Light schedule change without flowering

V

Vadgedamager

420 Member
Hello,

I am in a bit of a pickle. I currently have my plants, still in veg in dwc on an 18 and 6 light schedule.

I have to move to soil and the days are only just starting to get longer here. The schedule is almost complete opposite of what they need to be to slowly reduce the schedule to match the outdoor hours.

Anyone know the recommended time I can reduce my lights per week and how aggressive the change can be??

Is there another solution of leaving them on 24hr to do the move around the clock or will that put them straight into flower when I do my 1st dark period that is 6hrs??

Plants are 8 weeks into veg. Had planned on doing a lot of training and taking my time as they are fimmed with 6+ heads on each

Any advice muchly appreciated.
 
Vadgedamager said:
Hello,

I am in a bit of a pickle. I currently have my plants, still in veg in dwc on an 18 and 6 light schedule.

I have to move to soil and the days are only just starting to get longer here. The schedule is almost complete opposite of what they need to be to slowly reduce the schedule to match the outdoor hours.

Anyone know the recommended time I can reduce my lights per week and how aggressive the change can be??

Is there another solution of leaving them on 24hr to do the move around the clock or will that put them straight into flower when I do my 1st dark period that is 6hrs??

Plants are 8 weeks into veg. Had planned on doing a lot of training and taking my time as they are fimmed with 6+ heads on each

Any advice muchly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Are you saying you are going to take your DWC plants & transplant them into soil ? Not sure how you'll do that properly with all those roots.
As far as your lights go, just leave your lights on for an extended time until you match the hours you want. Some growers run their lights on 20/4. You're still in Veg so you can get away with a lot more than you can in Flower.
I'd say it's better to give an extended light period then an extended dark period, because the long dark period can trigger Flower.
 
Buds Buddy said:
Are you saying you are going to take your DWC plants & transplant them into soil ? Not sure how you'll do that properly with all those roots.
As far as your lights go, just leave your lights on for an extended time until you match the hours you want. Some growers run their lights on 20/4. You're still in Veg so you can get away with a lot more than you can in Flower.
I'd say it's better to give an extended light period then an extended dark period, because the long dark period can trigger Flower.
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Buds,

Yea I'm just going to plant the whole lid with the pot in tact.

Lights are on an 18/6.

Think I can leave on say for 24 hours, then off for 12 and start 12 and 12 without flowering??

I have to flip to the other side of the clock as well as reduce hours.

Thanks
 
Vadgedamager said:
Buds,

Yea I'm just going to plant the whole lid with the pot in tact.

Lights are on an 18/6.

Think I can leave on say for 24 hours, then off for 12 and start 12 and 12 without flowering??

I have to flip to the other side of the clock as well as reduce hours.

Thanks
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I think it's anything under 14 hours of light per day will start flowering. I'm not positive it's 14 hours though. @Emilya Green will know for sure.
 
Thanks for the response.

As it stands lights come on at 1500 so will have to give 27 hrs to bring them back to lights off at same time as sunset here, then will start lights at 15on and drop 30 mins every 4 or 5 days until I match up.

Um unsure how aggressive you can be with the time reduction on the light on cycle.
 
It depends on where you live. In South Africa we are heading to spring and the time to put out clones is end Oct to mid November. I usually drop the hours of light 15 minutes a week so max an hour a month. Once I have them at 14.5 hours lights on they will be ready to move out in Oct without flowering. Hope that helps. Just need to work out how many months you need. You can be a little cheeky and move them out a week early but they must be around 14.5 hours light when you move them
 
Vadgedamager said:
Anyone know the recommended time I can reduce my lights per week and how aggressive the change can be??
Click to expand...
If the plant is healthy with a root system large enough to support the above ground growth I would think you can just take it outside when the weather is right. As long as the plant is a photo-period it will need 12 or more hours of 'no light' to start flowering. Not just one period of no light but several in a row.

Vadgedamager said:
I have to move to soil and the days are only just starting to get longer here.
Click to expand...
Vadgedamager said:
Yea I'm just going to plant the whole lid with the pot in tact.
Click to expand...
The first step is to start the process of transferring the plant's root to a soil environment. And, I am not sure what you are meaning by planting the whole lid with pot intact. Unless, when you mention the pot you are talking a basket that the root mass sits in. You did not mention if you are going to transplant into a large pot of soil or into the ground.

