biggie and will go a long way to bumping them back up to full health. No need to flush them. If you were running up closer to 100 PPM, I would say flush them immediately and transplant. You should be fine within a couple weeks of transplanting and back to super happy plants.

Now, TDS meters, cheaper ones anyways, have a lifespan of about a year I would say before they start getting a little wonky. Low batteries can also make them read incorrectly. I use cheap TDS meters myself, however, I also have a TDS meter that is a little higher quality that can be calibrated. I only use this meter to double check my cheap meters once a month.

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Get a new cheap TDS meter, and then get a little higher quality one. My cheap ones run about $15.00 and my higher quality meter is about twice that much. Just assume you will need a new cheap TDS meter about once a year. You can sometimes clean your TDS meter with isopropyl alcohol to extend their lifespan. Set a reminder on your phone to double check your TDS meter readings once a month and this will never happen again to you.

Environmental Transitions, Question #3: Indoors to Outdoors?

FROM: Cole

“Hi Rev, I love the new book! I have a mystery on my hands I cannot solve. Whenever I place my plants outdoors in the ground from 2 gallon pots indoors, they are always looking very sad for several days and sometimes longer. I actually lose several plants every year at this time. The plants get really saggy looking and dark. Any help here would be great, I’m at a loss. Thanks man.”

Rev’s Answer to Q3

Well Cole, several things change big for your plants transitioning to outdoors, from indoors. First thing I would ask you is what kind of lights are they growing under indoors? Like, taking them from fluorescent lighting into direct sunshine can be traumatic, even deadly. Too much intensity way too fast, you savvy? To help with this problem, even if I am vegging under something like T5 lights, I wait for an overcast day to transplant them outdoors. Alternately you can take them outdoors for a few days in their containers, placing them under dappled light, like under a tree or whatever. Then transplant them into their permanent location. Generally speaking, never transplant to outdoors in the heat of mid-day.

In the photo above, you can see a method of transplanting shown here from container to container. Going from container to in the ground, it’s even more important. This keeps enough roots exposed to higher levels of fresh air. This move eases their transition a huge amount and allows them to bounce right back into full health fast. You can use bark mulch to level things off, no worries.

Afterword

We have come to the end for today my friends. Want some more Rev? Check out this article: Home Grown Cannabis Breeding by Rev. Also, make sure to grab a copy of my latest book, True Living Organics the Druid’s Edition. Learn all about recycling your soil and many more all natural growing dynamics. Wander the path of Kingdom Organic Seeds,  and check out some solid cannabis genetics grown and bred all naturally TLO style. L8r G8rs…

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