Light questions

[Whenallislost]

okay before I begin I know someone has asked this question already. I have done a little research and it seems that opinions are mixed. So I'll ask here in hopes of constructive response.

I have my ladies on a 12/12 cycle... they are looking gorgeous.. but ive been sprouting some in a cabinet (since I dont have 2 rooms) with a 24/0 cycle... I have a gorgeous plant in the cabinet still, she is getting pretty big. My question was....

Is it okay to keep her in 24/0 while vegging? When she is big enough can I bring her straight out to the 12/12? Or do I need to slowly bring her to 12/12 by putting her in an 18/6 for a couple weeks?

 

[tomatofarmer]

I will be the first to say im no expert, But in my first grow (only grow) i went through out the whole thing with 24/0 my plants grew spectacularly in veg. I then gave them a whole day of darkness then switched to 12/12. I also have done a ton of research, my method may not be perfect but it worked great for my girls.

and the 24/0 vag is fine only reason you wouldnt want to do that is because of energy consumption or if the plants are getting burned from the light (if thats the case just move if farther away)

 

[420jamezbong]

I always grow clones and mother plants on a 18/6 for three weeks then move to my flowering 12/12 the fourth ive had great success and nice yields as well

 

[elious]

Going from 24-0 to 12-12 shouldn't hurt them a bit. Its been done time and time again by many growers handling many different strains and growing methods. I've never heard of it having an adverse affect. Having said that, it won't hurt them either if you go from 24-0 to 18-6 and then finally to 12-12. Shit, I know a guy that flowers his girls under a 11-13 cycle.

 

[Whenallislost]

I guess I can only say, I love this plant, it adapts to anything... I mean if you think about it... it is a weed... grows pretty much anywhere in any condition.. As for Energy consumption... Im not worried about that, unless you mean the plants, and I keep plenty of good soil and nutrients in it (not enough to burn) Thanks for the input everyone.

Ill have to share my purple nepal grow experience and pics later

 

[Cultivator]

thats fine mate. knock lights off for 48 hours darkness before the flip to help initiate flowering.

 

[Whenallislost]

48 hours prior move to total dark huh? I wouldn't have thought honestly, but I can see how that would help, thank you very much for the advice

 

[Cultivator]

follow my journals mate if u need any advice. my latest one is coming to an end, feel free to check it out and ask any questions u have.

 

[blakieblaze]

when do you know when to cut your light from 24hr to a 18/6 cycle?? or can you just keep it 24hr until flowering??

 

[Whenallislost]

It will never go to flowering if the lights stay on 24/0... You can keep her in vegetation in order to create a mother plant if you so chose.
I will probably move her straight from 24/0 to 12/12 after a 48 hour dark period like Cultivator suggested. I am going to let her get about a foot maybe foot and a half tall before I move her so she is well established and getting pretty big. It may take a little extra time from start to finish, but I have a feeling it'll be worth it.

 

[Whenallislost]

Shit, I know a guy that flowers his girls under a 11-13 cycle.

11-13 huh? Why is that? To Prevent stretching? Will keeping it Darker that extra hour make for denser buds? I may have to research this

 

[elious]

11-13 huh? Why is that? To Prevent stretching? Will keeping it Darker that extra hour make for denser buds? I may have to research this

The gentleman who does this is like 70! He's grown this shit for so may years he has it down to a fine science. I have no idea of what kind of yield this guy gets nor do I know what strain he has. This old guy lives by the hermit code man. We'retalking straight out of deliverance and shit. I do know he's a soil man and he does well. But he could have massive system. Hard to say. But a 11-13 cycle is not going to hurt them, I know that much. Keep in mind, I wasn't trying to suggest that you should implement that cycle. I ws simply stating that it has been done with positive results. By positive I mean it didn't kill the plants.

 

[Cultivator]

light can be played around with and tweaked. but 12/12 DEFINATELY works so until you have a bit more experience i'd just stick with that and u wont go wrong.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

11-13 huh? Why is that? To Prevent stretching? Will keeping it Darker that extra hour make for denser buds? I may have to research this

11/13 thats real old granpappy knowledge stuff... like from the times before


But what it does do, yup gonna tell ya real hard core secret on some forums.... it makes your electricity bill cheaper

I use DLR aka diminshing light routine in flower starts at...

1. 11/13 for 2 weeks.
Change to
2. 10.5/13.5 for 2 weeks.
Change to
3. 10/14 for 2 weeks.
Change to
4. 9.5/14.5 for last few weeks.

Been using this on 7 to 9 week flowering indica strain, they say the method is known to increase plant maturity in flowering shortening the total length of flowering time & on average i finsh around on the 8th week i could finsh up earlyer tho.

GLR aka the gas lantern routine is the lighting regime for veg stage also...

The 12-1 lighting schedule is as follows 12 hours lights on, 5.5 lights off, 1-hour lights on, 5.5 lights off, and repeat schedule. The 1 hour on in between off period fools the plants that stay in vegetative growth state! Your immediate savings are 5 hours in energy costs daily, as well as your bulbs and equipment lasting longer. But how do the plants react to this lighting schedule?


I don't use GLR at present prefering a 16/8 ligthing regime for veg.



Here's some of girls grown under DLR lighting routine & ya i'm a tight mutha fcuka when comes to paying my own electric bill... who wants to be noticed for using to much electic

I know of other growers using DLR or variations of it in their own grows and certianly more than few using GLR in veg


The only thing that 18-6, and then 12-12 lighting schedule's do is make the energy companies rich as well as the people who sell lights and equipment, the more you use the more you spend. 12-1 lighting schedule is a more natural way to grow indoors and you well have the best results you have ever had and save as much as 50% in energy costs.




P.s - ye ya can just flip lights from what ever veg light cycle to flowering cycle with out a 2nd thought about it, some suggest total darkness of 24 to 48 hours before flipping i believe this to be practical when using 24/0 for vegging as it is well known fact dark period changes plant hormones/regenerates.

 

[Whenallislost]

I understand that you were not trying to get me to implement, and I wasn't going to, but I always like to learn new things/tricks. Actually I have noticed the opposite for an older friend of mine, he seems to keep his on 13/11.

I did read about the DLR variation as well as the other one for flowering, however electric bill is not a worry, we generate our own.

I am about 2 months into my first grow, and I'm doing it with my father-in-law. He has a lot of good advice, but there have been things I've found on these forums that neither one of us knew. I have been adjusting all sorts of things slowly (of course slowly) and it all seems to be benefiting my ladies.

Thanks to everyone on this forum that actually helps, much better than some of the other forums I belong to.

I will have to research this shorter light period over dark period soon. That would be amazing if it made them even more dense. Ill test a few plants next run.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

12/12 is the normal assoicated method of flowering most commonly used for MJ & that DLR mimics the natural world as we aproach autumn/winter day light hours gets shorter, its just another theory of growing indoors at the end of the day.


I can not honestly say whether there are any other benifits to the method tho apart from the cheaper electric bill & possible early harvesting... but finding real hard evidence is tricky to find when researching matters !


Congratz for being of grid with the ol elctric, its one thing i wish to achieve in the future

Good luck with the research some days ya have to put it into practise to see the results.

 

[Whenallislost]

I certainly will. I will have to start my grow journals soon. If I can convince my father-in-law, we may build a couple more rooms in order to keep a sea of green and allow us to experiment.

Ill keep reading, and trying to share my experience.

Off Grid electric rocks, i have no problem letting things run. Good thing too since its cold as shit here and its hard to keep my girls warm.