once germinated, light or no light?????

once i get germinated seeds into my grow medium should i leave the room dark until they pop through the soil, or should i keep light on them from the start. (24/0 or 18/6). i've read a few threads and there seems to be some discripency. is there a rule of thumb, or just prefrence? thanks alot.

I think it's your choice, at least 16-18hrs a day. 24 hrs a day is what i'm goin with seems to be workin. I started light 24hrs once planted... i'm new as well though. hope i was helpfull. good luck.

I just planted this morning. I plant em and set my timer on 18/6 and forget about it. Preference.

you get rep for reading some posts befor asking questions blindly. your right... there does seem to be alot of people that disagree on this one. and i am no expert so the best i can do is tell you what worked for me. and my plants are healthy and in their second week of flowering! i planted my germinated seeds tap root down in my soil medium and put 24 hours of light on them right away. people told me that it was a bad idea but i dont see how as my plants are doing great! ill do the same thing confidentally for my next grow and i would reccomend the same to you..

light is good as the plant will probably utilize everything thats available for development... warmth, moisture, light.. so the minute it pops up it needs light so its probably even better if there is light on them before they pop up...

Highlighter said:

light is good as the plant will probably utilize everything thats available for development... warmth, moisture, light.. so the minute it pops up it needs light so its probably even better if there is light on them before they pop up...

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to add on that, unless you live in northern canada or alaska the natural summer light cycle is about 18/6 so when seeds sprout in nature they dont get an extended period of darkness and they have been sprouting for millions of years!!! the plus side to indoor growing is you can give it 24 hours of light and increase the rate of growth!!! thats a good rule of thumb for growing cannabis.........whenver you get stuck or confused just ask yourself;what would nature do??

i've put light on as soon as planting the seed. had no problems with germination, in fact, it's growing pretty well. (this is germinating in soil, not paper towel).

thanks for the replys. awsome forum. keep it up

Keep the light on once you put your germinated seed into the soil. It will need the light when it comes up and it can give the plant warmth as well. I personally set my timers for 18/6 so I don't have to worry about it. A 24hr light setting can turn more of your crop to males. Less light produces more females.

is this true i have never heard this before i am running my seedlings in 24hr light cycle under a 4ft t5 with 4 blue spectrum bulbs

Yup. They're are also other things besides lighting and genetics that can affect the sex of your plants.

This is an excerpt from Dutch Passions:

From literature and our own findings it appears that the growth of a male or female plant from seed, except for the predisposition in the gender chromosomes, also depends on various environmental factors. The environmental factors that influence gender are:

• a higher nitrogen concentration will give more females.
• a higher potassium concentration will give more males.
• a higher humidity will give more females.
• a lower temperature will give more females.
• more blue light will give more females.
• Fewer hours of light will give more females.

I've followed the rules of this list for around twenty some grows and it hasn't failed me yet with only a 5-10% ratio of males coming from non-feminised seeds.

well i ran mine 24 hrs light and now i have three males out of three im not possitve there males but from the pix ive seen on here im sad they are lol

I believe that there is some contention here on the issue:

The 18/6 light cycle supposedly has a higher chance of hermaphrodism.

The 24/0 cycle is best for growth but doesn't get a "cooling off" period so the heat stress can lead to hermaphrodites, not neccessarily the light.

Each one seems to have a following but I lean towards 24/0 with good ventilation.

I have to disagree with you on 24/0 as I have everytime the issues comes up. I have personally tested the 18/6 and 24/0 and even the 12/12 theory and my results were that 24/0 has a much higher male ratio. I even asked skunk to prove my results wrong and no one has taken the challenge that I know of. Here is a thread from another forum. My results are the 7th post down. I also have some of my findings on RIU as well. How to alter the % of females - Growing Marijuana Forum

mal_crane said:

Keep the light on once you put your germinated seed into the soil. It will need the light when it comes up and it can give the plant warmth as well. I personally set my timers for 18/6 so I don't have to worry about it. A 24hr light setting can turn more of your crop to males. Less light produces more females.

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another thing to be sue of is acidity levels in ur soil or water, alkaline water usually make seeds pre domanantly male while slightly acidic turn female

Where did you find this information? Just asking, would like to see it for myself.

mal_crane said:

A 24hr light setting can turn more of your crop to males. Less light produces more females.

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This is complete bullshit... and you shouldn't be telling newbies this information like it is fact. You have no support for these claims. Keep them to yourself until you do.

Show me where anyone has proven this information wrong. I'm still waiting for your results as well skunk.

I'm only giving people the advice that I wish I had gotten when I started, after seeing the results of my grows. Not to mention there are other people here who have used this information and gotten the results they are looking for.

Listen to King Kahuuna, in that link you posted. There's a guy that knows what he's talking about.

Sex reversal, just by using light schedule? and you laud this as fact?