My 8hr flowering experiment

ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
haulinbass said:
I tried something like this a few years ago but was doing 8 hr days and nights but abandoned it do to having to manually control the lights. couldn't find a countdown timer to flip the lights every 8 hours. the plants were flowering but no idea if the flowering cycle could be done 1/3rd faster which was the original point of the experiment.
Glad to see others trying there own experiments with light cycles
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There are now cycle timers that will support schedules other than 24 hours.

Whether it would accelerate the blooming process is a fascinating question!
 
torontoke

torontoke

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
There are now cycle timers that will support schedules other than 24 hours.

Whether it would accelerate the blooming process is a fascinating question!
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There is no question anymore sir.
I am now 100% convinced
Using glr then switching to 8/16 I save at least a week in the transition time alone.
Plus the quicker flowering shaving another handful of days I'd say I should trim 10-14days earlier then if I was doing 18/6 then 12/12.
Now whether these numbers would work with your vert setup is another question all together.

Give me a month or two and stay tuned. I got a few new ideas to put into play and we shall see what happens. The experiment is being up sized a lil bit ;)
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I see no advantage to a slow transition. I've tried it, just got less yield.

I'm interested in an 8 hour high intensity day cycle and 16 hour dark because of the possible three way split of a given amp load. If yield loss is low vs 12/12 then maybe this is an efficiency boosting tactic.
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Ah that's a shame, I had heard it sped up the flowering transition, limiting shock?
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
torontoke said:
There is no question anymore sir.
I am now 100% convinced
Using glr then switching to 8/16 I save at least a week in the transition time alone.
Plus the quicker flowering shaving another handful of days I'd say I should trim 10-14days earlier then if I was doing 18/6 then 12/12.
Now whether these numbers would work with your vert setup is another question all together.

Give me a month or two and stay tuned. I got a few new ideas to put into play and we shall see what happens. The experiment is being up sized a lil bit ;)
Click to expand...
Would these light cycles be effective with auto flowers? I know people say they do their own thing regardless of light cycles but surely they must react to them?
 
torontoke

torontoke

Well-Known Member
JDMase said:
Ah that's a shame, I had heard it sped up the flowering transition, limiting shock?
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No I think that diminishing light cycle would have minimal effect. I just go from 12:1 to 8/16
No slow decrease the plants start to pre flower under 12:1 and then as soon as I flip they start to flower big time. Within a day or two full on flower mode
 
torontoke

torontoke

Well-Known Member
JDMase said:
Would these light cycles be effective with auto flowers? I know people say they do their own thing regardless of light cycles but surely they must react to them?
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Highly doubtful
Autos are a whole different animal altogether. I have never tried an auto flower under anything but 18/6 and I was not impressed so I'd never run another.
I hear people say all the time that they have gotten better but half the plants genetics are crap imo and I don't have the time or patience to grow plants that should be half good
 
torontoke

torontoke

Well-Known Member
Removed the shelf separating the cab to give these girls a lil more headroom.
22 days and they already want to fall over on themselves.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
JDMase said:
Would these light cycles be effective with auto flowers? I know people say they do their own thing regardless of light cycles but surely they must react to them?
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No. Not for an auto. You need at least 18 for them and I prefer 19 myself. I run the light on times broken up. So the light is never on more than 6 hours without a break.

Mid day depression. Anytime you can give them a break even for a few minutes helps.
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
whitebb2727 said:
No. Not for an auto. You need at least 18 for them and I prefer 19 myself. I run the light on times broken up. So the light is never on more than 6 hours without a break.

Mid day depression. Anytime you can give them a break even for a few minutes helps.
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I've never heard that. Is that autos specifically or cannabis in general?

And as an example on a 18/6 you would turn off the light for an hour or a couple minutes every 6 hours?
So 6:1:6:1:6:6
On:off:on:off:on:off repeat.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
JDMase said:
I've never heard that. Is that autos specifically or cannabis in general?

And as an example on a 18/6 you would turn off the light for an hour or a couple minutes every 6 hours?
So 6:1:6:1:6:6
On:off:on:off:on:off repeat.
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Any plant. Ever notice after a hot long day they are droopy?

Keep it at 24 hours. I have a timer that you push tabs down. 30 min increments. So 48 tabs. For 19/5 I need 10 tabs not pushed.

you could do 5/1, 5/1, 5/1, 5/1. That would equal a 24 hours day. It doesn't have to be exact. My autos do fine and I have some vegging under the same schedule.

I see faster growth.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
whitebb2727 said:
Any plant. Ever notice after a hot long day they are droopy?

Keep it at 24 hours. I have a timer that you push tabs down. 30 min increments. So 48 tabs. For 19/5 I need 10 tabs not pushed.

you could do 5/1, 5/1, 5/1, 5/1. That would equal a 24 hours day. It doesn't have to be exact. My autos do fine and I have some vegging under the same schedule.

I see faster growth.
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I run 6 on and 2 off three times a day. Do you think cycling even faster is better?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
whitebb2727 said:
I'm not sure. I would have to run some at those intervals and see. I reckon there wouldn't be much difference in the 6/2 or 5/1.
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There's an extra 'day' cycle and the dark period is substantially shorter. I think the boost is due to avoiding a mid day depression, but that's only someone's guess that sounds right to me.
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
whitebb2727 said:
Any plant. Ever notice after a hot long day they are droopy?

Keep it at 24 hours. I have a timer that you push tabs down. 30 min increments. So 48 tabs. For 19/5 I need 10 tabs not pushed.

you could do 5/1, 5/1, 5/1, 5/1. That would equal a 24 hours day. It doesn't have to be exact. My autos do fine and I have some vegging under the same schedule.

I see faster growth.
Click to expand...
I'm going to give that a go, I've got it on 20/4 already for my autos, but I think this will also help with my heat issues.

How much faster? Can you quantify it or is it just a general observation?
 
torontoke

torontoke

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I'd love to hear about your new place!
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Nothing special
Not my dream home that's for sure dude. But I can finally set up a bigger area and use my experiment cab to veg. I have another cab to start seedlings and hopefully my lawyers get my money by February and I'm buying a house for the sole purpose of using the entire basement.
I'm allowed 30 plants now and I have two friend that are allowed 38 and 45 plants so by next spring I will have at least 100 going.
Thinking I might run a wall with your vert technique.

You might want to consider a visit north next summer lol preferably around trim time lol
 
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