Is there anything good about having the lights off? Are the plants deprived of something on a 24/0 cycle? Would they benefit from 23/1? Just wondering.
This is a valid question. Some people will say that 24/0 is fine and others that after 16 hours there are diminishing returns or that its just over kill. In my opinion, if you have heat issues or the plants are adjusting to the light they might use the night time to rejuvenate Also the cooler temp gives them a break from working. When the light is on they are constantly producing and working to grow. so, no it's not required but I like to give em some time to chill I like running 18/6 but thats just me.
I run 18/6 but really the only reason is because of my power bill, which is enough to make roll another fine quality purple blunt, and forget about it.
Marijuana will grow all the time the lights are on (and other growing conditions are met). The only real advantage to any other vegging light schedule, is a power savings. However, if you have to veg longer, you have not really gained anything.
As you can see, this is a divisive issue among MJ growers, and there is no consensus. Some say that the plants need a rest, others do not. Both approaches work. We're talking in veg. In flower there is consensus that the plant needs at least 12 hours of uninterrupted dark per cycle in order to trigger the hormonal reaction to flowering.
Sorry to hi jack but here is a question regaring the OP orginal question. If you take the time to veg lets say its 4 weeks. Wouldnt it cause less stress to the plant if each day got shorter? As in each day you roughly cut the day by a half an hour this way the plant knows the fall is coming? In mother nature the days get shorter and by the amout of light in a day the plant knows when to flower. When you just cut the light in half doesnt it cause the plant to go into shock?
hi jack how u doing? I see where your coming from... making the environment as much like it should be as possible.. which is what the plants have evolved to cope with.. but I would guess that it doesnt really matter, otherwise im sure there would be growers everywhere doing it in that way. That would be my best guess.
But...you did it anyway. You started with an assumption (by asking if "it would cause less stress" you are assuming that a different light schedule causes stress -- there would have to be some stress in order for a different approach to be "less"), but then you asked the question. And actually, no, it doesn't stress the plant, so no need to worry about "less" stress. Intuitively what you are saying seems to make sense, mimic nature must be better, right? But if you dig deeper into what's happening you'll realize that isn't the right way to look at it. The plant needs uninterrupted periods of extended dark, at least 12 hours, to trigger the hormonal reaction to flower. So cutting back veg lights from say 18/6 to 17/7 to 16/8 does not help the plant get ready for flowering, it's still too short a dark cycle to trigger flowering so all you are doing is shortening the period of energy uptake during veg. A transition light schedule won't harm the plants per se, but it can reduce their veg growth. Plants are just fine to transition cold turkey.
As a horticulturist, I go with 18/6. It's more natural. At night or during the dark, the sugars that were produced by the leaves get to transport them to the roots. A rest of 6 hours is good in my opinion. I get better, stronger root systems. at 16/8 than 24/0. My 2 cents. I just moved some Galaxy God bud and Jack Frost in 12/12.