Light schedule fast question!

[ML4T]

Hy there.
I have a very simple question and need answer from someone who actually been through or witnessed it first handed. Been looking around the web about this but couldn't find anything so here it goes:

Does light schedule affect the vegetative growth if you for example work 2 shifts and your light/dark hours switch up every week. I kept always 18h or more light and 6 dark. In the weekend switched it up so no lights are ON when I'm not home. (small closet grow).

Thx in advance

 

[Mcjoint]

you really want to keep your girls with a consistent light schedule, changing the plants schedule very often could stress them. it ok to switched around once or twice while in veg but you don't want to do it to often and try to change them slowly. they really don't need that much attention, checking them once a day is fine. you could even skip a day or two with out checking up on them. i really only check my girls to how dry the soil, she pretty much does fine on her own.

 

[Graytail]

I can tell you that it absolutely won't work when the plant gets to bloom, or even as it gets mature enough to preflower. But as long as it's in veg, you may be able to get away with it for awhile - may. When they get a dark period close to 12 hours, too many hormones get involved. Light keeps the bloom flip from starting, and when there's a very long night, growth stalls. It'll go fugly on you and probably hermie.

 

[madmarv0525]

You could just go 24 on for veg or set it up to where the dark cycle is split between the different shifts you don't want to stress them that much

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[mypassion]

Dude if you risk fire (I am assuming small closet grow + hps, that is why you won't leave the light ON when you are not home) it's a bad idea. Otherwise get a timer..

 

[ML4T]

Yes its a small closet grow but with CFLs...and yes i don't wanna burn the flat down Its my first grow and I can compare the vegetative growth only with internet pictures (no real experience) and thats why I ask if switched light cicle affects the growth.
The plant got realy small and im wondering what factors to change up to get close to normal yields. For my 2nd try i got nice air pots, calmag, and gonna upgrade my ventilation also. So only factor left out that i can think of is the light schedule.

 

[ML4T]

Dude if you risk fire (I am assuming small closet grow + hps, that is why you won't leave the light ON when you are not home) it's a bad idea. Otherwise get a timer..

Yes its a small closet grow but with CFLs...and yes i don't wanna burn the flat down Its my first grow and I can compare the vegetative growth only with internet pictures (no real experience) and thats why I ask if switched light cicle affects the growth.
The plant got realy small and im wondering what factors to change up to get close to normal yields. For my 2nd try i got nice air pots, calmag, and gonna upgrade my ventilation also. So only factor left out that i can think of is the light schedule.

 

[AKgramma]

As long as you give plants in veg at least 13 hours of light, they will stay in veg. My timers keep changing their schedules,(schedule creep) for a variety of reasons, but they still are growing well and look healthy, with no signs of preflowers, even at 5 months.

Once you put them under12/12. you have to let them grow under THEIR schedule, not your working schedule. They will be large enough by then to survive neglect for a couple days till you can visit them again.

 

[Graytail]

As long as you give plants in veg at least 13 hours of light, they will stay in veg. My timers keep changing their schedules,(schedule creep) for a variety of reasons, but they still are growing well and look healthy, with no signs of preflowers, even at 5 months.

Once you put them under12/12. you have to let them grow under THEIR schedule, not your working schedule. They will be large enough by then to survive neglect for a couple days till you can visit them again.

That's remarkable. No preflowers in 5 months? But your schedule doesn't change radically does it?

His changes for a shift change, right ML4T? So that's an 8 hour change ... dunno. Once is fine, twice is ok, eventually the plant will suffer.

 

[AKgramma]

That's remarkable. No preflowers in 5 months? But your schedule doesn't change radically does it?

His changes for a shift change, right ML4T? So that's an 8 hour change ... dunno. Once is fine, twice is ok, eventually the plant will suffer.

Well, I TRY to stay on a gaslight schedule, but with timer malfunctions and an occasional outage here and there, I am surprised they have not pre-flowered. But they certainly do once they go to a pure 12/12!

Before I went to the gaslight schedule, I never got any stretch from my OGKs (sativa-heavy). I saved some clones from the last mother OGK and they are doing very well with regular nutes, but still no preflowers. And these are genetically OLD clones, having been cloned from clones from clones, etc, from a mother seeded in March 2015.

Gaslight seems to be preventing the BBLs from preflowering, too, and they are genetically 5 1/2 months old, having been cloned 2 months ago from mothers seeded mid December 2015.

 

[Graytail]

I'm really surprised. Mine usually will preflower after about 50 days in veg under 20/4. One of these days, I'll try GLR. It saves electricity, and that's a good thing.

I vaguely remember that the most important timing is the dawn - it should stay close to the same every cycle. Some plants will have stall in early bloom if they're moved from a veg room with a different dawn time than the bloom room.

 

[ML4T]

@Graytail 1st week the dark hour is from 9 in the morning till 4 afternoon....i stretch the light hours on sunday so by next monday i can switch from 2 in the afternoon till 8 o'clock nighttime. And so on i repeted this schedules.

 

[BigBaron]

I'm really surprised. Mine usually will preflower after about 50 days in veg under 20/4. One of these days, I'll try GLR. It saves electricity, and that's a good thing.

I vaguely remember that the most important timing is the dawn - it should stay close to the same every cycle. Some plants will have stall in early bloom if they're moved from a veg room with a different dawn time than the bloom room.

Those are abit auto i presume, or other environmental shocks may be in play. I have a mother plant in veg for 2 years now....
As for the dawn you are right, changing dawn time shocks the plant, and any harming factor during vef/flower can and will affect your yield.

