What up Dude, Scotty and the rest of the DGC members and crew! One of your 5.6% female members here in newly recreational Michigan needing an answer to a question that I know Guru is dying to wrap his sexy brain around.
First of all, thanks so much for all you guys do. I’m a newer grower (3 years) and I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from you and your guests (big thanks for featuring Lovin in her Eyes-phenomenal grower and fantastic interview!!). Let’s hope it inspires even more females to get out there and get their hands dirty in a garden.
I have a million questions I could ask, but today I want to focus on one that I’m finding particularly interesting lately. Early this year I switched from HPS to LED in order to see what the fuss was about and save some dolla dolla billz on energy. I couldn’t believe that it cut my energy bill in 1/2 while producing some dank ass buds! Being a single girl with fairly limited cash, I did some research and ended up buying a 420 magazine editor’s pick for best budget LED and went with the 2000w BESTVA reflector series, replacing my 1000w HPS in 2 of my 3 rooms. I have (3) 2000w LEDs in the 7×7′ veg room and (3) in one of the 7×7′ flower rooms and (2) 1000w HPS in the other 7×7′ flower room. So here’s my question. I’ve noticed ever since making the switch some of my plants are producing colas with white tips. Initially I assumed it was lightly bleaching even though I’ve always kept the lights at the manufacturer suggested 18 to 24″ away from the canopy, however I noticed the white tipped colas aren’t the closest ones to the light & I’m finding various opinions on the subject upon googling it. Some say light bleaching, some say it’s trics on trics on trics & becoming something new & sought after with the LED boom. I’ve checked the buds out with my scope and the trics are plentiful & look normal and the buds don’t appear to be damaged in any way…oh, and I run quality genetics–Ethos, so that shouldn’t be the issue. Anywho… while I save up some cashish to buy some Spectrum Kings or HLG’s, I’m gonna keep running these BESTVA’s and wondered if you guys or any of the DGC have ever had any experience with this before or if this is a result of lower quality LED? Leafly ran an article indicating it’s a good thing but I can’t seem to find a definitive answer and I’m DYING to hear what Guru’s opinion is! https://www.leafly.com/news/growing/white-tips-on-cannabis-buds (Btw, shout out to whomever decided to start blessing us with that mug-nice to finally put a face with the brain😉!)
Thanks again guys! Keep growing and smokin’ and watching prohibition fall down!
-KC
Your lights are too close and/or intense. As a result, your buds are being “bleached” by too many photons. The affect on the trichomes is not as bad with LED like it is with HID. With HID lighting, the trichomes are “cooked” because of the IR (heat), causing terpene loss and cannabinoid degradation. LED lighting has almost no IR with the light being mostly in the visible spectrum. The damage is mostly on the bio-mass which is still not a good thing. Too many photons hitting the leaf and bud creates oxygen free radicals aka reactive oxygen species (ROS) causing damage (bleaching). ROS can damage cells and even DNA. This damage is what causes the reduction of chlorophyll and carotenoid, the two molecules that collect photons. Less light absorption in the chloroplasts equals less photosynthesis. With HID, the raise in temp from IR causes severe water loss from excess transpiration. Guard cells around the stomata close, causing a reduction of CO2 into the plant creating fewer carbohydrates and energy for growth. I’ve been greedy in the past with HID and learned my lesson. I haven’t made that mistake with LED lighting. As soon as I see the intensity stress start, I back off.
I had similar bleaching occur back when I was using blurple “platinum led” lights, which are similar to what you are using. I’m pretty sure that type of bleaching is linked with too much intense RED light.
Im the short term, you can avoid bleaching by raising your lights up a bit, but for the long term I would consider switching to a “bright white” type of light like something from spectrum king, rapid led, or HLG.
I was getting decent results with my old platinum led lights, but stepping up to some spectrum kings was a HUGE improvement for my grow. Better yields, better bud, and a much nicer working environment. Not to mention, no more bleached buds. 🙂👍
At 18 inches seem light pushes out some photons. By the spec sheet anyway. If your not running co2 looks like 18 in might be too close. Possibly where the overlap on lights is where the white buds showup?
Only other thing ive heard can’t say it is right, but maybe a defiecency, possibly like magnesium, something incomplete to produce chlorophyll. Ive seen white tip buds on a short autoflower with a cheap led light but they were up under the canopy, bottom branches that got very little light. Something about low leaf surface temperature giving plant trouble moving magnesium.
What temps are your rooms during lights on.
Thanks guys! Yeah, that’s what I thought also but I’m following the guidelines of distance between light and canopy and have tried raising to 36″ in between once I notice it and it’s still happening. I wonder if that’s hurting my yield? I keep temps around 78-80 & notice that some of the colas that are a little taller than the white tipped ones aren’t affected. So odd. What do you guys make of the Leafly article then? https://www.leafly.com/news/growing/white-tips-on-cannabis-buds
I’m a basement grow limited by a 7′ ceiling so raising the lights isn’t an option and I double scrog the plants as it is to keep them shorter. Any other suggestions until I can get a better, whiter LED?
Came here to say the same as the others your lights are to close bleached buds look neat but are usually low to none thc. Light bleaching is not a good thing. Also this is u/kaitelyn420 another of the few female growers lol. The taller colas are probably above the light levell that is causing the bleaching you know how there is only a ertain footprint. I would say those taller ones are growing lightly outside that footprint of the direct light. You can always bend them over a bit more but not much you can do but try to get the lower away from the light girl
This will be on EP 897. Thanks for posting!