OK this has been debated a million times I know..but what is the main word now?

On lighting schedules during the vegetative period...24/0 vs 18/6...

Are there advantages of 24/0 over 18/6...because I have noticed my plants seem to grow the most during their "dark time"...perhaps it is my imagination...I read a lot about 24/0 making the plants grow faster, or bushier...

So do they? Can I see some examples of people using 24/0? Is it really different, or is 18/6 better? Which one? I use 18/6 and as I said I notice the plants always look totally different in the morning, I mean you can see small changes throughout the light cycle, but the most noticeable growth seems to happen during the dark, and during a horticulture class in high school I remember something being said about plants needing a dark period, but really MJ does...light and the lack of light are definitely triggers for alot of MJ functions, During germination they need dark, during veg do they need only light? or do they need dark as well, because we all know that during flower they definitely need dark...

So what is the proper light cycle now that we have mutated science bred wonders...It isn't about how it grows outside...because most popular strains are perfected for indoors these days---not saying indoor weed is better, just saying that all the plants are bred based on how they do inside...plants that do well inside go on to be used as breeding stock...maybe those other phenos would have been kick ass outside...we'll never know because theynumerous seed companies keep the ones that give them what they want inside...Would it be better to give my plants 24/0?

i prefer 18/6 myself, i've done multiple grows with both methods and i've always came to the same conclusion you have regarding the visible small changes.

i use the 18/6 cycle ive tryed the 24/0 and its just no down time for the plants,lights,fans and everything else.. i see better growth at least healther growth with 18/6, with 24/0 it was ok growth but it seems stretched a bit

"I mean you can see small changes throughout the light cycle, but the MOST noticeable growth seems to happen during the dark".

Like the title says, this has been debated a million times. You kinda answered your own question there. Personally I veg under cfls 24/0 only because I'm a lazy fuck.

If the majority of people say 24/0, are you going to go 24/0 when you yourself notice more growth during dark?

Not being a dick...just sayin.

Amazing to me how many growers seem to think that growing cannabis amounts to some high tech lab experiment created by mankind, completely forgetting that it's a naturally occuring plant that has grown outdoors for thousands of years without any such notions about indoor or closet cultivation, 24 hrs of light or anything of the sort working to any benefit. Sure you might be able to make 24/0 work, but other than near the Arctic or Antarctic poles no such natural occuring daylight period is possible. Ed Rosenthal in the original and best MGG subscribes to the idea that like any botanist will tell you, plants need a nightime rest period as part of their day's cycle. Just because they grow at night doesn't mean they'll grow more if light is on them at night too.

Jar Man said:

Amazing to me how many growers seem to think that growing cannabis amounts to some high tech lab experiment created by mankind, completely forgetting that it's a naturally occuring plant that has grown outdoors for thousands of years without any such notions about indoor or closet cultivation, 24 hrs of light or anything of the sort working to any benefit. Sure you might be able to make 24/0 work, but other than near the Arctic or Antarctic poles no such natural occuring daylight period is possible. Ed Rosenthal in the original and best MGG subscribes to the idea that like any botanist will tell you, plants need a nightime rest period as part of their day's cycle. Just because they grow at night doesn't mean they'll grow more if light is on them at night too.

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As for forgetting that MJ is a plant and they make it outside...this plant probably never has...it doesn't occur just in nature...it is a cross of plants...kind of like the evolution of dogs...I mean they are all descended from wolves, but if you leave your chihuahua outside it runs the risk of being eaten by a hawk...So this is a human bred plant...as were it's parents, and unless Dinafem is lying the parents before that were all cultivated by people...so some strains were not bred with the sun in mind...and the idea that well it happens outside becomes a moot point. I had personally noticed that my plants appear to grow more during their rest time...what i was asking is if anyone had experienced any noticeable gain from using 24/0... and could a bunch of people saying 24/0 gave them better results make me change what I was doing...maybe, depends on the results that were achieved when compared with what I want to achieve...Isn't that the point of a debate after all? To get your ideas out there and hear other people's ideas so you can take them under advisement...?

Jar Man said:

Amazing to me how many growers seem to think that growing cannabis amounts to some high tech lab experiment created by mankind, completely forgetting that it's a naturally occuring plant that has grown outdoors for thousands of years without any such notions about indoor or closet cultivation, 24 hrs of light or anything of the sort working to any benefit. Sure you might be able to make 24/0 work, but other than near the Arctic or Antarctic poles no such natural occuring daylight period is possible. Ed Rosenthal in the original and best MGG subscribes to the idea that like any botanist will tell you, plants need a nightime rest period as part of their day's cycle. Just because they grow at night doesn't mean they'll grow more if light is on them at night too.

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Thank you. I was pretty sure that the period of rest is good for growth. I just keep reading about cloning under 24 hr light and seedlings under 24 hr light and it made me wonder if perhaps chronically indoor grown and bred MJ might not need that rest period. I mean things are always changing...Hell Pluto used to be a planet!

I duno why I want to get on board with one of these threads, but seriously, when does a plant ever get 100% darkness in any environment at anytime other than indoors? When I get bored though I can fill hours of time reading debates on the subject. I personally, 24/0 for Veg, have no opinion or fact based evidence on which is better. If I was vegging with several thousand watts, cost would be the only real deciding factor for me to really try and do some extensive experimenting.

I've personally done both.

24/0 means tighter nodes during veg, but IMO you get a bit more stretch once switched to 12/12.

