Mixing artificial and natural light

[welshweed]

If I'm growing indoors in an attic bedroom under artificial light will the natural light from the skylight window be of benefit or detrimental to my grow?

[Canuck147]

Depends on the window - if it has the ability to reduce uv rays then not so good. Some older windows act almost like magnifiers.

[welshweed]

It's a 40x90 cm double-glazed 'Velux' (modern) window. Don't know about its uv capabilities. Faces north.

[DeadlyFruit]

Keep in mind if you are growing photos you will need to block any light from your skylight during the dark hours or your plants will never flip to bloom (unless the sunlight where you are is 12 hours or less and is in synch with your artificial light).

[welshweed]

Sorry - forgot to mention - I'm growing autos.

[DeadlyFruit]

Perfect, no problem then. I would say as long as the skylight isn’t spiking your heat during the day i can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be a help rather than a problem, adding to the light levels.

[welshweed]

Cool!
I'll be pulling down the blind at night time though, to shut out that tell-tale purple glow!

[DeadlyFruit]

LoL, a purple skylight these days might mean you are using those new smart lights that change colours or having your own personal rave or something 🙂

[Rwise]

What I read about glass and windows is UV is blocked unless it's special glass to pass the UV rays.

[welshweed]

Hmm. Just been doing some reading. My Velux windows block out 95 - 99% UV. Also, I read that UV stimulates the production of THC which is the plant's mechanism for protecting itself from UV. So if I give my plants more natural light minus the UV content it won't actually be harmful, but will it be of any benefit at all, I wonder?

[Catfish22]

Yeah was gonna say Velux blocks 99% of uv. That said plants don't run on UV alone!
I think it will surely not hurt and probably help a little. Just try to sync your off time with darkness if possible so they get the full "sleep" time advantage.

[welshweed]

Thanks for the advice Catfish, but on another thread I started I was told that autos aren't that fussed about sleeping. So I'll probably stick to my 20/4 cycle under lights (with some natural light "supplement" during the daytime!)

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/509399-12-12-lighting-question

It's my first grow, so pretty much trial and error - but Hey - I'm having fun

[PLreef]

More light, more better. Light = food.