help: changing the light cycle

starting the flowering phase of 12/12 in the next couple days and i want to re-schedule when i have lights on/off for my convenience.

can i extend the length of the vegetative light cycle on its last day, from the usual 18 hours to 24 hours, and THEN begin the first dark hours of the flowering stage?

if not, please offer your best suggestion for re-scheduling light cycle hours.

yea that shouldn't hurt just make sure there is 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness from that point on.

i've seen some other posts suggesting that in the first few days of flowering, apply 11 hours of light to help trigger flowering, and then move to the usual 12/12.

any objections?

from what i have heard it would be better to leave them in the dark for longer, this is only what i have read cause im only on my first grow and its an autoflower (easy ryder and blue himalaya)

technomatty said:

from what i have heard it would be better to leave them in the dark for longer, this is only what i have read cause im only on my first grow and its an autoflower (easy ryder and blue himalaya)

Click to expand...

This.. You are better off leaving lights off for 24 hours and picking up on the schedule you want.. or around there anyways

yah, i also agree with leaving the lights off for longer instead of increasing the light period.. i have also heard of leaving the lights off for 48 hours before going to 12/12 to help trigger flowering faster.. i have tried it once or twice, but can neither confirm nor deny that it worked or made them flower any faster than they would have otherwise..

^I agree with those guys. It'd be better if you kept the lights off longer than usual, rather than leaving them on longer than usual. Also, you don't need to try 11 hours, or anything like that. If you go directly to 12/12, they'll go into bloom immediately, needing no special tweaks. They'll start stretching in about 5-7 days, then show preflowers soon after that.

thanks for all the replies.
since its best to extend the dark hours (rather than light hours) when switching light cycles.... i'm keeping lights on for now as the last of the veg. cycle, then when lights turn off i'll be keeping them off for 18 hours. THEN the true 12/12 cycle begins.