Flowering Photoperiod - 12 on / 6 off ?

Jack Angel

Active Member
Hi All,

I hope you can help me with this question.

Has anybody experimented with a photoperiod of 12 on / 6 off during flowering ?

I've tried searching on the net to no avail. Lot of discussion about increasing the time the light is on but most methods consistently keep the dark period at 12 hours. I've also noted a lot of discussion about the flowering hormones production being retarded by light and therefore it would impractical or stupid to have a short dark period. . . . . BUT

in Cervantes " Bible " he offhandly mentions (in one short paragraph )that some BC and Dutch growers are using this method. For various reasons -apart from the time advantages - this method would suit me ideally.

If you do know it to work, I have a further question - do you have to induce flowering at 12 / 12 and work down to 12 / 6 or would 12 on / 6 off induce flowering by itself?

Thanks for reading this post and I do hope you can help

Jack Angel

:peace:
 

david6767

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

I hope you can help me with this question.

Has anybody experimented with a photoperiod of 12 on / 6 off during flowering ?

I've tried searching on the net to no avail. Lot of discussion about increasing the time the light is on but most methods consistently keep the dark period at 12 hours. I've also noted a lot of discussion about the flowering hormones production being retarded by light and therefore it would impractical or stupid to have a short dark period. . . . . BUT

in Cervantes " Bible " he offhandly mentions (in one short paragraph )that some BC and Dutch growers are using this method. For various reasons -apart from the time advantages - this method would suit me ideally.

If you do know it to work, I have a further question - do you have to induce flowering at 12 / 12 and work down to 12 / 6 or would 12 on / 6 off induce flowering by itself?

Thanks for reading this post and I do hope you can help

Jack Angel

:peace:
? 24 hours in a day.
 

smppro

Well-Known Member
well thats different, never seen 12/6 or anything that doesnt add up to 24hr. I dont think this will work at all. Iv eread lots of books and looked at lots of setups and i dont think you are frowing any buds without 11or12hrs of dark.
 

kathleenbilly

Well-Known Member
It does work, :blsmoke:

So long as the plant receives 12 hours of darkness then it will flower, you then use only 6 hours of light, and then 12 hours of darkness again.

In effect you are creating a 18 day/night cycle of your own.

Due to timers being based on 24hrs it's very difficult to impliment the time shifts every cycle working with 6 hours light so your darkness period although still 12 hours will start at different times every day. :blsmoke:

Get your head round it? :mrgreen: its a working a system. Ya it's all maths my friends....''
 

punkrockdude

Well-Known Member
I would assume that a 12on 6 off schedual wouldnt work. the idea being your plant is pushing out ur buds for 12hrs and is storing the energy to grow during the 12hr off period. i would think it would still work but would leave u with either small bud sites, low thc content or even possibly a stressed plant which could lead to hermies
 

kathleenbilly

Well-Known Member
I would assume that a 12on 6 off schedual wouldnt work. the idea being your plant is pushing out ur buds for 12hrs and is storing the energy to grow during the 12hr off period. i would think it would still work but would leave u with either small bud sites, low thc content or even possibly a stressed plant which could lead to hermies


Don't you mean 6 on and 12 off ............'' :hump:
 

doctorX

Active Member
Your plant requires 12 hours off min.

The more off time you give your plant the shorter the flowering period and quicker it is ready for harvest.

For instance there is a thread that goes through the math in it showing that if you turn your lights off for 14 hours you save a week in time for flowering.

Keep in mind: Altering your 12/12 schedual will alter your yeild. The 14 hours off will cause your yeild to be much MUCH MUCH significantly lower.
 

Jack Angel

Active Member
The reason I asked this question was I had a plan

Plant 20 lowryder and a week later 10 hindu kush in the same grow room - the lowryder is auto flowering so its straight through with 20 on / 4 off from start to finish, and this suits the veg stage of the hindu too.

Plan was to harvest the lowryder after 70 days and switch to 12 / 12 to let the hindu kush flower.

I'm about 2 weeks from harvest of the lowryders but the hindu have gotten too big and I'd like to start flowering them now.

I'm wondering does anyone have any ideas on how to give the lowryders the max light for the next 2 weeks but still get the hindu to flower.

ie At the moment they are getting 20 hours a day x 7 = 140 hours of light / week

If I switch to 12 / 12 they'll only get 84 hours of light / week

I wonder if there is another way that someone has experience with

Thanks

Jack Angel
 

blonddie07

Well-Known Member
You have to make the plant trigger its flowering cycle... by giving it either no light or less light in the dark period... and full light in the light period... 12/6 will actually slow your flower period... :)

you need 12/12... more light isn't always going to mean faster growth... your plant needs to trigger flowering everyday... when the plant notices less light it thinks its coming close to winter.. so it starts to flower.... so i can collect pollon... less light will actually promote faster flowering.. thats why 12/12 is the best :))

goodluck.
 

caz83cj

Active Member
I know it may sound stupid but if i was going to do anything it would be 6/6 i now small yeild but who knows. prolly start at 12/12 for 3 or 4 weeks. then go to 6/6. who knows maybe after a couple clones and shit you could train the plant that this is normal. just a thought. ccccc-ya
 

Mr Green Man

Well-Known Member
I think that the plants need on average 12 hours of dark to keep in flowering mode. some plants need less, I think as little as 10 hours and I gess with breading you could get it down. but i'm out of my deaph here and just saying what I have read so take it with a pinch of salt.
 
The reason I asked this question was I had a plan

Plant 20 lowryder and a week later 10 hindu kush in the same grow room - the lowryder is auto flowering so its straight through with 20 on / 4 off from start to finish, and this suits the veg stage of the hindu too.

Plan was to harvest the lowryder after 70 days and switch to 12 / 12 to let the hindu kush flower.

I'm about 2 weeks from harvest of the lowryders but the hindu have gotten too big and I'd like to start flowering them now.

I'm wondering does anyone have any ideas on how to give the lowryders the max light for the next 2 weeks but still get the hindu to flower.

ie At the moment they are getting 20 hours a day x 7 = 140 hours of light / week

If I switch to 12 / 12 they'll only get 84 hours of light / week

I wonder if there is another way that someone has experience with

Thanks

Jack Angel
hey man rule of thumb is u must get a min of 10.5 of dark and the rest can be light just watch you nute up take because they wont give a real warning when they need a good dose so as long as you do it that way u will be fine and people here in holland only do the 6 off 12 on and then they go 6 on 12 off to flower them it so give this a try and you will see that it dose work but it takes alot of memory to make it work cause they will be set on one thing and will have to be changed gentle not rapid it maybe hard to kill a pot plant but its very easy to muck them up....:leaf: happy to be dutch:clap:
 

dijabyte

Member
It's funny because i was having the same problem growing the "Spicy White Devil" but I have now had it on 12/12 for two wks and it is flowering and looking great. So yeah keep it with 12/12 and you should see results. the thing that I am confused about is should I do the 12on 12off till harvest? i am also a newbie but having great results from beans that I ordered from attitude:blsmoke:
 

mfrahim

Member
12/6 can be done if u can control the light. Just give 12h light and 6 h darkness, at the end of 6 h dark u can give the 12 h light cycle so u have 18h/day. Long day plant just need uninterrupted longer hour light.
 
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