Interrupting light cycle ok?

[joe86el]

Im growing in an attic in an outdoor building at the moment and the night temps are getting dangerously close to freezing.
At the moment i have one daylight bulb on 24/7 and a 600w HPS on 13/11.I had to drop the hours of the HPS because the power bill was too high.
Less HPS means less heat and as a consequence the plants are suffering. What i want to know is instead of having one block of 13hours light, would it be ok to have 2 hours on, 1 hour off in intervals to space out the hours of the light so the temperature of the room doesnt drop too much. Also would the constant turning on and off of the light require more electricty and thus prove less efficient?

joe86el Reviewed by joe86el on 11-23-2007. Interrupting light cycle ok? Im growing in an attic in an outdoor building at the moment and the night temps are getting dangerously close to freezing. At the moment i have one daylight bulb on 24/7 and a 600w HPS on 13/11.I had to drop the hours of the HPS because the power bill was too high. Less HPS means less heat and as a consequence the plants are suffering. What i want to know is instead of having one block of 13hours light, would it be ok to have 2 hours on, 1 hour off in intervals to space out the hours of the Rating: 5

[Hennessy1414]

that is a great way to make it a hermaphrodite:thumbsup:

[joe86el]

how would it make a hermie? its still getting 24/0 light. Can anyone give me some CONSTRUCTIVE advice???????

[Hennessy1414]

if u are trying to get it to bud run them at 12/12 and go to home depot and get a heat fan. it has a reflective backing on the fan that blows war air. good times:thumbsup::rastasmoke:

[klondike_bar]

i agree, heat fan.

[norkali]

Don't interuppt light cycles. You have to replicate the natural sun cycles. The sun does not turn "on" and "off" throughout the day, and cloud cover doesn't come close.

the numbers x/x (e.x: 18/6, 24/0, 12/12) are meant to be completed fully and in a consistent manner. 18 hours on, then 6 hours off.

I would recommend 18/6 for vegetative growing, 12/12 for flowering.

[jon.hatcher]

Not a good idea with the 2/1 (lol) light cycle, hermo-land for sure.

[TheGanjaKing420]

how would it make a hermie? its still getting 24/0 light. Can anyone give me some CONSTRUCTIVE advice???????

If you had done your research, you'd know that it is very CONSTRUCTIVE advice. What you would be doing is nothing short of light stress, which is one of the biggest causes of herms imo. You'd be better not growing in an attic for the very problem you are facing now, and if thats not possible, insulating your grow room will help, but you also may need an alternate heat source.

[joe86el]

I appreciate your advice and i understand that going from light to dark many times a day is unnatural and will stress the plant but I also have 2 daylight cfl's up there so they are never fully in the dark. If this will still cause hermies then a space heater is my only option but thats adding another 1000w appliance to the bill. thanks for the advice:jointsmile:

[TheGanjaKing420]

Attics present alot of problems growing in. True, they are well hidden away, but thats about the only good thing about them. Maintaining a constant temp is really tough