Does low intensity lighting produce frostier buds?

[Pipecarver]

Over my last 2 grows I've grown 2 very frosty girls. Each time I've screwed up by having my lights on in flower at 20-40% intensity through most of their development.The first time I'd turned down my light for pics and forgot to turn it back up from 3 weeks in flower through 7 weeks and the plant directly underneath grew smaller but frostier buds, a lot frostier. I shrugged it off, was it light or was it genetic?

This grow the same thing but not by turning the light down on purpose its dimmer malfunctioned( different light than the last time ) and when I went to turn down the light it brightened up. So again twice, low light equaled frost

Any thoughts on this? Has anyone had similar experiences? Or is my product affecting my thought process?

Wedding cake & Ice Cream Cake

 

[Aqua Man]

Over my last 2 grows I've grown 2 very frosty girls. Each time I've screwed up by having my lights on in flower at 20-40% intensity through most of their development.The first time I'd turned down my light for pics and forgot to turn it back up from 3 weeks in flower through 7 weeks and the plant directly underneath grew smaller but frostier buds, a lot frostier. I shrugged it off, was it light or was it genetic?

This grow the same thing but not by turning the light down on purpose its dimmer malfunctioned( different light than the last time ) and when I went to turn down the light it brightened up. So again twice, low light equaled frost

Any thoughts on this? Has anyone had similar experiences? Or is my product affecting my thought process?

Wedding cake & Ice Cream Cake
View attachment 90363View attachment 90364View attachment 90365View attachment 90366

It very possible that the lower stress played a role. But hard to say for sure because many things can affect this… especially genetics.

I am a very strong believer that many over light their plants at almost all stages…. Especially veg.

Not many grows i see where you don’t see light stress or issues caused by too much light these days.

IMO healthy plants are the key.

 

[Pipecarver]

It very possible that the lower stress played a role. But hard to say for sure because many things can affect this… especially genetics.

I am a very strong believer that many over light their plants at almost all stages…. Especially veg.

Not many grows i see where you don’t see light stress or issues caused by too much light these days.

IMO healthy plants are the key.

I googled the strains to see if any of the pics I could find were similar but none are. That's why I brought this up. 2 in a row with light problems and 2 in a row with lots of frost & smaller buds...hmmmm

I'm vegging under a sf600. 74 watts it works great until they out grow its foot print and I've added an old 100 w Burple. They all love it

 

[TomH]

I googled the strains to see if any of the pics I could find were similar but none are. That's why I brought this up. 2 in a row with light problems and 2 in a row with lots of frost & smaller buds...hmmmm

I'm vegging under a sf600. 74 watts it works great until they out grow its foot print and I've added an old 100 w Burple. They all love it

It's the blurple, we were all wrong making fun of them!

 

[MDK]

I've noticed a lot more frost in shaded areas and lowers. Not sure if it's stress or the intensity but I have noticed it seems to be in places that don't get the best light....like if I plant never gets any love in the back of the tent on chop day I find out it's one of the frostier plants

Chernobyl was frosty on the top for me and even more so on the lower buds

 

[Aqua Man]

It's the blurple, we were all wrong making fun of them!

That could very well be and there absolutely has been evidence to show that

 

[Pipecarver]

I googled the strains to see if any of the pics I could find were similar but none are. That's why I brought this up. 2 in a row with light problems and 2 in a row with lots of frost & smaller buds...hmmmm

It's the blurple, we were all wrong making fun of them!

A lot of red in it

 

[ninjadip]

very interesting topic!

before i saw the talk of red lights being the contributor, which is likely the case, being the spectrum, low stress, and healthy plants, but before i saw what everyone else said and all of that def makes perfect sense, i thought maybe it was something like increased potency due to the relative flower size was significantly reduced, due to the lower lights.
i know it's not very scientific but thought it still has some value to add to the conversation, something to think about, although i have zero evidence to back it

 

[Pipecarver]

very interesting topic!

before i saw the talk of red lights being the contributor, which is likely the case, being the spectrum, low stress, and healthy plants, but before i saw what everyone else said and all of that def makes perfect sense, i thought maybe it was something like increased potency due to the relative flower size was significantly reduced, due to the lower lights.
i know it's not very scientific but thought it still has some value to add to the conversation, something to think about, although i have zero evidence to back it

Well a test is called for....Moe"??.....Moe??? @Moered have you seen low lighting test done or heard of such tests or effect of low light on plants?

 

[moe.red]

Sorry man just seeing this.

I’ll give it some thought. In terms of testing no I have not done anything specific to low light. Most of the testing I’ve seen that is trustworthy like bugbee and migrow has been on how far you can go up. But i think results are typically measured in harvest weight not frost. Not even sure what the units would be on that.

Do you press? Curious if pressing yields would be higher on the ones you perceived as frostier. In a perfect world comparing a lower branch in the shade to the top cola on the same plant would rule out the genetics wild card.

 

[moe.red]

@Bandit420 I know you do a ton of pressing (yes terrible pun)

Any merit to this in your experience? Do lower branches that get less light result in higher yields in the press?

 

[Pipecarver]

Sorry man just seeing this.

I’ll give it some thought. In terms of testing no I have not done anything specific to low light. Most of the testing I’ve seen that is trustworthy like bugbee and migrow has been on how far you can go up. But i think results are typically measured in harvest weight not frost. Not even sure what the units would be on that.

Do you press? Curious if pressing yields would be higher on the ones you perceived as frostier. In a perfect world comparing a lower branch in the shade to the top cola on the same plant would rule out the genetics wild card.

Hey, No I don't press, just roll and smoke. I'd like to test this but I need my harvests and I can't afford to try it on purpose. I'd like to find out if my mistakes or errors caused this by accidentally flowering under 20% light. We've always wanted to give them more & more light, Does less make them prettier?

 

[moe.red]

Does less make them prettier?

Smaller for sure all things being equal. There is a direct relationship between ppfd and yield.

Beyond that beauty is in the eye of the pipe carver.

The real question here is are smaller potentially more potent buds better than larger less potent. I'm not even sure that is what is happening here - that lower light produces more grams of thc. just going by your anecdotal feedback.

Short of some lab testing, I think you are going to need to go with your gut on this. Whatever makes you happy.

 

[Pipecarver]

Smaller for sure all things being equal. There is a direct relationship between ppfd and yield.

Beyond that beauty is in the eye of the pipe carver.

The real question here is are smaller potentially more potent buds better than larger less potent. I'm not even sure that is what is happening here - that lower light produces more grams of thc. just going by your anecdotal feedback.

Short of some lab testing, I think you are going to need to go with your gut on this. Whatever makes you happy.

I removed the one light and added a new Mars light. I'm tempted to try it on one plant in my 3x3 but with the old light. I was wondering if any testing had been done with low light or shade grown that came out as sparkly before I waste a good plant on a brain fart

 

[moe.red]

I removed the one light and added a new Mars light. I'm tempted to try it on one plant in my 3x3 but with the old light. I was wondering if any testing had been done with low light or shade grown that came out as sparkly before I waste a good plant on a brain fart

Not that I am aware of. I have not personally