light schedule ??

[vivalaboss]

i have a new strain that i just started from seed and im gonna be growing it under a SCROG net...i usually just use clones in my Scrogs but i wanna try one from seed....anyways, i started the seedling and have been vegging it now for about two or three weeks now under 24 hour light (usually always get females doin that), but my question is if i change the light schedule down to 18/6 to give it a dark period, will that shock it into hermaph or should it be OK...im about to put the net over it and start training it, but i just feel like the plant needs a dark period now instead of straight 24 hours of light, but i just dont want to make it hermaph or anything like that....any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[legallyflying]

I never go 24. The plants need to respire a little and good things happen at night (like increased root growth).

My schedule: 16/8 for two weeks. 18/6 throughout veg , 12/12 for most of fllower, 10/14 the last two weeks. (its a natural hormone kind of thing).

But to answer your question, no it shouldn't herm.

 

[vivalaboss]

thanx alot for the reply man....ive always done the whole 24 hour thing, but lately after doing alot of reading and stuff like that it just didnt seem right or natural...im gonna go ahead and switch it over to 18/6, then im gonna switch em to 10/14 at the end of budding like you said, cause ive never done that before, ive just always kept it 12/12 till the end...anyways thanx alot for the post and Merry Christmas, hope its a good one!!

 

[AV420]

For the first 10-15 days, you want to keep it in 24/0, then move it to 18/6 for as long as you want to veg. This will not stress you plant or turn it hermie. Another cool tip is before you go into flowering, turn off your lights for 2-3 days. Complete darkness. This tricks the plant into thinking it is dying and makes it super produce, giving you a very good start. This will also increase your yield. Again, this does not stress the plant or turn it hermie.

 

[vivalaboss]

I have heard something about turning the lights off for 2-3 days before going into flowering, but I have been nervous to do it for fear of producing a hermie. If you say you have success with it then I would love to give it a try. Anything for a bigger yield..... Anyone else with experience on that subject... love to hear it....

 

[legallyflying]

LMAO "tricks the plant into thinking its dying" where the hell did you hear that one? Yeah, you will get a higher level of flowering hormones during those three days but once you go back to 12/12 you have the same damn flowering hormone levels as if you never went 3 days in the dark. Vodoo man. Vodoo.

 

[gobbly]

certainly doesn't need a dark period till you want to flower, but it won't hurt it at all to cut it down. Obviously it's going to slow growth, but that's not inherently bad.

Bear in mind though, many people seem to want to pretend their plants are humans and need sleep. There's loads upon loads of info showing that they don't need a dark period, it's only a debate for those who haven't tried 24/0 and/or have no real grow experience (ie: they don't understand that a plant under 24 hours light requires more than a plant under 18/6).

 

[legallyflying]

Bear in mind though, many people seem to want to pretend their plants are humans and need sleep. There's loads upon loads of info showing that they don't need a dark period, it's only a debate for those who haven't tried 24/0 and/or have no real grow experience (ie: they don't understand that a plant under 24 hours light requires more than a plant under 18/6).

Ahhh, the old "you don't have any grow experience" line. Your probably right, I'm quite certain that you have many more grows under your belt. I however, have scored pretty damn well in several graduate level plant physiology and plant ecology classes. And no, they didn't talk about growing weed, it was quite a bit more difficult than that. They did however go into far to much detail about chemical processes and the effects of different light, temperature, and gas concentrations on growth an development. There have indeed been many studies that prove that a plant grows faster under 24 hour lighting. HOWEVER, the yields of identical plants where the only difference was light regime yield the same amounts. I understand the point of diminishing returns enough to just save the 540 kilowattts a month during veg and the $75 dollars it would cost me. Not to mention the wear and tear on my grow gear.

That's just my take on the never ending 24/18 debate. People do what they want to do. and besides " they don't understand that a plant under 24 hours light requires more than a plant under 18/6" what the hell does that even mean?

 

[vivalaboss]

Legallyflying....
I never go 24. The plants need to respire a little and good things happen at night (like increased root growth).

My schedule: 16/8 for two weeks. 18/6 throughout veg , 12/12 for most of fllower, 10/14 the last two weeks. (its a natural hormone kind of thing).

But to answer your question, no it shouldn't herm.

