Reduced light hours.

[Vapo69]

Hello GWE, I've been toying with the idea of changing my light schedule to 13/11, I think I read somewhere it forces the plant to bud quicker but hurts your yield, I'm roughly guessing at 8 weeks for flower so if I reduce at 15 mins every 2 weeks, will this speed up the process by a gradual light reduction but keep good yields, if it runs over 8 weeks I can keep it at 13/11 until harvest, or am I overthinking this? Thanks.

[Weed Pharma]

I guess we would need your starting point for lights-
And Yes you are over thinking this !
It could be done much quicker- towards the end of the flower period if needed.

[insomniaczzz]

We switched our lights to 11/13 last couple of weeks, just because we were trying to hurry things along. I have no idea if it helped or not, since it was our first grow. I don't see it being detrimental for sure.

[Royal Nugs]

11/13 is the flower light schedule in the tropics. This is the same region that landrace sativa strains come from. The 11/13 works best for helping sativas finish. I've heard of sativas flowering for 15 weeks. I don't know how much it will cut down your flowering time but it can help. It is supposed to help indicas and hybrids as well but they finish quickly enough imo.

It is also believed to bring out phenotypic expressions, like purpling and foxtails.

i toyed with the idea of running a diminishing light schedule but I just don't see enough of a benefit since I've only grown hybrids to date. The loss of yield is another big reason. Light = weight more than any other factor in an ideal environment. 8% less light is a large amount to me...

My idea was to click the lights back 15 minutes every week.

Now I just click the lights back 15 minutes every day during flush. Usually 5-7 days or until I'm satisfied with the ripeness. Like most of the things I do, it's probably all in my head, but there's a method to my madness.

[insomniaczzz]

I fixed my above post. I meant 11/13 NOT 13/11

[steve]

Do - 14/10 - for best results