Flower stage stretch question

At what point of day during the flowering stage does the plant stretch/stretch the most? As in during the 12 hours of light or the 12 hours of darkness. I'm very curious as I have looked around and haven't really seen this discussed. Is it worth discussing? If so, what are your experiences and observations with your own grows?

Im currently investigating this as well,my gut feeling is that plants stretch more in the darkness,My work is strictly with autos at the moment,but im finding I can severely limit stretch with a 24 hour light cycle.

I think both. I'm no expert, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did more in the night cycle.

Resinhound said:

im finding I can severely limit stretch with a 24 hour light cycle.

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Now, are you referring to a 24 hour light cycle during flower with your autos?

Elmo's Closet said:

Now, are you referring to a 24 hour light cycle during flower with your autos?

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yes thats correct

Obviously the strain will determine "how much" it stretches.. but Sativa or Indica dominant, there must be some correlation to the stretch of all plants during different times of day right?

yes I think the plant treats darkness like any other low light situation,in flower it wants to make sure and position it's flowers above all the foilage.Ive flowered plants that didnt reach any higher than 9 inches from the soil using 24 hour light.I get considerably taller plants with just an addition of 4 hour dark period.Yield doesnt seem to be affected yet,thats more a function of rootmass and the amount of healthy foilage.Yes ofc its going to be strain dependant.

Resinhound said:

yes thats correct

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Hmm that is very interesting. I wonder if less stretch during more light hours for autos carries over to photoperiod plants as well. If samples were taken, half with max day hours for flower and another with the minimum daylight hours, which would stretch more in flower with every other variable the same?

sounds like a good experiment

My guess is that they do this during (their) night time. Sleeping "dark" period is when humans and plants do their growing, repairs ,build up resins /terpenes ect. That is why flowers and herbs are at their very most fragrant and productive after night time and just before the sun rises .

Do auto's actually even have a pronounced stretch stage? I've only grown two real auto's and honestly they didn't seem to stretch like a photo but just grew normally. They were both outdoor grows so I guess it would be hard to see.

Budley Doright said:

Do auto's actually even have a pronounced stretch stage? I've only grown two real auto's and honestly they didn't seem to stretch like a photo but just grew normally. They were both outdoor grows so I guess it would be hard to see.

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Yes they stretch just like any other cannabis plant.

Resinhound said:

Yes they stretch just like any other cannabis plant.

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Oh good to know if I ever do one inside.

Budley Doright said:

Oh good to know if I ever do one inside.

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Alot of it depends on the particular cultivar as well.And how much ruderalis Is incorporated into the strain.

So still strain dependant then, cool. Doubt I'll do an indoor auto grow but if Ifind one that I like perhaps, still looking for one that is half ways decent.

Resinhound said:

Yes they stretch just like any other cannabis plant.

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I thought the flowering stretch was more so caused by the drastic decrease in day hours thus forcing the plant to climb to find light. For autos, if you flowered the same hours as you veg, would there really be a considerable legth change?

Elmo's Closet said:

I thought the flowering stretch was more so caused by the drastic decrease in day hours thus forcing the plant to climb to find light . For autos, if you flowered the same hours as you veg, would there really be a considerable legth change?

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notice the part I bolded.Thats exactly why I think more stretch occurs during dark hours.

And why a 24hour light cycle seems to limit stretch.If these plants are given 24 hours of light they dont seem to stretch much at all.

There is dedinately a connection here.

Two factors play an important role I'm the stretch phase one is the day/night temperature differential. If the range is very slim, less than ten degrees then plants will stretch less because they lose energy through respiration that would otherwise be used to pack on tissue/cell mass. If one uses the blue spectrum of light during stretch that will also reduce elongation.

Whether this stretch happens more during day or night I'm not sure.

Good points

When my lights cut back on tonight I will measure the height of a shoot and then re measure at the end of the day cycle. Then measure again right when the lights cut back on tomorrow. I have a plant ending its day 9 of flower now and although it isn't a big enough sample size for a definite answer, I will report my findings. I will try to do my measurements every day until stretch ends.