It is not going to be an easy process. The plant has to adapt from being spoon fed water and nutrients to actually having to send roots out to seek the water and soluble nutrients. And, it will have to adapt to making use of the micro-organisms that are in the soil which is something it did not have to do while the roots were in a nutrient rich water solution environment.

It would make an interesting mini-journal to just show how this stage goes.

Vadgedamager said:
Plants are 8 weeks into veg. Had planned on doing a lot of training and taking my time as they are fimmed with 6+ heads on each
Click to expand...
My thoughts are to not worry about any training right now. Get the plants into soil, first. Once they look like they are adapting to the change of being in soil and they look like they are going to survive then you can start to work on changing the light schedule.

If you are in the southern hemisphere then @Lerugged brings up the good point that you will be working under lights until sometime in late October to November before the plants can go outside and still get enough sunlight to prevent flowering. And, then there is the weather at that time. The temperatures will have to be in range, etc. Then the training can start.

About 8 weeks plus for bending, pruning or anything else needed for that training. Plenty of time.
 
could be wrong here but I believe the op means taking the DWC net basket and planting it in soil.

Yes plants can be converted from one media type to another however your roots have developed as water roots which are very different from soil roots.…. It will take time for this conversion to happen. Yes a huge bundle of dwc roots look amazing but transfer to soil can kill the plant if you overwater, yep I realize that sounds bizarre but your dwc roots became proficient at extracting oxygen from water and now need to learn how to extract oxygen from a soil product….

nope 24 hours dark does not change anything in the big picture…. (It’s not going to hurt but it takes about 10 days since plants don’t flip over too quickly) it takes many days of flower cycle light hours to start hormone conversion from veg mode to flower cycle. The way I understand it (please correct if I’m wrong) flower cycle works when flower hormones overtake the veg hormones located in the top of the plant…. that is the apical meristem (depending on your training style) and convince the entire top of the plant that it’s in flower. Once the top is convinced then the hormones convert the next lowest limb from the top. So yes flower cycle hormones work their way down from top of the plant in descending order

Personally I’d get the plant stabilized for about 3 weeks minimum in the new media before flipping to flower.. it’s gonna be real easy to overwater thus compacting the soil and restricting the roots ability to extract oxygen from said soil….

I’d be curious if our man @bluter has any tips or intel to drop on conversion from dwc to soil.
 
013 said:
could be wrong here but I believe the op means taking the DWC net basket and planting it in soil.

Yes plants can be converted from one media type to another however your roots have developed as water roots which are very different from soil roots.…. It will take time for this conversion to happen. Yes a huge bundle of dwc roots look amazing but transfer to soil can kill the plant if you overwater, yep I realize that sounds bizarre but your dwc roots became proficient at extracting oxygen from water and now need to learn how to extract oxygen from a soil product….

nope 24 hours dark does not change anything in the big picture…. it takes many days of flower cycle light hours to start hormone conversion from veg mode to flower cycle. The way I understand it (please correct if I’m wrong) flower cycle works when flower hormones overtake the veg hormones located in the top of the plant…. that is the apical meristem (depending on your training style) and convince the entire top of the plant that it’s in flower. Once the top is convinced then the hormones convert the next lowest limb from the top. So yes flower cycle hormones work their way down from top of the plant in descending order

Personally I’d get the plant stabilized for about 3 weeks minimum in the new media before flipping to flower.. it’s gonna be real easy to overwater thus compacting the soil and restricting the roots ability to extract oxygen from said soil….

I’d be curious if our man @bluter has any tips or intel to drop on conversion from dwc to soil.
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Thanks so much for all the input, I have done the transfer before but not as far along as they are now and they do take a bit to come right. I use fast draining soil which wasn't a problem.
Like any changes it does shock them a bit.

It's just a shame my situation has changed to where I have to get them out early due to home going on the market and don't really want to find somewhere for the indoor set-up.

Over here they say fathers day to mothers day for the outdoors haha. With fathers day only being next weekend but I have to get the light cycle down to 12 hrs-ish.

