It's almost time to put my window vegging girls into the dark (12/12) under CFL to flower. I'll be using 4x125w 2700k bulbs fitted into a reflector and kept a few inches above the canopy. I have a few 65w bulbs i can use to supplement where there are any shady bits, or give a little extra light to any flowers lower down. I understand the plants will probably double in size over the flowering stage (they're around 18" right now) but I wondered how much that gets affected by having all red bulbs, or as some do it, a combination of blue and red being what keeps the plant growing?
So basically, my question is: If I don't have any 6400k bulbs on during the flowering stage, will that make any difference to how much vegging goes on while it flowers or will it veg under red light anyway?
I see. I do find that strange though. You'd think it would put all its energy into flowering, which is the main point of the plant, then also use some of the light and food to grow more. Don't know if this is unusual in the plant world or not?
I'm no expert but I think what's happening is once you switch over there's a big difference in the brightness of the 6500k compared to the 2700k lights. So I think the plant is just stretching with all its might to soak up as much of the dimmer light as possible until it finally just gives up and starts flowering
Good point. That's why I've gone for a big 500w of top light (only flowering 2 plants mind) and 130w fill-in lights. Don't want too much extra growth so we'll see what happens. Thanks for the advice.