10-14 light in final 3 weeks instead of 12-12 Advice please

A mate of mine that grows tells me that he does 10 hours of light and 14 hours of dark in the last 3 weeks of flowering. I'm thinking of doing the same only to cut down on the electric bill. Please could someone tell me the pros and cons of doing this.

E.G. If i switch to 10-14 will it take longer for my plants to be done as they are losing 2hrs of light each day would this make them grow more slowly.

Will it make the plants finish quicker as the plant will think that summer is reaching an end and matures faster b4 the autumn cold

Has anyone done or does this and notices any change please let me know

Evil

Evil Buddies said:

A mate of mine that grows tells me that he does 10 hours of light and 14 hours of dark in the last 3 weeks of flowering. I'm thinking of doing the same only to cut down on the electric bill. Please could someone tell me the pros and cons of doing this.

E.G. If i switch to 10-14 will it take longer for my plants to be done as they are losing 2hrs of light each day would this make them grow more slowly.

Will it make the plants finish quicker as the plant will think that summer is reaching an end and matures faster b4 the autumn cold

Has anyone done or does this and notices any change please let me know

Evil

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at minus 2 hrs of presious life giving, bud growing 'light' per day, youll be looking at approx. 18% less product. so my guess is...bad idea!

i am sure if it was a better light schedule the others would be using it.

Dont kill the messenger here seeing what they did to the other guy who started a thread about this subject, but theres a method that is gaining popularity due to the way it allows you to keep your plants in veg with 13 total hours of light until you decide to induce flowering which you start 11 hours lights on /13 off. From there every 2 weeks you drop 30 minutes of light until you get down to 9 hours of lights on for the last 2 weeks or so (with a 8-10 week strain, I believe it changes a little for longer flowering sativa's).

I know it does not sound natural and yeah if it was so much better a lot more people would be doing it. Anyhow, its called the Lantern method or the 12-1 method. 12-1 referring to the time the lights are on for veg 13 total hours. It actually goes 12hours on/5.5 off/1-on/5.5 off and then 12 on again. Sounds crazy and like it would never work, stress the plants..etc..etc.... but it doesnt. Some say the yields are slightly smaller and that is a possibility but I cant say for sure because for anyone to say that you'd have to do a side by side with a specific strain. But for it working without stressing the plants in veg, I can say it works because my ladies are vegging under it at the moment and it for sure works using 5 hours a day less power, I suffered a small amount of stretch on my vegging plants due to me not starting them under that schedule and ending at this cycle from 20/4, however thats my bad because if I did it from the beginning they'd be short and squat like my flowering bunch are. Its basically done the same way outdoor growers keep their plants in veg if they start flowering early or they just want to get them bigger before letting them flower, they put a couple lights to purposely interrupt the plants dark period with light for a certain amount of time.

The other part to this, and why I posted is the flowering light regiment starts @ 11 on /13 off which induces flowering faster than 12/12, from there you drop the amount of time of lights on 30 minutes every 2 weeks until you get down to 9 hours on/15 hours off. Theres so many points and counter points as to the reasoning behind the longer dark period, all sounding valid, more than a few arguments for and against these methods so all I'm doing is trying to pass along some info that over the next few months your probably going to see people doing more of, as much as you dont think so, you will, for one simple reason....the major pot magazines are now endorsing it as one more way to be green and save money and all that so I promise you, you will see more people switching to it. There are some points that go against traditional thinking and how plants are grown so dont jump down my throat, I am not the one who invented this but I am trying it and my E-bill has dropped quite a bit as well as flowering was induced in less than half the time in some of my flowering bunch. This method helps those who have smart meters like myself as well, which we will all have soon enough so the benefits that come with this method has changed my mind.

But please....dont mother F me, I'm just trying to point you in the direction of where you probably heard that. Check out the 12-1 thread and make up your own mind about it.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/446118-12-1-lighting-schedule-has.html

That lightning-schedule sounds fucked up, and if I didn't know better I would think someone wanted your plants to hermie (I know, it's during veg, maybe it works - but you try it first

Using a lot of darkness during light on simply does not make sense (see, even this sentence didn't make much sense

But that other idea, giving less hours of light (gradually) during flowering is something I've experimented a little with.

I did two grows with same mother plant. One grow with 12/12 all the way, and one with 12/12 but then gradually down to 10/14.
It made my plants ready about 14 days earlier, but with loss of yield (maybe about 10%, was obvious to the eye anyway).

