How many hours are your lights on?

[Sirius]

Im curious i would like to minimize my energy consumption and still get the most out of my plants... i believe mr cervantes wrote somewhere that plants can only really process around 6-8 hrs of intense light.. if i switched from my reg 12/12 to say 8/16 would i lose any growth? The other option would be to use a light mover over two times the recommended area which I would assume have a similar effect...

Thanks

 

[sound1744]

in the last 4 weeks of flowering 12/12, drop a hour of light evry week till on the last week your on 8/16.

some people reckon it produces more resin. i have'nt tried it yet.


peace.

 

[greenplanetguru]

10.5/13.5

in the last 4 weeks of flowering 12/12, drop a hour of light evry week till on the last week your on 8/16.

some people reckon it produces more resin. i have'nt tried it yet.

peace.

Hi,

I'm playing with increasing the dark period in my current grow. On day 41 of flowering I started to add 10 minutes each day to the 'on' time in my bloom closet and I did this for 9 days until I arrived at a 10.5/13.5 for week 8. I'm growing a classic indica, Mazar that has it's heritage from growing in Afghani mountainous terrain. Late in the Afghani grow season around Nov 10th days are at 10.5 hours long. By setting my timer for 10.5/13.5 I'm attempting to stress the girls into finishing up strong with more trichs.

I've had good results with using a 72 hour dark period at the end of my bloom with many strains. I've done comparisons of the same bud grown in the same setup with and without a dark period and the difference was slight but noticeable in trich production and also significantly added depth to the flavor.

So far everything's looking nice holding at 10.5/13.5 and two of the slower finishing plants really started putting on the trichs a few days after I started dialing back the light but it's hard to tell what's responsible as it is going on the 8th week. I'll have one plant ready for harvest on Wed after a week's flush and I'm going to let the other 3 go for another week or so...

Peace!:damnhippie:

 

[been]

Shantibaba says to cut back to 10/14 towards the end and I think maybe even 8/16....... I believe him yo.

 

[greenplanetguru]

Thanks...

Shantibaba speaks much wisdom... Mr. Nice have such amazing genetics in their seed bank. I think I'll add another 1/2 hour to my darkness for the next week to get to 10/14...

Peace!:damnhippie:

 

[Sirius]

Thanks dudes... I think ill try it out the last two-three weeks... taper them down to 10/14... I usually give them a good 48 hrs of total darkness right before i chop too... it does have a noticeable effect.

 

[Mr.]

Funny how I hear that less light at the end of the flowering cycle is beneficial, and then I also hear that giving the plants 14 hours of light with only 10 hours of darkness during the last week of flowering is beneficial as well for increasing yield at least.

 

[ShorelineTex]

Funny how I hear that less light at the end of the flowering cycle is beneficial, and then I also hear that giving the plants 14 hours of light with only 10 hours of darkness during the last week of flowering is beneficial as well for increasing yield at least.

All I know is that if there isn't much of a difference in yield or quantity either way, having lights off an extra 4 hours a day adds up some $$$ pretty quick...

I might try this next time...I'd never heard this before!

 

[Rolln J]

4 hours may be drastic for some strains - better to go in 15/30 minute increments and see how your plants respond...

 

[southpaw]

I use CFL's and T-5's for veg at 24-7 and 600w HPS for flower 12/12.

I have used a light mover before with diminished results so I don't use it anymore.

FYI, as far as shanti's recommendation, I believe he was referring to the more Haze dominant strains. I know a lot of dudes who grow pure sats or sat dom hybrids and they use lighting schedules like 11/13 or 10/14 to help finish long flowering sats indoors.

I have plenty of sat dom hybrids and they finish fine under 12/12. As for increased resin production the only proven method I have witnessed is the addition more blue spectrum lighting such as some 6500k CFL's or MH along side an HPS.

I know you want to cut down on power consumtion so blue CFL's along side an HPS would definitely increase resin production without sacrificing bud production.

sp

 

[Mr.Therapy Man]

When you cut the lights back that much your potency will suffer greatly.Shanti said to cut long flowering sativas back not hybrids.Im growing Nevilles haze and SSH from Shanti now...peace
MTM

 

[SSHZ]

Correct. Only cut the light back if your plants are very slow to finish off or your trying to hurry things along. I didn't notice any difference in cutting back 1 hour either. It should be 2 hours (10/14) to really have an impact........

 

[Redskywalker]

Years ago one of da weed rags had an article, I think from the REV that said if ya run your lights at 12 1/2 on & 11 1/2 off that the plants would produce more. I've been doing it every since with no prblms finishing or decrease in resin or aroma/flavor. I grow mostly sativas though and I do put them in the dark for 48hrs before I chop. This really seems ta make the resin glands swell. Mainly due to the fact that the plant replenishes it's THC at night. Another thing I found with sativas is that if the lights are to close then you'll lose alot of flavor and aroma. I'm pretty sure DJ Short wrote about that.