Light schedule

[AgentP]

Last summer I tried my first grow (outside), but it was a disaster! I was a nube, I had issues with bugs, and skunks. So I lost all my plants. I’m trying this again this year but this time I have moved my grow inside. This gets rid of almost all the problems. Well, definitely the skunks, so far, no bugs, but I still have the problem of being a nube. And because I have have moved everything inside, it’s like my first grow again. However, so far my plants are doing pretty good. My questions might seem a little dumb but I can’t find the answers anywhere, so here goes it; A friend had started seeds outside, once he knew he had females, he gave me a couple. I brought them home and put them in my indoor greenhouse. I have since put them in their forever pots and like I said they are doing good. (Thanks to this site I have learned a lot and still learning) anyway when I got the plants I started them on the same light cycle as the sun and I have been gradually increasing the light time to match the sun but I have been reading about 16/8 and 24/0 schedules. Which schedule is best? Any pros and cons? I presently have them up to 15 hrs and 15 minutes of daylight, can I jump them to the 16/8 or 24/0 in one jump or should I do it gradually?

[Tersky]

If growing photos, I always do 18/6 then flip to 12/12 for flower. for autos you can keep at 18/6 after flowering starts. Anything under 16 hrs of light and you can accidently start flowering in some strains of photos. I recommend reading the tutorials on the main site. When growing indoors you are not dependent on the sun's schedule so adhering to it indoors does not help at all. My advice, go to 18/6 as more light is more food for the plant which means more growth.

[Floopydoop]

You leaving them inside or going to transition outside? I think that would be the only reason you'd want to tie the sunrise/set to artificial lighting. I did that before placing mine outside.

Others will be along shortly to do better than I will, but let's give it a stab to start out, yeah? I'll start out with an important question, leave the technicals to the oldies

Do you know if these are fast flowering (autos) or based on light cycle (photos). That's going to play a big part in what your lighting should lean to I think.

[dilvish]

Are they Autoflower or Photoperiod. That is really the question. Read up on the differences and if you don't know the type you are growing, it's kind of a crap shoot.

When in doubt treat them like Photoperiod. Give them 18/6 for about 8 or 9 weeks then switch to 12/12. If they are Photos they will do fine, if Auto's they will also do fine but likely not as well in terms of yield.

[MeEasy]

Autos? Photos? Either way I'd put them on a 18on/6off if they're autos they'll start flowering on their own and I'd leave them on the 18/6 if they don't start flowering wait until they get about 14-18 inches tall and switch em to a 12/12 schedule so they will start flowering.
I would also click the menu button (three little lines top left) at the top of this page and click the growing basics button in the drop menu this will give you some good training ideas which will help your harvest.

[Ckbrew]

Been there, done that. Don't worry, be happy. For the light, u don't have to match what the sun is doing, that is one advantage of indoor. If they are photos and still in veg, u can do just about anything to them and they will survive. I tried 24/0 and found they did better on 18/6. My intuition (not science) says they are living things and need a rest period just like anything else. If autos, well I only have experience with 2 plants that were supposed to be photos, just give them as much light as u can. I decided to raise photos indoors due to being able to control them. I decided on a few autos for outdoors. I had similar problems as u with outdoor plants. Don't know what local weather is where you are, but where I am by the time the light went below 12 hours, the temp at night was cooling down to the low 40's and dew would settle on everything, leading to white mildew and bud rot. For that reason I went with autos, started early for outdoor grow, and they should be done while the weather is still hot and dry, before the weather changes.

Something to consider, Once a plant goes outside, I never allow it to go back into the indoor grow. U are just asking to bring in pathogens and insects. Hope this helps.

[vanq]

I also encountered this problem before, I chose 18/6, because plants and humans also need to rest, it is impossible for photosynthesis 24 hours, I hope this answer can help you.

This is the information I found before, you can refer to it: https://www.vanqled.com/lighting-tim...s-cultivation/

This is what I am planting Black Kush. She is beautiful, isn't she?

[PLreef]

Don't you love when a member asks a question, gets a bunch of great advice and dissappears.... I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, who knows maybe he's lurking and reading???
I'll throw in my 2 cents for shits and giggles. I run my autos at 18/6 from day one to the chop. During the winter ( my last grow) I ran 24/0 to help keep the temp stable. Truth be told, I haven't seen any major differences.

[MeEasy]

I'm starting my second round of autos and I'm going to try the 6/2 light schedule I keep hearing it really get them going. Guess we'll find out

[PLreef]

6/2???? Fill me in, I haven't heard of that method.

[MeEasy]

I'm seeing more and more people doing it and I haven't heard anything negative about it. You just do 6 on 2 off by the end of the day you've got 18/6 but for some reason it really makes the plants take off. I'm even hearing them doing it for veg on photos not just autos.
There's an article here on GWE on a guy doing veg on a 12/1 schedule and I've wanted to try it just haven't here's a link to that one I'm sure there's stuff on the 6/2 I've just been talking to others about it and gonna give it a shot

https://www.growweedeasy.com/12-1-lighting-method