i'm a first time grower and have a pure sativa almost at the end of its 11th week of flowering (400w HPS, soil). planning to flush it on Sunday in preparation for the final two week push towards harvest. i need some experienced growers to weigh-in - i've heard that reducing the light schedule from 12 to 8-10 hours/day can accelerate the plant's finish. amazingly after 11 weeks, i hardly have any red pistils and have recently seen lots of fibrous growth at the tops of the buds. if i want to do this, however, i'm going to need to switch my plant from light during the day to light during the night because my job keeps me out of the house 12 hours/day. what's the best way to do this - 24 hours of light or 24 hours of dark? fyi, my setup is such that i have to put my plant in a dark closet every evening after 12 hrs under the lamp. my plant looks solid and i want to minimize shock with just 2 weeks left. thanks in advance.
Keep the plant on 12/12, you want as much energy used from light/photosynthesis as possible within the 24 hour period, more lumens used up the more bud. red pistils doesnt mean much, you need to get a magnifing glass and go by the colour of the trichs. if you have to use 24 hours of either light or dark during the flowering peroid, i think its best to have 24 hours of dark than light, anything between 16 and 24 hours of light makes the plant veg, as it rests during the night (it doesnt use nutrients and photosynthesis). but i have changed lighting schedules and it never causes any problems for me. i think with a one off light/time change wouldnt effect the plant, as long as you remain with the 12/12 schedules.
thanks, man. so you don't think reducing the light/dark schedule to 10/14 or 8/16 will be advantageous in helping my plant to finish? i should post pics, but i'm too paranoid . in the past 10 or so days i've had a major sprout of fibrous stalk at the top of each of the thick, already well-formed buds. it's really strange. i've got my lights as close as possible - have already experienced some light bleaching. have been using 10-45-15 nutes, and don't have access to a "p/k fert bomb" so the nitrogen may be causing the problem. is it possible to go longer than 13 weeks? clearly the new growth is gonna need time to thicken out. thought reducing the light might help it get there...