Best lighting scheduale.

Hey everyone. I have read alot of different opinions and techniques as far as light scheduales go so I figured I'd start a new post and see what everyone here has to say.

I am growing 2 - 3 plants in a closet setup which is roughly 3x3. The strain is unknown and I am using 3 - 4 CFL 75w bulbs which are 1200 lumens each (not sure if these are good or bad at this point, still waiting for a reply on the other post).

I was thinking for the first two weeks to run on 20/4 and after that switching over to 12/12. Should there be another cycle in between? Also should I wait to see a certain change in the plant before switching over to 12/12, as far as I know this is supposed to be done to begin the flowering process, correct?

Lastly do I have to necessarily change the type of bulbs I'm using once I begin the flowering state? Sorry for all the questions I just want to make sure I have a clue at what I'm doing before I ruin anything going into this. Any help is appreciated.

As for the light cycle just keep posting pictures while your in the process of growing to see when is the right time. As for 20/4 for 2 weeks then 12/12 to induce flowering I'm pretty sure everyone will agree, thats a big no no. From seeding/veg stage you should use either 24/0 or 18/6 hours of light during the day, this should probably go for about 3 to 4 weeks depending on the size of your plants. Then go to 12/12 to induce flowering. About the CFLs I dont know to much about those so I cant really help on that matter but good luck :thumbsup:

Alright thanks Buk, that sounds good to me. I'll go with the 24/0 for 3 weeks then 12/12 after that. What do you guys think?

sounds good. They say that by the veg stage you determine the size that your is going to be by the time its done flowering because it doubles in size from the time you switch to 12/12. So lets say at 3weeks your plant is about 1ft by harvest time it should be around 2ft. I really think thats a good size cause your using CFLs, because the light will be hard to penetrate to the bottom of the plants if they are to tall. I actually think that I'm going to have a problem myself cause I think I let my plants grow to tall but I'll have to wait and see.

16/8 for vegetative and 12/12 for the flower cycle. You can also veg for 24/0 without problems. However using the 18/6 cycle with HID lighting will save electricity.