DarkSideoftheBloom: The Story So Far..

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Why are you running your lights 18/6 instead of 24/7?
 
most everything I've read (forums, Ed rosenthal's marijuana growers handbook, weedsthatplease.com) has said 16-20/8-4 for beginning veg.

What upsides do you find to 24/7, goddess?
-darkside
 
Cannabis does not benefit from a dark period. Only during flower to trigger the flowering hormones.
During veg and dark time is considered unproductive time as the plant does nothing at all. it encourages stretch in the plant that's about it.
If I'm not mistaken you can only use CO2 though when the lights are off cant you? You would have to get rid of the DIY CO2 rig. I would say an extra 6 hours of light will give you more bud at the end compared to using that CO2 rig though.

I also would suggest going 24/7 if its possible. You are loosing 1/4 a day of growth.
 
Jericho said:
Cannabis does not benefit from a dark period. Only during flower to trigger the flowering hormones.
During veg and dark time is considered unproductive time as the plant does nothing at all. it encourages stretch in the plant that's about it.
If I'm not mistaken you can only use CO2 though when the lights are off cant you? You would have to get rid of the DIY CO2 rig. I would say an extra 6 hours of light will give you more bud at the end compared to using that CO2 rig though.

I also would suggest going 24/7 if its possible. You are loosing 1/4 a day of growth.


Thanks for the tip, guys. I take the co2 rig out during lights out, I know their respiration reverses during night.. But I didn't know dark period encourage stretch.

And not to seem as I disbelieve you guys, but why do a lot of ppl suggest 18/6 then? Maybe just a deviation in opinion? I'll switch my lights when I get home from work.. Thanks again
 
I think 18/6 is still suggested because thats what most of the older guides put down the cycle as. I know the one i have says it can vary between 18/6 or 24/7, if i was running a 600w for the 1st time i would go with the 18/6 to save money, now i know it will still grow for those other 6hrs, i keep it 24/7. Cant see any other benefit.
 
Thanks to all who have taken the time stopped by so far! I'll keep posting as she goes... Your help has been awesome.

also, goddess, checked out your scrog- very gnarly.
 
Day 6: Gradually switching my lights to 24/7 (thank you goddess, jericho). put them on 21/3 today and will go full length tomorrow. so from what i can tell, they're looking pretty good. 3 had some trouble with her seed casing, but i have faith.. she seems to be catching up pretty well. 1 and 2 look quite healthy to me, though. thanks for checkin back in.. from me to you :48:
-darkside


top: #2
bottom: (L to R) #3, #1
View attachment IMG_0054.JPG

View attachment IMG_0055.JPG
 
Jericho said:
I think 18/6 is still suggested because thats what most of the older guides put down the cycle as. I know the one i have says it can vary between 18/6 or 24/7, if i was running a 600w for the 1st time i would go with the 18/6 to save money, now i know it will still grow for those other 6hrs, i keep it 24/7. Cant see any other benefit.

I think that 18/6 is old school thought--before we knew as much about the biology of the plant. The plant does not grow during those other 6 hours--it stretches--a far different matter. IMO, running 18/6 doesn't really save you any money--it just lengthens the vegging period. So, in effect, you are spending the same amount just over a longer period of time. Either that or you have a plant with fewer internodes.
 
:yeahthat: :goodposting: You should use nothing less than 20/4 when vegging, 20/4-24/0 doesn't show that drasticly much difference for the average grower, 20/4 will save a little money on electral costs.
 
The Hemp Goddess said:
What kind of "CO2 rig" do you have going?


haha, its just a 1 gallon mineral water jug, filled 1/2 with mineral water, 1 cup sugar- shaken, then i added 2 tblsp of yeast w/ half cup mineral water. small hole poked in the top and small tubing placed about 8" from the top of the cups.
took your advice on the lights - they're running 24/7 now. thanks for the heads up!
-darkside
 
lookin good for just 1 week green mojo to keep it comin
 
darksideofthebloom said:
haha, its just a 1 gallon mineral water jug, filled 1/2 with mineral water, 1 cup sugar- shaken, then i added 2 tblsp of yeast w/ half cup mineral water. small hole poked in the top and small tubing placed about 8" from the top of the cups.
took your advice on the lights - they're running 24/7 now. thanks for the heads up!
-darkside

Save your time, effort, and money. This kind of thing simply does not work. For CO2 enhancement to be effective, it must be controlled and monitored in an airtight environment (there are several other criteria that should also be met light bucko lumens and higher temps). Your plants will have plenty of CO2 if you are exchanging the air in your space 3-5 times a minute. You can use passive inlet for this, but you need a decent centrifuge type fan (Can, Eclipse, Vortex, etc).

Your plants are going to be happy with lights 24/7.
 
Looks like its time for bigger pots. Looking good and green.
 
Jericho said:
Looks like its time for bigger pots. Looking good and green.



Question: if I buy smaller containers (I have 5 gallon, thinking about going down to 3 gallons - growing sativa) will the lack of room for roots to grow help keep my plants smaller? Or will the damage only further decrease my yield bc of root damage? I have 57" of actual height inside my box
 
okay, so I replanted the girls today. tried three different types of medium just to observe how they react. these are just bag seeds from a good batch of pineapple kush I had.. They germinated well and I have high hopes for harvest time-- but if they turn out to be controls for future grows, I suppose I can live with that too. Will update soon!

Sitting on 5 fem. Raspberry cough and 5 fem. Blackjack seeds from nirvana. They're next!
 
Jericho said:
I think 18/6 is still suggested because thats what most of the older guides put down the cycle as. I know the one i have says it can vary between 18/6 or 24/7, if i was running a 600w for the 1st time i would go with the 18/6 to save money, now i know it will still grow for those other 6hrs, i keep it 24/7. Cant see any other benefit.

but.... 18/6 is not saving a cent..."if" it requires an additional few days of vegging to reach the same maturity level for flowering. :doh: In addition, the dark hours induce stretching, which removes 'more' of the budding sites further from the light source.
"I" believe the only possible benefit of running less than 24/0 is to allow cooling of the hid components.
 

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