Extending Photoperiod While Flowering

I was smoking my morning bowl today when a idea came to mind: What would happen if you went to 12/12 to trigger flowering and then 2 weeks later, slowly added 15 minutes at a time each week, ending with a 14 hr day or less? Could this perhaps increase yields by adding those extra hours of daylight?

I know this is counter intuitive to all things in nature and would be like reversing the seasons, simulating the Earth's orbit going backwards... Just an theory, black coffee and 100% sativa induced, but an idea worth pondering.

Hmmmm....

Some strains can flower fine under 13 or even 14 hours of light. This may increase yields, but it could also drastically increase time to harvest. You would have to guesstimate between your strains advertised indoor and outdoor harvest time. Some strains may not like it and may hermie late in flower as more of a save the genetics type of way. There are a bunch of threads that talk about it, but it is pretty much strain dependent. Also, you do not half to go to 12/12 first. You could got to 13-14 hours of light and it will show sex and flower, but will take longer. If you have multiple strains then give it a shot. Will prob work better with sativas too.

i would thin adding light after flowering began that it would strat thinking it was gonna start vegging again soon and mite mess it all up

i tried 12/12 for 2 weeks then 13/11 for the rest im almost at the 8 week mark and they look nowhere near done, so it deff makes the flowering time longer. My yield is also going to be much larger but i added a few more additives and booster and used larger pots and more light so i cant be 100% it was because of the extra light

i heard this from another person who did many experiments with this.. he posted on this forum awhile back.

He claimed 14 on / 10 off increased yield but also increased flowering time. Beyond 14 on and the plant revegs, so 14 is walking a thin line.

Yeah, I'd play it safe and try 13/11 first.

id just stay with what has known to work the best. 12/12

i saw a guy on here a loooong time ago that did something like 12:30 on/12 off. i think he may have added some more time on as time went by. with just a few more minutes each day, after 2 months of flowering, that adds up to a lot of extra sunshine.

the problem is u need a whole week timer. he made it so after day 7, the cycle starts over again. each day the light turns off and on at different times

i wish i could remember exactly how he did it

mcpurple said:

id just stay with what has known to work the best. 12/12

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Good point, i do agree with you. but if i was to play around or advise someone i would say no more than 13/11 to start.

Green Revolution said:

I was smoking my morning bowl today when a idea came to mind: What would happen if you went to 12/12 to trigger flowering and then 2 weeks later, slowly added 15 minutes at a time each week, ending with a 14 hr day or less? Could this perhaps increase yields by adding those extra hours of daylight?

I know this is counter intuitive to all things in nature and would be like reversing the seasons, simulating the Earth's orbit going backwards... Just an theory, black coffee and 100% sativa induced, but an idea worth pondering.

Hmmmm....

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When i was flowering my last batch i went the other way around, at the end of your flowering cycle trying decreasing the amount of time the light is on. with any plant most of the growning is done during the Calvin Cycle or night cycle.

jewgrow said:

When i was flowering my last batch i went the other way around, at the end of your flowering cycle trying decreasing the amount of time the light is on. with any plant most of the growning is done during the Calvin Cycle or night cycle.

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this makes much more sense. and this i would try

jewgrow said:

When i was flowering my last batch i went the other way around, at the end of your flowering cycle trying decreasing the amount of time the light is on. with any plant most of the growning is done during the Calvin Cycle or night cycle.

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In your opinion, was it worth it for you? If so, why? If not, why? Thanks jewgrow!

I have a friend that has a digital 26 hour timer and he does 14 on and 12 off, and swears by it adding alot of weight
lights come on at different times daily, and plants go into flower when they receive at least 12 hours of dark

gumball said:

In your opinion, was it worth it for you? If so, why? If not, why? Thanks jewgrow!

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Well think of a plants life cycle outside, when its coming close to the end the light cycle is diminishing giving less hours of light a day. Its only nature. When growing indoors you try to mimic the outside environment as closely as possible. With my grow i saw significant growth when i did this. I would take an hour off the light cycle then a couple days later 15 minutes it got to the point where my lights were getting 6 hours of light a day. As far as the benifit of it the plant is producing more buds becuase it thinks its dieing and its only way of survival is by producing more buds trying to produce offspring for another generation.

jewgrow said:

Well think of a plants life cycle outside, when its coming close to the end the light cycle is diminishing giving less hours of light a day. Its only nature. When growing indoors you try to mimic the outside environment as closely as possible. With my grow i saw significant growth when i did this. I would take an hour off the light cycle then a couple days later 15 minutes it got to the point where my lights were getting 6 hours of light a day. As far as the benifit of it the plant is producing more buds becuase it thinks its dieing and its only way of survival is by producing more buds trying to produce offspring for another generation.

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I totally agree with that.
As far as increasing light every few days after they have gone into flower, not with Sativa's. They are extremely light sensitive to the changes in length of daylight. Coming from mostly around the equcator they have to be more sensitive because the light cycles are so similiar all year round.
Sorry for the ramble but that was my afternoon bowl of sativa while I was typing. Happy Growing

thanks for the feedback, great info.

one hour on, one off. one on..... try it. cool shit. or off12 on 12 for a whole month and then up 18 hours on a day ...most (more indica sided) wont revenge and finish with no problem.

jewgrow said:

When i was flowering my last batch i went the other way around, at the end of your flowering cycle trying decreasing the amount of time the light is on. with any plant most of the growning is done during the Calvin Cycle or night cycle.

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I have done this too after reading that it can speed up ripening/maturation.. The plants did not respond poorly (hermaphrodite/stress). Though I'm sure overall yield was affected. It was a collage experiment and none of my yields were great back then (I was using 4ft shop lights, pro-mix, and Peters/Schultz ferts back then)

GoblinFarmer said:

one hour on, one off. one on..... try it. cool shit. or off12 on 12 for a whole month and then up 18 hours on a day ...most (more indica sided) wont revenge and finish with no problem.

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Whats your experience with alternating hours on/off? I have never looked into anything like that (sounds interesting at very least).