Bloom timing and incremental light depravation.

Running with scissors said:

Wassssuuuuuuuuupppp!

So, my first marijuana grow was generally based on alot of information that I gathered online that I picked through with a fine toothed try comb... A lot of it was anecdotal. When I switched to "bloom" I went by instinct. Basically, plant size and health.
I just switched the light to "Bloom", changed the timer to 12/12, and let er rip. Didn't seem to affect anything but I have not tested yet.
I've seen some articles that suggest changing the timing incrementally and gradually dropping "sun" time like the way the season change would. A little at a time.
Has anyone compared the results of doing this? I imagine there's some shock to the plant just switching from 18/6 to 12/12 but that might be a good thing to get the plant moving into flowering quicker. OR, it could have a negative effect and actually cause the plants buds to be stunted and smaller and maybe not as many as you could have.

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Richard Drysift said:

I have experimented with light manipulation for many years and find it to be a great way to reduce stretching and sex out your plants. The sun does not have just 2 light cycles; the cycles change throughout the seasons as the earth revolves. Some strains can get downright lanky when forced right into flowering but gradually reducing the hours of daylight as it happens naturally outdoors can help reduce the amount of bare spaces in between nodes. Tight nodal stacking forms big ass bud later on. Problems is with big buds you can end up with other issues like mold. This is why I’ve stopped “monster cropping” plants because if done in combination with gradual light reduction you can grow enormously huge buds that harbor mold even with optimal conditions.
I like using this method to sex out plants: I veg as normal at 18/6 until about week 7. Then reduce the hours of light on my timer by an hour or 2 per week. From 18/6 to 17/8 and so on, etc. The more gradually you do it the more effect it has on the plants. Once they get down to around 14/10 most strains will begin throwing pistils; plants at this point are in both veg and bloom mode at the same time. Then you can identify the boys/girls and decide what to do from there…kill them, put them into 12/12 for bloom as they are, or go back into veg to bring them to desired size.

Click to expand...

Richard Drysift said:

I have experimented with light manipulation for many years and find it to be a great way to reduce stretching and sex out your plants. The sun does not have just 2 light cycles; the cycles change throughout the seasons as the earth revolves. Some strains can get downright lanky when forced right into flowering but gradually reducing the hours of daylight as it happens naturally outdoors can help reduce the amount of bare spaces in between nodes. Tight nodal stacking forms big ass bud later on. Problems is with big buds you can end up with other issues like mold. This is why I’ve stopped “monster cropping” plants because if done in combination with gradual light reduction you can grow enormously huge buds that harbor mold even with optimal conditions.
I like using this method to sex out plants: I veg as normal at 18/6 until about week 7. Then reduce the hours of light on my timer by an hour or 2 per week. From 18/6 to 17/8 and so on, etc. The more gradually you do it the more effect it has on the plants. Once they get down to around 14/10 most strains will begin throwing pistils; plants at this point are in both veg and bloom mode at the same time. Then you can identify the boys/girls and decide what to do from there…kill them, put them into 12/12 for bloom as they are, or go back into veg to bring them to desired size.

Click to expand...

Bukvičák said:

Veg and bloom mode at the same time? Like how?

Click to expand...

Running with scissors said:

Wassssuuuuuuuuupppp!

So, my first marijuana grow was generally based on alot of information that I gathered online that I picked through with a fine toothed try comb... A lot of it was anecdotal. When I switched to "bloom" I went by instinct. Basically, plant size and health.
I just switched the light to "Bloom", changed the timer to 12/12, and let er rip. Didn't seem to affect anything but I have not tested yet.
I've seen some articles that suggest changing the timing incrementally and gradually dropping "sun" time like the way the season change would. A little at a time.
Has anyone compared the results of doing this? I imagine there's some shock to the plant just switching from 18/6 to 12/12 but that might be a good thing to get the plant moving into flowering quicker. OR, it could have a negative effect and actually cause the plants buds to be stunted and smaller and maybe not as many as you could have.

Click to expand...

Richard Drysift said:

I have experimented with light manipulation for many years and find it to be a great way to reduce stretching and sex out your plants. The sun does not have just 2 light cycles; the cycles change throughout the seasons as the earth revolves. Some strains can get downright lanky when forced right into flowering but gradually reducing the hours of daylight as it happens naturally outdoors can help reduce the amount of bare spaces in between nodes. Tight nodal stacking forms big ass bud later on. Problems is with big buds you can end up with other issues like mold. This is why I’ve stopped “monster cropping” plants because if done in combination with gradual light reduction you can grow enormously huge buds that harbor mold even with optimal conditions.
I like using this method to sex out plants: I veg as normal at 18/6 until about week 7. Then reduce the hours of light on my timer by an hour or 2 per week. From 18/6 to 17/8 and so on, etc. The more gradually you do it the more effect it has on the plants. Once they get down to around 14/10 most strains will begin throwing pistils; plants at this point are in both veg and bloom mode at the same time. Then you can identify the boys/girls and decide what to do from there…kill them, put them into 12/12 for bloom as they are, or go back into veg to bring them to desired size.

