I've been growing for a while using a 250w HPS bulb for both photoperiods, scheduling 16/8 for growth. I recall having much quicker veg results when I had a 24-hour MH veg light sched. I'll switch bulbs on the next dark hour, that's for sure. My question is, now that my plant is well-rooted and making good progress, would it be detrimental for her health if I also went from 16 hours to 24? She is a bagseed, so I'd rather ask before act.
If your putting them outside, anything higher than 16/8 will almost guarantee your ladies are gonna flower once you put them outside. Of course more light will help them grow up faster and stronger. You can always ADD more hours of LIGHT. You just have to be careful when your add more hours of dark. If you do it too fast, your plants think its time to flower.
I grow indoors, the summer weather here is ridiculous (especially this year it seems, rainy and cloudy all day). So my plant won't be shocked into developing balls if I go from 16 hours to 24 overnight?
You'll be fine. Switch to MH for veg and HPS for flower. Increase to 24 hour light cycle for veg for a short period and go back to 18/6. They really do like the rest period they get when they go to sleep. I used to do 24 hour veg lighting but now that I'm doing commercial growing I see the difference with the 18/6. You can veg under HPS but you won't see the explosive growth you should from cannabis.
I can't guarantee that, as i haven't grown indoors in a very very long time. When i jump my timing for lighting, its always less light. lol Personally, i would stage it up over like 2 day period just to be safe. Go like day 1 - 16/8, day 2 - 20/4, day 3 - 24/0
If your going to switch back down to 16/8 to put outside. I would not lower lighting any faster than 1hr a week from anything under 18/6. Remember in nature, you lose like 2-5mins of sun a day, so that makes it almost 15-35mins a week naturally. I Always try to stay closest to that.
Alright, thank you guys for shedding some much appreciated light on the subject. I'll take as much into account as possible. I'm running the MH for the fifth day or so, and I am liking the difference!