That has been my (limited) experience, but I didn't know if for some reason the plants NEED the 6 hours of darkness. I figured if anyone knows the guys here at RIU would!!!!
and why does that matter? in nature plants also dont get water for a week or longer sometimes, that doesnt mean you should do it inside like that.Just think about it. It grows natural on this Earth...and no place where MJ grows has 24 hours of light!
In nature, they don't get most of what they do while growing indoors (good fertilizer, controlled environment, regular watering, pruning, etc!!! So far for me, 24/7 gives me nice bushy short plants with LOTS of nodes. I've always been told to NEVER use clear planters because the light can damage roots, but I haven't heard of excess "sunlight" hurting plants in any way as long as they have sufficient water. While I guess the whole power useage thing may have some merit, I use a 600 watt MH/HPS (works with both). It has run for 8 weeks straight at a time, non-stop, with absolutely NO noticeable impact on my power bill. I KNOW that 24hrs a day works just fine, but I am trying to determine if my plants might do even better running 18/6.
It is entirely possible that it COULD. 24/0 pretty much guarantees no premature flowering (unless you're growing one of the auto-flowering strains). Most switch to 12/12 because it should make ANY strain flower.
It really depends on the strain but for most strains sold by the major seed breeders 12/12 is the preferred and time tested light cycle for forcing flowering.
My current grow went 9 weeks at 24/0 under a digital 600 watt HPS lamp, then I switched straight to 12/12 6 days ago. So far I have positively id'd 5 females (all between 24 and 26 inches tall and VERY bushy --- I have no clue what strain because I used bag seeds from some rather good Mids) and chopped down 4 males. I still have 5 more that haven't showed sex yet.
