MG.. ive watched your youtube videos a lot.. i have a great deal of respect for you as a grower!!.. mainly because you dont go by the book... outside the box thinking is what progresses techniques... ie. the first guy to super crop, top, fim, clone.. all these things came from people who "thought outside the box"... you definatly have made me question a lot of what i believed was true, and opened my eyes to some other things as well.. most notably the roots growing in light debate..
anyways...
what you say is interesting... i honestly am stumped as to why that works out way... i have an idea on it tho... a theory of sorts... i like calling is a theory as im not setting it in stone or claiming it true or anything... and its based off this quote from another grow book by Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal..
http://www.marijuanagirls.com/MarijuanaFree/MarijuanaGrowGuide.html#c7_3
""The plants grow more slowly with less than 16 hours of artificial light a day, and they may flowers prematurely. Some growers leave the lights on up to 24 hours.
A cycle longer than 18 hours, may increase the growth rate, especially if the plants are not saturated with light. A longer cycle is helpful in small gardens, such as under standard four-foot fixtures.""
now this we all know already... it was the high lighted part that got me to thinking... ill state my theory on it... and ill try to explain this as best as i can... so just try to follow me...
Here is my theory - A plant that is "saturated" with light, and growing at its "maximum growing potential", grows better under 18/6, and needs to "rest".. A plant that is not "saturated" with light does not reach its "maximum growing potential" there for does not need the rest..
by saturated i mean the plant is given 100% of the light it can use... basically that the plant COULD NOT use anymore light even if you gave it to her...
ok
ill try my best to explain... and the "what if's" that made me think of this theory, or whatever you wanna call it..
first the what if's.. the main "what if" was-
"what if a plant that receives 100% light, ie the maximum amount of light it can use at any given time, and is growing at 100% its genetic capibility, gets stressed out after so many hours of growth in a 24 hour period"
this would answer your question on why the 18/6 plant produced more than the 24/0 plant... the 24/0 plant could have, if what i said above could be/is at all true, been stressed its entire life creating a smaller harvest... and not stressed like you topped it and super cropped it and fim'd and trimmed a dozen branches off the bottom all at the same time stressed... i mean a little stress everyday over the entire veg cycle.. enough to create a smaller harvest, but not enough to cause a male/hermie..
the other what if has to do with light penetration and stretching.. what if the 18/6 plant stretched more, allowing more light to penetrate the plant, causing more light to be absorbed since more penetration is happening... make sense?? and even if there are fewer nodes in the 18/6 scenario, more light penetration into the plant = more nodes getting more light = larger buds... basically the light penetration would cause the plant to grow larger buds throughout the entire plant instead of just large buds at top and popcorn buds below... make sense there??
ok.. so there are my what ifs... now for the all important analogy...
maybe veg growth is similar to a car engine... heres where you have to follow me...
an engine (high powered HID) in a car (plant) traveling at full speed and top rpms (growing at 100% ability) can run 24/0, but will start losing value and power (stress related things... harvest yield dropping being the main idea for this scenario) due to it getting "beat on".. ie no oil changes, tune, ups, engine rest, ect.. (whatever the hell the plant does during lights out in veg)...
a car (plant) that is does get a chance to "rest" (18/6 cycle) will maintain its value longer (larger ending yield) because it wasn't "beat on" (had time for doing its dark thing)...
now its kinda a bad analogy i know... but the basic idea is there... in this scenario the car that was driven at top speeds without stopping ended up with a lower value, power, ect ect EVEN THOUGH it got me where i was going faster... so this scenario, in a round about way, would be why your 18/6 cycle got a better yield than your 24/0 cycle...
but.. i have an analogy that supports why the 24/0 cycle works for others also..
a car (plant) where the engine isnt pushed to full limits (a smaller HID that doesnt max out the plants full potential growth) can run 24/0 and not need the "engine rest"
in this scenario the engine isnt maxed out or stressed so the car maintains its value while still getting me where im going faster than if it was have rest...
i know these arent great scenarios... and there are flaws in them... and one doesnt really compare to the other... but its all i could think of off hand..
basically i guess it comes down to this... MAYBE plants need rest
if you have 100% lighting (plants can not absorb anymore light) and don't need the rest if they dont have "100% lighting"... and to go a step further, if your plants do receive 100% lighting, 24/0 might actually stress your plants which can diminish yields.. that 24/0 works best IF your plants can still process more light than they are given..
i really really really hope this makes sense cause fuck it took a lot to type...
also... IF you think anything i said makes sense, do you think 18/6 or 20/4 is a better schedule?? have to tried 20/4... reason i asks is ive heard little bits here and there about 20/4 being the most optimum schedule but havent heard any actual reports...