Mr.Grønn;6474017 said:

That lightning-schedule sounds fucked up, and if I didn't know better I would think someone wanted your plants to hermie (I know, it's during veg, maybe it works - but you try it first

Using a lot of darkness during light on simply does not make sense (see, even this sentence didn't make much sense

But that other idea, giving less hours of light (gradually) during flowering is something I've experimented a little with.

I did two grows with same mother plant. One grow with 12/12 all the way, and one with 12/12 but then gradually down to 10/14.
It made my plants ready about 14 days earlier, but with loss of yield (maybe about 10%, was obvious to the eye anyway).

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Thanx for the comment very informative and just what i wanted to hear thank you plus some rep for ya

So basically u can cut down the light gradually to 10/14 the plants will be ready roughly 2weeks early at a loss of 10% if was on 12/12 now. If you grow your plants using the 10/14 method as you can save 2weeks means that it could be possible to yield more in the space of a year as you would get more grows per year.

You start out at 11/13 on/off dropping 30 minutes every 2 weeks.

jesus of Cannabis said:

i am sure if it was a better light schedule the others would be using it.

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Maybe because human beings haven't figured it all out yet.

I have been using the 12/1 for veg going on three grows now. My veg room is always ahead of the budroom. 12/1 slows down the growth rate, giving me a little more breathing space for other chores.
I have 100 watts per square foot on my veg table, the dim light used in most veg rooms I see would not be adequate with only 13 hours.
Works great if the room is bright though, and in a twofer the stems have more chance to thicken up, less falldown in the budroom later.

Speaking of budroom, cutting the light back during budding may save electricity, but at all other stages of growth light energy equals plant mass growth. Do light energy needs drop 25% over the course of the last 8 weeks?

The amount of light actually converted to growth does fall off as the buds mature. I always felt it would be one of those book only findings, measure the light to within 1/2 of 1% to detect the usage. An assumption on my part with nothing to back it up.

I hate being almost done with a post when I realize I'm clueless. How much less light energy does a mature plant at the end of the cycle require?

Phaeton said:

I have been using the 12/1 for veg going on three grows now. My veg room is always ahead of the budroom. 12/1 slows down the growth rate, giving me a little more breathing space for other chores.
I have 100 watts per square foot on my veg table, the dim light used in most veg rooms I see would not be adequate with only 13 hours.
Works great if the room is bright though, and in a twofer the stems have more chance to thicken up, less falldown in the budroom later.

Speaking of budroom, cutting the light back during budding may save electricity, but at all other stages of growth light energy equals plant mass growth. Do light energy needs drop 25% over the course of the last 8 weeks?

The amount of light actually converted to growth does fall off as the buds mature. I always felt it would be one of those book only findings, measure the light to within 1/2 of 1% to detect the usage. An assumption on my part with nothing to back it up.

I hate being almost done with a post when I realize I'm clueless. How much less light energy does a mature plant at the end of the cycle require?

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I've started using the 12-1 lighting in veg this summer. I've just switched the flower. I will not be able to decrease my lighting in veg I have plants maturing at different stages.

Mr.Grønn;6474017 said:

That lightning-schedule sounds fucked up, and if I didn't know better I would think someone wanted your plants to hermie (I know, it's during veg, maybe it works - but you try it first

Using a lot of darkness during light on simply does not make sense (see, even this sentence didn't make much sense

But that other idea, giving less hours of light (gradually) during flowering is something I've experimented a little with.

I did two grows with same mother plant. One grow with 12/12 all the way, and one with 12/12 but then gradually down to 10/14.
It made my plants ready about 14 days earlier, but with loss of yield (maybe about 10%, was obvious to the eye anyway).

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Here we go again. Apparently you didn't read through the thread. I am on day 45 and there are no hermies on any of my plants using the 12-1 schedule from seed. Might "sound fucked up" but it works. Oh, and I guess I did try it first

lol LLBSDAD ready for round 2 now?
i can confirm what lilbsdad has said as im using this for myself and am now on week 5 of flower, i started from cuts,

azman said:

lol LLBSDAD ready for round 2 now?
i can confirm what lilbsdad has said as im using this for myself and am now on week 5 of flower, i started from cuts,

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hehe always got to be some guys that swear its wrong lol ... but like you .. it works for me and when someone says "I got a 10% loss! " kinda like counting chickens before the eggs hatch .. way too many variants besides the lights lol

tellno1 said:

hehe always got to be some guys that swear its wrong lol ... but like you .. it works for me and when someone says "I got a 10% loss! " kinda like counting chickens before the eggs hatch .. way too many variants besides the lights lol

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i know every ones a critic lol, but they havent even tried this as of yet, like i said earlier i bet people thought you wouldnt be able to grow using led once upon a time.

