What the title said. lol I run 24/0, the main reason I do this is that I do not have that area sealed from light. My questions is I heard 18/6 is better, prevents stretching when you go to flowering. Is it that big of a difference? What if I switch to 18/6 and I have some pretty good light leaks? Will I herm? Is it worth the risk? sealing it off from light is possible probably, but again, worth the effort? TIA * please note that I understand the need for darkness during flowering and I have a separate tent for flowering, this question is regarding only veg. ** also, this is not one of those life or death emergency help threads either, it is more of philosophical discussion.
You have light leaks and will have big problems when it's time to switch over to flowering. It seems to me you have bigger problems then your light schedule. The good thing is you are still in veg and have time to fix your light leaks. I veg in 24/0 without issue, and I am sure you can get a few dozen folks who veg using other schedules to tell you their method is best. Fix your leaks then you will be free to choose your light schedule.
I have a tent for flowering. The light leak is just in my closet veg area. Thanks. Love the buckets! I'm actually tonight putting a couple clones in bubble buckets right now.
Roots grow more during darkness. You also need some stem development which won't occur under 24/0 unless your lights aren't intense enough. Plants need darkness during veg.
they both work fine. see what you like better. maybe you wanna go more "natural" so give em some dark. maybe u say more light = more growth so give em no dark. all in all about the only "garauntee" you have is that when your lights are on 24/0 your using more electricity. everything else, as you can see from the responses, will be a moot arguement
but the question remains. Is there a herm risk with light leaks during darkness during veg? the electricity of two t-5's and 6 cfl's is a very small drop in the bucket of the power I use in there, I bet I wouldnt notice. Now the heat from the lights I wouldnt mind having off for a few hours....
I don't think light leaks will hurt during veg. I'm pretty sure flipping your lights to 12/12 actually causes a biological change and different hormones to be released. Messing with the darkness in the schedule will obviously affect your plant, but during veg, I don't think it will make much of a difference. My guess? You might notice your plants leaning towards the light leak if its significant enough. Or else your plants will think its really shady for 6 hours of the day... Understand that this 24/0 or 18/6 is an ongoing debate and both sides have scientific evidence to back up their theories. Some people use something in between. Personally, I use 24/0 'cause: 1- I don't want to get another timer....2- I don't want to light proof my veg box
man, I didnt even think about having to buy another timer, fuck it. I have heard both sides too. I ran 20/4 on my last set up, but this is different. I was just reading the dr whats his name down in advanced and he seems to have a good grasp on plant physiology and he was suggesting 18/6. So I thought I would explore options. Thanks! p.s. you're cracking me up saying it doesnt matter, but that you dont want to light proof as a reason to be 24/0
i veg in 24/0 and id think it could only make your plants bushier. I also think it could make it easier for your plant to realize its time to flower when you hit 12/12, as its a more significant change than from 18/6. Just a thought, no science behind it. Fix those light leaks tho. A friend of mine lost significant amounts of his crop when light leaks fucked with his plants light cycle and his ladies grew dicks. Cover up windows with boards painted black on the outside and use aluminum tape to cover up other holes. Good luck. sorry if i wrote a novel.
i think the answer you may be looking for is that yes.....light leaks CAN cause ur ladies to go germie. but its not neccessarily garaunteed. and these folks are right that if you go 24/0 you wont have those issues in the first place. theres only one way to really find out....give em some dark and see what happens
If you go 18/6 that means light AND dark. Dark means dark. Do it right if your going to do it. If your using a fem seed you always run the risk of it turning hermi due to light leaks and stress. I think it can also be in the genetics which you can't do anything about. Correct me if I am wrong about that anyone. Just take away those possibilities that you can control as much as possible and seal it up good. Ask jcj. Or many others on here for that matter. This is where I have learned and continue to learn. As for 18/6 being better, the only benefits I gather from it are some like the downtime for their light to save on elec. Also some feel it's better to give the plant (s) some downtime. And that the plant (s) may go into flowering a little bit quicker when you flip your light to 12/12. Old school is 18/6 and there is nothing wrong with that. But I would be willing to say that most on here go 24/0 for faster growth plus eliminating the light leak problem. It's really just a matter of preference as both ways work. I would try and fix any light leak though dude. Take it serious. I know for me, after spending all that time and money, it would suck big time if mine turned hermi on me from me not taking steps to prevent it the best I could from happening. JM2CW Good luck
Thanks, but I have a separate flower tent. I need to add that to the OP so it is clear I am referring only to veg.
I've been vegging 2 plants in bubble buckets for 5 weeks, and while the fuckers literally have like 50 bud sites each, they're so compact I can hardly train them out w/ LST or anything. So...I'm thinking of going 18/6 for the next week just to see if I can get a little stretch out of em. Is it true what someone said earlier about roots growing more in darkness?
The guy saying your stems and roots won't grow unless you turn the lights off , does not know what he is talking about (at all). Need the dark By Ed Rosenthal - Thursday, October 23 2003 Tags: Do plants need a dark period during the vegetative cycle? Does marijuana require a dark period during the vegetative growth stage? I recently read a grow book that advocated an 18-6 light cycle during the early growth stages. One way in which plants are categorized is by the way they gather and handle carbon dioxide. Cannabis is a C3 plant. It uses the CO2 it gathers during the light period, when it is photosynthesizing. Plants designated C4 also gather CO2 during the dark period for use during the light period. Many C3 plants, including cannabis, do not need a rest period. They continue to photosynthesize as long as they are receiving light. The plant's photosynthetic rate determines its growth rate because the sugars are used by the plant to build tissue and for energy. Cannabis under continuous light will grow 33% faster than the same plants on an 18-6 light regime. I get lots of root growth during veg and my stems look just fine. I would not be using 24/0 light cycle if I had not tried and measured results both ways. Best of luck, R.
Rumple, you are the plant master. I planted 2 seeds in rockwool 36 days ago and have like 50ish bud sites each but the damn things are only about 8-10 inches tall. I wanna train them out a little but there's literally only about 1/3in between each node. It's just a tight little mess of branches and leaves. I'm in a 2x4x7 tent w/ your buckets and cooltube and your nutes, (plus a bit of hygrozyme because my temps run slightly higher and I wanna prevent growth in the water of nasty things like algae and whatnot. Any suggestions on how to get a bit more stretch out of these things? Also, my roots are just now coming out the sides of the netpot, and are hardly even touching the water. Last time I grew a bagseed and even thought it was over 4 feet tall, I only had about 1/4 bucket of roots.
when is the sun ever up for 24 hours in nature? I like 18/6 or at the very least 20/4 and I didnt think light leeks would be a huge deal during veg//I go into my space to spray neem/ look around during lights off with no issues yet..