Question: When to use 12 on 12 off?

Hey I'm new here and to growing, but I recently started growing about a month ago now. I've had my plants on about 18 hours of light, but I've read that when you want them to bud you put them on 12 on 12 off. Should I start the 12hour lighting now or should I keep running them on 18 for a while?... They're growing indoors by the way. Thanks for the help.

well how tall are they?? That really doesn't matter tho. If they are from seed I let them go till they are at least 6 to 8 nodes high... and I am using sea of green so I will let my clones root and I throw them straight into 12/12. I grow indoors too and It works. I grow bubble gum and I get around 3 O's per plant. I am using botnicare nutes with dwc hydro. Using hydroplex bloom enhancer now...we shall see if there is a difference. How tall are your plants and what are you growing??

The plants are about 10 inches tall. I'm not really sure what a node is, but I think its each level of leaves. The plants are nothing special, just some regs I've collected from bud I've bought, Just trying to see how well I can grow before I put any money into it.

if you started from seed then you might want to veg them until they show preflowers(usually 2-3months)to have good bud..but if you want to just bud it then you can put 12/12 whenever you want to..people usually put clones from a female plant to flower when it roots because they already know the sex and its from a mature mother..

Yeah they're from seeds. So I'm guessing that once I'm able to determine the sex of them thats a good time to start hitting them with 12hours of light. Correct? About how long does it take till I'll be able to tell the sex?

P.S. sorry about putting this in the hydroponics section... I'm new here.

what kinda light do you have. that will meatter. but it in the early portion of the flower cycle. 2 weeks would be good or less. ball parks do to factors. keep the temps around 80 then try to get them to drop another 10 degrees at night, dont mess with the light schedule as the stress will make the plant turn hermie. photperiod the biggeste cause of stress. there is a certain amount of lumens u should have per square foot of plant. it escapess me now i need to look to be sure. i a nub, first grow so i dont wanna confuse you or get u off to bad start. this forum just fun.. i use a 400 watt hps.

I honestly don't know what kind of lights they are(I got them from a friend that grew like vegetables and other legal plants with them) I know that they are some type of fluorescent shop lights that stay very cool and are meant for growing plants. As far as temperatures go... I hope it isn't too important that I keep the temps at 80, because I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and when winter comes my house won't be all that warm so keeping it at 80 is impossible, but I will try to keep them as warm as I can.

Your plants should grow alright under florescents, but if you need a half descent yield you'll need a MH/HPS light. As you are only experimenting, the florescents will do. The florescents are good for seedlings and clones, which dont need a lot of intense light.
MH are the best for growing the plant, and the HPS is good for the flowering of the plant.

You cant sex a cannabis plant untill you see preflowers. Then put it under 12/12 light, it will take around 2/3 weeks before you see the true sex of your baby.

I take it you're growing in soil. If you are, you should go to the soil section, they will talk you through your grow. But you need to do a bit of homework yourself. Go to the FAQ section, on the top left of this forum, and have a wee read over the basics. Nobody really likes having to explain the basics to anyone, when they could go read it for themselves.
Hope that helps.

like i said before you can put your plants on 12/12 whenever you want to..

Alright, I'll be done with this thread after this question. Will I see the pre-flowers before I put the plants under 12hours of light?

Again, sorry for putting it in the wrong section and asking noob questions.

Yes, if you want to sex the seedling, you see little white hairs (preflowers) coming from where the fan leaves meet the stem.