I think this is the schedule im going to use....people can argue all day im sure on the whole 24 hour light debate, but i think your right about the plants needing some dark period to respire and like you said good things like root growth and things like that happen at night...now i have always used 24 hour lights in veg, but now that i think on it more, its my understanding that in nature pot can grow in 24 hour light in some places, but unless you have that strain then i dont think its necessary...i think it all boils down to what strain you have, and if your not to sure than just go with what happens naturally in nature which is like legallyflying said...16/8 for two weeks, then 18/6 throughout veg, then 12/12 to flower and 10/14 at end of budding....thats pretty much what happens in nature and it gives your plants the night it needs to focus on root growth and im sure the plant probobly rejuvenates cells and stuff like that at night as well when its not totally focused on producing cloryphyl and growth........now im no expert grower or anything like that, but it seems like what naturally happens in nature is the best thing to stick too, cause like you said its a natural hormone thing!!
I love when my lights go off at night cause it always seems like as soon as they do my whole room gets a REAL sweet smell as soon as they go off, so thats a bonus too...lol
thanx for all the advice and input yall...im sure the debate on light scheduling could go on all day..........


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[legallyflying]

Sounds like a plan. When it comes down to it, its all about root growth. I would happily trade shorter plants with less veg for massive roots. I just paid a metric shit load for some root excellerator. Read some with/without trial reports and all the growers found increased root growth and health. Shit is spendy though, especially with a 50 gallon rez.

Just like humans and other animals, plants have a natural circadian rhythm. If you read the one link above you will see that for the first 4-5 days that you give a plant 24 hours of light, the photosythetic activity is identical to a natural day/night cycle regardless of the additional light. Sure, you can grow in 24 hours of light and ignore natural rythms. Just like people that work third shit and stay up all night and sleep most of the day. I think its pretty damn telling however that people that spend a career working third shift have a life expectancy 5 years less than those that sleep at night.....

 

[vivalaboss]

man you aint lyin bout the whole third shift thing...i use to work a 6pm to 5am shift for like a year and it really does do a toll on ya...gotta keep it natural is the key....what do you think of the debate of 24 hours forces plants to be female....thats why ive done it in the past, but what ive found is when you go from 24 hours to 12/12 i seem to get hermaphs...there never too bad, but in about the 5th week of buddin it always seems i have nice buds but all of a sudden you can see little yellow shoots comin out here and there....they almost look like how the white hairs grow, but there yellow and i always end up with like a seed or two in the buds...its pretty trippy cause im use to seein male flowers look like big ol nuts hangin down and opeining up but these are just like little yellow hairs with i guess some pollen on em...anyways i got one more question im bout to change the plant into 18/6, but i just topped it yesterday, should i wait to change the light cycle till it gets over the shock of being topped, or just go ahead and change it....i just didnt want to shock it too much in one day!! thanx again for all the advice and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

[Panda Bear]

I'm really new at this and I was wondering if you really even need a dark period. I am barely germinizing and was wondering when to start putting a light schedule for it after planting it the first day. Thanks for reading.

 

[vivalaboss]

usually once my seedlings come sproutin up out the ground i start the light schedule then....i have always done them on 24 hours, but im gonna start putting them on 16/8 for the first couple weeks, then 18/6 for the rest of veg, then 12/12 for buddin then 10/14 for the end of budding...but i think to answer your question once your seedlings sprout you want to start giving em light and putting them on a good consistent schedule....im no expert grower or nothing so dont take my advice as gospel, but thats just from my experience and what ive read...hope that kinda helps....

 

[Panda Bear]

Yeah it helped thanks alot! But when do you knw the different stages of the plant? And what are they called? Have a merry Christmas by the way

 

[vivalaboss]

there are a few stages of marijuana growth....first you have to germinate the seed, once the seed has been germinated, it is planted and once it comes out of the ground it is now in vegetative growth stage...during this stage, the plant is only focused on its foliar growth and becoming mature so it can go into the flowering or budding stage...once the plant has grown and matured then the lights are changed to 12 hours on and 12 hours off signaling to the plant that fall has arrived and it is time to bud...the plant once flipped into 12/12 usually goes through about a 2 week stretching period, where the plant develops its bud sites and determines the sex of the plant....male or female...usually it takes about 8 weeks for the buds to fully mature depending on strain, then you harvest, dry and cure your buds...now thats pretty much the different stages of growth, but here is a site that goes into more details on each stage....hope this helps....and if ya still have questions dont hesitate to ask!!
http://www.weedsthatplease.com/growindoors.htm

