Timer Messed up in Weird Way

Hey guys,

So I still use one of those old intermatic timers, that have two markers and you adjust them by screwing a pin onto a metal pinwheel that spins past and flips switches.

Somehow the on pin became slightly loose, but would only slide slightly each night before catching again and staying there.

So sometime over hte past two weeks my cycle has slowly gone from 11.5 hrs light to 20hrs light. I saw it in the plants, but thought it was over nitrogen as I just changed food brands this cycle too. They've started having elongated buds and throwing single leaflets in the buds. NOT happy, it's a medical grow for my own supply and it's . .of a scale that took hundreds of hours of work and thousands in supplies etc. not happy.

Eitherway, I'm usually on/off at 9.5pm and 10am but lastnight noticed the issue (after trimming 2000w of plants that were foxtailing weirdly) and saw the timer pegs. I turned off the lights, left em in the dark for 13 hours and turned it back on.
Thinking to just keep it at 11.5 liight and back to the regular schedule as mentioned above.

Pulled Banana's on GDP's and WaterMelons and BlueBerry Which all seem to be fast photoperiod responders.

I was going to start the flush today so. . yeah timing's not good. The MEndo was looking to be 2lb's a light + now it's all crowned and tossing leaf instead of fattening up. .

Reccomendations?

replace timer

check new timer function

life is good

'..now it's all crowned and tossing leaf instead of fattening up. ?

trim the worst use as testing samples carry on!

Nothing much else you can do but make sure it doesn't happen again.

I had one of those timers way back in '82 and only ever did one grow with it. Ended up selling it and my 1000W system as the biatch that birthed my boys constantly ragged on me for growing.

They are re-vegging and now have to go back to flowering so it's messed up and if it's tossing 'nanners it might be a lost cause and you'll end up with badly seeded buds unless you can pick them all off before they open and dump pollen.

Shitty thing to have happen and it's too bad you didn't notice the lights were staying on longer than usual.

I'm using an outdoor manual timer I bought 17 years ago for $15 and it keeps chugging along. Has those half hour switches you push out to set the time. Been making a funny rattling noise as it runs for at least 10 years but has never let me down. Have a 1000W SunMaster on it now and sometimes have had 3 - 400W HPS on it no problem. Rated for 1875w.

You should still be able to flower them out if you have no other options. I for one would not want to have to chop them all down and start over.

vostok said:

replace timer

check new timer function

life is good

'..now it's all crowned and tossing leaf instead of fattening up. ?

trim the worst use as testing samples carry on!

Click to expand...

I figured this would be best course of action, just had to whine a little.

You don't need a new timer. Just make sure you tighten the screws better. It's actually user error more than a timer problem.

OldMedUser said:

You don't need a new timer. Just make sure you tighten the screws better. It's actually user error more than a timer problem.

Click to expand...

Yeah it's what I did. Used pliers and twisted a bit tighter so it dug into the paint and won't jiggle loose.

Mooobaby said:

Yeah it's what I did. Used pliers and twisted a bit tighter so it dug into the paint and won't jiggle loose.

Click to expand...

Those are expensive timers but like anything mechanical prone to failure eventually.

To err is human but to really foul things up you . . . requires a computer.