 

[BigBaron]

Yes its a small closet grow but with CFLs...and yes i don't wanna burn the flat down Its my first grow and I can compare the vegetative growth only with internet pictures (no real experience) and thats why I ask if switched light cicle affects the growth.
The plant got realy small and im wondering what factors to change up to get close to normal yields. For my 2nd try i got nice air pots, calmag, and gonna upgrade my ventilation also. So only factor left out that i can think of is the light schedule.

Dont cut the edges for light expences. Cfl wont go a long way, try switching to hps/plasma/led asap. Best investment if you are going to continue growing.
Do you have a ph measuring equipment? Get one before cal/mag.
GLR works great for autos and photos, but if the electricity bill and heat aint an issue, 18-6 or 20-4 during whole life for autos can perform better.
You dont have to buy smartpods neither, you can make them half price.
Good luck

 

[AKgramma]

I'm really surprised. Mine usually will preflower after about 50 days in veg under 20/4. One of these days, I'll try GLR. It saves electricity, and that's a good thing.
.

5 hours doesn't seem like much per day, but even just 2400 watts x 5 = 12000 watts (12 KWH) saved per day, and over a month, that can be a substantial saving. At 16.6 cents per KWH, the savings can be $60 per month. Using CFLs with a draw of approx 1/4 the nominal Watt output, I save $15 a month, which is $180 a year.

 

[Graytail]

5 hours doesn't seem like much per day, but even just 2400 watts x 5 = 12000 watts (12 KWH) saved per day, and over a month, that can be a substantial saving. At 16.6 cents per KWH, the savings can be $60 per month. Using CFLs with a draw of approx 1/4 the nominal Watt output, I save $15 a month, which is $180 a year.

I don't want to head off on a tangent on someone else's thread ... ... but I started out with a big rig using 18 CFLs at 23 watts for 414 draw watts over three plants, so I have several month's worth of experience with them, and I still prefer them for seedlings until they get out of their cups. The difference in health and growth between CFLs and hps though, is dramatic. I'm sure you've thought it over already, but I just wanted to throw in my two cents. The 600 watt hps in particular, runs cooler than CFLs. I've used various light sources and the 600W hps is impressive in a 4x4. And it's cheap. And CFLs lose output pretty quickly - faster than we think. They continue to look fine but their output is way down - all that heat with fewer lumens. I still have the rig, but I'm using up the bulbs in a couple 4-ways in reflectors for seedlings.

For awhile, I was trying to figure out how to mount CFLs in a way to put the ceramic hot part in a space where you could easily vent it, like a board with holes just large enough for the bases, screw 'em in with just the bulb parts showing, vent across the bases. That would work well for a small sealed veg cabinet.

In some ways, the 600W hps is better than LED.

ML4T, here's the background on the dawn thing: The seed sprouts in Spring, it grows in veg while the dawn keeps coming earlier, then when it's big and mature in late June the dawns start coming later, and eventually the night is long enough in the Fall to overcome the non-bloom hormone that light produces. So, there are two triggers. One is the night length, and the other is the dawn trend. If the dawn trend is towards earlier, they'll veg.

If you only have the two shifts, you could set the dawn for say, 6:00 or earlier. That would give them 3 hours or 8 hours before you leave, then 8 hours of dark while you're gone, then another 13 or 8 hours after you get back. Dawn stays the same and they don't get enough dark to bloom. All you have to do is to be sure you interrupt the night so it doesn't go longer than about 8 hours, the time you're gone.


[Edit] Oh, and don't stress too hard on the fire potential. There's nothing especially hazardous about light bulbs. If you're not being stupid about extension cords or overloading a circuit or have iffy wiring, you shouldn't worry. Just use a power strip with a breaker. Or you're handy, replace the wall socket with a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI).

 

[ML4T]

@Graytail...I lost you a bit with the dawn thingy but nvm.i have no problem with the flowering time since its long (12h).I set it up so it goes off at 6 in the morning and at 6, max 7 afternoon I turn it on so it gets his 12h dark period at the same schedule for 2 months.
Again...my question was if the abusive light cicles during veg had affected my plant and (for me) looks very small. arround 30-40cm
Im thinking to make a grow journal since i got pictures every now and then from my plant so maybe it will be easier to answer me. Now im getting near to 1st week of flower after 3 months veg and plant starts to look more and more healthy.

This was day 25 i belive

 

[AKgramma]

DEFINITELY start a journal and put the URL in your siggy, so we can follow.

I'm glad to read that someone else veges for at least 3 months! I tend to go a lot longer, because of space limitations, but the need to go larger, but fewer plants keeps me forever re-arranging plants to get the best light!

Lovely baby you have there!

 

[Graytail]

There's also a measure of light that counts the number of hours, for a total of lighthours, I forget the name of it. In your case, they're being lit with CFLs which aren't a very intense light source, and they're only getting 12 hours of daylight, so your plants haven't been getting as many lighthours as normal. Here are a couple photos of my plants at a similar age. It's possible that the variation in your daytimes could be why, but yours isn't really all that far behind.

It looks nice and healthy though! You didn't drown the poor thing like so many others do.


Buddha Haze x Utopia Haze - 34 days old and Carnival - 28 days old

 

[AKgramma]

It all depends on how many CFLs you use. I use a dozen on each plant, six mounted low, and six mounted in the spaces in the canopy. I have buds from bottom to top, and her buds are now about the size of a nickle, which is pretty good for growing under 23W CFLs.