Flowering light cycle questions

Soulkipper

Active Member
What is the best flowering light cycle?
Should they stay 12/12? should it have longer light periods? should it have longer dark periods? shorter light periods?

11 1/2- or 11 3/4 dark did not put my plants into flower over the course of about a month. (mostly red spectrum light)
 

mainliner

Well-Known Member
11/13.... more yeild but takes longer
13/11.....less yeild but quicker

something like this i maybe wrong




good luck:)
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
I don't believe light cycle impacts length of flower, not much at least. Some strains will go to flower with 14 or even a bit more hours of light, some won't flip unless you have 12 or less. For maximum yield you want maximum hours of light that the plant will accept in it's phase. 12/12 is normally used because it works 100% of the time. Strains listed as finishing outdoors early will either flip with >12 hours of light or just have a short flowering period. You could drop you light duration down until you see that plant flip, then keep it at that duration and make a note for that specific plant for future grows.

Start at 14 or 14 1/2 hours and drop duration by 15 minutes every 5 days, by the time it flips you will be within 1/2 hour of max and can try 15 or 30 min more on the next run.
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
12/12 always works most of the time (yeah i know that sounds funny lol) - 11/13 works better for sativas. Something about the 11/13 schedule brings out more sativa expressions (dj short quote). My current grow I started at 12/12 (one plant just did not want to flower) so I changed it to 11:30/12:30 - then down to 11:15/12:45, now I am at 11/13 for the last 10 days. I grow sativa dominant plants.
 

Soulkipper

Active Member
i'm prob sticking to 11/13 for the remainder of this grow.. it might be 11:15 / 12 45 i dunno don't really care.
 

schuylaar

Well-Known Member
What is the best flowering light cycle?
Should they stay 12/12? should it have longer light periods? should it have longer dark periods? shorter light periods?

11 1/2- or 11 3/4 dark did not put my plants into flower over the course of about a month. (mostly red spectrum light)
dark room 2 days (do not water or nute while they are in the dark); then 12/12..are you using a timer?
 

schuylaar

Well-Known Member
12/12 always works most of the time (yeah i know that sounds funny lol) - 11/13 works better for sativas. Something about the 11/13 schedule brings out more sativa expressions (dj short quote). My current grow I started at 12/12 (one plant just did not want to flower) so I changed it to 11:30/12:30 - then down to 11:15/12:45, now I am at 11/13 for the last 10 days. I grow sativa dominant plants.
really? he said that? hmmmmm.
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
really? he said that? hmmmmm.
Yes. This is exactly what he said "Sativa phenotype characteristics will manifest under a more equatorial photoperiod, closer to a 13/11 veggie cycle and an 11/13 flower cycle. This is the light timing range to use to elicit more Sativa dominant expression from your plants."
 

RM3

Well-Known Member
Yes. This is exactly what he said "Sativa phenotype characteristics will manifest under a more equatorial photoperiod, closer to a 13/11 veggie cycle and an 11/13 flower cycle. This is the light timing range to use to elicit more Sativa dominant expression from your plants."
and it works :bigjoint:
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
and it works :bigjoint:
It sure does! I'd recommend using this mostly sativa or sativa ibl strains, but to not confuse people, this isn't intended to be used for indicas, but hey, you never know what will happen if it's a hybrid (which most plants are nowadays) :bigjoint:
 

schuylaar

Well-Known Member
Yes. This is exactly what he said "Sativa phenotype characteristics will manifest under a more equatorial photoperiod, closer to a 13/11 veggie cycle and an 11/13 flower cycle. This is the light timing range to use to elicit more Sativa dominant expression from your plants."
you can't 13/11 veg..you're plants won't stay in veg..they must have minimal 14 hours to retain veg or they will flip to flower.
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
What Rm said. There's a lot of methods, many people use 12/12 just because that's the first thing they were told to use and it worked. But there are other options out there, especially for mostly sativa dominant plants.
 
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