light schedule q

Hey everyone. I sprouted my first auto seeds over the weekend, looking nice I must say. Has anybody ran auto's under 24hr light? I'm running red poison and have absolutely zero experience with autos (few photo grows though).

24/0 will work with auto's, but 20/4 or 18/6 gives better results in my experience.

If you ever watch the grow pro vids on youtube, they did quite a few grow experiments and found better results on avg. with 24/0 in veg and 18/6 in flower

thanks! I've got three going, so maybe I'll use one as a guinea pig and run some experiments. I've got a spare tent so I can isolate one and play around a bit. I will be keeping them on 24/0 for the first few weeks regardless and then will think about switching it to 20/4 or 18/6

A plant,like everything in nature needs a rest.I would do 20/4 for veg and since it's an auto,maybe give it 18/6 for flowering althought it will flower herself.I've got mine vegging 18/6 (already past veg) and 12/12 for flowering.I'm having her with another plant so i won't do it seperately.It does NEED some time without light tho.Plants do have a saturation point.Getting past that limit will not increase their ability to produce so maintain it to a maximum of 20/4.

I was under the impression that as a C3 plant MJ doesn't actually "need" a dark period...other than to induce flowering

cdnbudder said:

I was under the impression that as a C3 plant MJ doesn't actually "need" a dark period...other than to induce flowering

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I was under the same impression. Either way people Veg and flower at 24/0 all the time without problems, lol, so I think you are on the right track. Do some experiments and report back to us. We love personal experience.

MaryJaneAdvocate said:

I was under the same impression. Either way people Veg and flower at 24/0 all the time without problems, lol, so I think you are on the right track. Do some experiments and report back to us. We love personal experience.

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They do veg with no problems that is for sure. But regarding a plant's nature,a plant growing outdoors would never ever reach a 24/7 light period. It would not even hit 20hrs. You will have NO problem vegging that long. All i am saying is that there is a limit regarding how much a plant can absorb and use..so 24/7 is a little too much.

They will veg and flower on 24/0 but people say there is no added yield compared to a 20/4 grow so all you would be doing is spending more on electric bills. Some people are actually saying you get better yields with 20/4 or even 18/6. Your choice though, you would have to try it yourself to know for sure. I am new to auto's so have not yet tried each option. I do know that using 12/12 compared to 18/6 in flower does affect yield in a big way with auto's.

spliffbuddy said:

They will veg and flower on 24/0 but people say there is no added yield compared to a 20/4 grow so all you would be doing is spending more on electric bills. Some people are actually saying you get better yields with 20/4 or even 18/6. Your choice though, you would have to try it yourself to know for sure. I am new to auto's so have not yet tried each option. I do know that using 12/12 compared to 18/6 in flower does affect yield in a big way with auto's.

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So you are doing 18/6 when flowering autos? There is a saturation point in everything..regarding light, more is less (past 20hrs)

qroox said:

They do veg with no problems that is for sure. But regarding a plant's nature,a plant growing outdoors would never ever reach a 24/7 light period. It would not even hit 20hrs. You will have NO problem vegging that long. All i am saying is that there is a limit regarding how much a plant can absorb and use..so 24/7 is a little too much.

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i run a perpetual for the most part 4-6 auto's normally in different stages i run 24/0 ive grown the same strains over and over using the same nutes lighting soil and containers
and i have always pulled more bud from bigger plants under 24/0 that is just from my experience im far from a pro

the plant lives to die and thats it
as long as its happy enough to flower and finish i could care less if its " sleepy "

with a photo i can see a need
but with a auto if you change to a longer dark period all it does is yield less just my opinion

hey tek what size pots do you use? I'm using three gallon this run, but the tent is gonna be crowded....have you noticed large difference between say a 2 gallon and a 3 gallon?

looking back at my grows from this last year ive played with 1 2 and 3 gal pots
i can almost rely consistently on a oz a gal not pushing them very hard i try to never burn my plants just lite bland feedings its whole life

qroox said:

So you are doing 18/6 when flowering autos? There is a saturation point in everything..regarding light, more is less (past 20hrs)

