Why not 24hrs. light during VEG.

i have tried using 24 hours of light this time around and it seems to shave off weeks im at in 3 weeks were i would be in 8 but is this healthy my plant is strong and healthy beautiful dark green i love to wake up in the morning to see the new growth veging with 2 26watt cfl so whats your guys input? in about a week i will post up some picks of my plant if you guys are interested

jdd616 said:

i have tried using 24 hours of light this time around and it seems to shave off weeks im at in 3 weeks were i would be in 8 but is this healthy my plant is strong and healthy beautiful dark green i love to wake up in the morning to see the new growth veging with 2 26watt cfl so whats your guys input? in about a week i will post up some picks of my plant if you guys are interested

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It's personal prefrence IMO, I always veg 24/0 they love it, and they grow really big really fast. I've heard different thing about 24/0 and 18/6 . If it's working for you and you like the way they are growing then stick with it. How about a few pics?

i'm personally doing 24 hr light schedule right now on my 5 white widow plants and they are loving...only day 6, but I see growth in periods of like 12 hrs its so fun tow watch. check out my grow in my sig if you're interested...ill stick around to watch yours

Yes, pictures please!

im not a pro or anything but 24/0 worked great for vegging for me. im in my first grow, have 26 plants about 1-1/2 feet tall all looking nice and bushy.. no nutriets,various sized containers. thats after 1 month of 24/0. my mother plant is a little over 3 feet tall... twice as wide.. and she loves the 24hours of light she gets. If you want advice try what im doing.. 2 months of 24/0,2 weeks of 18/6, then 12/12 till you harvest

mallia420 said:

im not a pro or anything but 24/0 worked great for vegging for me. im in my first grow, have 26 plants about 1-1/2 feet tall all looking nice and bushy.. no nutriets,various sized containers. thats after 1 month of 24/0. my mother plant is a little over 3 feet tall... twice as wide.. and she loves the 24hours of light she gets. If you want advice try what im doing.. 2 months of 24/0,2 weeks of 18/6, then 12/12 till you harvest

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your probably growing in mg or another soil with nutes already in it if theyve been there for a month. the problem with mg and other similar soils is if the plants burn through the fertilizers already in the soil then youll be faced with the delimma of finding out what your plants need......
no plants are healthy for more than a week or 2 after it pops the dirt without ANY nutes.

not hating just giving you a heads up

Im using just a basic potting soil, seams to be working great... also has a 6 month plant food realease so that should get me through this harvest all right?

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Root growth is fastest in the dark when the plant isn't focusing it's energy on photosynthesis.

18/6 or 20/4 is great for veg, mimics nature a bit.

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two reasons for 18/6 .....

1 economics ......some say it saves money on electricity. but if you are in veg for shorter time then i dont kn ow about that one....

2. Plants have to develop their pre-flowers .... which takes about a week so if your on 18/6 and the put them on 12/12.they already have pre flowers developed so they go straight into bloom.

HOWEVER if you have them on 24 cycle then they take a week to develop the pre flowers so it adds about a week to your bloom... NO BIG thing.

both methods will work just fine....18/6 longer in veg 24 longer in bloom...

I personally run my 1000 and my 600 in veg on 18/6 but I keep my florescent over clones and little transplants on 24 hours..
so that my big lights are off in the day time when it gets hot outside and because the electric guy comes around in the day and i dont want my meter spinning like a top when they read it.
I am 215 legal but still who wants trouble of any kynd..legal or otherwise ...

if i didnt care about high bills and heat i would run 24 hours and then flip em to 18/6 last week of veg and then go to 12/12

in a perfect world...

it is all veriable thats why most people dislike time released stuff. i mean it can work but it all depends on the plants and the amt of nutes in the potting soil. i mean i wouldnt worry to much now but be ready if they start looking starved during flower.
another problem with time realeased stuff and typical walmart/non hydro store potting soil: they are usually designed to grow flowers not a consummable plant. they often include products that are difficult to flush. i wouldnt worry too much about it now what is done is done and it shouldnt be bad youll be fine. but i suggest trying to use as much organic as possible.

I was on 24/0 and have been on 18/6 Veging with CFLs and flors , then have hps 150w 18/6 they are begging for 12/12 but i need to finish 4x4 room w 600w HPS

the plants need that dark period, as hobbes points out, for other growth. i say need, i most certainly can't prove that, but from everything i learnt in biology class, and frlom reading the web, the dark cycle is there for a reason.

edit: lookinga round there also seems to be some stuff about plants having body clocks and the stomata's closing after a certain period regardless of the light being on or off

edit:

Their stomatic gas exchange occurs during the dark period and while they may induce this behavior during constant light anyhow, there is something they can NOT do in 24 hour light:

Their "dark" reactions!!!

A plant has 2 photosystems and both light and dark reactions!

The plant's electron transport chains will be active during light periods to "harvest" the light into chemical energy...

Now, this energy will be stored for use at night!

At night, the plant uses that stored energy for input into the Calivin Cycle!

The Calvin Cycle is the MOST IMPORTANT metabolic pathway in a plant and it finally can convert the chemical energy into useable sugars with the waste byproduct being O2.

Basically, 18/6 is really the only choice
24/0 will allow for a forced Calvin Cycle, but the plant will need to expend MORE ATP and NAD+ to get the same singular glucose molecule... more work for same result = less vigor!

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yea iv heard that weather the light is on 24 hours or not they will stop photocynthasis (cant spell) for a few hours to grow roots, im no pro or any thing. just what iv read
i have a 9 day old seedling that wus 24/0 growing probly an inch a day. i switched to 20/4 cuz i put clones in my vegg box and it slowed dramaticly. maybe cuz its growing more roots instead of foliage?? idk lol personally i like 24/0

well if the dark period is responsible for root growth, then i will take 18/6 any day. no point having a tall plant if it's gonna have a crappy root system and pull itself out of the soil as it topples over probably being a bit OTT there, but i know i'll take a healthy root mass happily

im going to start a thread. show you guys my 24/0s

mallia420 said:

im going to start a thread. show you guys my 24/0s

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Seems a lot of folks run 24 hrs during veg

Look forward to the thread

i have always done fresh cuttings, mothers and vegging plants in the same area, under 24/0 flourescents, and have noticed the extra week. no big deal if you are expecting it.
but lately for my plants sakes, the more i think about it, the more guilt i feel for running 24/0. im pretty sure some aspect of my growth would be negatively affected if the sun was up 24/7/365, so i feel i should at least give the girls a little nap. does anybody reading know how much per week you can cut your daylength without triggering flowering? id like to end up at 20/4 i think. tried starting my own thread but no one seems to want to touch it there...

I've been growing for years and always veg at 24.

I use 18/6 and I notice that I get some growth spurts during lights out.

I do 24-0 and I have plenty of roots when I transplant...sort-of. I still have problems with spin-out, but as far as seedlings and cloning, they above all need to root, and they do even under 24-0. Would the roots be "BETTER" under 18-6? I don't know...I DO know that theres room there to grow them...the roots collect along the bottom and sides of the pot, but hardly any roots IN the soil itself....

I'm not changing my light schedule but I will get some Griffins spinout, or the like and see if it makes a difference.


A suggestion if I may....could one of you 18-6 growers take one of your plants(male of course), and saw through the soil vertically, right beside the stalk, to the bottom, exposing the rootball and take a picture and post it for comparison to one done with 24-0 schedule? I would but am not on that schedule. This may help answer the delema.