plants start flowering because they recognize the days are getting shorter as they would in the wild with the seasons changing. 12/12 is just a standard as it seems to be effective but there are many different light cycles that people use to either speed up or shock the plant into, 24-36 hours of solid darkness before putting a plant into flower is supposed to force it into flowering faster then a 12/12 switch right away. Ive also heard of people switching the lights gradually over a few days to give the plants a more natural switch. There is also one more cycle i have heard of... 21h36m of light on and 12 hour lights off. You use 80% more light but ur plants finish in almost half the time. As far as having 1 hour less light id say not to do it because more light is always better, ive heard some going up to 14/10 in the last 2 weeks of flowering for an extra kick, but dont take my word on that last part, might hermie the plants, its just whats ive read
