I think I am having success so far with my 1st 2 autos and want to try a photoperiod but every review I read on amazon regarding tents talks about light leaks. Are those pinholes enough to ruin a grow?
Here are a couple of pics of my autos and would like some feedback / suggestions. They are both in early flower stage.
I just bought black out drapes to throw over my tent.
Some plants will react to light leaks, others won’t.
Looks like those plants can use a defol. Take off all the big fan leaves especially ones covering the bud sites. Will allow for better air circulation also. Look at ac infinity tents or gorilla grow tents. Gorilla is a bit more expensive but a nice sturdy material. Good luck. If u defol some leaves drop a pic afterwards and show them girls off a bit. I just stripped down 2 w.w. auto a bit ago and went deep with them lol.
Never seen a tent that didn’t come with some light leaks. First thing I do is go over the tent and cover any pinholes and other sources of light leaks with duct tape or black silicon RTV (where duct tape won’t hold or stick), I also add some velcro to zipper flaps to make them more light proof. Worst case, throw some drapes or a tarp over it.
No I don’t believe pinholes are big enough unless you have high powered lighting right outside of the tent. I have 5 tents of various brands and they all leak light somewhere never had a hermaphrodite because of them. Just zip it up the best you could and you should be good.
If all you want to grow is auto’s they won’t care much about the light leaks.
It will be in a room with lights out and curtains drawn but the sun will shine in now that the days are getting longer. I appreciate your confidence and do feel better.
great idea. Thanks.
These are my 1st grows and I read that newbies should avoid defoliating until I have more experience. Both plants are very dense so I’ll try it and be gentle and then repost. Thank you all so much. This is such a great sight and a wonderfull hobby. I should have started years ago.
Looking at your top pic (and I don’t have the best eyesight 
) I’m wondering if you may have a bug or something. See below where I circled. In the meantime, @Myfriendis410 @MattyBear @AAA please take a look.
Very true @SmoknGranny , good catch. I would inspect all over to see about pests
Thanks for the confirmation @MattyBear 
My maxsisun cheapo 4x4 still zero light leak after 8 months or so
Looked just like urs before i took the leaves ill show u a pic in a few days and ull see it wont harm it. If u do it about 21 days afyer u see pistil pop and 42 days thats the ok area for defol even on photo period plants. It wont slo it down a beat. Did the same thing with my fastbuds bubblegum auto andbshe is looking superb.
I have a MarsHydro 3X3X6 and I haven’t had any issues.
When I first put the tent together, i got into it to check for light
leaks and air flow. I bought it on sale for about $100 bucks so it was
an awesome deal.
Hey hey, not bad for your first time! 
You could even do it heavier next time and remove some more of the smaller sucker branches and buds 
Im impressed. First time i had @Nicky run me thru the defol and had me freaked out. But the buds on that tree came out super nice. Good job for first time. Like mattybearsaid next time some of the sucker branches can come off thru the middle and main stalk area. If the top of the branch or bud dont reach a third of the way up it comes off loght wont mature the bud enough and trimming larfy buds sucks and a waste of time imo
Thank you guys but I don’t know what a sucker branch is. Please elaborate. Should I wait before doing any more pruning? These are both auto’s.
The more experience you gain growing, you’ll be able to see which branches and buds will end up as loose and airy (larf). Those are typically taken off in late veg or early flower so energy can be directed to the top colas to get those fatty buds
Also, I would let it be and not prune anymore so you can see what we’re saying about the “sucker branches”
