20 hour days (10/10 cycle)?

I've heard a lot of growers talk about altering the 12/12 cycle - but usually it is still a 24 hour day (i.e. 13/11, etc).

Assuming relatively little growth occurs at the end of the light or dark cycles, it seems it would be feasible to shorten the length of BOTH and ultimately shave days or maybe even weeks off of the flowering period. Of course this may not work the best for your daily routine, as the on/off times are going to be different each day.

Also a 24 hour timer would not work of course, you need something more like a cyclestat that could do 10hrs on and 10hrs off.

Has anyone tried this? Or even further (8on/8off) - 16 hour days?

You're going to either prolong flowering time by giving the plant less time to grow, or you'll seriously reduce your yields by reducing 20%(ish) of a flowering plant's time to have direct exposure to light.

I'm wondering if there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to the duration of light that a plant gets during flowering. I wouldn't imagine it would be a linear relationship... In other words, if you broke the 12 hour light period in flower down the middle, do you think an equal amount of growth occurs during the first when compared to the last 6 hours?

You'd probally have some jacked up hermied stuff.

I also would be wary of trying this just based on it being so out of the ordinary. But I also like to stay curiously optimistic, especially with out-of-the-box ideas. I know most growers that find any success are very difficult to pry away from their set ways.

I found another thread that discusses this; apparently some people do 6on/12off... https://www.rollitup.org/t/shorten-any-strains-flower-time-by-25-50-seriously.558249/

There's some debate over whether reducing the length of the 'light on' period affects the yield/quality as much as it reduces the length of the flowering period... i.e. maybe the tradeoff is worth it due to it allowing you to harvest sooner? I'd have to test it out to try, was wondering if anyone else has.

MrPuffTuff said:

I've heard a lot of growers talk about altering the 12/12 cycle - but usually it is still a 24 hour day (i.e. 13/11, etc).

Assuming relatively little growth occurs at the end of the light or dark cycles, it seems it would be feasible to shorten the length of BOTH and ultimately shave days or maybe even weeks off of the flowering period. Of course this may not work the best for your daily routine, as the on/off times are going to be different each day.

Also a 24 hour timer would not work of course, you need something more like a cyclestat that could do 10hrs on and 10hrs off.

Has anyone tried this? Or even further (8on/8off) - 16 hour days?

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Thos comes up a fair bit and generally I think it would be ok but finding a timer is hard. I dunnonif the cyclestat is it or price is worth it...

I’ve tried it and found not much significance in yield loss and no loss in quality.
I try to avoid this topic because all the people that haven’t tried anything will chime in with what they think and it gets to be to much.
I’ve already mentioned in another thread how that would be tough to maintain and keep track of but I have no doubt it would work and most likely flower much quicker then 12/12

torontoke said:

I’ve tried it and found not much significance in yield loss and no loss in quality.
I try to avoid this topic because all the people that haven’t tried anything will chime in with what they think and it gets to be to much.
I’ve already mentioned in another thread how that would be tough to maintain and keep track of but I have no doubt it would work and most likely flower much quicker then 12/12

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If you've tried it then it should be a "most like flower quicker" you should be able to say, "it flowered quicker for me"

So did it? I'm hoping that you ran a clone of something you've flowered before.

Sorry I apologize for chiming in.
I clearly stated that I didn’t try this exact experiment I always ran 24hr days and that’s why I said “most likely!”

The plant needs 12 or more hours of darkness to build up the hormone for flowering. If they only get 10 hours of darkness they will stay in veg and grow slower.

Yeah, as growers we walk a fine line between manipulating envionmental factors triggering positive growth and positive attributes, and tinkering too much with the environment and creating negative affects. It can be like walking a tight rope at times.

torontoke said:

Sorry I apologize for chiming in.
I clearly stated that I didn’t try this exact experiment I always ran 24hr days and that’s why I said “most likely!”

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Oh, well I guess there was a typo because in your post you actually said you did try it...

