18/6 never again

only my opinion counts.............

in my opinion. your indoor lights ought to dialed back as if seasonal changes occurred.. as well as tilts taken into account.. so your alaskan thunderfuck should be in a light schedule mostly mimicking Alaskan schedules.

always harvest on the full moons. indoors or out.

nights that lengthen over time until they flower.

RawBudzski said:

Bump for 24/7. <3
When indoors simplicity is best. When indoors & we supplement co2, that is not what a plant normally gets in the wild.. so, sometimes.. more is better.

I talk to my plants and appologize for keeping them up so long but I am sure they forgive me with the TLC I provide. When people argue the "Well in nature the plant gets sleep" I say.. Well in nature the plant does not get 1500ppm of co2.. or a dehumidifier ..or a umbrella to block the rain. Does not cut it, I used to be all about 18/6 until I realized 24/0 works just as well IF not better.. & no timers needed. so simplicity wins.

Click to expand...

I timer is a lot cheaper than electricity. lol. If 24/0 works as good, then I would def. go with 18/6.

gladstoned said:

Mark from Aviditi already responded and said that he is personally fixing the labeling and offered me another tent. Pretty cool.
As far as experts not disagreeing on light schedule, that is ridiculous. I have several grow books, they all say different shit and i went in circles. lol. That is exactly why I am setting up two small tents in my office just to do side by side experiments. I am worried about end result - smell taste yield, etc. I don't give a shit if my plant looks a little bigger at three weeks, lol. I care about end result. I personally don't think it makes that big of a difference. that is why people keep arguing it. lol.

Click to expand...

I've done what you're about to do. Cuttings taken from the same plant, same nute schedule, same medium, etc. The only variable was one group was under 24/0 for veg, and the other 18/6. The plants that were grown under 24/0 were simply more vigorous. More leaves, tighter node spacing, less stretch.

I would imagine that different strains, even different phenotypes, may react differently. Just like some strains respond better to lighter feedings, heavier feedings, lower temps, higher temps, etc.

I don't believe for a second that this topic is as black and white as some people suggest.

my work is done in my grow lab. the explants are shipped from grand rapids to detroit to Sandusky. I'm self employed in the tissue culture biz. sales are seasonal mostly, but large volumes of product are needed at once so I keep busy. i also produce mj tc for some select groups. The nurseries are commercially operated.

"you will always find opinions.

what you wont find is a place on earth that has all sunlight all the time." that is correct, and the gist of it too!

the reason I keep my rooms at 1500ppm with a c02 generator is because there was no way I could use outdoor air to constantly replenish the 400ppm in the room as fast as it is depleted, without contending with all the other issues outdoor temps/air/humidity bring. This was one reason for me to choose a sealed room. outdoors the air around every leaf is refreshed constantly. and will consume this 400ppm in minutes . longer light cycles giving up more growthis not disputed, just not a valid practice for commercialized, for profit, marijuana cultivation.

Honestly I am much more interested in 12/1.

these are all great experiments in growing, and will result in various outcomes. However, if a professional grower, who does this for a living, say a 1/2 pound weekly harvests, can show me any end benefit to these altered lighting schedules, I will take a look, but I've been down the road, with hundreds of harvests, plants, and strains. on my 900th plant right now. Pest breeding cycles, temps, humidity, hormones, etc are all at play . stick with something that works first, and master that, before you try something else only to fail and say it sucks

I have allways used 16/8 to veg. For years and have not had a single problem. The only time I've had problems is when I try to RUSH, good things come to those who wait. Lol couldn't resist

I'm not convinced... 18/6 wont happen again here.. fuck them stretchy plants..

do Evaporation Coolers work in tandum with dehumidifiers? in a area smaller than 100 sq ft? sealed

stretchy plants...ahhhh? so you have issues within your grow area, completely unrelated to the 24 or 18 hr lite schedule. Please get familiar with the agricultural standards Leibligs Law.......stretchy plants=18/6 lite schedule????wtf?

pharmacoping said:

stretchy plants...ahhhh? so you have issues within your grow area, completely unrelated to the 24 or 18 hr lite schedule. Please get familiar with the agricultural standards Leibligs Law.......stretchy plants=18/6 lite schedule????wtf?

