6/12 bud

As far as biological signals regarding photoperiod go, its the length of the dark cycle that is important.. The length of daylight is only an issue in the sense that I mentioned earlier about forcing the plants to work too hard.. Read up on phytochrome if you care about why.. Its directly linked to gene expression..
Personally though, I tend to believe that nature has brought plants to where they are today nearly as efficiently as possible at a 24hr day with the natural intensity of sunlight the plant evolved under..
I guess I'm thinking the relationship works more as if there is an ideal number of photons a plant can absorb in a light period before it needs a break to undergo its night-time processes..
But then again, does anybody know how a healthy plant knows lights out are coming, so it can relax its leaves a few minutes before the flip?? I've only observed it, I've never seen info regarding it..

fdd2blk said:

you all realize this was all tried 40 years ago? this is why we all are on 12/12. it's been proven.

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So it has nothing to do with 24hr timers being the most common and custom cycling timers being more expensive and harder to find?

The way I've heard it, a 6/12 regiment sacrifices yield for an early harvest. >12/12 sacrifices early harvest time for bigger yield.

The plant considers every night of receiving 12hrs of darkness to be one day closer to death, thereby, being able to rough out weeks/flower. With an 8 week strain, if it receives 3 of these every two days, than it will finish in 37 days rather than the normal 56 days, at a loss of yield.

This is of course hypothetical and theoretical.

thats funney cuz i am lookin hard for a 14 day 220v timmer i cant find one yet

AeroKing said:

So it has nothing to do with 24hr timers being the most common and custom cycling timers being more expensive and harder to find?

The way I've heard it, a 6/12 regiment sacrifices yield for an early harvest. >12/12 sacrifices early harvest time for bigger yield.

The plant considers every night of receiving 12hrs of darkness to be one day closer to death, thereby, being able to rough out weeks/flower. With an 8 week strain, if it receives 3 of these every two days, than it will finish in 37 days rather than the normal 56 days, at a loss of yield.

This is of course hypothetical and theoretical.

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So it has nothing to do with 24hr timers being the most common and custom cycling timers being more expensive and harder to find?

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Methinks thats sarcasm Weedyoo..

born2killspam said:

Methinks thats sarcasm Weedyoo..

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well even if it is you try and find one

I meant: I think the point Aeroking is making is that non-standard timers are infact pretty tough to come by, and that is a major reason why alot of ppl never wander away from the 24hr day..

I made a post a while back on another forum regarding this very subject. I'll paste what I said here:

I read somewhere that plants use light most efficiently for only 6 hours per day, after which efficiency drops as low as 30%. Assuming that this is true (does anyone know?), and assuming that it is the first 6 hours of the day (again, any idea?), then the most efficient photoperiod would be 6/12. With this schedule, plants should finish in 3/4 of the time, with an obvious drop in yield, but a higher GPW.

This may all be bollocks, and there are a lot of assumptions involved, but has anyone ever tried anything like this? The only practical problem I can see with trying this schedule would be that 18 hour days are a pain in the arse, with regards to timer schedules.

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Anyone shed any light on the two assumptions I made, and whether there is any truth to them?

Under extreme lighting conditions there may be sense to it.. Photosynthesis can hit a red-line level where not only does it stop being constructive, but can actually be destructive.. As too many electrons become too energetic, they begin to reduce things they shouldn't.. On that note though, photosynthesis doesn't just turn on like a light, but builds up like a fire.. First the energy needs to go towards builing an electron transport gradient (basically chains of molecules that redox down the line)..
Again I'm unsure about numbers/timescales, I just know thats the gist of how it goes down..

weedyoo said:

i thought their was 24 hours in a day last i checked

stop thinking days and think hours in 24 hours i get 6 day 12 night 6 day

everyday the math is their i am going to keep it up for the next 6 weeks at least

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LOL!

Dude you smoke way too much pot or need to learn some basic math....so many people are trying to tell you what's very obvious....

you can't go 6 day 12 night 6 day EVERRYDAY! Think about it, and REALLY think,

DAY 1: 6 hours of lights on, 12 off, 6 on again
and than, DAY 2: 12 off, 6 on, 12 off

Notice how on day 2 you are only get 6 hours of light the WHOLE DAY.

Oh, and if you are honestly giving your plants 6 on, 12 off, 6 on EVERYDAY than you are on a 12/12 cycle!!!!!!!