 

[Panda Bear]

Yes!! That helped me so much!!
But I have anothr question, how many weeks do I gotta keep the light scedule from 24/0 until I change it flowering light cycle? Is there any way I can flower early from growing too tall?
Thanks again for the info

 

[Viagro]

24/0 is best. -Ed Rosenthal

This is a direct quote from Ed Rosenthal whom most of you know is a marijuana growing guru:
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marijuana plants photosynthesize as long as they receive light as well as water, air, nutrients and suitable temperature. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use the energy from light (primarily in the blue and red spectrum's) to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) to make sugar while releasing oxygen to the air.

Plants use sugars continuously to fuel metabolic processes (living) as well as for tissue building. The plant combines nitrogen (N) with the sugar to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. They are the substance of plant tissue. When the light is off, the plant's metabolic processes, respiration and growth, continue.

The plant can photosynthesize continuously so it produces the most energy and growth when the light is on, continuously. Continuous light does not stress the plant, which reacts somewhat mechanistically to it.

Plants under an 18-6 light-dark regimen are producing sugar only three quarters of the time. They are thus growing at only 75% of their potential. Leaving the light on continuously will result in bigger plants, faster, which leads to higher yields."

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"The following information is straight from Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible"

Cannabis is a light demanding plant. Professional growers keep the light on their plants using the 24/0 photoperiod for this reason. Plants that grow under 24/0 flourish and do not need a quantity of darkness in order to rest and perform photosynthesis properly. Plants that are grown in optimal conditions under 24/0 light regime grow vigorusly and the benefits of a 24/0 photoperiod can be seen actively in the results. More nodes are formed, more branches are created, leaf numbers increase, the plant is growing at its finest.

Some growers opt to use 18/6 as their photoperiod. This is 18 hours of light, six hours of darkness light regime. Under these conditions the plant will grow quite naturally but not as vigorously as the 24/0 photoperiod.

The 18/6 photoperiod expels 3/4 the amount of light that a 24/0 photoperiod does. Although this does not mean that a plant produces 1/4 less leaves,branches and nodes under the 18/6 photoperiod, it certainly does show the correlation between light and cannabis growth. As we have said already, cannabis is a light demanding plant. There are no problems associated with 24/0 and although some have attributed cannabis sexual dysfunction (the hermaphrodite conditon) to 18/6 photoperiod these problems are actually the result of heat stress.

A 24/0 photoperiod requires that your grow room temperature be kept well monitored. The 18/6 option is cheaper to run. You use a quarter less electricity and this will have an impact on your electricity bill. Also the 18/6 photoperiod will generally extend the bulb's lifespan. During the 6 hours of darkness the grow room is allowed to cool down for this period but a well maintained good grow room setup should not require a cooling down period.

24/0 and 18/6 both share the same problem though. Once you start the photoperiod you should keep that way especially when the plants near maturity (the preflowering stage). An irregular photoperiod can cause more males than females to develop. It can also cause sexual dysfunction to appear. Whether you choose 24/0 or 18/6 as your vegetative photoperiod try to keep that photoperiod unitl your plants are mature enough to express their sex."

24/0 is superior insofar as plant growth

 

[vivalaboss]

great post viagro....that was a good little eye opener...ive always used the 24 hours of light and have never had a male, but i do get hermaphs every now and again, but i think its due to heat stress.....
To answer your question Panda Bear...i use to grow a SOG where i would have a bunch of plants in a small space that i would keep kinda small and only focus on the main top cola of each plant...i would flower them a bit earlier to keep them from getting too tall, but usually when you flip into budding the plants naturally stretch and usually double there size....wasnt to practical though having all those plants, so i am now doing a SCROG grow, which allows you to put a net of chicken wire about 6-8 inches above the plant and once the plant comes up above the net you continue to train the plant back under the net until about 50% or so of the net is full...then whenever you flip it into budding it will fill the rest of the net up and all your buds will be at the same level and will get the same light, so you get more out of one plant...i dont know if you have ever read up on the SCROG method, but in my opinion its the only way to grow cause you maximize your yield from one plant in a small area....heres a good bit of info on the SCROG method if your interested...
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/365720-interested-scrog-growing-technique-great.html