18/6 can have just as good node spacing if night and day temps don't swing too far. Once switched stretch is a little less than on 24/0. Also gives your pocket a little rest too.


Personally I'm an 18/6 guy because it costs me less to heat the room than it does to run it the extra time.



J

Try 20/4

I've tried 16/8, 18/6, 20/4, 24/0 and all odd amounts of time in between.

20/4 worked best for me, I got the most growth per electricity used.

there are a lot of methods out there...really its whats best for the individual strain...my Cali Golden Kush does not like the short cycle of 16/8...but I can get away with it, with my purple dragon.

missnu said:

As for forgetting that MJ is a plant and they make it outside...this plant probably never has...it doesn't occur just in nature...it is a cross of plants...kind of like the evolution of dogs...I mean they are all descended from wolves, but if you leave your chihuahua outside it runs the risk of being eaten by a hawk...So this is a human bred plant...as were it's parents, and unless Dinafem is lying the parents before that were all cultivated by people...so some strains were not bred with the sun in mind...and the idea that well it happens outside becomes a moot point. I had personally noticed that my plants appear to grow more during their rest time...what i was asking is if anyone had experienced any noticeable gain from using 24/0... and could a bunch of people saying 24/0 gave them better results make me change what I was doing...maybe, depends on the results that were achieved when compared with what I want to achieve...Isn't that the point of a debate after all? To get your ideas out there and hear other people's ideas so you can take them under advisement...?

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The point remains. Cannabis lineage goes far furhter back than some recent few generations some guy grew out and cross bred with anything else. And the domesticated dog analogy doesn't cut the mustard. Not bred with the sun in mind? You think that really makes an impact on something genetically as ancient as the earliest civilizations or older? Or ok, just imagine keeping a Chiuahua awake for 24 hrs straight hours for a month or two and see what happens. You just don't get it. Proving my very point. You're so disconnected from reality with your THC techie mind it's unreal.

Dont know about the plants but if you are using HPS or MH, you dont want to go 24/0 as the ballast makers all agree that the ballast needs at least an hr or 2 a day off time to cool.failure to do so will shorten the life of the ballast & bulb. not sure if this holds true for eltronic/digital ballasts

The odds are that any degree of growth that has occured at night is a result of the dark period subsequent to the prior hours of daylight, artificial or natural. And any conclusion that such growth could be enhanced by keeping light on 'em 24 hrs is merely a seemingly logical deduction that doesn't add up in practice. Much like the assumption that if taking 3 or 4 Bhang hits makes you feel that good, then taking 20 or more has gotta' make you feel even better. I have yet to hear from anyone with any credibility over the years that keeping their plants under 24 hrs of constant light has yielded any accelerated benefits in the end result.

I really can't blame people here for a problem that reaches far across the spectrum of recent scientific advances at the most advanced levels. Particularly those who actually believe we will be able to fully replicate the full intellectual and psychological scope of the human mind experience synthetically by the year 2023 or before. As though people will eventually be able to somehow integrate and brain/memory transfer over their entire lives for all eternity into an advanced computer cyborg-systems program and become super human with off the scale performance capacity and lightning fast reasoning and mass calculating abilities, etc. Indeed, these people are brilliant in the computer science realm. But in practical terms that actually considers all that it is to be human that goes far beyond what's understood or will be any time soon, there's simply no way for an incomplete designed program and system as a result to accomodate such an unknown scope of reality that amounts to all of the human life experience. Unless we are in fact the original creators of what we already are from the beginning, such logic is flawed buncomb nonsense that can never happen.

16-24 works well for veg, i would normaly run my lights on 17 hours, but sometimes 24/7 in veg

if you watch your plants you will notice that after an amount of time they droop or goto sleep
they virtually look wilted .. i have noticed that this can and tends to happen around 16 hours,
if the leaves are drooping and are not stretched out trying to take in the light, they are not fully processing it

i really do not think extra light after they have gone to sleep (16 hours) helps a great deal, but i do think the extra heat from the lights can speed things up
i think people underestimate how much heat plays a role in the speed they grow, most people including myself do not provide heating to the plants when the lights turn off
so under 24/7 constant light, the plants are also constantly warm, i think it is this that speeds them up, as they grow a bit quicker for me on that photo period but its not a huge difference

I use 24 because it is 1 less timer I have to worry about.

I dont see the need to stray from 18/6, unless your rooting clones or starting seedlings, because 24/0 is much easier to setup no timer needed and temps wont go down at night. Its a matter of practicality.

Besides if anyone ever did proove that 18/6 works the best someone else would pop up saying 18:43/5:17 works better!

Whats much more important to consider is whether 12/12 is the perfect ratio, or if 12:30/11:30 might work better, or could you stretch to 13/11 mid flower. Or should you go 11/13 with certain strains. For some reason I don't see this discussed nearly as much as the 18/6 24/0 debate. Flowering time is limited to the strain so its during flower that you really want to worry about what will boost yield!

A technique some growers use with the idea to increase overall yields is instead of immediately switching to 12/12 all at once they gradually shave an hour in the morning (lights on) and evening (lights off) every two weeks. From 18/6, to 16/8, to 14/10 until arriving at 12/12 on the third two week reduction the next month. The intention is to mimic the natural pattern in late summer/early fall as daylight hours shorten. Some swear that this helps produce longer fatter colas on the main stem and side branches more similar to plants grown outdoors. This is time consuming and is difficult to use commercially or in a perpetual setup. But for one timers it may be worth the effort.