Hes not on a 12/12 cycle as the plants see it though, nocturn had it more correct I think.. It would be interesting to see if in fact the plant came to full maturity in 3/4 the time.. (ie the same number of light cycles as normal..)..

vicbudz said:

LOL!

Dude you smoke way too much pot or need to learn some basic math....so many people are trying to tell you what's very obvious....

you can't go 6 day 12 night 6 day EVERRYDAY! Think about it, and REALLY think,

DAY 1: 6 hours of lights on, 12 off, 6 on again
and than, DAY 2: 12 off, 6 on, 12 off

Notice how on day 2 you are only get 6 hours of light the WHOLE DAY.

Oh, and if you are honestly giving your plants 6 on, 12 off, 6 on EVERYDAY than you are on a 12/12 cycle!!!!!!!

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hahah sorry
well i know i am on 6/12 as far as day one and day two. step away from our time their on their own time 6/12

you make a good point and i guess you need to look at the big picture i guess a plant wont know its 24 hr it will only know the day and night it gets

i dont konw if this makes any sence

umm what about "Circadian rhythm"...plants have internal clocks

you guys need to learn more about plants....

this method will not work, plain and simple......unless hermies count, of course

smokinshogun said:

umm what about "Circadian rhythm"...plants have internal clocks

you guys need to learn more about plants....

this method will not work, plain and simple......unless hermies count, of course

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"you guys"? exactly who is "you guys"?

all of "you people" who posted on this topic....plants can tell when the sun should set, and not having a 24 hour cycle would only lead to problems...at least someones thinking outside the box though

smokinshogun said:

all of "you people" who posted on this topic....plants can tell when the sun should set, and not having a 24 hour cycle would only lead to problems...at least someones thinking outside the box though

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there is only one person here who thinks outside the 24 hours. all the rest of us are telling him he's wrong. you should read the whole thread.

Fdd is right.
A long time ago when it was noticed that plants that had had 6 hours of direct sunlight flourished better than plants that had had 12 in a growroom it was thought possible that you might be able to recreate this effect in a growroom but in all reality what had actually happened was that the plant was in fact still in 12/12.

The 6 hour period of intense and direct sunlight was not suddenly switched off but gradually reduced as the sun went down.
So all though the plant had appeared to enjoy 6 hours,really it had had 12.
Plants can photosynthesise very low level levels of sunlight and it actually has to be almost dark for them to enter the dark phase of their cycle.

If you wanted to recreate this effect you would be better of using a dimmer switch.
As far as i can remember the theory behind it all was that sometimes to much light can stress certain strains and that some strains and because of their natural and original habit had developed an obvious rapport with the suns times for blazing in their part of the world.

Many areas of the planet are lucky to get 6-8 hours of direct sunlight and when a plant is growing outdoors you will notice that actual direct intense sunlight will in most parts of the world be gone within that amount of time.
The plant is kind of winding down imo on its lower levels of sunlight.

Maybe its because the plant has had an intense workout so to speak and then as the light levels are slowly reduced by the suns passing the plant can then absorb more water and nutes from the medium,kinda like someone whos just done a workout and then goes for food and drink to replace their spent energy.

In all reality i have no idea what i am talking about,just theories and general assumptions,lol

fdd2blk said:

there is only one person here who thinks outside the 24 hours. all the rest of us are telling him he's wrong. you should read the whole thread.

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I never said he's wrong. I actually think that there may be some merit to this and I don't believe it's been properly investigated to throw it out so quickly.

AeroKing said:

I never said he's wrong. I actually think that there may be some merit to this and I don't believe it's been properly investigated to throw it out so quickly.

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well then, what is it with "you people"? lol

every day = a day and a quater for the plants.. your tricking them into thinking time is going faster ... get it?? i would like to try this maybe in a box with one plant but you need a digital timer that doesnt run 24 hour cycles...hmmmm

weedyoo said:

yes but with more days and night in 24h i get 2 days

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smokinshogun said:

umm what about "Circadian rhythm"...plants have internal clocks

you guys need to learn more about plants....

this method will not work, plain and simple......unless hermies count, of course

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just sayin they do always hermie out wouldnt you be able to take the hermie seeds and grow them and wont they be more adjusted to the 18hour day? hense the strain evolving to adapt to the changed light cycle?