DLI important or not?

wietefras

Well-Known Member
One more question!
If 20h/day at 400 umol/s has equal effect as 10h/day at 800 umol/s... why autoflower plants are still smaller on 10/14 or 12/12 schedule?
Probably mostly genetics. Some strains plants yield more than others.

Also they will start flowering when they feel like it. You have no control over it like with photo periodic plants, So they will generally stay smaller.

I'm doing a test run in a smaller tent with photo periodics (Santanesia journal here on the site) where I put the seeds directly on 12/12. That's pretty much similar to auto flowers. The plants stay a lot smaller because they start flowering sooner and have less time to grow. But then I have 4 times as many plants so in the end the yield shouldn't change. Or at least that's what I hope to see from this test :)

I know a grower who manages to get the same harvest with auto's. He also simply puts more auto flowers in the room to account for their smaller size individually. He actually does the whole grow on 24/0. So they can most definitely do a whole run without "rest". Although I personally would worry that they are less efficient that way.
 

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Probably mostly genetics. Some strains plants yield more than others.

Also they will start flowering when they feel like it. You have no control over it like with photo periodic plants, So they will generally stay smaller.

I'm doing a test run in a smaller tent with photo periodics (Santanesia journal here on the site) where I put the seeds directly on 12/12. That's pretty much similar to auto flowers. The plants stay a lot smaller because they start flowering sooner and have less time to grow. But then I have 4 times as many plants so in the end the yield shouldn't change. Or at least that's what I hope to see from this test :)

I know a grower who manages to get the same harvest with auto's. He also simply puts more auto flowers in the room to account for their smaller size individually. He actually does the whole grow on 24/0. So they can most definitely do a whole run without "rest". Although I personally would worry that they are less efficient that way.
I would definitely be interested in yield comparisons of 24/0 Auto Flower runs vs 12/12 from seed Photo Period runs of genetics of similar traits.
Could half the power consumption of the 12/12 plants equal the auto's @24/0? :confused:
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
I would definitely be interested in yield comparisons of 24/0 Auto Flower runs vs 12/12 from seed Photo Period runs of genetics of similar traits.
Could half the power consumption of the 12/12 plants equal the auto's @24/0? :confused:
Well technically you'd give the auto's half the intensity but then for 24 hours. So the DLI and therefore overall power consumption would still be the same in both cases.

Initial investment would be lower since you'd need only build a fixture with half the wattage though.
 

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Well technically you'd give the auto's half the intensity but then for 24 hours. So the DLI and therefore overall power consumption would still be the same in both cases.

Initial investment would be lower since you'd need only build a fixture with half the wattage though.
I had never heard of running auto's at half the ppfd
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Well if you want to run them for 24 hours it makes sense to lower the intensity some. Perhaps not all the way to half, but if you want to compare them watt for watt then that would be a more fair comparison I guess.
Auto's aren't about being efficient, they are about blasting them with as much light as you possibly can to get a small yield per plant, if you grow a ton of autos they can add up to a decent yield, but they are extremely inefficient to grow. I did some auto testing earlier this year, to me they are a total crap shoot , phenotypes vary from medium sized plants to tiny runt type plants. Trying to grow pounds with autos is nearly impossible unless you have large plant counts. In the state i live in i can only grow 12 plants, 6 flowering legally, so auto's are beyond useless for me.
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
Auto's aren't about being efficient, they are about blasting them with as much light as you possibly can to get a small yield per plant, if you grow a ton of autos they can add up to a decent yield, but they are extremely inefficient to grow. I did some auto testing earlier this year, to me they are a total crap shoot , phenotypes vary from medium sized plants to tiny runt type plants. Trying to grow pounds with autos is nearly impossible unless you have large plant counts. In the state i live in i can only grow 12 plants, 6 flowering legally, so auto's are beyond useless for me.
I didn't say they were about being efficient. I already said that you need to increase the numbers.

You should also find a breeder who provides you with more stable seeds. Indeed if you are going for production then you don't want different phenotypes all over.

But as this thread is about DLI, the point was that if you run the light for 24 hours you can't go overboard on the intensity.
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
I didn't say they were about being efficient. I already said that you need to increase the numbers.

You should also find a breeder who provides you with more stable seeds. Indeed if you are going for production then you don't want different phenotypes all over.

