Safe to Grow Female Seeds 5 Weeks on 24/0, then Switch to 18/6?

[ttumaddawg]

As the title states...
Long story short, I'm not a new grower but haven't in a while. We used to go 24/0 with lights indoors and then force flower to sex, then plant the females outdoors to flower.
Now, I've got female seeds so don't have to worry about sexing, but I've had them going 24/7 with lights indoors since they popped out of the soil. Reason I'm asking is of course we had done 18/6 back in the day sometimes, but I preferred 24/7 because it worked better for me. Now I'm reading more and more that 18/6 is the way to go for veg because they seem to grow a bit more with the dark period.
BUT, since I've had them going 24/7 for 5 weeks now, is it safe to go to 18/6 without stressing or herming them?
I plan on vegging them for about 2 more months inside under lights, then throwing them outdoors to flower here in Texas.
I appreciate any help for an old school bro.
Thanks and have a great day.

 

[Joe Buddens]

I've done it before. What I did was I gradually reduced the light cycle by 1 hour every 4 day's, no side effects that I could see. You would definitely risk putting them into flowering, then they would re-veg hence stunning growth.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Rollitup mobile app

 

[ttumaddawg]

Cool, thanks for the reply.
Let me ask you this, did you start noticing more growth during dark periods than you did with 24/7?

 

[GroErr]

No problem, but I reduce it in increments, just less stress on the plants. Typically I switch them from 24/0 to 20/4, then 18/6 over about 10 days.

 

[Joe Buddens]

I've done it before. What I did was I gradually reduced the light cycle by 1 hour every 4 day's, no side effects that I could see. You would definitely risk putting them into flowering, then they would re-veg hence stunning growth.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Rollitup mobile app

I was running some auto flowers while vegging other plants. I did, however, notice more resin begin to form on the auto flowers. I think that keeping a plant at 18/6 from the beginning would be the best idea though. To answer your question though, I didn't notice any excelerated growth. Ive read some of Ed Rosenthal's books and he says that he has tested strains under ideal conditions, same mother plant, same everything, except light schdudles, and that 24/0 actually had more growth.

 

[ttumaddawg]

Cool man. I do remember some of those Rosenthal trials. Thanks again.

 

[Nullis]

You usually get more growth\more compact growth early on. Typically I begin seeds with 24 hours of lighting under a T5 fixture, because they don't cost as much to run as the HID's I use later on.

Cannabis plants don't 'sleep' and don't really need the dark period when they aren't blooming.

 

[ttumaddawg]

Thanks Nullis. So I guess I'll just keep them on 24/7 so as not to risk any stress, then set them free outdoors in early August to flower in Texas.