Light Cycle messed up, advice appreciated...

[DaveBruce]

Hi guys, i am new to this site.
My name's Dave, hi all. I'm a smoker and now a small grower. I'm 5 weeks through flowering and i've had the 12-12 going from 5am to 5pm and feeding every day. Usually feeding about 10am, one day I forgot to feed them and assumed they'd be ok for one day. I come home for 4pm, and the lights are off... The switch flicked off at the sockets over the night... oh no, my plants have been sleeping all this time. What do i do? there's only one more hour before bed? I didn't know what to do. So i went with my gutt and decided (right or horribly wrong?) to put the lights on from 4pm-4am and then sleep. And run it a 12-12 from 4pm... I did this in panic and did it for one day before changed it due to, The next day i spoke to an experienced grower and he said that since i've always had the lights on at 5am and sleeping either 11 at veg and now 5pm at flower you need to keep it the same and to change it back, so i changed it back, but have changed the cycle 2-3 times and really don't want to ruin my plants by stress? any advice of what's right and to help the plants?

ty all
dave

DaveBruce Reviewed by DaveBruce on 01-08-2012. Light Cycle messed up, advice appreciated... Hi guys, i am new to this site. My name's Dave, hi all. I'm a smoker and now a small grower. I'm 5 weeks through flowering and i've had the 12-12 going from 5am to 5pm and feeding every day. Usually feeding about 10am, one day I forgot to feed them and assumed they'd be ok for one day. I come home for 4pm, and the lights are off... The switch flicked off at the sockets over the night... oh no, my plants have been sleeping all this time. What do i do? there's only one more hour before bed? I Rating: 5

[CanGroIt]

Pick hours for your light cycle and stick to it....

If this ever happens in the future....just keep them going on the same hours they had been on....

Example:....

You have your current ones going from 5am-5pm.... After you notice any mishap with light cycle....just be aware of it and let them keep going on the cycle they've been on.... One light cycle mishap will not cause much stress....so it's nothing to be worried about....

Usually when we panic, we try to make things better....but we end up making things worse.... It's up to us growers to keep calm and think about the situation before reacting to it....

CGI::::::

[DaveBruce]

Thanks buddy, such appreciated. So you think i've caused any damage by changing it 2-3 times now? I hope not. and if i have can you recommend what to do to help with it?

[CanGroIt]

Thanks buddy, such appreciated. So you think i've caused any damage by changing it 2-3 times now? I hope not. and if i have can you recommend what to do to help with it?

Only thing you can really do is leave them on the light cycle you've been going on for the last couple days and see what becomes of it.... Hopefully all they do is maybe take a week longer....it's better than them hermi'ing on you....

Basically all you can do is watch and take care of them....

CGI::::::

[GanjaRobPDX]

I try not to break the light cycle or change it up.
If it happens once or twice in flower no biggy, but making a habit of it will stress your plants and prolong the flowering time necessary for your buds to mature.

Try not to stress, many growers mess things up by making too many changes too quickly and then they dont know which of the many things they did helped or caused problems.

you did the right thing by putting your plants back on their original schedule.

hope this helps

[DaveBruce]

Ty for all the help guys! They're still looking very healthy :-) but we all know it can take days before you notice any problems. So I'll keep feeding them and looking after them

[d1g1taldan]

Ive always been told that if you make a mistake with the photo period its much worse to have the light on when it shouldnt be, so if you're not sure just switch the light off for twelve hours, and then start again on the 12/12. Its putting the light on when it shouldnt be that causes shock, not extra dark.

[Farmer Rich]

Ive always been told that if you make a mistake with the photo period its much worse to have the light on when it shouldnt be, so if you're not sure just switch the light off for twelve hours, and then start again on the 12/12. Its putting the light on when it shouldnt be that causes shock, not extra dark.

Good advice.

Using digital timers with a battery backup help with these problems too.. if you loose power, the timer will still be on schedule when power comes back. For things like daylight savings time, or if you have a reason to alter the on/off time (summer/winter temps), simply leave the lights off long enough for the new schedule to start (something over 12 hours). Also, for daylight savings time, I leave the cycle as is.. the plants don't seem to care. One other thing I do is run my flower room on for 11:45. This allows me to stagger when the lights (I use 4 timers) come on and stay under 12 hours. Also helps to compensate for time differences if you're using analog timers.

Peace,

Farmer Rich