Trying to Avoid Electric "high cost" hours

I'm going to use a big bad 1000 w HPS lamp when I start my crop at the end of Oct. so I'm trying to get the most out of my light and the least out of my utility bill. My electric company has it's "high cost" hours from 5 - 9 both at AM and PM starting in Nov. That's 8 hours/day I'm going to try and miss. This leaves me with 16 hours to use for my vegative cycle. I can set my timer to go on and off to miss those hours from 5 - 9 each time around the clock but is it ok to be on for 8 then off for 4 and then back on for 8 and back off for 4 like this? Is 16 hours going to be enough for a good vegative cycle? Need some feedback here please.

No. On for 8 and off for 4 and on for 8 again is retarded. Must be continual day/night, not split up. Veg 18/6 with 18 hrs solid day, 6 hrs solid night. Flower 12/12.

Then what exactly happens when there's a split in the cycle? I would think nothing just so long as there's not a complete cycle of 12 hours off which would induce flowering.

Its likely you will stress the plant best case you get shitty yield of so so bud. Worse case you kill it or hermy it. None seem to be a vialbe risk Vs. a few bucks a day.


If your that stressed about money for utilities 1000watts of HPS was a bad Idea start to finish.


CFL my friend dank budds nice yields low cost.

lmao i'm a noob and i know it but let's think a second..... im pretty sure as a kid i noticed when i would go outside i would notice that some days were just plain darker than other days. and even on a bright day it can get really dark and even on a dark rainy day can clear up and be bright and sunny,hell it gets darker when a thick enough cloud goes by. so with that in mind i think this 8-4 schedule wouldn't be "retarded" unless our mother nature is "retarded" at the same time. shit man i say try it if it works out for you then you save money and still get to use your hps

Dude its retarted....theres a reason people do shit the way they do..IT WORKS

But by all means try it and tell us how badly it failed..!

In california there is a program like a low income program that makes your electric bill cheaper...look into it for your area!!

Hmmm,....quite the arguments for and against. I'm tempted to try it and prove that openmymd has a point. I too am from the midwest orignally and IA had many light AND dark days as he spoke of but I sure as hell saw how high the weeds still got. I had to mow them. I also took note that openmymnd didn't find using an insulting word such as "retarted" was necessary when discussing my question but used an "open mind" to analyze the situation rather than toss it out without any proper feedback as to why it would or wouldn't work. Now 1gamma45 on the other hand may have a point but is this just your opinion or do you know that this "stressing of the plants" to be fact? Need more info. I do love Rollitup forum. Anyone else?

openmynd said:

lmao i'm a noob and i know it but let's think a second..... im pretty sure as a kid i noticed when i would go outside i would notice that some days were just plain darker than other days. and even on a bright day it can get really dark and even on a dark rainy day can clear up and be bright and sunny,hell it gets darker when a thick enough cloud goes by. so with that in mind i think this 8-4 schedule wouldn't be "retarded" unless our mother nature is "retarded" at the same time. shit man i say try it if it works out for you then you save money and still get to use your hps

Click to expand...

Even on a cloudy day plants are still getting more usable light or at least as much usable light as you could provide indoors. The reason why it is retarded is because mj needs a regular light cycle in order to grow properly. The single easiest way to hermie a plant IMO is to chop up the light cycle. I am no expert but I believe you will have a garden full of hermies. If you look at it realisticly what is the difference in your bill going to be by doing this? My best guess is you will save less than $5. But you really wont be saving anything because you wont be getting anything either.

BigV makes a point, even tho on a cloudy day, UV rays still pass thru clouds. Indoors you are simulating the sun, the way i figure it, a light schedule like you are talking about would throw the plants off considerably (imagine if all of a sudden the sun switched to an 8-4 schedule) not to mention you are going to need to change your light schedule when you start flowering, so what may save you 5 bucks now, is gonna be completely different in a month or 2. Im just offering my 2 cents here, but if I were you, i would find an electrician (preferably an experienced friend) to wire your HPS to a 240V source, and run your lights during the day to avoid any detection. My 400w hps jacked my bill up a grand total of 15 bucks (altho my room is big enough to not require an exhaust fan i cant imagine that would add much more). So even if you triple that number for the 1000w, 45 dollars isnt bad, try going thru ur house and changing out all of your bulbs to CFLs, and practice good energy saving techniques (turning the fridge down, microwave less often if you have a gas oven, dont heat or cool rooms you dont need to) If all else fails you can ask your electric company to put you on a fixed plan where they average your last 3 months usage and create a fixed rate from that. I dont think your idea is retarded, i just dont think something mother nature designed to grow off of her light schedule is going to prosper having shorter "days"

