12/12 From Seed

[how2banana]

Has anyone here done it? How effective is it, and what kind of plant training (if any at all) works well with it?

[Sonnyhad]

Why try it when you know they need 18 hours of light in the veg stage. Autos wouldn't care though but still would be a small plant.

[how2banana]

I was just curious as to other peoples' experiences with it and how they felt about it

[Royal Nugs]

In order for 12/12 from seed to be practical, you need to fill your grow space with a bunch of plants. Even then, you can't expect much yield. It's best to take full advantage of vertical height as well as horizontal. Basically, fill your tent as much as you feel comfortable with.

[NebulaHaze]

I wrote an article about it here if you're interested. I did a little experimentation with this a few years ago. I found I got the best results by giving them 18-24 hours of light a day for the first 3-4 weeks, and then switching to 12/12 at that point. Even if you give them 12/12 from the beginning, they won't start flowering until around week 3-4 anyway, but they'll grow a lot faster/bigger if you give them more light in those crucial first weeks (without adding to your final time to harvest).

I found it best to wait to switch to 12/12 until plants are about this size or a little bigger (note: young plants like this can and will double or triple in height after the switch to 12/12)



At harvest, 3.5 months from seed



Sea of Green in action, with many plants



But if you want the fastest yields you might consider an auto-flowering strain. They will usually be quicker to harvest (many auto-flowering strains are ready to harvest by 3 months from seed) and the yields will be higher than 12/12 from seed with a photo, since auto-flowering plants get 18 hours/light a day in the flowering stage instead of only 12. Those 6 extra hours each day gives your plants 50% more light, and your yields will show it! Photoperiod plants tend to get the best yields/results if you let them get a little bigger first

This auto-flowering plant is 3 months from seed. Notice how much more bud is on this plant than the plants above, even though it was ready to harvest in less time

[Sonnyhad]

Great info Nebula, thank you!

[Tika]

Love this series!!!!

[insomniaczzz]

Beautiful pictures Nebula with lots of useful information. I just love this place.