18/6 - 24/0

ahh...i just read that link and i didnt know that a plant could photosynthesize continuously, i thought that in order to get all of the amoutn of energy needed it needed to process in the dark for a bit. i may try this to just see how it goes and get back to you..thanks man

the only thing is ill have to wait b/c im moving out of my apartment so no indoors just yet.

I find it funny how many people present their responses as "de-facto."

Here's something to think about -

To the people claiming "PLANTS NEED A DARK PERIOD, BLAH BLAH BLAH..." I would wonder - WHY does a plant need a dark period?

What are the SPECIFIC reasons? Not just, "That's how it is in nature."

Some SPECIFIC DETAILS that outline WHY a dark period is required would be nice, especially if you are trying to convince anyone.

The dude above that outlined Ed Rosenthal seems to get it.

Some of the responses hurt my head as far as rationale or from a standpoint of anyone that has had a biology class.

THEY DO MOST OF THEIR GROWING AT NIGHT? LOL! Yes, they DO grow at night, but they can only grow with the STORED energy they have. (By 'stored' energy I mean the energy that was not used during daylight hours...)

Every grower I know uses 24/0 when possible. More light = more growth, provided optimum conditions.

I would put money on the 24/0 cycle producing more growth.

Would it harm the plants if you were to change their photoperiod from say 18/6 to 24/0? Just wondering since they have been used to a dark period.

Keep in mind that humans don't know everything just yet in 50 year think of all the cool ass things we will be talking about on rollitup!! Probably new meathods other than hydro and soil

Puff said:

Would it harm the plants if you were to change their photoperiod from say 18/6 to 24/0? Just wondering since they have been used to a dark period.

Click to expand...

i thought so b/c i thought that they needed to process engery from stored glucose in the dark hours but according to this ed rosenthal which has a lot more experience than me they can process energy nonstop so it should work fine. the only downside is overheating your plants and spending some extra money. either way should work fine.

Usually when I've grown it's been by putting my plants on a window ledge in early to mid april and moving inside at night, the problem with that is I've only got about 6 - 8 hrs. of sunlight. It's always worked. I've had a bit of a fight with stretching. Little bastards look like baby birds at feeding time. YYY Even had to make little wire hoops to hold them up , but once they caught on they grew great. 6ft+ at harvest... This year I'm going to try using cfls for sprouting as I'm starting 4 different types. I hope this works better than schlepping little pots all over the place.

So according to the book it will take longer to harvest a crop if you veg them under 24/0 light. It's the same mentality of a person who is on medication to get better. If you double or triple the dose it doesnt mean you will get reults 2-3 times faster. You have to wait for nature to runs its course.

Puff said:

Would it harm the plants if you were to change their photoperiod from say 18/6 to 24/0? Just wondering since they have been used to a dark period.

Click to expand...

No.

The ONLY time a dark period will have ANY affect is when you give the plant 12 hours of darkness. Some strains WILL BEGIN TO FLOWER on 18/6. I had VISC Burmese, and it BEGAN TO FLOWER under 18/6. Some strains have this characteristic as there are places on the globe that do not reach 12 hours of light, and then 12 hours of darkness. So, there are strains that WILL FLOWER with LESS than 12 hours of darkness.

That's why I always use 24/0 for veg and clones. All light, all the time = NO OPPORTUNITY TO FLOWER. Cannabis flowers due to chemical buildup that acts as a 'trigger' to tell the plant to flower. LIGHT DESTROYS THIS CHEMICAL, and PREVENTS IT FROM ACCUMULATING WITHIN THE PLANT.

So, there's a little n00b enlightenment as to how plant flowering works, in Layman's terms.

(I totally forgot I was in the n00bville thread, LOL!)

When growing marijuana in the vegetative stage you may choose how long you wish to keep the lights on, as long as it's 18 hours or more. Advantages are that plants will grow faster with 24 hours light, and a constant temperature is easier to maintain this way, something hugely beneficial to young seedlings. Disadvantages are that you'll need to water more of course, your lamps and ballasts don't get a break, and the electricity bill increases.

Wow, I haven't checked out this thread in a hot minute! Almost forgot about it.

Well I started out with about 8 27 watt 6500k cfl's with 24/0 for a few days. Plants reacted fine to that. I then switched to 18/6 and plants seemed to do just as well. I didn't keep them at the 24/0 stage long enough to actually compare results, so who knows.

I now have them under a 400 watt MH at 18/6 and they love that shit! MH is the way to go. The cfl's worked, but growth was really slow.

Smoke on guys!



p.s.

I'm going to see Tommy Chong tonight at the comedy club here in my town! Should be fun...

so i wanna do 24/0 until i can tell the sex than to get it to flower properly go 12/12 ? im such a noob xD

18/6 will be fine for vegging, as well as 24/0. When you start to flower, go 12/12. You won't be able to really tell what sex they are until you get ready to flower. Like maybe a week or so before.