18 hours VS. 24 hours of light. Come in and give you pro's & con's

I'm now on my third grow and ive learnd sooo much from this site. My last two grows i went with the 24/24 on the light cycle during vegg. I'm NOT doing these grows for profit, i do them for personal stash and quility of the buds. Electric bill is not an issue because i'm only running a 400w ballist. Does the the 6 hours of no light during vegg benafit the plant or is it just a cost of electric bill issue? Any help with this and opinouns are welcomed.

For veg. I'd stick to 24/0 til your palnts are a few weeks old.....then change to flower mode......

Hey,,
personally, I havent seen a difference of growth while using 24hr compared to 18hrs. I like to think that those 6 hours of dark give the pant time to complete its day cycle. Plants cool and close stomata during the night. I just go off the theory that growing indoor we are trying to re-create outdoor conditions. So unless you live in the North pole or South, 24hrs of day dosnt happen.
Also we treat plants like kids,,we care for them, so how would you like to keep your kid up 24hrs aday for 4 weeks(say)?
Also if your eleccie bill is lower your grams per watt per 30days would look better, and would make the grow more sucessful.(Techniacally.) I know your not fussed bout $£ but having that dark period will save you money........

This is just what I think,, , but I like to think my plants are kinda organic, so natural lighting time ,in my veiw, are worth it.

^^^ I agree with bunnyface, it makes more sense to try and recreate natural conditions. We're growing plants not building robots...although I wonder what robot weed is like... =D

I,m doing 24/0 now for the first time and haven't seen any notable differences . I,m being forced to do this because my heat source is a heat lamp that cycles on and off in my veg area .

It does seem to me that vegging for 24/0 will make the plants grow a little quicker. But talking to a buddy before who had tested this in his environment found that for the extra 25% of light you are giving it during vegg, you are going to get about 10% of extra weight on the plant during harvest.

i split the difference and go 21/3 just so my ballast can cool off

compromised as well 20/4

18/6 is WIN all other is LOSE.

24/0 tends to produce bushier and more compact plants, they tend to stretch during the dark period. if you are using hid that doesnt matter and its nice to be able to turn your lights off for the hottest part of the day and they also have better light penetration and keep the usefulness of the light further from the bulb(cfls lose almost all their worth at 4 inches about). Ultimately both have pro's and con's that make it depend on the specific situation, their is no right or wrong answer.