Click to expand...

simpleleaf said:

My green crack is showing pistils on 24/0, so I guess it's also in veg and bloom at the same time, although not as many as if it had been at 14/10 for a week or two. It's a clone that goes back a few cuttings. I guess it's older.

More seriously, there does appear to be a shock when changing from veg to bloom. It seems nothing changes for about a week. It is tedious to change the timer incrementally, without sufficient benefit. When do you start counting the days of bloom? The plant adjusts itself to new conditions quickly. If you increase darkness in 2-hour increments once a week, that means 6/18, 8/16, 10/14, that's 2 or 3 weeks. A plant going from 6/18 to 10/14 may not grow flowers the next day, but they'll be obvious in a week or two. So what's the difference?

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PadawanWarrior said:

If a plant is mature they'll have tiny pistils on the stem, even if they're clones. Totally normal. Where'd you get the clones?

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hotrodharley said:

Leave both switches on the entire grow.

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Running with scissors said:

It's not an auto flower. I would do that if it was because it doesn't matter.

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Richard Drysift said:

I have experimented with light manipulation for many years and find it to be a great way to reduce stretching and sex out your plants. The sun does not have just 2 light cycles; the cycles change throughout the seasons as the earth revolves. Some strains can get downright lanky when forced right into flowering but gradually reducing the hours of daylight as it happens naturally outdoors can help reduce the amount of bare spaces in between nodes. Tight nodal stacking forms big ass bud later on. Problems is with big buds you can end up with other issues like mold. This is why I’ve stopped “monster cropping” plants because if done in combination with gradual light reduction you can grow enormously huge buds that harbor mold even with optimal conditions.
I like using this method to sex out plants: I veg as normal at 18/6 until about week 7. Then reduce the hours of light on my timer by an hour or 2 per week. From 18/6 to 17/8 and so on, etc. The more gradually you do it the more effect it has on the plants. Once they get down to around 14/10 most strains will begin throwing pistils; plants at this point are in both veg and bloom mode at the same time. Then you can identify the boys/girls and decide what to do from there…kill them, put them into 12/12 for bloom as they are, or go back into veg to bring them to desired size.

Click to expand...

hotrodharley said:

If it has 2 switches I don't care what's under it. Standard advice here is leave both on. But people do as they want.

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Running with scissors said:

Makes the tent too hot. I thought about it and is it really needed? Will the plant grow more in less time? Does it mature faster? Will it be ready to flower in 4 weeks instead of 8?
I switched this to bloom yesterday. It's about 9 weeks old. If I used both lights, would it look like this in half the time?

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Bukvičák said:

Veg and bloom mode at the same time? Like how?

Click to expand...

simpleleaf said:

My green crack is showing pistils on 24/0, so I guess it's also in veg and bloom at the same time, although not as many as if it had been at 14/10 for a week or two. It's a clone that goes back a few cuttings. I guess it's older.

More seriously, there does appear to be a shock when changing from veg to bloom. It seems nothing changes for about a week. It is tedious to change the timer incrementally, without sufficient benefit. When do you start counting the days of bloom? The plant adjusts itself to new conditions quickly. If you increase darkness in 2-hour increments once a week, that means 6/18, 8/16, 10/14, that's 2 or 3 weeks. A plant going from 6/18 to 10/14 may not grow flowers the next day, but they'll be obvious in a week or two. So what's the difference?

Click to expand...

simpleleaf said:

My green crack is showing pistils on 24/0, so I guess it's also in veg and bloom at the same time, although not as many as if it had been at 14/10 for a week or two. It's a clone that goes back a few cuttings. I guess it's older.

More seriously, there does appear to be a shock when changing from veg to bloom. It seems nothing changes for about a week. It is tedious to change the timer incrementally, without sufficient benefit. When do you start counting the days of bloom? The plant adjusts itself to new conditions quickly. If you increase darkness in 2-hour increments once a week, that means 6/18, 8/16, 10/14, that's 2 or 3 weeks. A plant going from 6/18 to 10/14 may not grow flowers the next day, but they'll be obvious in a week or two. So what's the difference?

Click to expand...

Richard Drysift said:

Now I’m confused…
Always thought it was light/dark like 18/6 for a veg cycle but maybe it’s different in other places if the world… switching it around makes your Q more coherent for me….
I don’t count days anymore but I do keep track of how many full weeks they are in bloom. Even if they are showing pistils I don’t count that time as bloom time…I begin counting the weeks in bloom once they are forming pistils and under a 12/12 cycle. The transition time is not factored in at all and so you can pretty much plan on most strains finishing around 10-11 weeks.

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hotrodharley said:

Photosynthesis. That light is not going to overpower. Can you get some air flow going? It won't mature faster but I'll promise it will weigh more.

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PadawanWarrior said:

Good info as always. Do they reveg if you switch back to veg?

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