Hi,
I am just starting to learn what autoflowering strains are and how they react to stimuli. This plant is so interesting!
Far from wanting to open another thread on 18+6, 20+4, 24+0 light+dark schedules, I have a more specific question which I was not able to answer looking at some online discussions on the subject.
Here is my point.
I have read that auto have a specific lifespan. Some measure it in weeks. Some measure it in number of stem nodes.
It may be that different auto strains have different lifespans. The situation gets more and more mixed up as new ruderalis/sativa/indica strains are created.
Let's assume to have an auto which has a specific lifespan in number of days.
What happens if I artificially prolong the length of the days? Let's say I have a light schedule of 24h light + 8h darkness. That's a day of 32h, 75% illuminated. Does this mean the plant may be able to live longer?
Why would I want to do it? Maybe I want to be able to perform more intensive LTS/Topping or other shape-forming techniques, in order to, i.e. increase yield, or show off incredible photos, or just have a nicer plant
A complementary and probably even more interesting idea would be to let plants be ready in less time: for example 12h light + 4h darkness, 75% illuminated --> one artificial day each 16h. How much is this impacting yield? How much does it affect the possibility of topping/LTS?
Is there anyone which has already done such a test?
It would not be too difficult to prepare separated setups with same auto strains but different time schedules, and then provide a measurable result.
Caveats:
1) Maybe autos do not have a circadian day which can be modulated to increase their lifetime or flowering age. We know from other situations that this may happen (i.e. laying chicken which produce more than 1 egg a day if the artificial day is shorter than 24h)
2) 24h+8h may be too long. Maybe we can push to something like 22h+6h. Same for 12h+4h: it may be too short.
3) If everything works but we increase the yield as much as we increase the lifespan (linear increase) then we are not really gaining anything: more time, more electricity costs, more yield. But less time, less electricity, less yield (linear decrease) may be worth pursuing: at the end we may have more crops per year and each one is ready faster (but we need to buy more seeds).
Thanks, Leodp
I am just starting to learn what autoflowering strains are and how they react to stimuli. This plant is so interesting!
Far from wanting to open another thread on 18+6, 20+4, 24+0 light+dark schedules, I have a more specific question which I was not able to answer looking at some online discussions on the subject.
Here is my point.
I have read that auto have a specific lifespan. Some measure it in weeks. Some measure it in number of stem nodes.
It may be that different auto strains have different lifespans. The situation gets more and more mixed up as new ruderalis/sativa/indica strains are created.
Let's assume to have an auto which has a specific lifespan in number of days.
What happens if I artificially prolong the length of the days? Let's say I have a light schedule of 24h light + 8h darkness. That's a day of 32h, 75% illuminated. Does this mean the plant may be able to live longer?
Why would I want to do it? Maybe I want to be able to perform more intensive LTS/Topping or other shape-forming techniques, in order to, i.e. increase yield, or show off incredible photos, or just have a nicer plant
A complementary and probably even more interesting idea would be to let plants be ready in less time: for example 12h light + 4h darkness, 75% illuminated --> one artificial day each 16h. How much is this impacting yield? How much does it affect the possibility of topping/LTS?
Is there anyone which has already done such a test?
It would not be too difficult to prepare separated setups with same auto strains but different time schedules, and then provide a measurable result.
Caveats:
1) Maybe autos do not have a circadian day which can be modulated to increase their lifetime or flowering age. We know from other situations that this may happen (i.e. laying chicken which produce more than 1 egg a day if the artificial day is shorter than 24h)
2) 24h+8h may be too long. Maybe we can push to something like 22h+6h. Same for 12h+4h: it may be too short.
3) If everything works but we increase the yield as much as we increase the lifespan (linear increase) then we are not really gaining anything: more time, more electricity costs, more yield. But less time, less electricity, less yield (linear decrease) may be worth pursuing: at the end we may have more crops per year and each one is ready faster (but we need to buy more seeds).
Thanks, Leodp
