Well, can I do it without risking my plants? They are only about two days old, about an inch tall. I've heard from a 40-yr pot-growing veteran that he hasn't witnessed any advantage in the 24/7 light cycle. I'm also trying to get my plants to grow and mature as quickly as possible and I've heard that giving them a bit of darkness helps with that. Thanks.
Yeah since they are so young it wont hurt them at all, go ahead change it now though. About the other stuff, I dont think there is a definate yes or no on whether 18/6 is better or not. I personally prefer it though and have gotten good results while using that cycle.
If you do a search some groovy member did a test using 24/0 and 18/6 and the plants grew faster under 24/7. I have used both cycles and I think 24/0 is also faster. Good luck
My plant was going terribly slow under 24/0, after I changed to 18/6 it took off. I realize this isn't a good test but I have had better luck with a dark cycle. I've also noticed mine tend to grow the most during the dark cycle.
At 24/0 the branching becomes very tight, hence the slow growth, when you let them have a bit of darkness that is when the add the growth. I would recconmned the 18/6 cycle over the 24/0. I have done both and in my opinion the 18/6 is much better.
my experience has been that marijuana plants grow about 25% larger on 24/0 light cycle as opposed to 18/6. i only ever tried the 18/6 once because of this factor. i run 24/0 right up until flower time and havent had any trouble. i does make sense that a short night rest would be good for the plants and more natural. and saves a little on the electric bill too. good luck, which ever way you decide to go!
I'm not sure, I want to veg for another month if possible so... The only reason I want to switch from 24 to 18/6 is due to my lighting situation. I only have about 108 w (5500k) on 1 plant and wanted to add a 150 w hps to the equation. Now, if I up the wattage by double I don't wanna have it run 24/7 and juice up the bill too much... That 25% is kinda making me apprehensive to switch to 18/6 though. Can I switch back to 24/0 after 2 weeks, all the while maintaining the same lighting?
Another advantage I can think of for the 18/6 lighting situation is it gives the plants a time to cool down. I was thinking about making their 8 hours of darkness at 12:00 in the afternoon when the sun is hottest and my closet is most likely to overheat ... I genertally have my air conditioner on during the night. But I'm worried if the plants need total darkness, because the cracks in my closet door would certainly absorb light ...
Yes you need complete darkness and i mean complete darkness, any light during the dark period may cause your plants to hermie. The rule of thumb is, you should go into your grow room when its dark, wait 10 min and if you can see your hand then its to bright in there. And before anyone starts talking about outdoor plants and the moon light, do some research. The moon light is not the same as house lights. Its like trying to compare apples to oranges, the moon light doesnt effect plants in a negative way.
right on, yeah, the bigger the better so letting them veg for another month is probably a good idea. if the only reason you want to go 18/6 is the electric bill, you might want to sit down and figure out how much it actually costs to run your lights. i figured what it cost to run my florecent lights 24/0 for two months and it was around $80. 25% of my harvest is worth way more than the $20 it cost me to run the lights the extra 6 hours a day.
Your "40-year-old veteran" is comically wrong. Switch to 18/6 if you want your plants to stretch more and produce useful growth (internodes) more slowly. Some people think 18/6 is better because their plants grow taller more quickly. This is misleading. They are growing taller because they stretch during the dark period. Stretching is undesirable.
Here is an article for what it's worth. I am on a 24/0 cycle right now, and seriously can't really tell if it's best or not. Good discussion however. chunk
Ha, yea when you put it that way, then it really cost me peanuts i'm sure. How many watts are your fluoros? It looks like you have 6 plants? Not sure. I'm only growing 1 plant, using 258 watts, my bill should be way lower than your's with respect to locality. I'll do the math eventually Thanks for the input farmerjane, your grow is looking real nice and bushy by the way, Good thangz!
Well I don't need to worry about high temps at all, and I don't think I will be switching to 18/6 after all. Thanks for starting this thread I got some info I needed, I hope the 18/6 works for ya, peace!
Your 40 year pot-growing-veteran is only telling u this because he saves some coin on his hydro bill. lol. 24/0 is really the only way to go if u want great veg results. The roots will be just fine. Once u start flowering, the roots will go nuts. Freak
people dont realize how cheap electricity is really. i figured my floros to be pulling about 840 watts all together. i usually veg 12 at a time. get out your electric bill and see what your paying for a kilowatt and you should be able to figure out how much it costs you. thanks for checking out my grow. im at the end of this one, just waiting for everyone to be ready
Nah, he told me he does both but prefers the 18/6 because he sees more growth. And it makes sense to me - if a plant is in light every day it doesn't prepare itself as much for the "autumn" of flowering, or so it seems to me.
I am running that very experiment right now. the plants in my budding cabinet were vegged 24/0 for 8 weels . the plants in my vegging cabinet are on 18/6. 4 weeks now. both rounds came from the same mother. my plan from here is to bud both rounds for exactly the same number of days . they have both been done under the same lights. I shoulds have an answer in early september. first indications , 24/0 are bushier/ 18/ 6 are taller and more spread out, a slight streching.