Hey Fox...Couple question for ya.
1. My airstone will not fit all the way across the bottom of the res. Is it ok? Will the plants off to the side of the upward flow of the bubbles still benefit from having an airstone in the water?
2. I am confused on the flowering process. Some people say I can flower whenever I want. Others say the plant should be a certain age and height. What do you think. What is a good indicator that your plants are ready to be taken into flowering...
3. I am thinking that now that I can moniter Ph, and have the airstone running, it might be a good idea to take the plants from 16 hours of light to 20 or 24 hours of light to get them bigger. Howerver someone told me that if I switch to 12/12 the plants will triple in size. So i guess my question is: If I want my plants to get bigger faster, should I give them more (20 hrs) or less (12 Hrs) of light?
Thanks for the help.
1) Like leova said, use several smaller stones to get them to fit. I used (3) 5" stones.
2)There really isn't a standard on how long to veg them. Some say they are mature enough to flower when the branches stop growing immediately across from each other and start alternating. This can be confusing because alternating branches can also be caused by stress. (experienced it first hand)
I flowered at five weeks my first grow and four weeks my second, with no adverse effects. If you wanna wait longer, use topping, fimming and LST to keep your plant at a reasonable height.
3)The common misinformation around forums is that plants require darkness for roots to grow. This is, of course, false. How else would plants grow on 24/0? This being said, I will explain with more detail.
During the day hours, plants will be growing along with taking in sunlight, nutrients and water. Since the plant is doing both at once, energy must be diverted to both, thus decreasing the efficiency of growth. During dark periods, the plant is no longer taking up nutrients and sunlight. This allows for a greater efficiency in growth during the dark period, since no energy is being diverted elsewhere.
More or less, it's not going to make a huge difference on growth if you switch from 16/8 to 20/4. The only real difference you're going to see is a longer transition to flower from 20/4. I recommend 18/6 as a standard for all veg.