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I am new to auto's so am just getting used to them. I am currently growing two auto cream caramels, I have one on an 18/6 light schedule and one on 12/12. The one on 18/6 is going to yield about 1.5-2 oz (guess). The one on 12/12 I think I will be lucky to get an oz off her. Also the bud formation is much denser on the one on 18/6. Next time I might try 20/4 & 24/0 to see what diff I get, will need more seeds of the same strain to get a realistic outcome so will depend on whether I like the smoke or not & how quickly they end up finishing. Both under 600w hps.

spliffbuddy said:

I am new to auto's so am just getting used to them. I am currently growing two auto cream caramels, I have one on an 18/6 light schedule and one on 12/12. The one on 18/6 is going to yield about 1.5-2 oz (guess). The one on 12/12 I think I will be lucky to get an oz off her. Also the bud formation is much denser on the one on 18/6. Next time I might try 20/4 & 24/0 to see what diff I get, will need more seeds of the same strain to get a realistic outcome so will depend on whether I like the smoke or not & how quickly they end up finishing. Both under 600w hps.

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Do inform us which plant did best. I am flowering an auto myself. 18/6 veg for a month and 12/12 with the rest of my plants. I know that since it is an auto,a light schedule of 18-20 hrs of light would be better but i cant grow em seperately.Happy grows mate and good luck.

tekdc911 said:

i run a perpetual for the most part 4-6 auto's normally in different stages i run 24/0 ive grown the same strains over and over using the same nutes lighting soil and containers and i have always pulled more bud from bigger plants under 24/0 that is just from my experience im far from a prothe plant lives to die and thats it as long as its happy enough to flower and finish i could care less if its " sleepy "with a photo i can see a need but with a auto if you change to a longer dark period all it does is yield less just my opinion

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I would love to try an experiment 20-22-24 hrs of light on autos. Have you ever experimented with less hrs? I sure take your experience as a fact. Was there any other differencies with 24/hrs? And how bigger was the yield?

they stretch a bit more under 24/0 imo
ive ran them as low as 10/14 when my haze was finishing up in flowering
i thought the needed a dark period when i first started
but after a few 24/0 grows i quickly realized that they just want as much light as they can get
personally i dont sell
so my cost is not an issue because the only profit i get out of it is smoke
if i had to buy the same quality weed i would pay 300-350 usd an oz
i smoke a 1/4 a week so a oz a month covers my needs but when my oldlady is thrown in the mix then 2 oz's a month is then needed
700 bucks a month saved so even if my light bill runs higher aslong as i cover my smoke needs then even at 24/0 im saving money by just growing it myself
just a thought

tekdc911 said:

they stretch a bit more under 24/0 imo ive ran them as low as 10/14 when my haze was finishing up in flowering i thought the needed a dark period when i first started but after a few 24/0 grows i quickly realized that they just want as much light as they can get personally i dont sell so my cost is not an issue because the only profit i get out of it is smoke if i had to buy the same quality weed i would pay 300-350 usd an oz i smoke a 1/4 a week so a oz a month covers my needs but when my oldlady is thrown in the mix then 2 oz's a month is then needed 700 bucks a month saved so even if my light bill runs higher aslong as i cover my smoke needs then even at 24/0 im saving money by just growing it myselfjust a thought

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I hear ya. You do from seed each and every time? I would like to have a set up to stabilize sn optimal growth for autos. It is something that should be done..heh. Ever crossed an auto?

you have to run from seed with auto's
i plant a bean a week or every 2 depending on finish times
i have a few crosses drying out now and then crossed a kc45 male with a positronics purple haze #1 photoperiod that i plan on stabilizing the auto trait in

tekdc911 said:

you have to run from seed with auto's
i plant a bean a week or every 2 depending on finish times
i have a few crosses drying out now and then crossed a kc45 male with a positronics purple haze #1 photoperiod that i plan on stabilizing the auto trait in

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How did you do it with autos? Sounds pretty decent. I have some green-o autos femed. I would love to have a lot more of them. Short plant no smell and perfect for my set up. I am eager to read your way..!!