A lighting question

[CT.Greenskunk]

I am new to the indoor game and I have a question on lighting I plan to put my seedlings under cfl's and flourescent tubes before moving to the 1000w mh. should I give the seedlings 24 hrs. of light to start or something more like 18/6 or a 20/4 light cycle. thanks in advance for any advise

 

[ol hippy]

Up to you many have checked to see if there was much difference and the best seems to have been 20 on 4 off but the diff. between that and 24 on was minimal. So 18 on 6 off 20 on 4 off 24 0n it's all up to you . I have a tub in my bedroom closet and have it off at 11:30 and on at 5:30 works like an alarm I get up with my plants ...

 

[CT.Greenskunk]

Nice way to wake up.

 

[Dayzt]

I've vegged under 24hr lighting for my past 2 grows (as opoposed to 18/6 in my first grow) and have actually seen better growth results with 24hr veg lighting. CFL lighting is super cheap, so I'd go for 24hr lighting without question.

As for the MH / HPS issue, CFL lights are definitely the way to go with seedlings up to about 1 week of growth depending on how fast they come up. I usually put my seedlings under the HID lights (MH for veg and HPS for flowering) once their second set of serrated leaves start forming. It's at that time as well that I move them into 6" pots and 'tuck' them in with extra soil, shortening the length of stem between the soil and the cotelydon (first set of seedling leaves). You'll want to put that 1000w light as close as you can without drying out or scorching the small plants, but early on you also want to prevent any stretching... once they're used to the big light, your growth will have some nice tight nodes with that 1000w.... good luck and keep growing!!!

 

[CocoJoe]

Ask a farmer when his corn grows the most. Day or night!