Light timing

[reworgallirog]

Hi i was just wondering if anyone had a light schedule they use to strain their plants out. I have heard that your plant can benefit by giving them more dark then light at certain times of your grow cycle. Any info on that is appreciated.
thanks

[knna]

Yep, you can use very different photoperiods along the flowering stage. I do it almost always.

But it depend of what are you seeking for. Increase production? Potency? Taste? Shorten flowering time? Each target has is own strategy.

I often use a accelerated photoperiod, like 6/12 or 8/12 (beware, those arnt 24h photoperiods, so each day on and off time varies) when i flip to flowering, in order to shorten the transitional period (time between flipping to flowering photoperiod and the true start of buds development). After some days, i often flip to 10/14. I do this because i grow high density SOG, so i want to minimize stretching as max as possible (i harvest 1ft tall plants). Although doing it is useful to shorten flowering induction time always, but if you expect a large stretch, then use directly 10/14 and when plants start to form buds, flip to 12/12.

After two weeks i flip to 13/11 and then, at the flowering peak, to 14/10. This schedules works way better for indica dominant strains than for sativas. Increase buds production, bud to leaf/stems ratio and potency.

At 2 (or 1 1/2) weeks from harvest, i come back to 12/12 and after 3-4 days, to 10/14, to force rippening. With some strains, once reached the milky white color of tricomes, i flip back to 16/8 for 3 days (dont worry, there is no time to hermie or reveg in 3 days). I like the taste enhancement (terpenes production) it produces.

On the other side, many sativas prefer 11/13 and still 10/14 along all the flowering than the typical 12/12.

And there are extended photoperiods, the most typical the 18/12 and 18/14 that increase colas size and production, but lengthen flowering time.

To resume it:

-Think at darklength as what mostly determines the flowering duration: 14h dark almost always results on reduced flowering times

-And think at daylength as what mainly determines total production and potency.

-When using schedules different of 24h, think as each light+dark period as a "day". The plant will need aprox same extended days than natural (24h) days to finish (but 14h dark result on less natural days required than at 12h dark)

Its a simplification, as not all strains react the same to some schedules, but its a good rule of thumb.

[DrC1989]

man
thats perfect
you grow yours to 1ft tall?
so
how many hours a day do you give it tilll flowering
because im growing in an old Pc that i tranformed inot a growbox
and i have like 2 ft of room.
so any info would help
a lot
im not lookin to transplat to another box.
but i might have to hahah

[knna]

I have more height avalaible. I harvest 1ft tall plants because its what mi lighting setup aloow to do sucessfully. Taller plants dont give me more buds yield, just more leaves and stems.

With 2ft avalaible is more than enough. No problem with that. Of course, always you work with clones. Other case, probably you will need to LST (train your plants) or doing a scrog.

I almost not do any veg. Just what clones need to root fine, some days at 18/6.

Short day schedules (as 6/12) helps reducing stretch and shortening the transition to bloom period, when happen most stretch. Keeping difference between night and day temperatures small helps a lot to. Never over 5ºC (about 10F) and preferably less. Using that, you may be able to fit plants from seeds in that space, provided the genetic not tend to stretch (choose indica dominant strains).

But LST is often a simpler way of doing it when working with seeds.