WHy 18/6 insteady of 19/5, 20/4 or 21/3?

i was thinking maybe it would be best for root growth if i kept the lights off for a little as well as saving some electricity. but why 18/6 other than the fact that those are approximately a regular daylight schedule? the last time i switched from 24/0 to 18/6 my plants started flowering!

the change in the season triggers flowering and when the seasons change the daylight becomes less and less. It doesnt have to be 18/6 but it should be atleast that. If you want to do 20/4 you can do that too but if you are doing 24 hours a day then keep it that way till your ready to flower, suddenly taking 6 hours of light away isnt cool to do although ive never heard of anyones plant flowering over this its still not a good idea.

so what advantages besides root growth(why?) does 18/6 have over 24/0?

none really, just saves electricity and replicates the natural movement of the sun

Your plants do their growing in the dark. The more dark they get, the more they will stretch. I've always vegged on 24 hrs. It keeps my plants compact with less space between nodes. After 2 weeks of rooting and 6 weeks of vegging, the plant only gets about a foot, maybe foot and a half tall. The same plant usually ends up about 5 to 6 feet tall and about 3 or 4 feet across. I usually get about 6 -8 ounces per plant every 8 weeks. These are blueberry plants, the mexicans are usually a little smaller.

I read in a High Times mag once that, during flowering, you can actually give the plants more than twelve hours of light, as long as they get 12 hours of dark they will keep flowering. The theory here is that the plant absorbs energy from the light and uses that energy to grow and stretch, so the extra light causes the plants to grow more in a single 12 hour period. I've never actually seen or heard any proof of this though.

kcbennie said:

Your plants do their growing in the dark. The more dark they get, the more they will stretch. I've always vegged on 24 hrs. It keeps my plants compact with less space between nodes. After 2 weeks of rooting and 6 weeks of vegging, the plant only gets about a foot, maybe foot and a half tall. The same plant usually ends up about 5 to 6 feet tall and about 3 or 4 feet across. I usually get about 6 -8 ounces per plant every 8 weeks. These are blueberry plants, the mexicans are usually a little smaller.

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word. well i think i'll keep them on then we have space issues.