Also, u may wannna get a couple 4' flourescent fixtures for vegging, then swap out the HPS for flowering, thatd save a ton right there

Dang you guys seem to have some very cheap power bills my 400 raised my bill by at least $65-$85 Dollars 13.8 cents a kWh, what you guys paying. And what is up with everything being called retarded that is sad he asked a question that you can probably not find the answer to any where on here and you give him that!?

Do not sign up for the electric service that is on fixed income billing. U may only pay a small amount each month, but at the end of your contract u have to pay the remaining amout of your bill in one lump sum. Did it before and ended up owing 700$ at the end, but was only paying 25$ a month. Its a rip off

The light schedule you propose would definitely stress the plants. I would expect hermies within the first week or so. If you're that worried about power consumption, use a bank of CFLs. Not as intense but will provide enough light for to veg. Five or six of the 75W should do the trick. They have them at Lowes for $18 a piece.
Surely you've heard of autoflower strains. They have a gene from cannabis ruderalis bred into them. They go about 4-5 weeks and begin flowering regardless the light regimen. All other forms of cannabis are photoperiod sensitive. This means they need a certain period of light to veg. 18 hours is generally considered the minimum for proper veg. I use 24, I find the extra hours make them veg faster. As the daylight hours gradually change in nature to 12 hours or less, flowering begins. Abruptly changing to 12/12 indoors simply speeds up the transition.
Many things can stress indoor plants and cause hermies. Fucked up light schedules being the most common along with light leaks during dark periods.
As for dark overcast days, there's still enough light to prevent the flower response during the long day part of the year. You can simulate this indoors. Use the HPS 10 hours and a 100W incandescent for 8hrs. The plants will remain in veg. It's not the intensity, it's the presence of light in the red spectrum.
Cervantes' book explains this a lot better than I can. Suggest you read it, lot of good info.

All you politically correct fuckers can kiss my hairy ass! Retarded is a funny word!
Fred

Thats retarded.

Well well,...all good info and good sound advise. I believe I'll have to agree with the consensus and give up on the idea of the big 8-4-8-4 flip flop. As noted, there are other ways to save rather than doing that. My KWH price is roughly 7 cents so it's not going to kill me anyway. Thanks "Serious Weeds" for your defense of my intellect. Sorry to hear about your 13.8 cents. So,...I guess I'll quit being "retarded" and smarten up with the basic 18-6. Thanks for all the fun.

damn man 7 cents that is low maybe I should shop around.

You will also want to smoke ur buddies weed cuz it will be way better... More light better quality...

I looked up what the price was here in AZ and I'm sure it was right at 7 cents. You definately should shop around.

Now that I've thougt more about the problem of avoiding the high cost electric hours, it's pretty clear what I'll do. I thought to myself, "How I could ever do anything less than 18 hours for my Extra prime selections this year? I wouldn't. It would be a crime. So I'll be in the red zone no matter what. Then it's a question of just an hour or two and that certainly wouldn't matter to me. By the way, my selections this year are: AK-47, Afghan Kush, Northern lights, White Widow, and Barney's farm, LSD. Now why would I skim on light for these? I guess I'd be RETARTED. There, now it fits.

Hey silky- just a thought, but here goes: Run the 1000 during the cheap hours, and have a timer setup to shut off the 1000 when the rate kicks up, then have another timer hooked up to a 400 (or other smaller light) that goes on when the other goes off. Advantage is that you will be able to save money and still give the plants as much light as possible. Downside is that you will have to buy another light (if you don't already have one) and that would cost more for this grow than the money you would save by running the smaller wattage bulb. Of course, if you already have a smaller wattage bulb that won't be an issue, but if you don't it would probably be best to just use the 1000. And with the lineup you have called out I think the extra money spent on the electricity will be well worth it.