has anyone tried an 18/12 light cycle?

[growsince79]

would it help/hurt to run an 18/12 light cycle during flower? would the plant "think" the days were 30 hours long and therefore take more actual days to finish? would the extra light hours help? would it still flower? i understand it has to have 12 hours of night uninterrupted, but does it necessarily need only 12 of light? i am just curious about how it works, and how much one could manipulate things.

has anyone here tried it?

You should try it and make a diary to show us what happens. Use a strain or clone that you know well.

 

[dannyhedges]

Photoperiod plants need 12/12 to start flowering, im running 12/12 from seedling but at the 4 or 5 week mark when it starts to bud im gonna switch it 18/6 for 3 weeks to increase bud size

You'll provoke the plants to reveg with 18/6, you'll have less, lower-quality flower.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

This entire topic is blowing my mind! I never even though about going outside a 24 hour cycle the thought never even crossed my mine. I guess I wasn't thinking out of the box enough. My mind was stuck on earthly 24hr terms. 30 hours is straight crazy my mind thinks of massive wild cannabis plants growing on another planet. Like on planet Pandora or some shit! 3 moons in the night sky! Wow I gotta cut back on the reefer and Star Trek LOL!

 

[Ponky]

This entire topic is blowing my mind! I never even though about going outside a 24 hour cycle the thought never even crossed my mine. I guess I wasn't thinking out of the box enough. My mind was stuck on earthly 24hr terms. 30 hours is straight crazy my mind thinks of massive wild cannabis plants growing on another planet. Like on planet Pandora or some shit! 3 moons in the night sky! Wow I gotta cut back on the reefer and Star Trek LOL!

I've read down that rabbit hole. Conclusion was light cycle manipulation outside the 24 hr cycle can work. But no one sped anything up. No one gained yield vs. Wattage vs. Time.
If I can find the article I'll post it. Wasn't very long or compelling. They did the 10/10 they did 24/24. All sorts of experiments. The concluons was 12/12. With 14/10 working on certain cultivars.

 

[growsince79]

Photoperiod plants need 12/12 to start flowering, im running 12/12 from seedling but at the 4 or 5 week mark when it starts to bud im gonna switch it 18/6 for 3 weeks to increase bud size

Why? That's going to hurt yields big time. If it's just so you know the sex before growing big plants, you're better off to make clones at 3 weeks and flower them immediately.

 

[lvstealth]

well... there are some things to consider (now that i have read more and tried a few things). the plant has a daily amount of light that it likes. you can run a light longer, but at a lower level so the plant gets the right amount. it is not a line, it is more of a range that a plant does its happiest growing.

apparently stress is the big deal. it stresses them out to have too much or too little of most anything they need. light is one of those things.

it seems to work best if i use a 30 hour day from seed to harvest. they dont seem to like the change of hours (but i havent done it gradually)

it did not cut down on time much (in 30 hour days it still took 8 weeks for one i usually run 8 weeks. and that is 8 weeks of 30 hour days). if i increase the light they do not tend to like it, so if i calculate it out, i am running the same number of light in its day in either tent. what i mean is i have to dim the 30 hour tent so the total actual light hitting the plant is the same as running 100% for 24 hours. if i dont, it turns her yellow then cooks her.

they have done some experiments on humans and finding a "natural" day. fascinating! but in the end it all seems to work out mathematically. the magnetic pull doesnt seem to have the effect youd think.

btw, three moons creates totally different issues. look at what the moon does for us. the tides for one, but lots of other things and 3 moons fighting it out using the weapon gravity... well, i wouldnt want to be a "tri-moon-ian"