24 hrs of darkness before flipping to 12/12
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aspire2grow
Member
its my first grow and my plants showed excellent clower after 2 to 3 days i vegged 6 to 7 weeks tho i think aslong as the plant mature enough it will be ok regardless
Sorry, does this mean you gave it 24 hrs of darkness?
saiyaneye
Well-Known Member
I think u should just start with 12/12? I only hear of 24/hr dark period at the END of flowering. You don't want to stress the plant it this critical stage of it's life. In veg you can chop the plant and half and it will bounce back.. During flower, they are sacred holy plants that shall not be touched, cut, defoliated, or tipped over 
Alec420
Well-Known Member
I never heard any scientific proof of this having any real affect on the plants trichome production. I think the plant will be producing resin if its dark or light, as long as its still alive, its still active... I tried it before on my first grow (right before harvest)72 hours darkness. My weed was still bunk lol
aspire2grow
Member
sorry no i didnt my explanation was more mature ur plant enough and u should be fine regardless
BobCajun
Well-Known Member
I don't have the reference but I read in an article that being in long days and then going directly to short days, there is an inhibition of the flowering effect for the first few days caused by the recent long days. But, when they gave a 24 hour dark period first it neutralized the inhibition. So you probably speed up the beginning of flowering by a day or two
The article wasn't about Cannabis in particular, just other short day plants, but there are Cannabis related articles which say that growers have found that 48 hours was best. Personally, I wouldn't go beyond 24 because that's how long it takes for a plant to burn off all starch reserves. I can't see whatever extra flowering speed you might get being worth the plants starving for 24 hours after all the starch is gone.
The article wasn't about Cannabis in particular, just other short day plants, but there are Cannabis related articles which say that growers have found that 48 hours was best. Personally, I wouldn't go beyond 24 because that's how long it takes for a plant to burn off all starch reserves. I can't see whatever extra flowering speed you might get being worth the plants starving for 24 hours after all the starch is gone.
aspire2grow
Member
when i did mine i just took more time off so the lights went off earlier seamed to make more sence putting em to bed earlier as it usually gets darker nights 
loftygoals
Well-Known Member
I had 2 lots of plants vegging together. I moved them into separate flower areas with the intention of alternating their day/night schedules.
One half went straight into 12/12 while the other half got 24 hours of darkness. The 24 hour dark half seem around 3-4 days ahead in flower. These were various strains grown from seed... will need to try it out on some clones in the future as you can't draw conclusions based on such a small irregular sample.
One half went straight into 12/12 while the other half got 24 hours of darkness. The 24 hour dark half seem around 3-4 days ahead in flower. These were various strains grown from seed... will need to try it out on some clones in the future as you can't draw conclusions based on such a small irregular sample.
blackforest
Well-Known Member
It makes zero difference.
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Been there done that. Mentor swears by it. He goes up to 5 days dark prior to the switch. I have gone 3 days dark with plant turnout being great. Some stretch but not wild. Wish I had the article mentioned above before I asked a similar question a couple years ago on my first grow. This went south but holds some interesting info if you look for it:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/complete-dark-for-5-days-pre-flower.835340/
https://www.rollitup.org/t/complete-dark-for-5-days-pre-flower.835340/
When I said I want to switch to a night schedule was for controlling temps better. Not because I thought it made any difference. I was just curious whether its safe to switch the plants schedule like that and how to go about doing it.
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Its safe however you decide. The plant is resilient. Assuming your veg darkness is at night...i would just start your darkness normally and let it continue until the next evening when you turn your lights on for flower.
BobCajun
Well-Known Member
Yeah that's what would be expected. I actually haven't tried it yet myself. I'll do it next time though.
blackforest
Well-Known Member
I've done that several times before (changing the light cycle to run at night). When I change it, if they are in veg, I extend the light cycle longer to the change. If it's in 12/12 I extend the dark cycle. For example, if I'm running my lights from 8am to 8pm and want to change to 8pm to 8am. When they go off at 8pm, change your timer and leave them in the dark 24 hrs until 8pm the next day. If you are changing the light cycle during veg, it's the opposite. Give them more light.
Raven121415
Well-Known Member
I know this thread is a bit older, but having grown he same strain 3 times now, I can say with certainty that after 24 hrs dark on Saturday, and lights starting 12.5/11.5 on Sunday, I saw the tale tell yellowing of flower initiation literally Monday mornin, and an now seeing prominent pistil development today, Wednesday, where as in my past 2 grows of the same strain it took about 4 days to see flowering kick in, and another 3 days to see pistil development. I vegged for same period each time, only differences were training techniques and fert.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
That’s not a sign of early flowering. It’s a sign of nutrient deficiency.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
It is far red light that helps speed flowering not darkness.
The darkness myth is about more trichomes at the end of flowering like said and ignored above.
The only thing it does do was also mentioned above. It allows the carbs in the plant to return to the roots. Good for better flavor earlier in n cure.
The darkness myth is about more trichomes at the end of flowering like said and ignored above.
The only thing it does do was also mentioned above. It allows the carbs in the plant to return to the roots. Good for better flavor earlier in n cure.
SchmoeJoe
Well-Known Member
The same way that you'd reset schedule for flowering. Shut the lights off at what ever time they'd normally go off then turn them on at the first time you can turn them back on with at least 12 hours of darkness. 12 hours-36 hours, it doesn't really matter as long as it's a one time thing and they get the minimum 12 hours.
I've started flowering by just going straight to 12 and I've also done it by shutting the lights off for a full 1 or 2 days. Doing the extended dark period always seems to make them skip the gradual transition and get right at.