light schedule advice please?

I am currently in veg, this is my 4th grow and I've always switched my lights by adding more hours of darkness at night and what I mean by this is,lights out is 12 am and lights on is 6am for veg and when I switch I shut lights for 24 hours and then I turn them back on the following day at 6am again and instead of leaving them on until 12 set my timer to shut off a 6pm. I always left the 6 a.m. wake up time lights on the same and instead of shutting lights off at 12am I shut them off at 6pm. now I've been doing some thinking and in nature the Sun sets earlier but also rises later so the six hours isn't all one sided it's a little bit at night and a little bit in the morning? so I am wondering if instead of shaving 6 hours off at the end of the day should I do three at night and three in the morning to be more like it is in nature?

Louisville79 said:

I am currently in veg, this is my 4th grow and I've always switched my lights by adding more hours of darkness at night and what I mean by this is,lights out is 12 am and lights on is 6am for veg and when I switch I shut lights for 24 hours and then I turn them back on the following day at 6am again and instead of leaving them on until 12 set my timer to shut off a 6pm. I always left the 6 a.m. wake up time lights on the same and instead of shutting lights off at 12am I shut them off at 6pm. now I've been doing some thinking and in nature the Sun sets earlier but also rises later so the six hours isn't all one sided it's a little bit at night and a little bit in the morning? so I am wondering if instead of shaving 6 hours off at the end of the day should I do three at night and three in the morning to be more like it is in nature?

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doesnt matter what u do mate lots recommend 24-36 hours dark period when switching to flower just change your timers for 12/12 it doesn't matter how u do it really but i would ideally give plants 12 hours dark when switching at least

We do it better than nature, how you're doing is fine

Yes

So I should def keep my 6am on time the same and only change my off time? I shouldnt change my on time to 9am and off to 9pm only changing their sleep time instead of a little and a little yo both ends,wake up and sleep?

I agree with myself.

Also I just remedied a spider mite problem,all of my ladies were sick but I gave them 2 treatments of organacide 4 days apart and then 2 days ago I transferred all 12 ladies to my shower gave them a irsorpryl rubbing alcohol wash followed by a thorough rinsing,left them in my shower while I washed and disenfected my whole grow room then once my whole room was clean I hit the whole room with alcohol then organacide before giving the ladies a 3rd organacide treatment and returned them to the room. Now they have been showing major improvement since my first of 3 treatments,and I haven't seen a single mite or egg in 2 weeks! I still continued to treat like I said 2 more times for good measure (and possible eggs)and now they look as healthy as can be!I had this problem one other time but last time I was 3 weeks away from harvest and all I did was order 150 ladybugs and the lady bugs ate every mite and got me successfully through to harvest.this time the mites showed up half way through veg and actually I would have switched to 12/12 2 weeks ago but instead had to rid myself of the mites first! Now that it's been 2 weeks with no signs of mites,webs or sickness I'm now going to switch. Also I have 300 ladybugs on the way for good measure! Hopefully the mites stay gone long enough for me to start and complete flowering,if anybody has any helpful advice more than I am already doing it would be highly appreciated!

Hey guys hope don't mind but I need to throw a question in about my light cycle.
Ive had my plants on flower 13 hours dark 11 light, I work out of town at times and when I first changed my lights to flower I was needing them to stay on at night then off during day. Know my work schedule has changed again and I need to have my lights come on earlier. Right now they come on at 8:30 pm and go off at 7:30am. Will it mess my plants up if I changed my light cycle so I could get them to come on earlier. I have messed my plants up once before by interrupting there 12 hours of complete darkness. SO can I change lights without stressing plants and if so when would be the best way to do it and go about it? Should I change them and let it stay dark longer to keep at least my 12 hours of darkness while getting on new schedule.
thanks

Bamabudy said:

Hey guys hope don't mind but I need to throw a question in about my light cycle.
Ive had my plants on flower 13 hours dark 11 light, I work out of town at times and when I first changed my lights to flower I was needing them to stay on at night then off during day. Know my work schedule has changed again and I need to have my lights come on earlier. Right now they come on at 8:30 pm and go off at 7:30am. Will it mess my plants up if I changed my light cycle so I could get them to come on earlier. I have messed my plants up once before by interrupting there 12 hours of complete darkness. SO can I change lights without stressing plants and if so when would be the best way to do it and go about it? Should I change them and let it stay dark longer to keep at least my 12 hours of darkness while getting on new schedule.
thanks

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This >>>> "let it stay dark longer to keep at least my 12 hours of darkness while getting on new schedule."

Louisville79 said:

I am currently in veg, this is my 4th grow and I've always switched my lights by adding more hours of darkness at night and what I mean by this is,lights out is 12 am and lights on is 6am for veg and when I switch I shut lights for 24 hours and then I turn them back on the following day at 6am again and instead of leaving them on until 12 set my timer to shut off a 6pm. I always left the 6 a.m. wake up time lights on the same and instead of shutting lights off at 12am I shut them off at 6pm. now I've been doing some thinking and in nature the Sun sets earlier but also rises later so the six hours isn't all one sided it's a little bit at night and a little bit in the morning? so I am wondering if instead of shaving 6 hours off at the end of the day should I do three at night and three in the morning to be more like it is in nature?