But as this thread is about DLI, the point was that if you run the light for 24 hours you can't go overboard on the intensity.
Not gonna bother with autos anymore , not worth my time. I just run clones now I was just doing that testing to see what they are all about cause i heard they changed, didn't seem like they had changed much.

When i grew auto's i liked my lights 20/4 not 24/0 , i also grew them under 12/12 and 18/6.
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
Not gonna bother with autos anymore , not worth my time. I just run clones now I was just doing that testing to see what they are all about cause i heard they changed, didn't seem like they had changed much.

When i grew auto's i liked my lights 20/4 not 24/0 , i also grew them under 12/12 and 18/6.
Not sure why you are replying to me like I'm someone promoting auto's? Maybe you should read the whole thread instead of just one post and post a knee jerk response?
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Not sure why you are replying to me like I'm someone promoting auto's? Maybe you should read the whole thread instead of just one post and post a knee jerk response?
You said i should find a different auto breeder for more stability, that's not worth my time.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Imo, it makes a lot more sense to veg under 24/0 with a less powerful lamp than under 20/4 with a more powerful lamp, both setups with the same DLI.

You can spend less money on your veg lamp this way.
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Imo, it makes a lot more sense to veg under 24/0 with a less powerful lamp than under 20/4 with a more powerful lamp, both setups with the same DLI.

You can spend less money on your veg lamp this way.
In my experience plants like a dark period, i might be wrong who knows , but i found the best growth with 20/4
 

Big smo

Well-Known Member
I had never heard of running auto's at half the ppfd
This is something I have been doing for a few months now. 220 watts in a 4x4 space. Last run I was just below a lb. plenty of excuses lol. I'm definitely on track for much more this run and probably already at it now with 20 days to go. This is also 18hours a day. 70 days from seed.

This equals 330 watts on a 12/12 schedule. That's very hard to beat with photos. That also wouldn't include a long veg cycle if you had 70 days.

Yoda you also don't buy your seeds from the only breeder that accepts food stamps. There are plenty of solid companies that offer very stable auto genetics.
 

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
This is something I have been doing for a few months now. 220 watts in a 4x4 space. Last run I was just below a lb. plenty of excuses lol. I'm definitely on track for much more this run and probably already at it now with 20 days to go. This is also 18hours a day. 70 days from seed.

This equals 330 watts on a 12/12 schedule. That's very hard to beat with photos. That also wouldn't include a long veg cycle if you had 70 days.

Yoda you also don't buy your seeds from the only breeder that accepts food stamps. There are plenty of solid companies that offer very stable auto genetics.
I got my auto seeds directly from fastbuds, so if that is bad genetics you let me know cause i don't know much about autos besides i never smoked one that was any good.
 

Big smo

Well-Known Member
Fast buds is indeed one of those companies. They had gg auto immediately after gg photo, like numerous others. They definitely don't stabilize their autos, multiple pheno types and they pay people for grow journals.

I know you had a bad experience but if I were you I'd try something from mephisto
 

KonopCh

Well-Known Member
This is something I have been doing for a few months now. 220 watts in a 4x4 space. Last run I was just below a lb. plenty of excuses lol. I'm definitely on track for much more this run and probably already at it now with 20 days to go. This is also 18hours a day. 70 days from seed.

This equals 330 watts on a 12/12 schedule. That's very hard to beat with photos. That also wouldn't include a long veg cycle if you had 70 days.

Yoda you also don't buy your seeds from the only breeder that accepts food stamps. There are plenty of solid companies that offer very stable auto genetics.
Did you notice more fluffy buds with that approach?
Penetration with less light is lower, I guess.
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
Did you notice more fluffy buds with that approach?
Penetration with less light is lower, I guess.
Penetration should relatively be the same though. Why wouldn't it? If you start with half the light from the fixture, you have half the light everywhere. Since you have the light on for twice as long, you would see the same DLI everywhere as if you'd run it half the time with double the intensity.
 

KonopCh

Well-Known Member
Penetration should relatively be the same though. Why wouldn't it? If you start with half the light from the fixture, you have half the light everywhere. Since you have the light on for twice as long, you would see the same DLI everywhere as if you'd run it half the time with double the intensity.

Was asking for autoflowers, when we compare the same light cycle and different umol/s.
 
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