Going from veg to flowering help with lighting.

Hey guys. I know that when i switch from veg light cycle to flower cycle i cut it down to 12 hours what my question is do i shut them off for 24 then start my 12/12 and if i do shut them off before changing to 12 & 12 do i not feed? i am running a ebb and flow, And what would i do for watering? on a 12 light schedule 2 a day since right now i do 3 times a day every 7 hours? Any thought would be great guys happy tokes!

I just started my flower cycle today. Right now my plants are in 24 hours of dark and tomorrow I am starting 12/12. I have never done the 24 hour dark thing, so this should be interesting.

I always give my plants 36 hours of dark before the 12/12 light cycle. My next batch I may go a little longer. But I grow in soil so I dont know how feeding works in your case. I just water mine good before and they always are fine.

Hmm...why you guys doing this? I have heard of leaving a plant in the dark for a couple of days before harvest but this... What do you hope to gain other than adding more time to ur grow?

If your vegging lights are 24/7, switch off 12 hours then back on 12, and so on, if you are vegging 18/6 switch off for 6 hours and back on 12 hour and work from there.

No, you dont feed before lights out, feed during lights 'on', last feed 2 or 3 hours before lights out. Plants dont feed at night.

flipsidesw said:

Hmm...why you guys doing this? I have heard of leaving a plant in the dark for a couple of days before harvest but this... What do you hope to gain other than adding more time to ur grow?

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Hmmm....I figured this was common practice for many but I guess Ill explain further for the noobs.

The extended dark cycle before flowering's main purpose it to show the sex of the plants. Usually sex can be identified as soon as the lights come back on vs. waiting a week or sometimes 2 for a plant to show sex thats had no extended dark period. Makes since right. Ive never seen ANY negative effects by doing this, if anything Id say I get more females on average doing this vs how I used to do it without a dark period.

What if i already know their females? they were started from clones i got, so they better be females! lol. i gotta about 12 and the majority of them are 18 inches tall and bushy so i want to get them going on 12/12 cause i dont want them to tall! i never had them in any pots before. Today i just transfered them to 5in pots with hydroton in a ebb and flow. Still good to do 24hrs though before 12/12? i was gonna do 24 hrs of dark anyway just to give em a rest. What do you think? everyone's opinion is appreciated!

Hydrochronic said:

What if i already know their females? they were started from clones i got, so they better be females! lol. i gotta about 12 and the majority of them are 18 inches tall and bushy so i want to get them going on 12/12 cause i dont want them to tall! i never had them in any pots before. Today i just transfered them to 5in pots with hydroton in a ebb and flow. Still good to do 24hrs though before 12/12? i was gonna do 24 hrs of dark anyway just to give em a rest. What do you think? everyone's opinion is appreciated!

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If your plants are 18 inches tall they should be in something much bigger than a 5 inch pot.
My plants are only 14 inches tall and I have them in a gallon size pot.

i have 12 of them in a 2x4 ebb table 1 gallon pots would be too big for my table. I was thinking about just adding the hydroton to the entire table and put a screen over the drain.

I dont understand,
if you have a 2' x 4' table, you can cram in 18 x 8" pots.

I mean that as a SOG,

You might have to get rid of a couple of them, and put them in 8" pots, then you'll have 1 1/2" space clearance one way and 8" the other, plus do alot of trimming for air and light penatration.

is that 8'' wide or tall ? i have a 3 ft w 2 ft d 4 ft h dwc cabinet and i am just useing the net pots that came with it should i use bigger net pots.also i did not know about the dark thing thanks for the info

Oh right, i'm getting the gist of it now.
Thats a very small area for 12 plants lol.
If i were you, i'd transplant them in 6" square pots, strip the lower 3rd of the plant, and just go for the top colas from each plant.
If you read AL B. Fucts thread ' Harvest every 2 weeks', you should work out alright.
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/6592-get-harvest-every-2-weeks.html
Obviously you could do a mini version of his system, only your doing 1 grow and not 4 different at the same time.
If you have at least a 400w hps over them you should pull near 1/2 ounce from each plant.