24-Hour Day Cycle Reduced to a 22 Hour Day Cycle (Experiment)

[NickHardy]

Yeah just thinking how I could do it without chucking more money into the cost centre that is growing

 

[JiggiLotus]

Have you ever checked out what the plants do in Alaska? Due to the funky natural light schedule, the veggies tend to out grow their own roots! 6 foot wide cabbages and other monsters. The moon cycle is also a factor to consider.

 

[Absorber]

Have you ever checked out what the plants do in Alaska? Due to the funky natural light schedule, the veggies tend to out grow their own roots! 6 foot wide cabbages and other monsters. The moon cycle is also a factor to consider.

No I haven't ever seen or heard of that before

 

[con]

When I first heard of hydroponics years and years ago I assumed that they changed from the 24hr day we all live by to a 22hr day or some something similar, depriving every day of 2 hrs so over a week(7days) you have shortend the overall grow time by 14hrs .
So in vegetation you might have lights on for 17hrs and off for 5hrs .
And in flower on for 12hrs and off for 10hrs .
You see this was how I originally thought they grew marijuana hydroponically all those many many many years ago by having a shorter cycle.
So I've decided im going to give it a try after my Canuk comparative grow with the Bell Syphon finishes up and see if I can shave a few days off the grow .
The one thing that's held me back from trying it was getting a timer that was capable of running a light inside a shorter night day cycle.
This timer below should do the trick it has a repeat function settings that will accommodate the experiment.
I thought I'd start this thread to get everyone up to speed on the idea I have and have a conversation on the possibilities it could present.
I won't tag anyone but all are welcome

so you have a hydro system ? or a auto pot i think thats what they are called

 

[JiggiLotus]

Looking forward to what your experiment unfolds

 

[Sativa1970]

I played with light cycles few years back so interested in seeing your results. I was curious how equatorial plants grow 12/12ish year round but all flower at the same time around the world. And yet you can induce or delay flower with light cycles any other time of the year. Twice a year they try to flower in veg. without the 12 hours of dark they can not get there hormone level down enough to fully flip.

I found there are 3 variable factors;
1)Photosynthesis peeks at lights on and and efficiency declines until lights off. The drop in efficiency is directly related to light intensity.
2) No matter how you slice it up DLI balanced to environment is the key to production.
3) Switching from vary short nights to 12 hour nights needs to be gradual to not loose any gains. The stress of suddenly switching to extreme short days stunts growth.

 

[JiggiLotus]

I played with light cycles few years back so interested in seeing your results. I was curious how equatorial plants grow 12/12ish year round but all flower at the same time around the world. And yet you can induce or delay flower with light cycles any other time of the year. Twice a year they try to flower in veg. without the 12 hours of dark they can not get there hormone level down enough to fully flip.

I found there are 3 variable factors;
1)Photosynthesis peeks at lights on and and efficiency declines until lights off. The drop in efficiency is directly related to light intensity.
2) No matter how you slice it up DLI balanced to environment is the key to production.
3) Switching from vary short nights to 12 hour nights needs to be gradual to not loose any gains. The stress of suddenly switching to extreme short days stunts growth.

Noted
That actually answered a question I hadn't thought about immediately

 

[Roy Growin]

3) Switching from vary short nights to 12 hour nights needs to be gradual to not loose any gains. The stress of suddenly switching to extreme short days stunts growth.

Agree - I go 18 >16>14> and by the time you hit 12 the plant is already starting to flower
Gives the plant time to produce the necessary hormones

 

[Absorber]

so you have a hydro system ? or a auto pot i think thats what they are called

I have 2 tents with both systems in play

Looking forward to what your experiment unfolds

It may be held off for a little bit depending what happens with application to seedsman comparison grow

I played with light cycles few years back so interested in seeing your results.

Yea I'm curious too

 

[NickHardy]

I live in a 12/12 part of the world.

