Should I switch to 13/11?

[Rick Sanchez]

Hi again community,
I'm on week 6 of flowering and I read something about switching to 13/11 mid flower, In your experience, does this actually have a effect on the buds? if so, have you tried 14/10?
Thanks!

[Tika]

Good Q I am wondering as well....switch mid flower?
I put would be great on switching as well as reason for it in the first place...is it in Ed's book (s)..

[9fingerleafs]

Yes it's a good way to ensure flowering. I've read less than 10 hours starts to hurt development and yield. I currently use 11.5/13.5 (btw it's light/dark so 14/10 would be 14 hours of light but I know what you mean. Try 11/13 at most. Many sativas seem to speed up

[Rick Sanchez]

I was talking about giving them more light then dark (13/11) so they have more time to ripen under the light, what would I benefit from them having an hour less? I'm already at week 5 of flowering with some buds fattening up.

[9fingerleafs]

That's not a good idea. Like jacuna said. Weed needs 12 hours of dark to flower.

[Lotusyde]

You're going to hurt the hormones inside of the plant and cause them to switch back to veg. That's a 3-5 week set back. Don't do it, it's a trap!!!!

[Jacuna94]

If you have a photo period plant you need 12 hours of darkness no matter what. You will wind up stressing your plant and possibly hermie if it stays in flowering. You could do 13 on 12 off. Or 14 12. It will throw your days off but you need the 12 hours of darkness. Buds ripen with more darkness. I know it sounds weird but that's how cannabis grows.

[NebulaHaze]

The longer the night periods the plant gets, the faster your plant is ready to harvest. The buds mature faster with longer nights. It's because the plant "thinks" winter is coming and is trying to "finish up" before it starts getting too cold.

However, the reduced hours of light a day, and reduced number of days, causes somewhat reduced yields. The reason auto-flowering strains get such great yields for the amount of days is because they're able to make buds with the energy from 18+ hours of light a day. If you grow auto-flowering strains under a 12/12 schedule they'll be ready to harvest at the same time, but with far smaller yields. In the same way, long-flowering photoperiod plants often get huge yields because they have so many extra days of light hours - it gives them tons of energy to put into bud-building.

So it's a matter of finding that balance for your particular strain. Some Sativa and Haze strains can take months to harvest unless you give them a 11/13 light schedule! But if you have a short-flowering strain that only needs 7 or 8 weeks of flowering, you may be really hurting your yields by cutting down their flowering stage even further