"I’ve tried it and found not much significance in yield loss and no loss in quality."
That's why I was confused.

growingforfun said:

Oh, well I guess there was a typo because in your post you actually said you did try it...

"I’ve tried it and found not much significance in yield loss and no loss in quality."
That's why I was confused.

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No worries
It was my mistake, I should have quoted directly what I was responding too.
I meant I’ve ran lots of reduced hour light cycles not the ops original experiment of reduced total day hours.
I’m not sure how the 10/10 would work and would love to see someone try it

MrPuffTuff said:

I've heard a lot of growers talk about altering the 12/12 cycle - but usually it is still a 24 hour day (i.e. 13/11, etc).

Assuming relatively little growth occurs at the end of the light or dark cycles, it seems it would be feasible to shorten the length of BOTH and ultimately shave days or maybe even weeks off of the flowering period. Of course this may not work the best for your daily routine, as the on/off times are going to be different each day.

Also a 24 hour timer would not work of course, you need something more like a cyclestat that could do 10hrs on and 10hrs off.

Has anyone tried this? Or even further (8on/8off) - 16 hour days?

Click to expand...

Can't reinvent the wheel. Trust every combo of light hours has been tried and tested exstencivly. 24 hr. Veg 12/12 bud wins the test. Besides the 18/6 fans that would argue 24.lol

torontoke said:

No worries
It was my mistake, I should have quoted directly what I was responding too.
I meant I’ve ran lots of reduced hour light cycles not the ops original experiment of reduced total day hours.
I’m not sure how the 10/10 would work and would love to see someone try it

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Dang. This is one of the things I really wanna try myself an was actually hoping for info on.

I've concidered running 10 on 14 off and just moving the timer 4 hours manually every day.

blake9999 said:

The plant needs 12 or more hours of darkness to build up the hormone for flowering. If they only get 10 hours of darkness they will stay in veg and grow slower.

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I think that as long as the lights on hours are equal or less then the dark hours the plant will flower.
I have a hard time believing that the plant is smart enough to say nope only been sleep for 10 hours instead of 12 so keep veggingg.
Just a guess tho until someone does it

You need at least 11 hours of dark. If you could do a 9/11 light cycle, it would work. But, the longer your light cycle, the bigger your buds. Still need that dark period in between days tho
As someone pointed out, you can run 6/12. You can also do 24/12

torontoke said:

I think that as long as the lights on hours are equal or less then the dark hours the plant will flower.
I have a hard time believing that the plant is smart enough to say nope only been sleep for 10 hours instead of 12 so keep veggingg.
Just a guess tho until someone does it

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Thats not about smarts. Its a plant function. Then in theory you can do 1/1 and they will still flower if what you are saying is correct. How about 1/2?

Cannabis plant needs 10 to 12 hours of darkness. Different with each cultivar.

torontoke said:

I think that as long as the lights on hours are equal or less then the dark hours the plant will flower.
I have a hard time believing that the plant is smart enough to say nope only been sleep for 10 hours instead of 12 so keep veggingg.
Just a guess tho until someone does it

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You are wrong. The plant needs time to build up the hormone to start flowering, and yes the plants are genetically smart enough to know the difference. You hear people talking about this ALL the time, yet nobody has ever run back saying 'It Worked!' If you so sure about it why don't you try it out with your crop and tell us the results.

blake9999 said:

You are wrong. The plant needs time to build up the hormone to start flowering, and yes the plants are genetically smart enough to know the difference. You hear people talking about this ALL the time, yet nobody has ever run back saying 'It Worked!' If you so sure about it why don't you try it out with your crop and tell us the results.

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I thought I clearly explained why I, myself wouldn’t attempt this exact experiment.
I’ve done my share of tinkering on behalf of the greater good and usually get shit on by people that haven’t tried sweet fuck all. but

I suppose I am wrong.
Glad all you guys that have tried it are chiming in and explaining it to the rest of us.
I stand corrected and hope that no one ever tries this and wastes their time.