Using more than 12 hours of dark

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Hey guys, I'm getting worried my plants might not be finished on time... can someone tell me hwo it might affect them (yeild, quality, plant health etc) if I reduce them to say 11/13 or even 10/14?

 

Thanks for any help!

[WantDaChronic]

lots of people use 8/16 in the final few weeks of flowering to speed the process along...

 

it can reduce the yield significantly depending on how long the shorter flowering period lasts for + how mature the plant was at the time it begun....

 

it would probably be better to work the plants down say an hour or 2 a week, untill you have reached 8/16...wont reduce your yield as much and its pretty much replicating nature with the hours of light getting less and less instead of a 1 off complete drop in hours

 

skywalker knows heaps more about light cycles than me, he's bound to reply

[F420]

Longer dark periods will give you a faster finish, but it does cost you in terms of yeild and potency.

If you have no choice and you will ripping them anyways then Put them on a long dark.

The problem with long dark is less light right at the time that the plant needs as much energy as it can get.

 

I have done it in a rental property and the buds wernt that bad, If you have grown the strain before and smoked it, then You would notice a difference.

[instink]

i understand that it will affect yeild but can it really affect potency?

 

What if i reduce them an hour or two now (day 18) and back to twelve in the last 2 weeks? or could that send them back to veg?

[Luke Skywalker]

Potency is more related to genetics than anything else, although of course if you grow a great strain crap it will never be as potent as the same strain grown well.

 

I would say you'd only get at most a couple of days shorter flowering time, and in the end, light=sugar to the plants, so I wouldn't reduce the hours at all.

 

lots of people use 8/16 in the final few weeks of flowering to speed the process along...

 

I'd have to disagree with that, I don't know many who've done this at all, and those who have, went back to a normal flowering time indoors after this.

 

wont reduce your yield as much and its pretty much replicating nature with the hours of light getting less and less instead of a 1 off complete drop in hours 

 

Well, I reckon it would reduce your yeild, you're only giving the plants 2/3 of the light energy that they've been receiving through the rest of the flowering period, and in the final few weeks most of the weight develops, so I feel this is the time not to be screwing around with the light cycle. It might not be a huge difference, it may only in the end be marginal, but really, you're not doing the plants any favours.

 

And as far as replicating nature goes, well, that's not what we're trying to do. Indoor growing gives us advantages because we don't do what nature does, a constant photoperiod will always result in more light, and therefore more yeild than one which wanes over time.

 

I have a feeling that there's probably little difference aside from end weight in the buds anyway, as the critical photoperiod point is reached after about 9-12 hours of darkness, (strain dependent) when the phytochrome (flowering hormone) is allowed to build up to that critical level, thus triggereing a flowering response, in darkness. Light destroys phytochrome, so if the point is reached at 10 hours darkness, it will still be reached after that 10 hours even if you have a 16 hour dark period. More phytochrome may stimulate a slightly faster flowering period, but it wouldn't make a really identifyable difference anyway. 7 weeks and 3 days isn't that much less than 8 weeks, neh?

 

IMHO, you'd be simply starving your plants for little benefit at all.

 

 

skywalker knows heaps more about light cycles than me, he's bound to reply

 

hee hee, didn't see that one till the very end of my post... sorry, I'm a rambler.

 

What if i reduce them an hour or two now (day 18) and back to twelve in the last 2 weeks? or could that send them back to veg?

 

It would depend on the strain, some equatorial varieties are quite sensitive to even small changes in daylight hours, vegging at 13:11 and flowering at 12:12. Besides this, there is something to be said for giving your plants as much light as is possible in the flowering period, and keeping that light level stable, as chopping and changing the light period often enough is certainly a stress factor, and that could result in the plants producing hermie traits.

 

Still, it may not have much effect at all, but why risk it?

 

All of this is my own humble opinion, and I hope that something in this ramble helps. Good luck.

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Thanks heaps for that man, I appreciate all of it. I guess i'll be sticking to 12/12 and just hope that my parents don't come back from travelling the country too quickly heh

 

Thanks again!