Since im at school, i leave my house at 7:00am and get back at 4:00 pm. thats a total of 9 hours. this is what i use for my DARK PERIOD. This leaves from 4:00-7:00, a total of 15 hours of light. Every1 says that 18 hours of light is needed, and 6 hours of complete dark. Will my plants be "less-good", flower early, or just all around not as good if i keep it this way. these time frames are my only options. i cannot leave the lights on while im at school, long story.
just get a timer man. i mean, your plants wont necesarilly be less good or bud less, and it wont start flowring until it has 12 hours of light and 12 hours of complete dark. but they may stretch a lil bit witht the lights being off for 9 hours. what set-up are you currently using??
im using 1 lil over 1X1 foot box w/ 3 babys in it, about 2 inch tall, and 3 lights(Compress fluros) at about 70 watts, ill get more tomrow
Like someone else said pick up a timer or two. They only cost about $12 a piece, and that way they will shut on and off while your not home. I'd also suggest getting more lighting. 70w's of fluros won't even flower one plant very well.
Not always. It depends on what strain it is. For instance: Columbian plants originate from very near the equator, (where the day length is nearly constant at about 12.5 hours of daily light.) When growing under artificial light, any photoperiod of 15 hours or more light prevents flowering. Any dark period longer than 11.5 hours initiates flowering. Equatorial varieties such as Columbian, Thai, Cambodian, Nigerian, Congolese, Sumatra, Indonesian, or any other varieties that originate from near the equator will respond to the following regiment: 15 (16 or more is safer) hours of light keeps the plant growing vagativley and prevents flowering. Nathans problem is not that he does not have a timer but, because of stealth issues he can't keep the lights on for 18 hours. At 15 hours of light you are right on the fence for being ok. Is there a way maybe while you are gone to either have the box not totally dark or have a little fluorescent on instead of the HPS ( I assume you are using an HPS that leaks light)? If not, what strain are you growing? You might be ok with 15 hours. Your growth will be slowed down a bit and hopefully you don't trigger flower.
Yeah. It may not. Who knows. Try it and see or get at least a flicker of light in during its dark period. This will keep it in veg.