I just have 2 really quick questions before I got to 12/12. First this is my first grown and it is with bagseed. One of my 2 plants turned out to be a auto flower and luckily is a girl. She is about 4 days from when I first seen the hairs is it ok to flower an auto flower with the 12/12 cycle? I heard they are supposed to have more. My second question is how do I make the switch to 12/12. Im currently running 18/6 do I gradually go down or can I just chop 6 hours off the end of one of there days when ever I want without much harm done?
Im not really sure how to answer your 1st question because i haven't worked with autoflower strains yet. But to answer your second question. I was on a 16/8 cycle and change it to 12/12 the next day with no harm to my plants. Some may disagree but it's worked for me everytime.
I have not grown auto's, but everything I have read states keep the lights at 18/6 for the whole grow. Auto's do not go by light cycles, so there is no reason to change it.
The autoflowering one will do better on 18/6 than 12/12. If i understand correctly you have a second plant that may or may not autoflower. If it does not you will have to go to 12/12 to get it to show sex and flower anyways. You can just go straight to 12/12. No need to change slowly unless you are really bored.
I have no experience with autoflowering, but my last grow, I was veging at 18/6 then I cut them off for 36 hours and fliped the switch to 12/12 with my HPS bulb. I did not experience any adverse affects. Remember during the 36 hours of dark, the grow area needs to be TOTALLY dark, don't do anything that would allow the slightest bit of light shine on them. Good luck! Stepdude420