12/12 from seed discussion -- just curious...

Hey Folks!

So I'm looking forward to my next grow. I was going to experiment with some serious mainlining. However, I just saw someone's pics of mid-flowering a plant that was 12/12 from seed. And I know that 12/12 from seed has prompted some heated discussion in the past. But I'm going to ask a question about it anyway.

From the looks of it, 12/12 from seed means a much smaller plant with far fewer bud sites and smaller buds when it's time to chop because the plant doesn't get to grow before forced into flowering. Ok, I get that.

But here's my question:
Let's say we take two growers who grow for four months. Grower A grows two plants with two 24/0 months for veg and two 12/12 months for flowering. Yield is 3oz per plant = total 6 oz (just happens to be my yield last time ). Grower B grows two plants 12/12 from seed, harvests at two months, starts over and harvests again two months later.

So Grower A has had one harvest, and Grower B has had two harvests in the same amount of time.

Would Grower B be able to expect 1.5 oz on each harvest and therefore harvest the same amount of bud as Grower A after four months? And if so, is there a taste/high difference because of the lack of a veg cycle?

I'm just curious to hear what peoples' actual experience has been -- personally I'm old school and unless there's an advantage to 12/12 from seed I will continue to shoot for 8-week veg cycles. But I am curious...

Thanks!
KG

Good question. Im curious to see the answers.
I just started a 12/12 fs and the one major benefit
I can see from not having a veg is using far less electricity.

has anyone even tried that with even semi decent results?

I'm also curious to see what people say about ricky1lung's point about the electricity.

It seems to me if your goal is a certain amount of weed and you have to grow multiple cycles of 12/12 from seed to harvest the same amount as you would if you went the traditional route of 2 months veg/2 months flowering, then you might end up using the same amount of electricity to harvest the same amount of yield. It will just take longer.

Of course the flip side of that is that you would harvest smaller amounts but more often, so you can use it as you go along...

We have done a grow "close' to that- we put them 12/12 as soon as they got their 4th set of true leaves... it was a strain of Sativa known to get huge-- we ended up with smaller, weaker plants--but they yielded ok and at least they didn't outgrow the room.

Many Sativa Breeders tell people to go 12/12 real early... I wouldn't do it with an Indica strain tho-- they really need their veg-time!

Never done it, but from what I understand a plant wont go into flower just because you put it on a 12/12 cycle.

It will only start to flower when it is mature enough to flower.

So a portion of the time Grower B has his plants on 12/12, the plants will still effectively be in veg because the sequence remains veg>maturity>flowering.

So I don't think grower B is going to have two harvests in that time.

LadyZandra said:

We have done a grow "close' to that- we put them 12/12 as soon as they got their 4th set of true leaves... it was a strain of Sativa known to get huge-- we ended up with smaller, weaker plants--but they yielded ok and at least they didn't outgrow the room.

Many Sativa Breeders tell people to go 12/12 real early...

Click to expand...

I can see the logic in that.

Your math is skewed because you are looking at a 2 month turnaround. That isn't going to happen. It will take around 3+ weeks before you see the sex. Then two months in flower. It really doesn't shave as much time as you would think. It only reduces the size of plants drastically. It is great if you are growing a LOT of plants. If you are growing 1 or 2, there are much better methods.

LadyZandra nailed it. I have backlog of seeds that really I dont have much excitement in growing. For those seeds I will plant more than normal and give them 1-2wks veg time then flip over to 12/12. You don't get much side-branching and generally end up with just one nice cola, but if you do 6-8 females that way and end up with 1-1.5oz per, you aren't doing very bad at all.

LadyZandra said:

We have done a grow "close' to that- we put them 12/12 as soon as they got their 4th set of true leaves... it was a strain of Sativa known to get huge-- we ended up with smaller, weaker plants--but they yielded ok and at least they didn't outgrow the room.

Many Sativa Breeders tell people to go 12/12 real early... I wouldn't do it with an Indica strain tho-- they really need their veg-time!

Click to expand...

I grow in the 5.5' tent, and I like sativa dom hybrids, so I had to go to 12/12 at about 5 weeks in order to stay inside the tent. Even then I had to buy a bigger tent for the last couple of inches that appeared. I accept that a 5-week veg is less than what it should be, but until I have a grow room instead of a grow tent I have to adjust for the height constraints.

kryptoniteglo said:

I grow in the 5.5' tent, and I like sativa dom hybrids, so I had to go to 12/12 at about 5 weeks in order to stay inside the tent. Even then I had to buy a bigger tent for the last couple of inches that appeared. I accept that a 5-week veg is less than what it should be, but until I have a grow room instead of a grow tent I have to adjust for the height constraints.

Click to expand...

5 weeks is kind of a long veg time for it. If you are trying to restrict height you will need to go 12/12 much, much earlier for a sativa.

althor said:

Your math is skewed because you are looking at a 2 month turnaround. That isn't going to happen. It will take around 3+ weeks before you see the sex. Then two months in flower. It really doesn't shave as much time as you would think. It only reduces the size of plants drastically. It is great if you are growing a LOT of plants. If you are growing 1 or 2, there are much better methods.

LadyZandra nailed it. I have backlog of seeds that really I dont have much excitement in growing. For those seeds I will plant more than normal and give them 1-2wks veg time then flip over to 12/12. You don't get much side-branching and generally end up with just one nice cola, but if you do 6-8 females that way and end up with 1-1.5oz per, you aren't doing very bad at all.

Click to expand...

Ahhhh, of course. They still need a few weeks before they can start to flower, even under 12/12. So going 12/12 from seed might cut off 4-5 weeks of veg, but not enough to do two grows to Grower A's one grow in my example. Therefore, unless growing 12/12 from seed yields MORE than traditional growing, Grower B can't produce the same amount of product over four months.

Thanks!

althor said:

5 weeks is kind of a long veg time for it. If you are trying to restrict height you will need to go 12/12 much, much earlier for a sativa.

Click to expand...

The hybrid that I grew was 60 sativa/40 indica. But I have some 90% sativas I'm going to give a go with at some point. I will have a yardstick on the wall of the tent, and when they hit a point that will allow for tripling in size, that's when I'll go to 12/12. But they still won't be 12/12 from seed -- I'll be giving them 24/0 until then.

And Althor, I like the idea that if you have some seeds you're not really jazzed about but still want to grow them you can flip after just a couple of weeks of veg to grow them out, but without a huge time commitment. I have a couple I might do that with...great tip! Thanks!

kryptoniteglo said:

I grow in the 5.5' tent, and I like sativa dom hybrids, so I had to go to 12/12 at about 5 weeks in order to stay inside the tent. Even then I had to buy a bigger tent for the last couple of inches that appeared. I accept that a 5-week veg is less than what it should be, but until I have a grow room instead of a grow tent I have to adjust for the height constraints.

Click to expand...

Not if you LST the hell outta them!!!

Sativas do GREAT with LST-- keep em 3ft tall or so.... still go 12/12 early, but gives them a little extra veg time...

LadyZandra said:

Not if you LST the hell outta them!!!

Sativas do GREAT with LST-- keep em 3ft tall or so.... still go 12/12 early, but gives them a little extra veg time...

Click to expand...

Yes! I was going to mainline and lst! I lst'd a little on my first grow and saved a few inches, but I now know I can be more aggressive than that!