Lighting What's the best lighting cycle for autos - 24/0, 20/4 or 18/6

[Possum]

Just did an unintentional side by side..Had 12 various autos growing for about 35 days in one spot. The light cycle was 19-5 under about 775 watts of light(400 hps + CFls and linear flourescents). I was running out of room, so I took 4 of the smallest--sickliest(had one very wilted plant) and placed them in a closet with about 335 watts of light running at 24-0(250 hps and two CFLs). These 4 plants ended up surpassing their counter parts in the 19-5 room significantly. They had much thicker denser buds, finished 7 to 20 days faster, slightly shorter but the internode spacing and larger denser buds more than made up the difference in height. Even the wilted plant caught up with it's healthier sister, which was no slouch. Same soil..same nutrients.and same pots. The larger room had better ventilation and temperature control.Not sure what happened, but I'm a 24-0 convert for the time being..

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Just did an unintentional side by side..Had 12 various autos growing for about 35 days in one spot. The light cycle was 19-5 under about 775 watts of light(400 hps + CFls and linear flourescents). I was running out of room, so I took 4 of the smallest--sickliest(had one very wilted plant) and placed them in a closet with about 335 watts of light running at 24-0(250 hps and two CFLs). These 4 plants ended up surpassing their counter parts in the 19-5 room significantly. They had much thicker denser buds, finished 7 to 20 days faster, slightly shorter but the internode spacing and larger denser buds more than made up the difference in height. Even the wilted plant caught up with it's healthier sister, which was no slouch. Same soil..same nutrients.and same pots. The larger room had better ventilation and temperature control.Not sure what happened, but I'm a 24-0 convert for the time being..

 

[Kaellan420swe]

24/7 900w led ftw xD

 

[Trapper]

I will probably go 24/0 for the first two weeks or so then switch to 20/4.

My thinking there is to take advantage of all the potential vegetative cycle (pre-nutes)
and get good distance between the budding sites for better penetration.

But once I start them on a regimen of supplements, to give them some down time.

 

[FreeLivin]

Hmm, I keep running into trapper, think he's stalking me lol. I don't know why I am posting today, kinda in a mood. Well, as we all know, or least anyone who's ever read anything I have written, I don't know shit, well...
I do read a lot, which means nothing--- but in all my weeks of experience I have noticed quite a few people say they get best results starting with 24/0 until pre-flower and then switch to 18/6. There is a link of a guy who did a grow with a group of friends with same strains but diff light cycles and other stuff. This sucks, I was going to link the youtube video of the grow, long grow, very detailed, but apparently it no longer exists. So I don't have anything more to say, grr. However in the video this guy did show results of each grow and discussed the variations in each. Oh well.



4ThePeople

 

[Trapper]

;P

Hey, I came to my conclusions after reading one of Microwave's threads. Really an amazing blueprint for very, very close to what I'm attempting to achieve.

https://www.autoflower.org/f139/cream-caramel-30880-3.html

 

[FreeLivin]

I also found this. Also I think yields or quality could be effected one way or the other <----> but I def think it should have a dark period either way. just my opinion.There was a guy who posted early on but might have seemed to be too much or too technical however this this kinda states the same, I found this below online, kinda simple.




A. Yes, plants do need darkness to grow.
First, in the photosynthesis process itself, there is a reaction known as 'dark reaction' pathway or lately known as 'carbon reaction' pathway where the free energy of ATP and reducing power of NADPH, are used to fix and reduce CO2 to form carbohydrate. This is very important process to release Oxygen into the air. This happened in the dark or at night.

Secondly, for inducing the plant to initiate flowering process. This phenomena is known as photoperiod, ie based on the ratio of the daylength to night length over 24 hours. Plants reaction to photoperiod can be divided into 4 groups.

a. Day-neutral plants - the plants has no effect on photoperiod, They will flower when the plant reach physiological maturity.

b. Short day plants - plants will only flowering when daylength is shorter than nightlength. This group of plants will only flower in late summer or fall or very early spring, when day length is shorter than the night period. e.g. strawberries, potatoes, chrysanthemums etc.

c. Long day plants - Plant that flower in spring or early summer. eg lettuce, spinach, radish etc. Flower initiation will begin when the daylength is getting longer than the dark period.

d. Intermediate day plants - These group of plants will grow vegetatively when daylength is either too long or too short. They will only flower when the day length is about 12hrs of daylight and 12 hrs of darkness.


Don't know if it helps at all.




4ThePeople

 

[Johney]

19/5 cuz I like to be different

 

[Grey Bear]

24/0 for most healthy autoflowers. For my growing and lifestyle this works best for me with good yeilds and good quality.
If I grew three plants out 24/0, 20/4, 18/6 iam pretty sure the only difference any would notice is yeild.
In healthy autoflowers more hours of light equals greater yeild.
It's not the only factor, but it is a big one.

 

[Dark Matter]

But don't they need a dark period for growth ?

 

[Grey Bear]

But don't they need a dark period for growth ?

I have test grow of auto pink grapefruit in the Dope seeds section of the forum.
it has been under 24/0 and will finish under it.
No complaints.