light schedule ??

I never go 24. The plants need to respire a little and good things happen at night (like increased root growth).

My schedule: 16/8 for two weeks. 18/6 throughout veg , 12/12 for most of fllower, 10/14 the last two weeks. (its a natural hormone kind of thing).

But to answer your question, no it shouldn't herm.

thanx alot for the reply man....ive always done the whole 24 hour thing, but lately after doing alot of reading and stuff like that it just didnt seem right or natural...im gonna go ahead and switch it over to 18/6, then im gonna switch em to 10/14 at the end of budding like you said, cause ive never done that before, ive just always kept it 12/12 till the end...anyways thanx alot for the post and Merry Christmas, hope its a good one!!

For the first 10-15 days, you want to keep it in 24/0, then move it to 18/6 for as long as you want to veg. This will not stress you plant or turn it hermie. Another cool tip is before you go into flowering, turn off your lights for 2-3 days. Complete darkness. This tricks the plant into thinking it is dying and makes it super produce, giving you a very good start. This will also increase your yield. Again, this does not stress the plant or turn it hermie.

I have heard something about turning the lights off for 2-3 days before going into flowering, but I have been nervous to do it for fear of producing a hermie. If you say you have success with it then I would love to give it a try. Anything for a bigger yield..... Anyone else with experience on that subject... love to hear it....

LMAO "tricks the plant into thinking its dying" where the hell did you hear that one? Yeah, you will get a higher level of flowering hormones during those three days but once you go back to 12/12 you have the same damn flowering hormone levels as if you never went 3 days in the dark. Vodoo man. Vodoo.

certainly doesn't need a dark period till you want to flower, but it won't hurt it at all to cut it down. Obviously it's going to slow growth, but that's not inherently bad.

Bear in mind though, many people seem to want to pretend their plants are humans and need sleep. There's loads upon loads of info showing that they don't need a dark period, it's only a debate for those who haven't tried 24/0 and/or have no real grow experience (ie: they don't understand that a plant under 24 hours light requires more than a plant under 18/6).

Originally Posted by gobbly

Bear in mind though, many people seem to want to pretend their plants are humans and need sleep. There's loads upon loads of info showing that they don't need a dark period, it's only a debate for those who haven't tried 24/0 and/or have no real grow experience (ie: they don't understand that a plant under 24 hours light requires more than a plant under 18/6).

Ahhh, the old "you don't have any grow experience" line. Your probably right, I'm quite certain that you have many more grows under your belt. I however, have scored pretty damn well in several graduate level plant physiology and plant ecology classes. And no, they didn't talk about growing weed, it was quite a bit more difficult than that. They did however go into far to much detail about chemical processes and the effects of different light, temperature, and gas concentrations on growth an development. There have indeed been many studies that prove that a plant grows faster under 24 hour lighting. HOWEVER, the yields of identical plants where the only difference was light regime yield the same amounts. I understand the point of diminishing returns enough to just save the 540 kilowattts a month during veg and the $75 dollars it would cost me. Not to mention the wear and tear on my grow gear.

That's just my take on the never ending 24/18 debate. People do what they want to do. and besides " they don't understand that a plant under 24 hours light requires more than a plant under 18/6" what the hell does that even mean?

Legallyflying....
I never go 24. The plants need to respire a little and good things happen at night (like increased root growth).

My schedule: 16/8 for two weeks. 18/6 throughout veg , 12/12 for most of fllower, 10/14 the last two weeks. (its a natural hormone kind of thing).

But to answer your question, no it shouldn't herm.

I think this is the schedule im going to use....people can argue all day im sure on the whole 24 hour light debate, but i think your right about the plants needing some dark period to respire and like you said good things like root growth and things like that happen at night...now i have always used 24 hour lights in veg, but now that i think on it more, its my understanding that in nature pot can grow in 24 hour light in some places, but unless you have that strain then i dont think its necessary...i think it all boils down to what strain you have, and if your not to sure than just go with what happens naturally in nature which is like legallyflying said...16/8 for two weeks, then 18/6 throughout veg, then 12/12 to flower and 10/14 at end of budding....thats pretty much what happens in nature and it gives your plants the night it needs to focus on root growth and im sure the plant probobly rejuvenates cells and stuff like that at night as well when its not totally focused on producing cloryphyl and growth........now im no expert grower or anything like that, but it seems like what naturally happens in nature is the best thing to stick too, cause like you said its a natural hormone thing!!
I love when my lights go off at night cause it always seems like as soon as they do my whole room gets a REAL sweet smell as soon as they go off, so thats a bonus too...lol
thanx for all the advice and input yall...im sure the debate on light scheduling could go on all day..........