A Perfect 12/12?

How close does a 12/12 cycle need to be? The numbers on this vacation timer that I have don't exactly line up consistently with the printed times. So then I thought "hey, the printed times are in two-hour intervals, so maybe each button is 2-hours." That didn't quite work out, so apparently 6 tabs does not equal 12 hours. Who designed this thing?!

It actually works out that if the light and dark periods are each 7 tabs, I have 14 groups to account for the week (2 * 7 = 14), but two of those groups only have 6 tabs. The rest have 7. I'm estimating that those two groups will have ~1.5 - 1.75 hours of less time.

I hope this makes sense. Basically I should have 7 groups of light periods and 7 groups of dark periods. Each period has 7 tabs on the timer associated with it, except for 2 periods which only have 6 tabs, which means less time with the power on or off (depending on if I assign them to be during the light or dark times).

Should I make those shorter periods light or dark if I want plants to flower?


Also, I don't have a lot of time for these plants to bud. Is there any way to speed up the flowering process? I know that it'll probably sacrifice a good portion of the harvest, but I don't really have a choice.

It's best to have the 12/12 cycle exact, you may be able to get away with a small variation, but it's risky.
If need be go spend $10 at the hardware store on a cheap timer, it's taboo to alot of growers to use a cheap hardware store timer to power your lights, but in many years I've NEVER had a problem with my $6 timer from ace hardware.
No way to speed up the flower cycle, sorry.
peace

Did the writing line up with the buttons on yours? This one is stupid

is your timer from home depot and the brand is intermatic... white and grey about as big as two cigerrette packs../??

Mine has no buttons, it has a dial with the time marked all around it, with a bunch of slots on the dial. Then it has these red and green things (red off, green on) that fit into the slots. You set the red and green shits at the time you want your light on/off, plug it into the wall, set the time, plug in your light to the timer, an your good to go.
Shit, that sounds complicated.
peace

no mines the same except they are all grey not green and red...

flowering cycle does not need to be 'exact' no worries, ... nature is not 'exact' ... there are cloudy days, rainy nights, you get the picture ... after vegetative growth during the long-days, the plant starts flowering shortly after encountering shorter 'days', thinking Fall is fast approaching ... in nature, the hours of light would be slowly, and gradually changing ... the plant switches to flowering when the daylight hours are shortened, not necessarily by a 'set' amount (the typical 12/12 works very well for cannabis, but can vary quite a bit without much difference)... :smokin: