could someone explain the light cycle to me please

[cloud3648]

ive had my clones i bought from the club for about a day now. i have 2 150 watt plant lights and two 15 watt florescent lights in a closet. ive heard that you keep the light on 24hours a day until it gets tall enough then you go to a 12/12 cycle when you want to flower it. is that true?

im also new to growing i have peters food diluted with water, and some doom lite lime. One of the senor members told me i should put a bag over the plants so they wont wither, but how long to i keep the bags on for.

thanks everyone

[SMOKEnCHOKE]

I like 24/0. I also read that cannabis will grow 33% with 24/0 over 18/6. The main difference between 18/6 and 24/0 is just preference.

You put bags over clones to raise the humidity. It helps them get moisture out until the roots get established. I never see the need for humidity domes after a week to week and a half for some. After the domes just mist lightly.

[psteve]

In veg, you want NO MORE THAN 6 hours of DARK.
In flower, you want NO LESS THAN 10 hours of dark.
Most people I know flower at about 1/2 of the finished hight. IE: if you want 4ft plants when they're finished, you should change to the flower cycle when your plant reaches 2ft.
This is not true for every strain. Sativas may grow taller, and some indicas may not stretch as much, but 1/2 is a good starting point.

[cloud3648]

hey thanks for everything so far guys these plants grow fast, I checked them this moring and they have a noticeable differnce to there size

[psteve]

Many people use methods like 'scrog', 'supercropping', 'LST', or even 'topping', to keep their plants artificially low, while still producing more nodes (bud sites) for maximum yield. You may want to consider using one of these methods.
Also, your 330 watts of light is really only enough for about 2.5' by 3' of lit floor space.

[SFGurrilla]

Switch it to 18/7 the first few weeks then change it around week 5 to 12/12.

[cloud3648]

what would you recommend for more lights then

[psteve]

what would you recommend for more lights thenWhat size is your space (square feet of floor space) ?

[cloud3648]

basically like 3x3

[psteve]

So you have 9 square feet.
9 x 50w = 450 Watts minimum. You want to add at least 110 watts.
My advice is, replace it all with a 600W HPS, or get another 150 Watt light. The 600 would be more efficient than running 3 ballasts anyway. You'll get way more light for about the same electricity.

[mashedguy]

i start cuttings on 24 hrs light, keep them on that until two weeks after they go into the main tank, then 18 hrs until their about two foot tall, then down to 12. I think the old rules around flower at 2 foot if you want a 4ft plant don't generally apply to sativas. i normally only grow sativas and under a 600w hps i put them down to 12hrs when their about a foot tall. i raise the light to stretch them slightly as i find i get more bud sites. all the sativas i've grown over the last 15yrs have ended up at about five to six foot high when doing this. the only exceptions are when i've grown from clones. found these need to be in 18hr light a few weeks longer or you end up with bonsai plants that rarely exceed three foot. my last plant that went this way stopped growing at about 24inches, and gave me about 1.5oz of dried smoke after about 6wks in flowering. nice if your desperate for a smoke, but depressing in comparison to the huge grop you generally get from something like northern light or orange bud if left to grow to a good size. psteve is spot on, save arsing with lots of different lights, go for the 600hps and be done with it.