Hey! I am growing outdoors, but in a shed with a 1000 watt HPS light, so I thought this might be a better question for the indoor growers. I am unable to run the lights for 16 hours straight. If I were to run the light at constant intervals limiting the "dark" period to less than twelve hours (10 on 6 off) will that be sufficient enough to sustain vegetative growth? what will be some problems? please help me out. If I'm in the wrong place, just let me know where to post it (pests/problems, or maybe outdoor?)
My landlord is cool with me growing ( i am a prop 215 patient ), but since he pay the electric/gas/water, i try to do what he says. I know this is not an optimal situation, but is the bet i can do. Any thoughts?
you need at least 18 hrs light during indoor veg for healthy plants. Tell the landlord you will be droping down to 12 hrs light during flowering i.e. a large percentage of the plants life. You may have to bribe him with product. Sounds like you will have at least 20 plants.
Build a little mother keeper and keep it inside, run a couple of t-5's or something, take clones regularly and put them straight into flower outside in your shed, that way you run your 1000W 12 hours. If you want you could even explain that running a few t-5's 24 hours is less power than those addition 4 with your 1000w he was allowing you, and you will have a perpetual harvest.
Last I checked isnt it the 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness that causes flowering to occur, so as long as you keep your dark periods shorter than that you should be fine. Ideally though you want to turn the lights on at the same time everyday, but Ive never had any problems with it.
so i gather that if i keep the plants on less than a 12 hour uninterrupted light cycle, although not ideal, should keep my plants in veg. correct? thank you for all your input so far.