Running autos 24/7 does not reduce potency, its a MYTH

[Filthy_Casual]

Totally agree! Just because it can doesn't mean it's best.

Good rule to live by in general.

 

[Habosabin]

People tend to forget that the energy consumption is exactly the same for a 24/0 or 18/6 if you have a target DLI. The watts are just set lower for the 24/0 grow. In a photo grow the 12/12 would get more watts instead of just giving the plant 50% less light.

 

[McDee]

Good rule to live by in general.

I think if you observe this rule you'll be just fine in whatever it is you're doing.

 

[DIRT]

For the record this is merely my personal opinion from personal experience having been growing and breeding autoflowers for over a decade

Potency will always reside in the genetics used and the quality will always depend on the grower and his or her technique bringing them to fruition.

Obviously environmental factors, which are a growers responsibility also play a key part in this, as well as the drying and curing process.

That being said...

It should also be noted not all things have evolved the same over time.....
Ruderalis has a day neutral cycle out of evolutionary necessity having evolved
in the far northern hemisphere with short seasons under 24hrs of sunlight...strangely enough, alongside other plant species that also thrive under the same 24/0 light cycle...hmmmmmm.
Just some food for thought.

I have personally grown some of the exact same strains and filial generations under many different light cycles 18/6, 20/4, 24/0 with no noticeable difference in potency..this would be impossible to determine unless using clones as a control and we all know that's not gonna happen with autos....
Please don't get me started on cloning autos...lol

Some common problems such as Light bleaching and cal/mag defs seem to be more frequent under 24/0,
high heat and low humidity can also become a problem...lots of variables to contend and troubleshoot.

SO...I do believe 24/0 can create more stress on the plants and the grower if BOTH are not dial in properly..lol

There's many ways to skin a cat...
I'm not here to fight, these are my observations..take'm or leave'm.
You wanna fight...I'll meet you in the parking lot..lol.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

People tend to forget that the energy consumption is exactly the same for a 24/0 or 18/6 if you have a target DLI. The watts are just set lower for the 24/0 grow. In a photo grow the 12/12 would get more watts instead of just giving the plant 50% less light.

That's assuming someone used a Par meter to dial in their lighting to begin with. Plus lights have different efficiencies, every light doesn't have equal output even HID bulbs differ in efficiency.

 

[olbobcat]

Is there no benefit to saving water and energy in your opinion? Are you on well/solar?

If I run a heater instead of the light it would cost pretty much the same or more, I could keep the basement warmer but that is also a waste of energy. I actually am running a smaller light in veg and a bigger in flower to save 100w. We should all be growing outside when possible to save the environment. Unfortunately, not all of us can do it. I will grow 3 autos and one photo outdoors this year. I am going to try running 18/6 when the basement warms up. I am always looking to improve.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

If I run a heater instead of the light it would cost pretty much the same or more, I could keep the basement warmer but that is also a waste of energy. I actually am running a smaller light in veg and a bigger in flower to save 100w. We should all be growing outside when possible to save the environment. Unfortunately, not all of us can do it. I will grow 3 autos and one photo outdoors this year. I am going to try running 18/6 when the basement warms up. I am always looking to improve.

I totally get that. I ran a 600w how for 24/0 before to maintain heat. If you didn't need to heat your room, would you still run 24/0?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

18/6 here.
The additional 6 hrs of light is 360 hrs over a 3 month window... multiply by 29 cents a kilowatt hr... or an added 104$ a run... the minor gain in weight is well offset by the cost. That raises the per gram cost by .20 cents... or about 1.15 to 1.25 a gram of finished product. I need things to run between .70 / .90 cents a gram to stay running.

Here in California, power alone runs me just over 300$ on a 4x4 18/6 per run. Add in the nutes, soil, genetics... filters for the RO system etc, currently a run costs just over 600$. At some point, you start watching your $.

Running 24 on isn't going to reduce your run time any significant amount .. been here done that all before.

Im in california and a 3 month grow doesnt cost me anywhere near that much.. Im guessing your grow is putting your electrical consumption into a more costly tier where the electricity triples in price.. I run 5 auto cobs , a 4 inch fan and an oscillating fan in a 4x4 and my bill barely goes up 40 dollars a month..

What lights are you running???

 

[Dreminem169]

I don't think it matters very much, regarding potency. Its just that the cost of running 24/7 do not offset modest yield gains.

I'm doing it because in Jan-Feb I have to. Would prefer to give the plants a rest, but my tent temps drop 12 degrees in ONE hour during those months.

Starting tomorrow in my area temps go up 30+ degrees outside, I should be able to cut off the lights soon.

If your gonna run 24 hrs just make sure you dim/raise your lights according to the proper DLI for that time in the plants life. I recently found that going over the proper DLI causes strange things to happen to the plant and they do not like it. I just had a plant that was twisting its leaves upside down and the leaves in the row above were angling 45° away from each other (It got even crazier in the pic below before it got better). There’s a DLI calculator if you google it so you can find your optimal DLI, but basically you are converting total ppf throughout the day. From that number you can dim/raise/lower your lights accordingly.

Optimal Light Intensity

"If you want to maximize yield you need to push it hard with light"...Dr. Bugbee Utah State Whether you grow in a tent or commercial facility, every serious grower should know Dr. Bruce Bugbee’s work on cannabis. From lighting to soil. His plant work is funded by NASA and he has decades of...

mammothlighting.com

 

[Dreminem169]

I do not know how the term potency got supplemented instead of quality. Quality encompasses much more than the THC level and is the term I used when making the original statement. Granted - quality is a judgement call but when several testers agreed in a blind test ( I did two) that the quality was noticeably superior in the 18/6 bud over the 24/0 I was convinced.

I am a much better grower now with better lights and perhaps that would change things? I am just not willing to do the testing again because my 18/6 weed is very good.

From my recent experiences I am lead to the conclusion that it has to do with DLI.