Apologies for the long read. I have two grows going. Two Purple Haze/Malawi and four Malawi. Both are Sativa’s from Ace Seeds. The Purple Haze plants are in the 2x4x7’11” tent under the HLG 350 Rspec. The Malawi plants are in the 4x4x7’11” tent under the HLG Scorpion Rspec. After the last attempt to grow 100% sativa indoors where my plants grew into the light, I’ve tried to understand how/why that happened, along with accepting that I was not paying close enough attention to the details.
Thanks to input from sativa growers on this forum I learned that swings in temperature and humidity, (depending on the cultivar) sometimes even a couple of degrees can cause the plant to produce wide node spacing and weak stems. My plants fit that description. I’m convinced the 8-10 degree swings I was allowing weren’t good. Another factor is I allowed too much veg time. Because of germination/seedling issues, I had three plants about a week younger than one, and that led me to veg them all for about 5 weeks. Even if I had limited the veg period to 4 weeks, I think it would have been too much. In flower, the 12/12 light schedule may have contributed to the leggy plants I had.
Google also led me to the 12/1 light schedule and grow strategy. GWE’s article on the subject led to some threads and google took over from there. The 12/1 or as some call it, the Gas Lantern light schedule has been around for a loooong time. The 12/1 schedule I’m using in both tents for the current grow has been in service from first light at germination. Lights on 12 hours, off 5 ½ hours, on one hour, off 5 ½ hours, repeat for entirety of vegetative period. In this case I flipped the lights to flower after about a 3 week veg period.
I’m using this light schedule in both tents for the flower period. First two weeks 11 hours on 13 hours off. Then reduce by one half hour every 2 weeks. Eventually working down to 9/15 during the last weeks of flower.
Some say that using the 12/1 light schedule will diminish yields and make the plants grow slower. If that’s true I haven’t noticed it. I’m using it to experiment and see if it helps control the plant height. I’m curious to see if the stretch is less dramatic with this light schedule.
One thing I have noticed is the lung room is not heating up like it does when I’m using an 18/6 schedule. Less heat is making it easier to control the atmosphere. These girls are looking pretty and healthy. I like the color and the node spacing is good with strong lateral branching. I’ve not seen lateral branching like this in previous grows. The leaf tips are showing just the slightest burn. I think the light schedule is helping there as I have not changed the feed schedule or strength of the nutrient solution. I can’t speak to the yields yet but fingers crossed things continue to go well.
Thanks to input from sativa growers on this forum I learned that swings in temperature and humidity, (depending on the cultivar) sometimes even a couple of degrees can cause the plant to produce wide node spacing and weak stems. My plants fit that description. I’m convinced the 8-10 degree swings I was allowing weren’t good. Another factor is I allowed too much veg time. Because of germination/seedling issues, I had three plants about a week younger than one, and that led me to veg them all for about 5 weeks. Even if I had limited the veg period to 4 weeks, I think it would have been too much. In flower, the 12/12 light schedule may have contributed to the leggy plants I had.
Google also led me to the 12/1 light schedule and grow strategy. GWE’s article on the subject led to some threads and google took over from there. The 12/1 or as some call it, the Gas Lantern light schedule has been around for a loooong time. The 12/1 schedule I’m using in both tents for the current grow has been in service from first light at germination. Lights on 12 hours, off 5 ½ hours, on one hour, off 5 ½ hours, repeat for entirety of vegetative period. In this case I flipped the lights to flower after about a 3 week veg period.
I’m using this light schedule in both tents for the flower period. First two weeks 11 hours on 13 hours off. Then reduce by one half hour every 2 weeks. Eventually working down to 9/15 during the last weeks of flower.
Some say that using the 12/1 light schedule will diminish yields and make the plants grow slower. If that’s true I haven’t noticed it. I’m using it to experiment and see if it helps control the plant height. I’m curious to see if the stretch is less dramatic with this light schedule.
One thing I have noticed is the lung room is not heating up like it does when I’m using an 18/6 schedule. Less heat is making it easier to control the atmosphere. These girls are looking pretty and healthy. I like the color and the node spacing is good with strong lateral branching. I’ve not seen lateral branching like this in previous grows. The leaf tips are showing just the slightest burn. I think the light schedule is helping there as I have not changed the feed schedule or strength of the nutrient solution. I can’t speak to the yields yet but fingers crossed things continue to go well.
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