HI All First time grower hydroponically, but things so far are going remarkably well. Anyway, I got a lot of info about growing times. A lot of people say 18 hours a day is typical during the vegetation stage, but they go onto to state that they have 8 plants growing under a 600W lamp...etc... I have 5 plants in total on the go and they are under a 1000W HPS with reflective covering around the walls. I am wondering two things: 1) I have been growing under about 13 hours of light a day and they seem to be growing rapidly and look very healthy. However, it would appear that a 600W or 400W going 18 hours a day would be sufficient for good growth for the same area and number of plants. Is it fair to conclude therefore that 12-13 hours a day under 1000W would be sufficient? If not, how much can i drop hours / day in view of a more powerful light? 2) If I can get away with 13 or so hours of light during the vegetative stage, would that mean i drop it down to about 8 hours a day during the flowering stage? Thanks.
Welcome to GC paddy! To answer your questions: 1. You can grow your plant on 12/12 from seeds..... if you want to flower them immediately. The more light you get on your plants, the better. I like to keep mine at around 11000-15000 lumens per plant. However, if you want to veg your plants before flowering (as is recommended, but not law) then go with 18/6 until you want to flower them. 2. I wouldn't drop my flowering times below 11/13 (even though I prefer good old 12/12). I've done lots of experiments with flowering and veg time and I personally like to use 16/8 veg for most of my plants (with some at 18/6) and 12/12 for all of them during flower. It just works. Good Growing and Happy Toking!
I agree with tokerman but you can also veg 24/0 if your not worried about the bill (they love light). I veg at 24/0 but every couple of days or so, not scheduled , I turn it off for 3-4 hours to give the light a break . Just dont even go near 12/12 for vegetative
The lights are meant to simulate the light from the sun. No matter how many lights you have for however many plants, you're still not touching the output of the sun. The purpose of the light schedules is to mimic the big ball of fire in the sky over the course of a growing season. Days in the spring are longer(18/6-veg) and around mid august days start getting shorter (12/12-flower). Obviously the length of the days doesn't change so rapidly, but these two light schedules are good at mimicing the sun's light schedule over a season. If you wanted you could ease your plants in to flowering with the following light schedule: (18/6)>(14/10)>(12/12) or a similar variation, but for flowering (12/12) is common because it is what works.
thanks everyone. i certainly understand that many people like to veg for 24 hours a day, but (a) don't like the potential electricty bill and (b) don't know if i'm keen on the potential fire hazard. In any case, they are getting about 13.5 hours a day, but sometimes it's less. In any event, my follow up question would be: if i give them about 13.5 - 15 hours a day and then cut it back to like 8 or 9 hours, even if they're 4 feet tall, will i trigger flowering?
My guess would be yes, its that dark period that gets em flowering and I know it must be 12 hours long, roughly, to trigger it. Let us know how the 8-9 of light work sout for ya man; I think a lot of blades could benefit from knowing how that turns out
If you use less than 12 hours of light during flowering, you are going to reduce your final yield. 8 or 9 hours or light is going to result in *much* less finished bud.