Do I gradually switch to the 12/12 to flower?

will it shock the plant just to start running the lights at 12/12 from the 20/4 veg? Do I gradually change it or just crank it over?

just a quick switch. easy as that

nope some people give em 24 hours of dark then start 12/12 so they react faster to the light change

I gave my current grow a 24hr dark period before flowering, but recently I put a few more girls that out grew my veg box (24/0 light cycle, 4x32w t8's, 4x23w cfls) into my flower tent (12/12 light cycle,1000watt HPS, magnetic ballast) and they stretched like crazy for the first 3-4 days and are now on day 16 12/12 with no complications; Other than some extreme stretching (6" average in less than a week)

keep it simple, switch it to 12/12, why take away 12 hours of light from the gals if you attempt the 24 hour darkness, i call bullshit.... 12/12 dont try and be a guru, do what works

24-48 hours of straight darkness and then 12\12 worked best for me.
fatality, call bullshit on whatever you like, I've done my TRYING.

It makes the plants move faster to flowering.

If you really wanted to you could mimic the wild by introducing less and less light perhaps week by week. 24/0 - 20/4 - 16/8 - 12/12 but the flowering cycle wont actually start untill 12/12 is introduced, Your call If time isnt an issue do it gradualy you will get the extra 4 weeks growth but pretty much every one does a straight switch most of these strains are hardy well used to it strains... peace

fatality said:

keep it simple, switch it to 12/12, why take away 12 hours of light from the gals if you attempt the 24 hour darkness, i call bullshit.... 12/12 dont try and be a guru, do what works

Click to expand...

i call newbie LOL

there is someone on here that does 24/0 for a week then 20-4 then 18/6 then 12/12 taking like 3 weeks of going from veg to flower

he said it helps prevent stretching resulting from the sudden dark period that 12/12 brings.

I dont know the science behind it but I know 24-36 hours of darkness is definitely beneficial right before switching to 12/12. and Im the noob of the thread.

its not a big difference at all..its suppose to make them show sex a little bit faster or 1st sign of flower faster (like a day) and it CAN make them stretch out but they dont stretch that bad at all its only 24hours lol

I like a healthy stretch in my plants, I don't think its bad.
If my indica's don't stretch enough in the beginning of 12\12 yield will deminish.

I used to grow some straight sativas and the best way to work around the stretching was a SCROG. then they can stretch as much as they wish. Without it I'd need 2 meter height headroom - thats if they don't stretch much.

I switched to 12/12 and 3 (2 cheese, and 1 wwidow) of my four plants started wilting, leaves yellow and brown . The purple was fine. All the same age, just starting to preflower (or I thought anyway) This is my first grow. Using 400 watt. Any thoughts on why the 3 plants went into stress? I changed the lighting back, and they seem to be recovering but they look pretty bad. Thanks.

post some pics..sounds like under watering/feeding..did u say u changed to 12/12 then went back to veg hours?

Cali.Grown>408 said:

i call newbie LOL

Click to expand...

in all reality the more light u give the plant in its whole life cycle the more it buds ive done my TRYING too it makes no difference at all! do u see buds flying out of calyx's all because of that 12 hours in all actuality it could in terms cause STRESS from reversing its light cycle while changing its light cycle think about! but im sure u have it stuck in ur head so do ur thing im not hatin

yea i know this..i give my plants 13-14 hours of light the last 2 weeks..it makes em work "overtime" and ripens the nugs faster..24hours of dark before 12/12 is to show sex faster and that also makes it start the flowering process faster

the reason y i said 'i call newbie" is because dude said "dont be a guru" like i made up the theory myself lol but this shit has been done for the past 10 years or so, shit maybe longer.

Im going with 24 hours darkness then 12/12

The 24 hours darkness is to Ensure that they have a night long enough to trigger the hormone switch. 12 hours is light is basically the border (is like 13.5 I think?) between the different cycles so there's no doubts about them initiating flowering at the switch. People claim that flowering switch can be delayed but my experience shows otherwise. Might be good advice for a novice who's likely to poken his head in. Whoever said the plants he put in later from the veg box stretched more it's probably they were younger plants, the younger the more stretch. Oh also the greater the decrease in light hours the greater the stretch. So if you gradually go back down you'll get less stretch but i recommend a straight flick just turn them off and let the night be longer from that point on. Or cut the day short.