Click to expand...

I have no issues at all, you think you're the only one here with any experience or something? Sorry, if you guys don't see a difference in plant growth between 18/6 and 24/0 then I'd have to say you are the inexperienced. But whatever.. I don't have the time to debate about it.. Try it sometime and come to your own conclusions.

http://www.maximumyield.com/article_sh_db.php?articleID=283

good read.

also... i think i'll be moving from 18/6 anyways.. lol

20/4 will start tomorrow

I never do 18/6 its 24/7 till flower then its 11/13 till done.

tomcat.

It is a very interesting article (albeit, adamately denied by the publisher as being relevant to marijuana production). and it seems to support the largely held notion of a dark period, as seen in this excerpt
" Changes in water properties, nutrient availability, temperature, light duration and strength, humidity, and dissolved gas concentrations are big obstacles that need to be orchestrated to achieve maximal metabolic activity."

18/6 will never cause elongation, or stretching, however high temps, weak lighting, humidiy swings,hormones, additives,nutrients,fans, etc. can. I suggest that if you see 24hrs of light as a fix to your stretching problem, and are willing to spend money on the extra juice to fix it, perhaps your plants are not normally growing in the first place. I get 2-3 inches of growth a day in the veg room with 18/6 and proper controls.
Every person I know that tries these silly non standard lite schedules A) always had issue with standard lighting schedules(really not the lite at all)and plant growth, and B) will defend their decision to spend more money on their chosen schedule. These issues are no longer debated by the companies that specifically formulate and instruct for marijuana production like
http://bigbudsmag.com/grow/how/article/start-your-own-medical-marijuana-perpetual-harvest-cycle-february-2012 and this too
http://bigbudsmag.com/grow/article/ideal-indoor-hydroponics-conditions-growing-medical-marijuana-may-2011

which is a good primer to correc your slow growth issues in the grow room. Get your numbers like the article says, and then tell me how much benefit is had by keeping lights on longer than 18 hrs in the veg room. thats all I'm saying. your long lite is simply trying to make up for other shortcomings in the garden, and is evident by your admission of stretchy plants using normal 18hr cycles

The "dark cycle" does not only occur at night, it simply does not require light. The "dark reactions" are more accurately known as "light-independent reactions". This is a commonly misunderstood aspect of botany.

Again I veg with 16 hours of light no stretching with a 250 watt mh. its not the hours of light that causes the stretching it is more the color spectrum & intensity. The higher the color temp the less stretch. This is my experience.

I believe, like already mentioned, that other environmental factors also contribute to stretch and piss-poor growth in general, like heat and humidity.

CharlieBud said:

The "dark cycle" does not only occur at night, it simply does not require light. The "dark reactions" are more accurately known as "light-independent reactions". This is a commonly misunderstood aspect of botany.

Click to expand...

So you just said that 24/7 is too much lights on time. That the plants will adapt to it and still have their "dark reaction" in the light. Are they useing the light in that period? No so its a waste in my opinion.


Edit) also what you are saying it that this "dark reaction" is so critical to plants that they will perform it in the light. That is very telling it says that they cannot survive without it. It's just like nutes too much is not allways better. Spoil a child their whole life and see how they do when they need to survive on their own.

derfmasta said:

So you just said that 24/7 is too much lights on time. That the plants will adapt to it and still have their "dark reaction" in the light. Are they useing the light in that period? No so its a waste in my opinion.


Edit) also what you are saying it that this "dark reaction" is so critical to plants that they will perform it in the light. That is very telling it says that they cannot survive without it. It's just like nutes too much is not allways better. Spoil a child their whole life and see how they do when they need to survive on their own.

Click to expand...

Light-independent reactions occur 24 hours a day as they do not require light. They happen regardless. This is the most common reason people find to argue for plants needing "sleep", its just fallacious. What I'm not saying though is that the sleep crowd are necessarily wrong, just that they are in no way right due to the "dark cycle" theory.