18/6 light cycle questions

aktopjian

Active Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #1

On a 18/6 light cycle does the 6 hours of darkness have to be completely dark?

 

SoKo420

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #2

yes it does.

 

dr.greenthumb85

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #3

not so much on the veg cycle but flowering needs to be absolutly dark.

 

aktopjian

Active Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #4

So it wont do anything to the plant if light next to the room it is in get into it?

 

masterkushner

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #5

aktopjian said:

So it wont do anything to the plant if light next to the room it is in get into it?

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Nah. You'll be fine during the Veg stage. But when you switch to 12/12 you must have Complete Darkness !!! Good Luck.

 

superskunkxnl

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #6

for veg you can run 24/7 but its believed roots grow well at night? i like 20/4 myself but do whatever you want 18/6 is better for your pocket!

 

makinthemagic

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #7

i found that it helped to give them more and more darkness as they matured through veg.

 

FrostickZero

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #8

superskunkxnl said:

for veg you can run 24/7 but its believed roots grow well at night? i like 20/4 myself but do whatever you want 18/6 is better for your pocket!

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if you have good enough lights yes 18/6 is better but if your usign CFL 24/0 is the best I'd find

 

aktopjian

Active Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #9

Yea I have a 400mh light on them no cfl's. One more question if i goto anything other than 24hrs does that set the time my 12/12 is going to have to start when i get to that stage?

 

Cr8z13

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #10

You can start 12/12 when your plant gets to roughly 33-50% of your desired final height. For now, the longer you run your lights during veg, the faster they'll get to your desired height before starting 12/12 for flowering.

 

aktopjian

Active Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #11

Well i meant the time of day that i have to start the 12/12. Like if i shut the lights off for 6 hours in the day, does that mean when i decide to goto 12/12 do i have to start it at the end of the 6hrs of darkness?

 

Charred

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #12

no, not really.
i like to turn my light off for 24 hours to shock my plant into flowering, i find it showa sex quicker and induces flowering slightly quicker.
i do an 18/6 ratio on my 600w HPS and i have my 6 hours dark from around midnight to 6am.
when i think my plant is ready for flowering i'll turn my lights off at around 9am so i have 24 hours of dark then a 12/12 scheme from 9am to 9pm.

hey masterkushner i thought i had a bug crawling in my screen till i realised it was your avatar! lmao

 

RandyRocket

Well-Known Member

• Jul 20, 2008

• #13

aktopjian said:

Well i meant the time of day that i have to start the 12/12. Like if i shut the lights off for 6 hours in the day, does that mean when i decide to goto 12/12 do i have to start it at the end of the 6hrs of darkness?

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A lot of people go from 18/6 to 24 hours-36 hours of dark. then 12/12.

You can turn the lights off and set you timer to be on when ever you like. I keep my lights of at night it is easer to keep them in the dark at night. Some will only run lights at night to help with heat.