i came across this wrote by a guy at cannabisni.com: has anyone here ever heard of this or really has anyone tried this before??? if so what results were acheived??? i would love to save on the energy bill but never heard of it so its got my wheels spinning!! The biggest innovator in the history of cannabis in my generation is Reinhard Delp. Not only did he invent and holder of the patent for ice water extraction, he has been building flower forcers since 1992. His new solar powered Sun-gate is the leader of the industry. He was the first to feminize seeds and sell them in Europe in the late 90's. His process was done naturally, without the use of any chemicals. No one is more copied but seldom matched than Mr. Delp, who to me is the top grower of our generation. The first time he impressed me he showed me 2 plants, planted next to one another, 1 completely covered in powdery mildew, the other completely clean and beautiful. He was developing mildew and mold resistant genetics. In the late 90's Reinhard brought back the gas lantern routine that you find in any college grade horticulture book, and applied it to cannabis. Cannabis needs only 13 hours to stay in growth state. The 18-6 lighting in growth pattern, actually stress your plants, that never get that much light in one-day outdoors. Cannabis is an outdoor plant. Growing indoors you should copy how it grows outdoors. No Cannabis growing in Afghanistan gets 18 hours of light in growth pattern. Most strains today have some part Indica in their genetic pool. Even equatorial strains don't get 18 hours of sun a day. 12-1 lighting is as follows 12 hours lights on, 5.5 lights off, 1-hour lights on, 5.5 lights off, and repeat schedule. The 1 hour on in between off period fools the plants that stay in growth state! Your immediate savings is 5 hours in energy costs daily, as well as your bulbs and equipment lasting longer. But how do the plants react to this lighting schedule? You see immediate growth response from your plants, they are happy from the added rest time. By day 14 the plants tripled in size. The plants are bushy with twice as many bud sites without topping or bending, In fact when you top and stretch your plants out, you get many more bud sites than you would have had under 18-6 using same procedure of topping and stretching plant, your growing bigger and better and faster. So your saving 5 hours daily in energy costs, as well as your excellerated growth pattern which also saves you time and energy and equipment use. In the growth cycle, never use 12-12, start your flowering period at 11 hours on 13 hours off. When your are growing outdoors each day you get less and less sun light, you should copy the way the sun acts naturally in your indoor grow. So first 2 weeks of flower you go 11 on 13 off, the next 2 weeks you go down to 10.5 on 13.5 off, next 2 weeks 10 on 14 off, next two weeks 9.5 on 14.5 off and the last weeks of flower you should be at 9 hours on and 15 hours off. You'll get bigger and better buds by copying the way the sun light works on cannabis outdoors. Cannabis is an outdoor plant and you should copy the way it grows outdoors indoors. The only thing that 18-6, and then 12-12 do is make the energy companies rich as well as the people who sell lights and equipment, the more you use the more you spend. 12-1 is a more natural way to grow indoors and you well have the best results you have ever had and save as much as 50% in energy costs.
That's what one guy has said. Try it and see. But many, many others -- the vast majority in fact -- say that you want to give a plant at least 16 hours of light a day. Two main reasons: 1) If the dark cycle is any longer you risk the plant switching to flowering. 2) Light = energy, intuitively it doesn't make sense that if you give the plant less light it will end up with more energy. Possibly you could argue that it would end up with equal energy, that excess light over a certain threshold can't be used by the plant (I'm not arguing that point just saying that it is at least based in logic), but the plant can't end up with more energy that way. The whole "follow Nature" argument itself is dubious. If that were true then athletes wouldn't be stronger/faster/etc from special exercise and diet regimens. The corn we eat wouldn't taste better from bioengineering. Cancer couldn't and shouldn't be cured. And so on. There is much about the MJ plant that should follow Mother Nature, but there also is much from Nature that can be improved upon. If you should just follow Mother Nature with an indoor grow then you would expect no increase in the plant's health and/or yield from topping, fimming, LST, scrog, supercropping, fertilizers, optimized soil mixes, perlite, controlled temps and RH and pH, hydroponics, aeroponics, etc. Yet all of these work. I'll be sticking with 18+ hours of light for vegging... As for 11/13 flower cycle, that will work just fine, but I don't know it to be any better than 12/12. Seems that all it would do is give the plant about 8% less light.
What up Stachi...good to see ya around..no im not trying it just curious if anyone has even heard of it!! Thanks for the insight TOAST..you have plenty of valid points, that what i was looking for. Thanks as always!!
It works perfectly. Have been using the 12/5.5/1/5.5 cycle for a while now with no adverse affects. As a matter of fact the girls veg better. I save 5hrs. per day on every bulb. Keep your money in your pocket not the power companies. I set up 2 veg boxes, one 18-6 and the other the 12/5.5/1/5.5 veg. photo period. The 12/5.5/1/5.5 cycle out performed the 18-6 cycle. Do your own test and see for yourself. No girls have hermed or shown hairs. Then when you flower start at 11-13 and every 2 weeks knock off 1/2 and hour. KEEP YOUR MONEY!
where i live the longest day is 17/ 7, and the plants actually begin to flower at 14/10 i don't know who wrote this article, but something tells me he's quite off base.
i found this VERY intersesting and i don't know how true it is as i've never done it, but if i ever grow indoors with more than one room than i will try both methods i think just to see for myself... GREAT THREAD OP +rep for the knowledge
HIGH All, Something I Might be trying Soon as We are getting these Smart Meters That will tell you How Much electricity You Use and When it's Used....Check it Out