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outdoors a plant never gets a 24 hour dark period at onset of flower, so trying to mimick outdoors light is out the window already.. changing start and off times wont change efect, 12/12 flowers regardless of on and off times as long as there are no light leeks..i have my lights set to go on at 5pm and off at 5am to keep a cooler room...
i never do a 24 hour dark period before flower either, i go from 20/4,18/6 or 24/0 inveg straight to 12/12..what is the theory on the 24 hour dark before flowering?? ive heard of giving plants full darkness for up to 2 weeks at the end of flower to hault growth and supposedly get more trics, but i have never used a full darkness before or after flower as in nature they would never get full darkness, but then again in nature day light increases and decreases minutes per day never hours..
also ive found the only difference in day time light sceds 18/6,20/4 and 24/0 the only difference ive seen is the more darkness they get the more stretch they get so a plant in 24/0 will have closer nodes wile 18/6 gets stretch between node sets and 20/4 is a good medium closer nodes than 18/6 but a little more distance between than 24/0...

Having the 24-36 hr darkness at the onset of 12/12 really helps to kickstart them into flower,i have used this for yrs with excellent results..

Flash63 said:

Having the 24-36 hr darkness at the onset of 12/12 really helps to kickstart them into flower,i have used this for yrs with excellent results..

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have you or anyone done a side by side test using the 24 hour darkness before flower and the other room straight from grow to 12/12? ive done years of side by side testing of nutrients, never thought of testing light cycle differences. i can see how that long darkness can get a jump on flowering but does it yield more? i would guess plants may show gender a day or 2 sooner w/ the 24 hour darkness but other than that is there any PROVEN differences??

Much appreciated guys that's what I was thinking pretty much just wanted anothers opinion.

TheChemist77 said:

have you or anyone done a side by side test using the 24 hour darkness before flower and the other room straight from grow to 12/12? ive done years of side by side testing of nutrients, never thought of testing light cycle differences. i can see how that long darkness can get a jump on flowering but does it yield more? i would guess plants may show gender a day or 2 sooner w/ the 24 hour darkness but other than that is there any PROVEN differences??

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I start a new variety Monthly,i find this speeds up the sexing process,but i imagine that it would not increase the yield,which is not a priority in my garden...

as of right now my lights are on from 6 a.m. until 12 p.m. I am trying to reduce the heat in the room by having the lights on at times of day when it is less hot outside and normally with all the reading I've done I see that everybody says not to change your wake up time only to change the shut off time when going into flower from vegetative so I guess what I'm really trying to ask here is instead of changing my shut off time from 12 p.m.back to 6 p.m. which would give my plants 12/12 (6 a.m. to 6 p.m) I'm wondering if I can change my lights on from 6 a.m. where the lights on is now,to 12pm lights on?then my lights on schedule would be 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. till 6 p.m.I haven't transitioned yet and normally I would shave the 6 hours from the end of the light on schedulewhat I'd like to know is if I can lengthen the dark Period 6 more hours so that my lights don't turn on until 12 p.m. instead of at 6 a.m. when I do finally transition.

when I do finally transition I will be leaving my room in 24 hours of complete darkness to kickstart the flowering cycle so does it really matter what time I decide to turn the lights back on and start my 12/12 cycle.would it hurt if I turn them back on at 2pm or 3pm in the afternoon and ran them till 2am or 3am, this way my lights are on during the cooler times of the evening outside?As of right now their wake up time has been 6 a.m. after leaving them in complete darkness for about 24 hours, do they still remember that their wake up time was 6 a.m. or can I decide to have sun up whenever I choose?I mean after 24 hours of darkness does it really matter when I choose to set my on time to and leave it at that?once I set it will stay there I'm just trying to figure out if doing that this one time would hurt anything or cause stress?

Start your 12/12 cycle when it is most convenient to your lifestyle, it matters not,what time of day your light comes on.Unless you have a smart meter, which in my case are cheaper run at night 7pm - 7am.

Flash63 said:

Start your 12/12 cycle when it is most convenient to your lifestyle, it matters not,what time of day your light comes on.Unless you have a smart meter, which in my case are cheaper run at night 7pm - 7am.

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So all the posts I've read about plants having a memory and knowing what time sun up is are not right.alot of people say that if you have had a set "on" time for all of veg which for me has always been 6 am, that changing that at any time will cause major stress. I don't want to cause my babies any stress by changing my "on" time! But I also don't want to cause heat stress either.I figured since this is a transitional phase (going from 18/6 to 12/12)now would be the best time to do it. I've been winning the war with the room Temps but it's an everyday battle,but it's only because like I said my "on" time right now in veg is peaking right in the hottest time of day outside!

Don't believe everything you read,you need to try it yourself, it's the only way to really understand the art of growing.Put your light cycles on a time that is good for you,and the conditions your trying to recreate.If i were you i would run them 6pm -12pm for veg and 6pm-6am flower...just my 2 cents.

Flash63 said:

Don't believe everything you read,you need to try it yourself, it's the only way to really understand the art of growing.Put your light cycles on a time that is good for you,and the conditions your trying to recreate.If i were you i would run them 6pm -12pm for veg and 6pm-6am flower...just my 2 cents.

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Thank you,that's exactly what I would do also now knowing my conditions and temperature issues I just didn't want to make to drastic of a change because I've had a hermaphrodite problems already before in the past.but again thank you very much