10% loss but 2wks faster seems like a fair tradeoff. i don't think you can necessarily attribute the loss in yield to light hours, though. you probably would've gotten that additional 10% if you flowered for another 2wks. so, yes, reduced light hours are responsible for a smaller yield but only because you're finishing earlier. in my view, it's more a factor of days of life rather than hours per day...

I have seen positive results in the last two weeks reducing the light to 11/13 and then 10/14 in the last week. I have seen that they mature and ripen a few days faster that way.

BTW. I always flip from 16/8 to 13/11. Plenty of dark to induce flowering and a lot of light for good bud growth.

So basically my schedule is, well, if you look out your window in the fall you will see what my schedule mimics.

13/11
12/12
11/13
10/14

I'm currently 12 days into flower on my first plants on 12-1 in veg. I had 15 plants. All but 1 was from seed, only one was male shame it was my only DQ.
Nice though in 5 days it was distinctively male. Now at 12 days the plants seem about 1-2 weeks ahead of there normal maturity. Sorry no pictures camera broke.
I am at 11-13 and though I have used decreasing flowering hours its hard since I grow several different strains and they mature at different times.}
My clones (also 12 days) will remain under 18-6 for another week or 2. Once they are established and growing then I cut them to 12-1.
I have seen no hermies. Both seed and clone are doing well.

LILBSDAD said:

Here we go again. Apparently you didn't read through the thread. I am on day 45 and there are no hermies on any of my plants using the 12-1 schedule from seed. Might "sound fucked up" but it works. Oh, and I guess I did try it first

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Woow.. back up, you really need to read too.
I wrote:
"
That lightning-schedule sounds fucked up, and if I didn't know better I would think someone wanted your plants to hermie (I know, it's during veg, maybe it works - but you try it first
"

Being skeptical of a new technique that you've never heard about is not the same as riddiculing this 12-1 schedule you advocate.

Of course I've read THIS thread, but you are correct - I've not read the 12-1 thread that was linked to in this thread.
That I'll do, because I don't mind explanations and I would love to save electricity.

Jesus, is the boring 12-1 debate going to tear down this thread as well.

It works..it doesn't fuck up your plants, the just grow a lot slower. I would think quite a bit slower actually as you have a significant decrease in light hours. I would even hazard a guess that you DON'T save power in the long run as your cycle is no longer to get to flowering size.

Saving power is nice, and it makes you feel all warm inside but for me, personally, I'm all about rapid growth, huge yield, and cranking that shit out with little down time. Fuck my power bill, I'll make that shit up in spades.


At any rate, not cool to derail this dudes thread. It's about flowering time, not alternative veg lighting cycles.
Peace

legallyflying said:

Jesus, is the boring 12-1 debate going to tear down this thread as well.

[..removed..]
At any rate, not cool to derail this dudes thread. It's about flowering time, not alternative veg lighting cycles.
Peace

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I'm believed so too, but look at post #4 in this thread. That started it out of the blue, and the 12-1-thing was completely news to me, so I reacted - sorry.

But I barely touched the subject myself, the rest of my post was this:

But that other idea, giving less hours of light (gradually) during flowering is something I've experimented a little with.

"
I did two grows with same mother plant.

One grow with 12/12 all the way, and one with 12/12 but then gradually down to 10/14.
It made my plants ready about 14 days earlier, but with loss of yield (maybe about 10%, was obvious to the eye anyway).
"

Flowering times are an interresting subject, and gradually reducing light and temperature during flowering (especially at the very end) is something I find appealing.

I'll use the cold of winter to my advantage the last two weeks, I'll try and see if the plant changes color (I'll not go under 17 degrees celcius, I'm a wuss).

Also, I'll try to raise the light a little last two weeks.

BTW: Where does 12/12 come from anyway, was it decided in a vote back in the 60's?