Autoflower light schedule

[arikjay]

I'm interested in autoflowering plants and was wondering whats the best light cycle to flower them under.
12/12? 18/6? or is 20/4 best?

 

[scrapiron]

I would go with 18 or 20 hours of light. Find out what the breeder recommends.

 

[BongToker]

ya, ive heard of people doing up 24/0 on autos find out whats good from the breeder

 

[ReadySetGrowD9]

24 hrs of light especally for autos since they usually already have a smaller yield them non autos more light= more Bud. There is no need for a dark period with cannibis the only reason you would not leave the light on 24 hrs is to save money on electric or maybe to keep the room a little cooler when the lights arent on....

RSGD9

 

[scrapiron]

There is no need for a dark period with cannibis

RSGD9

I disagree

 

[ReadySetGrowD9]

I disagree

any reason why or you just want me to give u more info????

 

[ReadySetGrowD9]

I am running a NL auto at 20/4 ... a little dark period for root growth. First time with this auto though... still feeling her out.

It will not hurt your plant being on 20/4 light cycle but i know for a fact that cannabis does not need a dark period at all.....

This is from another forum:

24 Hour Photoperiod Facts/Myths:

OK people we know that there are several schools of thought on Vegetative photo periods and Cannabis. Hopefully this info can help sort some things out for ya and help you make your own conclusion about the subject. Wether 24 hrs or 18/6hr the choice is up to you.

I pulled this info from another thread at another site.

Found this information on photoperiod.

"It's been established for many many many years now that cannabis is a C3 plant. It does not need a dark period.

C3 plants gather CO2 only during the light period when they are photosynthesizing. As long as the light is on, C3 plants gather and use CO2 for photosynthesis.

Some growers practice a version of anthropomorphism with their plants. They believe that since people need rest, plants do as well. Concerning cannabis, this is not true.

Every grower can make a personal choice about light cycle. They can save on their electric bill or prolong ballast/bulb life. 18/6 can be less of a "shock" when changing over to 12/12 for flowering than 24/0 or heat issues can be addressed by fewer hours of light, but basic botany has proven long ago that cannabis needs no dark period.

Ed Rosenthal, Mel Frank and Robert Clarke all have covered this extensively over their careers.

hXXp://www.mellowgold.com/grow/mjbotany ... tany1.html Marijuana Botany Chapter 1 - Sinsemilla Life Cycle of Cannabis
hXXp://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/3127.html Need the dark
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"This is a direct quote from Ed Rosenthal whom most of you know is a marijuana growing guru:

Marijuana plants photosynthesize as long as they receive light as well as water, air, nutrients and suitable temperature. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use the energy from light (primarily in the blue and red spectrum's) to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) to make sugar while releasing oxygen to the air.

Plants use sugars continuously to fuel metabolic processes (living) as well as for tissue building. The plant combines nitrogen (N) with the sugar to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. They are the substance of plant tissue. When the light is off, the plant's metabolic processes, respiration and growth, continue.

The plant can photosynthesize continuously so it produces the most energy and growth when the light is on, continuously. Continuous light does not stress the plant, which reacts somewhat mechanistically to it.

Plants under an 18-6 light-dark regimen are producing sugar only three quarters of the time. They are thus growing at only 75% of their potential. Leaving the light on continuously will result in bigger plants, faster, which leads to higher yields."

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"The following information is straight from Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible"

Cannabis is a light demanding plant. Professional growers keep the light on their plants using the 24/0 photoperiod for this reason. Plants that grow under 24/0 flourish and do not need a quantity of darkness in order to rest and perform photosynthesis properly. Plants that are grown in optimal conditions under 24/0 light regime grow vigorusly and the benefits of a 24/0 photoperiod can be seen actively in the results. More nodes are formed, more branches are created, leaf numbers increase, the plant is growing at its finest.

Some growers opt to use 18/6 as their photoperiod. This is 18 hours of light, six hours of darkness light regime. Under these conditions the plant will grow quite naturally but not as vigorously as the 24/0 photoperiod.

The 18/6 photoperiod expels 3/4 the amount of light that a 24/0 photoperiod does. Although this does not mean that a plant produces 1/4 less leaves,branches and nodes under the 18/6 photoperiod, it certainly does show the correlation between light and cannabis growth. As we have said already, cannabis is a light demanding plant. There are no problems associated with 24/0 and although some have attributed cannabis sexual dysfunction (the hermaphrodite conditon) to 18/6 photoperiod these problems are actually the result of heat stress.

A 24/0 photoperiod requires that your grow room temperature be kept well monitored. The 18/6 option is cheaper to run. You use a quarter less electricity and this will have an impact on your electricity bill. Also the 18/6 photoperiod will generally extend the bulb's lifespan. During the 6 hours of darkness the grow room is allowed to cool down for this period but a well maintained good grow room setup should not require a cooling down period.

24/0 and 18/6 both share the same problem though. Once you start the photoperiod you should keep that way especially when the plants near maturity (the preflowering stage). An irregular photoperiod can cause more males than females to develop. It can also cause sexual dysfunction to appear. Whether you choose 24/0 or 18/6 as your vegetative photoperiod try to keep that photoperiod unitl your plants are mature enough to express their sex."

 

[Smoggie]

Ive hear your ment to give atuos 12 12 when in flower is 5his true as im doing 2 atuos now and this is my first time ever growing