I don't mean to be rude, but a cannabis plant is not "like you.. sentient beings".
It's a plant yo and they are FAR DIFFERENT from human beings. Seriously, way different, just because we're all "sentient" doesn't mean they need to sleep or "rest".
Cannabis does not need sleep or a rest period. They are a C3 plant which means that they only bring in co2 during light hours.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C3_carbon_fixation
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"It's been established for many many many years now that cannabis is a C3 plant. It does not need a dark period. C3 plants gather CO2 only during the light period when they are photosynthesizing. As long as the light is on, C3 plants gather and use CO2 for photosynthesis.
Some growers practice a version of anthropomorphism with their plants. They believe that since people need rest, plants do as well. Concerning cannabis, this is not true.
Every grower can make a personal choice about light cycle. They can save on their electric bill or prolong ballast/bulb life. 18/6 can be less of a "shock" when changing over to 12/12 for flowering than 24/0 or heat issues can be addressed by fewer hours of light, but basic botany has proven long ago that cannabis needs no dark period.
Robert Clarke "Marijuana Botany: An Advanced Study""
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Marijuana plants photosynthesize as long as they receive light as well as water, air, nutrients and suitable temperature. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use the energy from light (primarily in the blue and red spectrum's) to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) to make sugar while releasing oxygen to the air.
Plants use sugars continuously to fuel metabolic processes (living) as well as for tissue building. The plant combines nitrogen (N) with the sugar to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. They are the substance of plant tissue. When the light is off, the plant's metabolic processes, respiration and growth, continue.
The plant can photosynthesize continuously so it produces the most energy and growth when the light is on, continuously. Continuous light does not stress the plant, which reacts somewhat mechanistically to it.
>Plants under an 18-6 light-dark regimen are producing sugar only three quarters of the time. They are thus growing at only 75% of their potential. Leaving the light on continuously will result in bigger plants, faster, which leads to higher yields.
Ed Rosenthal "Marijuana Grower's Handbook"
