What Is Your Veg Lighting Schedule?

Green Inferno

Active Member
This is my first indoor grow, plenty of outdoor grows, I always started them inside
under shop lights, gave them a little head start before sending them outside. I did
20/4 light schedule. And that is what I am doing now. Lights are off from 7am-11am.

I have read about people doing 16/8, 18/6, 20/4, and 24/0, and even one guy that
said 14/10. The last one seems a little off, but have read about plenty of people
doing the other schedules.

What is the difference between these? Am I wasting 4 hours of energy per day by
doing 20/4? Would it be better if I added 4 hours to make a full 24 hours?
 

Green Inferno

Active Member
All my plants are less than 6" right now. Maybe 13 days old. I will be topping them probably tomorrow.
I'm switching to 12/12 when they get to 12" tall. My grow area is pretty small.
 

jeeba

Well-Known Member
I like to rest my seedlings and cloned for 6-8 hrs.I personally have had better results this way.But once they are rooted I jam 24/0 till about a week,week and a half before flowering.Then 12-12.
 

ChiefRollaJoint

Active Member
mine is just over a month old so i do the whole 16-8 routine. since ive been doing it my plant has pretty much doubled in size. i guess its what ever you are most comfortable with while making sure that your plant gets what it needs.
 

Green Inferno

Active Member
I've only done 20/4, I'll have to experiment with the different schedules. I did just switch it to 23/1 earlier today,
we'll see how that goes. I would've just done 24/0, but I'd like to give the light a rest once per day.

When I start my next veg, I'll try 18/6.

Thanks for the responses everyone!
 

KevinSmith

Active Member
I went 24/0 7 days a week :) have a look at my sig and you will see how it has turned out so far.
In Veg first 5 weeks my plants were as large as they were tall. Once into flower my girls jumped to 3-4 times as tall as wide.
I like tight nodes and short stocky plants in veg.
 

Green Inferno

Active Member
What kind of light are you using?
90 watt LED for now. It veg's quite well. Not too sure how it will do in flower, I bought it from my friend, he did a grow seed to harvest
with it and got decent results, but he has been growing a lot longer than me. This is a more of a practice grow. Learning what I can before
I buy a bunch lights and expensive seeds. I have my tax return money set aside for when I do decide on what lights to get, hydro set up
and tent, fans and carbon filters.
 

oOBe RyeOo

Active Member
Ah shit dude you better run that thing 24/0... you'll need to give it all the light you can and that led is cheaper than a good digital ballast.
 

Green Inferno

Active Member
Ah shit dude you better run that thing 24/0... you'll need to give it all the light you can and that led is cheaper than a good digital ballast.
I have a 250 watt HPS, but it wont go in that little cab. There wouldn't be room for the fans needed to keep it cool.
The LED isn't one of the cheap Chinese ones from Ebay. It is just 90 watts though, and those claims made by the LED
companies that they compare to 400 watt HID lighting in nonsense.

I plan on getting either 3 X 600 watt HPS, or 2 X 1000 watt HPS.
 

sleezy1

Well-Known Member
I have always used the 18/6 lighting schedule for veg and 12/12 for flower. I dont mess around with the schedule, if it works why mess with it?
 

StacksOnDeck401

Active Member
i have the biggest t5 and i have it on a 18/6 time schedule.. i have most of my garden in my veg room.. the mothers, seedlings, the fresh cut clones, growing clones, and my clones that are just about to go into my flowering room.. so my EVERY plant starts from 18/6.. seems to be working great for me too.. i have a white widow in a 3gal pot in rootsOrganic just giving it raw tap/hard water.. and that white widow is doing GREAT! one of my best/strongest/fastest growing plants.. also my plants i put into flower begin the flowering cycle usually less than 2weeks..
 
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