Want to avoid them floweing and going back to veg if possible. Never seem to bounce back properly after that

Thanks again for all the input. Much appreciated
 
Your other option is to run a gas lantern routine to prevent flowering. As said above sort your roots out first then drop your timer and then pop out. Or fix the roots and put them outside but supplement the light with a couple cfls or a led spotlight for 2 or 3 hours after sunset and then decrease the supplemented light as the season takes off
 
SmokingWings said:
If the plant is healthy with a root system large enough to support the above ground growth I would think you can just take it outside when the weather is right. As long as the plant is a photo-period it will need 12 or more hours of 'no light' to start flowering. Not just one period of no light but several in a row.



The first step is to start the process of transferring the plant's root to a soil environment. And, I am not sure what you are meaning by planting the whole lid with pot intact. Unless, when you mention the pot you are talking a basket that the root mass sits in. You did not mention if you are going to transplant into a large pot of soil or into the ground.

It is not going to be an easy process. The plant has to adapt from being spoon fed water and nutrients to actually having to send roots out to seek the water and soluble nutrients. And, it will have to adapt to making use of the micro-organisms that are in the soil which is something it did not have to do while the roots were in a nutrient rich water solution environment.

It would make an interesting mini-journal to just show how this stage goes.


My thoughts are to not worry about any training right now. Get the plants into soil, first. Once they look like they are adapting to the change of being in soil and they look like they are going to survive then you can start to work on changing the light schedule.

If you are in the southern hemisphere then @Lerugged brings up the good point that you will be working under lights until sometime in late October to November before the plants can go outside and still get enough sunlight to prevent flowering. And, then there is the weather at that time. The temperatures will have to be in range, etc. Then the training can start.

About 8 weeks plus for bending, pruning or anything else needed for that training. Plenty of time.
Click to expand...
the plant can take it, its gonna go into shock for a bit but it will come back I have done it before and you can go straight from 18 to 12 with no issues been doing it for years
 
Vadgedamager said:
Chronic,

I don't want it to flower, I want it to keep vegging for another 4-5 months and do the natural outdoor flowering cycle
Click to expand...
To answer what another member said, not 14 hours... most cannabis will start flowering with just 10 to 10.5 hours of darkness. Most people just use 12 to be safe.

I'm an outdoor greenhouse grower here in Hawaii, and I use "night interruption" in my veg house to keep plants in veg. The term "gas lantern" is an old term, but I actually knew an old grower who used Coleman propane lanterns for this purpose back in the day.

What I use are a bunch of 13 watt full-spectrum LED bulbs, placed strategically in my veg house. They are on a timer to go on at 12:00am, 2:00am, and 4:00am. Each interval is just for a few minutes. Technically, all you needs is a very short blast of light. But remember that the entire plant needs to to get the blast, otherwise parts of the plant will start to flower (i.e. lower parts). This method works like a charm, and uses very little electric power.

I also keep my clones-in-progress in the veg house, and they get the night interruption as well.

good luck and happy growing! 🪴
 
Vadgedamager said:
Hello,

I am in a bit of a pickle. I currently have my plants, still in veg in dwc on an 18 and 6 light schedule.

I have to move to soil and the days are only just starting to get longer here. The schedule is almost complete opposite of what they need to be to slowly reduce the schedule to match the outdoor hours.

Anyone know the recommended time I can reduce my lights per week and how aggressive the change can be??

Is there another solution of leaving them on 24hr to do the move around the clock or will that put them straight into flower when I do my 1st dark period that is 6hrs??

Plants are 8 weeks into veg. Had planned on doing a lot of training and taking my time as they are fimmed with 6+ heads on each

Any advice muchly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Your dark period will put her into flower flip her to 12/12 it take 2,weeks or mabey 3 for her to show first signs of flower if she's mature 90days or older she will still flower but the smoke won't be as good as it would be at 90 days before the flip
 
Mountainman80 said:
Your dark period will put her into flower flip her to 12/12 it take 2,weeks or mabey 3 for her to show first signs of flower if she's mature 90days or older she will still flower but the smoke won't be as good as it would be at 90 days before the flip
Click to expand...
No, the OP doesn't want the plant to flower...

I don't want it to flower, I want it to keep vegging for another 4-5 months and do the natural outdoor flowering cycle
Click to expand...
 
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