is it ok to switch 4 week old cheese plants light cycle from 24/7 to 16/8?

[megabaked]

Would it be ok to add an extra light and also switch the light cycle from 24/7 to 16/8 to some cheese plants which are 4 weeks old.
The running costs of the light on for 24hrs a day is much more expensive that expected, and especially once an extra light is to be added, will i be ok switching them to 16/8?
Can it stress them or confuse them into start flowering early or anything?

 

[SunnyJim]

Yes, can can add extra bulbs, and yes, you can change the light cycle from 24/0 to 18/6 without stressing or inducing bloom. Are they autos? Any reason why you didn't have any darkness to your cycle?

 

[AimAim]

When did you want to start flowering?

There IS a chance the sudden reduction of light might trigger flowering, or "confusing" them a bit. Not sure what the odds are but it is a slight chance at least. And the older they get the greater that chance.

Personally if I wanted to make sure they stayed in full vigorous veg I'd go to 20/4 then drop an hour every couple days to get to that 16/8.

Just my opinion keep in mind.

 

[megabaked]

I'm sorry i'm not familiar with the term auto's, what do you mean? Im a complete beginner at this, this is the first...
I heard from someone that your were supposed to leave lights on constant during veg, then 12/12 during flowering.
It was until I started reading up online that I found out you could flower on a 16/8 cycle...
If I add the extra light now, and put a light timer on, should I just switch them off and leave them for 8 hours or should I give them a longer dark period at first to give them a rest or anything?

 

[SunnyJim]

I read that wrong - 16/8 rather than 18/6.

Why 16/8? To save those two hours of electricity? Echoing AimAim, a drop from 24/0 to 16/8 could shock them, as 16/8 in itself is a strange cycle to me. Give your plants anything more than 18 hours of light per 24 hour period, and they shouldn't show any signs of sex until you decrease the light hours to 12 in every 24 hour period. If they show signs of sex even with 18 (or more) hours of light per day, they're most likely auto-flowers.

EDIT: An auto-flowering strain flowers irrespective of the light cycle. Where did you get your seed?

 

[Nizza]

photos will bloom when the photoperiod changes to 12-12
autos will bloom chronologically, according to how long they have been alive, regardless of the photoperiod

 

[megabaked]

Yeh I thought about that myself AimAim, but as i said I am a beginner to this and wasn't entirely sure what to do...
They were planted 30 days ago, from cuttings about 3-4 inches tall, and are now aprox 1.5 feet tall.
Was thinking to veg for another 3-4 weeks then flower

 

[megabaked]

Sorry no I meant 18/6 not 16/8... and im not sure about them being auto's, how can I tell? theyre just cuttings from a cheese plant....
So you think switching the light cycle could be a bad idea then?

 

[SunnyJim]

I am so baked right now. I'm confusing the shit out of myself.

 

[megabaked]

hahaa, i am little confused... and a little baked... how can I tell if they are auto's or not?

 

[SunnyJim]

Sorry no I meant 18/6 not 16/8... and im not sure about them being auto's, how can I tell? theyre just cuttings from a cheese plant....
So you think switching the light cycle could be a bad idea then?

Cool, so we've established 18/6. To answer your question about changing light cycle, I really don't think the drop from 24/0 to 18/6 will significantly stress your plant, if at all. If you want to play it safe, reduce the light hours by 1 every day until you bring it down to 18/6.

All that said, a flowering plant will (roughly) triple in size from the time you start flowering to harvest. That means think of the space your plant would occupy if it were three times bigger than it currently is, and plan for having that amount of space to comfortably flower it. Yours are already over a foot tall, so I wouldn't wait much longer before flowering them. What is your grow space like? Lighting?

In your position, I would start flowering now, and go from 24/0 to 12/12 from one day to the next.

It doesn't sound like you have auto-flowers if they were cuttings from a mother.

 

[AimAim]

They were planted 30 days ago, from cuttings about 3-4 inches tall, and are now aprox 1.5 feet tall.
Was thinking to veg for another 3-4 weeks then flower

Those are going to be shrubs in another month. If you have height limitations I'd be topping and LSTing myself. They'll be 3-4 feet in another 4 weeks, and 5-6 at finish. I'm speaking in generalizations, there are tons of variables, but my "prediction" if you want to call it that is well within the realm of possibility.

You never gave any grow details lights, growspace etc. Do that and put up a pic and you could probably get some good help from someone.

Good luck - AIM

 

[megabaked]

space isn't really an issue, ill upload a picture so you can see, and would like to yield around 3oz a plant.
how do these look for 4 weeks I really don't know whether they're doing good or not?

 

[megabaked]

They're under 1 x 600w bulb at the min, I'd like them under all 4 lights but the electricity is simply far too expensive.

 

[AimAim]

They look good. Move that light way closer, and you are going to need additional lighting to get 3oz/plant.

Substantial additional lighting.

Edit: I see now you have 3 other lights. Whatever it costs to run them they will pay for themselves and then some during flowering.

What exactly are you paying per KW Hour, it must be outrageous.

 

[SunnyJim]

You're right, space is not an issue. Looks like a lot of plants for a single 600w bulb, though. I'm not sure you'll hit 3 zips per plant without adding more lighting.

 

[megabaked]

yeh the others will be put up soon, I am going to switch them on to 18/6 from now to try and lower the costs a little. It is costing me 17p per Kwh, so roughly £2.50 per 24 hours per 600w light. At 4 lights thats roughly £10 a day...
Do you think I should continue to veg for another few weeks?

 

[SunnyJim]

yeh the others will be put up soon, I am going to switch them on to 18/6 from now to try and lower the costs a little. It is costing me 17p per Kwh, so roughly £2.50 per 24 hours per 600w light. At 4 lights thats roughly £10 a day...
Do you think I should continue to veg for another few weeks?

It's a judgement call, I'm afraid. You don't need to add more lights until you start flowering - vegging under one light is fine and will save you some money.

£10 a day x 75 days of flower = £750. 1 Oz (28g) = £200? Your costs should be covered by 2 plants. What's your target yield?

 

[megabaked]

oh man ive just gone and hung up a 2nd light and then come back to my computer to read that I can veg under 1 light, haha.
Ive put up the second one and was going to start the 18/6 light cycle. Will having them under two make a substantial difference or am I just as good putting them back under one?

 

[SunnyJim]

They'll veg quicker with the 2nd light, but they'll still grow with just one. It's really during the flowering cycle that you need to add as much lighting as you can afford and cool. Also, now that you're adding darkness to the cycle, you'll probably notice the plants stretching more.