To grow photos outdoors you just put some flood lights on them for a few extra hours an evening. My buddy with a large scale 10,000 plant setup used solar powered ones you can pick up at your local big box store. Reckons you can get nearly 5 grows in a year in Thailand.

 

[Absorber]

I live in a 12/12 part of the world.

To grow photos outdoors you just put some flood lights on them for a few extra hours an evening. My buddy with a large scale 10,000 plant setup used solar powered ones you can pick up at your local big box store. Reckons you can get nearly 5 grows in a year in Thailand.

@KeithLemon style growing

 

[Sativa1970]

I live in a 12/12 part of the world.

To grow photos outdoors you just put some flood lights on them for a few extra hours an evening. My buddy with a large scale 10,000 plant setup used solar powered ones you can pick up at your local big box store. Reckons you can get nearly 5 grows in a year in Thailand.

Midwest summer is 25% more hours of light but 25% less PPFD. At that one point we are at the same DLI you enjoy year round. A greenhouse with the sole purpose of keeping pests out. Can you sense the jealousy?
I am assuming these are hybrids with the short flower cycles and requiring light to keep in veg. My experience with equatorials is that they will not flower in 12/12 until they are mature at roughly 6 weeks old then 10-12 weeks of flower.

 

[Delps8]

Well here's the dilemma is it the 12hrs of light or the 12hrs of darkness that's the trigger or is it just the shortening of light hours thats the trigger because i don't get 18hr days outside

The latter. In sunlight, plants uses hormones to…

[time passes]

Google makes it easy, eh? Some info at this link. For some reason, I was thinking that it was the ratio of auxins to giberrellins that changed as daylight hours started to diminish but I wouldn't put money on it.

And what about good ole "Dummies" books (that's where I might have come across this).

 

[Wastei]

Thanks for dropping in and your input, I'm surprised this hasn't been attempted already

I think it has but maybe not on this forum? It's the uninterrupted darkness that trigger flower. 10/12 and 8/12 makes more sense but plants have internal clocks like humans do and I think there's a great chance of causing a hermie.

Another problems is controlling and keeping the same repeated environmental measures like temperature and humidity throughout the grow will be harder to control with a light cycle that constantly moves around the clock.

If you want to shorten flower time and make it easier to control your environment 10/14 or 8/16 are the safest bets.

Hope that helps!
Cheers!

 

[Absorber]

I think it has but maybe not on this forum? It's the uninterrupted darkness that trigger flower. 10/12 and 8/12 makes more sense but plants has internal clocks like humans do and I think there's a great chance of causing a hermie.

Another problems is controlling and keeping the same repeated environmental measures like temperature and humidity throughout the grow will be harder to control with a light cycle that constantly moves around the clock.

If you want to shorten flower time and make it easier to control your environment 10/14 or 8/16 are the safest bets.

Hope that helps!
Cheers!

Im going to try it down the track, I've just been accepted for seedsman comparative grow so its going to have to wait till after that .
Thanks for your input

 

[Sativa1970]

I've just been accepted for seedsman comparative grow

Congrats Absorber!

I think it has but maybe not on this forum? It's the uninterrupted darkness that trigger flower. 10/12 and 8/12 makes more sense but plants have internal clocks like humans do and I think there's a great chance of causing a hermie.

Another problems is controlling and keeping the same repeated environmental measures like temperature and humidity throughout the grow will be harder to control with a light cycle that constantly moves around the clock.

If you want to shorten flower time and make it easier to control your environment 10/14 or 8/16 are the safest bets.

Hope that helps!
Cheers!

I think every conceivable light schedule has been tried but everyone comes up with a different result. Making the light the only variable is the one of the biggest reason for different results. Not running identical clones in identical environment is going to skew your results.

The second problem is expectations create a self fulfilled prophesy. I ran 6/2 in veg then 24/12 in flower. Took daily stat notes but never referred back to them during the grow. At harvest there was no way you could convince me that this was not a fast grow with bigger yield. Looking back over the notes it was the same as the previous 4 clones within 24 hours. Volume and weight were pretty dead on average as well.