Root Development, Plant Health and More - GRW EP0020

Welcome to Episode 20 of Grow Room Weekly! In this week's episode, the Faven Lighting cultivation team takes you behind the scenes of their commercial indoor grow R&D facility in Sacramento’s green zone. It’s a hectic morning as the team walks into the aftermath of a small electrical fire caused by a burnout floor fan in Room 1. Once the smoke clears and the room vents out, cultivators Alex and John dive straight into their data-driven tests, focusing on the critical switch to the bulking irrigation phase and sharing major updates from their ongoing lighting and cultivation trials. If you are looking to optimize your crop steering, master irrigation transitions, or understand the measurable impacts of under-canopy and far-red lighting, this episode is packed with real-world successes, failures, and raw data. 📊 What We Cover in This Episode: • The Switch to Bulking Irrigation: Learn how the team uses the post-defoliation dry-back drop as a precise trigger to transition irrigation programs, build up root zone moisture ($P_0$), and strategically scale up water delivery. • Room 4 Trial Update (Day 19): A side-by-side comparison of tables with no under-canopy lighting versus those equipped with under-canopy fixtures. The team uncovers staggering differences in lower canopy bud size, structural robustness, and root mass development. • Room 3 Trial Update (Day 26): Exploring the far-red spectrum. See how end-of-day far-red treatment is affecting plant elongation and uniformity, plus a highly subjective (but undeniable) test showing massive differences in terpene aroma ("loudness") between treatment tables. • Room 2 Quick Look (Day 45): A pre-harvest check-in on commercial strains finishing up their cycle under end-of-day far-red light. • Room 1 Revisit (Day 8): Examining a brand-new trial layout evaluating parallel vs. perpendicular under-canopy fixture configurations to maximize light uniformity, while assessing if the morning's smoke incident will impact the young crops. Grower Q&A Segment: The team answers community questions about the ideal plant height to flip when working with a strict 4-foot double-tier vertical grid, and whether a Day 21 or Day 30 de-leafing strategy yields the best canopy light penetration. ⏱️ CHAPTER BREAKDOWN WITH TIMECODES 00:00 - Grow Room Electrical Fire Aftermath (Room 1 Smoke Incident) 00:45 - Welcome to Grow Room Weekly Episode 20 & Overview 01:11 - Room 1 Fan Burnout & Facility Venting 01:54 - Room 4 Trial: Switching to Bulking Irrigation & Root Zone Analysis 07:09 - Driving Yield & Quality with Under Canopy Lighting (Sponsor Break) 07:26 - Room 3 Trial: Far-Red Spectrum Impacts & Terpene Aroma Differences 10:41 - Room 2 Update: Day 45 Pre-Harvest Inspection 11:31 - Room 1 Revisit: Parallel vs. Perpendicular Fixture Uniformity Trial 14:10 - Q&A: What Height Should You Flip Plants in a 4-Foot Double Tier? 15:09 - Q&A: Defoliation Timing (Day 21 vs. Day 30) & Far-Red Light Penetration 16:12 - Outro & How to Submit Your Cultivation Questions 🌿 ABOUT GROW ROOM WEEKLY Grow Room Weekly is an authentic, documentary-style series following the professional cultivators at Faven Lighting. Filmed entirely inside their indoor grow R&D facility located in Sacramento's green zone, this series captures the unedited realities of commercial horticulture. From unexpected equipment failures to breakthrough lighting parameters, the team documents every challenge, success, and failure—sharing their exact cultivation tests, light spectrum trials, and crop data so that growers everywhere can find their edge. Cornerstones of our facility's ongoing research include: • Precision crop steering and dry-back adjustments • Intracanopy and under-canopy photosynthetic photon delivery • Morphological influences of specific spectral bands (such as far-red) • Tissue analysis and elemental nutrient uptake mapping Connect with the Faven Lighting Team: 🌐 • Website: https://favenlighting.com/ 💬 • Have a question about irrigation, de-leafing, or light mapping? Drop it in the comments below. 👍 • Enjoying the data? Make sure to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to support the channel! #CropSteering #UnderCanopyLighting #GrowRoomWeekly #IndoorCultivation #FavenLighting #Horticulture #IrrigationStrategy #FarRedSpectrum #CommercialGrow #AgriculturalRAndD #PlantScience #Defoliation