24 hr dark period before flowering?

[Infamous 1]

I noticed that it sped up the process by about a week. It also slow down the usual strech.
I put 2 big bud clones from the same mother plant into 12/12 when they hit 18". The first 1 i put into 24hours of dark first. the second 1 i put straight to 12/12. Big difference in everything after the first week. After 2 weeks The first plants nodes are alot more tight throwing pistils like crazy and about 23". It did most of its streching in the first week and a half and seems to be slowing a little. The second plants nodes are not that tight throwing only a few pistils and is at 27 1/2". Plant 2 doesnt seem to be slowing down at all with the streching.

Both of these plants are in hydro in a flood drain system with the same reservoir. Under a 1000 HPS, so its not like its streching due to the light there is tons of light. So there really is no real bias at all.

But it could be just because of the strain. Im sure every strain has different results but for me im always going to put 24 hours dark before i go 12/12.

Hope this helps some one.
Inf

[Hardhat0038]

Originally Posted by harvester

Nope, dark periods do not speed up the transition from veg to flower... indeed, it will slow it down.

My first time growing, i instigated a 48 hour dark period before flower, some plants still took 10-14 days to show sex.

The best way to grow cannabis is properly... this means making sure that your plants pre-flower in vegetation.

Light is everything to cannabis, taking it away does no good at all... indeed there are strains of cannabis that will quite happily flower with a 9 hour dark period, and they grow quite happily outdoors with very fine results. Most strains will flower with 11 hours dark, and cannabis needs this balance right the way through flower to photosynthesise adequately.

I have a saying that says 'cannabis does not need a dark period, it merely needs a certain amount of low light.' The less low light the better, imo.

This is straight garbage....

[GigZ-16]

Originally Posted by harvester

Nope, dark periods do not speed up the transition from veg to flower... indeed, it will slow it down.

My first time growing, i instigated a 48 hour dark period before flower, some plants still took 10-14 days to show sex.

The best way to grow cannabis is properly... this means making sure that your plants pre-flower in vegetation.

Light is everything to cannabis, taking it away does no good at all... indeed there are strains of cannabis that will quite happily flower with a 9 hour dark period, and they grow quite happily outdoors with very fine results. Most strains will flower with 11 hours dark, and cannabis needs this balance right the way through flower to photosynthesise adequately.

I have a saying that says 'cannabis does not need a dark period, it merely needs a certain amount of low light.' The less low light the better, imo.

I completely respect your opinion as a gardener, but I disagree with you. the dark period does wonders.

[Gatson]

The best grower in the world, hands down, is Arjan from the Greenhouse Seed Company in Amsterdam. When Arjan switches from veg to flower, he gives the ladies anywhere from 36-72 hours of dark, depending on the strain. He tells you that this is essential in speeding up the transition from veg to flower and sends them into budding mode immediately. I'm not one to argue with the man himself...

[Thegrowmiester]

Originally Posted by Gatson

The best grower in the world, hands down, is Arjan from the Greenhouse Seed Company in Amsterdam. When Arjan switches from veg to flower, he gives the ladies anywhere from 36-72 hours of dark, depending on the strain. He tells you that this is essential in speeding up the transition from veg to flower and sends them into budding mode immediately. I'm not one to argue with the man himself...

Well I guess that solves that debate. IMO from averaging out all of the opinions on the forum. It is best to do a 12-36 hour dark period for some strains and some growers but taking into account all of the different combinations of lights, nutes, soil, hydro, room size, par lumens, and all of the other factors.....The simple fact is you have to try it for your self and see if it works.. experiment a little. Rome wasn't built in a day. I mean how hard is it to grow two plants put one in the flowering room with no dark period and give one a dark period and measure the results. That and the free bud is what it's all about anyway:smoking ::smo king: :smok ing:: smoking:

[Dro-Boy]

i have actually only heard of a 72 hr dark period and my plant showed sex 3 days after 12/12 was initiated. MJ actually takes about to weeks to realize that the light cycle has changed from 24/0 to 12/12. the 72 hour dark period actually shocks it into flowering immediately and no harm is done to the plant because it is actually quite hard to kill MJ if you just give her the basics: water, light, and right temperature.

[King Creole]

Could this be applied to outdoor growing? And if so, does it need to be done in some relation to the summer solstice?

[topuser]

The 24 dark period seems to be more valuable the lower watt light you are using. Which is to say: A 24 hour period of dark using a 400 watt light is more effective than with 1000 watt light. Indoor growers are competing with the sun and so even with high wattage you still lose light efficiency after 18 inches- this doesn't happen in nature so in essence you are growing in low light conditions for the whole period, comparatively speaking.

An indoor plant really seems to benefit from a nudge of darkness whereas nature can be more subtle. Another great way is to switch from MH to HPS. MH will take a plant all the way through a grow cycle but the HPS really makes a huge difference in getting a plant to recognize the switch.

I also run 24/0 in veg which helps bc it is a DRASTIC change to go 12/12 after 24/0 for 5 weeks. Some folks say that 24/0 gives diminishing returns but Cervantes and others have accumulated research that shows 24/0 does give increased benefits and I have seen it for myself. I compare my 3 week old plants with other 3 week old plants and there is no comparison.

[shivaganesha]

Placing your plants into 24 hours dark does nothing at all, except give your plants less light to photsynthesise with.

Cannabis (most strains) need only 11 hours dark to begin flowering... 12 is a safety net, which is why most growers will use a 12/12 light schedule, even if the plant itself only needs 10.

[The Coma]

I just got wind of this concept the other day while searching a pretty cool seedbank with some strains I had never seen or heard of before....DR. Green thumb dot com.

They are very deteailed in thier strains genetic make-ups, yields even floweing times to the "Exact Day" ie.."Indoor plant ready for harvest in 57 days"....

BUT...What struck me as Unusual was that some of the seed Descriptions and growing preferences claimed flowering days with the footnote "WHEN STARTED WITH A 36 HOUR DARK PERIOD"....

That struck me as strange....not only 24 hours..but 36...and the claim that the time of harvest would be effected if you didn't go 36 dark to start...I mean the site looks legit,ships and seems to be pretty knowledgable...Maybe they know something we don't ? ? ? ?

[khronkaiser]

i use a 24hour dark period when switching my 1000w MH to 1000w HPS, it only make's sense that it would shock the plant into flowering.

[thosevacanteyes]

Originally Posted by harvester

Nope, dark periods do not speed up the transition from veg to flower... indeed, it will slow it down.

My first time growing, i instigated a 48 hour dark period before flower, some plants still took 10-14 days to show sex.

The best way to grow cannabis is properly... this means making sure that your plants pre-flower in vegetation.

Light is everything to cannabis, taking it away does no good at all... indeed there are strains of cannabis that will quite happily flower with a 9 hour dark period, and they grow quite happily outdoors with very fine results. Most strains will flower with 11 hours dark, and cannabis needs this balance right the way through flower to photosynthesise adequately.

I have a saying that says 'cannabis does not need a dark period, it merely needs a certain amount of low light.' The less low light the better, imo.

I think we found your issue, oh, and you don't instigate a dark period...you instigate a fight.

You initiate a dark period.

-C