I have recently start growing and have stumbled upon the DGC, I love the content and information that you provide. I have heard everyone in the grow community talk about light cycles and how they can and will effect plants. Although every mention of of light cycles is based of a 24 hour day. What if you stretched the day out to 30 or 36 hours? For example instead of 18-6 in veg would plant act differently with a 22-8 or even a 26-10 cycle? Have I broken new ground or just taken a few too many hits? Interested to hear your thoughts.
Maybe this will provide some insight. A few cycles ago I had my veg lights on during the day, and flowering at night. So I moved my remaining veg plants to flower one day giving them something like 30 straight hours. They were pissed. They did not at all look happy. And it took them a couple days to recover. This was with flowering lights dialed back to 50%(first week of flowering thing I do). So I personally wouldn’t recommend it. Dont forget these plants have evolved over millions of years to have a 24 hour day. Good luck. Keep us posted if you try anything!
To much light they can only use so much before they get full.
Random stoned thought, but how about if it was reversed? Give your vegging plants their full DLI over 12 hours and then give them their six hours of sleep. So your days get shorter instead of linger.
Now your thinking. You could shorten your days as long as your plant could supply itself with enough nutrients and not show light burn or nutrient deficiency. Hard thing would be controlling the lights as most things are made for 24hrs but it can be done.
well, if your flower lights are strong enough to max out your DLI in 12/12, shouldn’t that intensity do the trick in veg in 12 hours as well, or does a plant want a different DLI in veg vs. flower?
nvm, read that wrong, but ya, that’d probably have to be a DIY job with an Arduino or something similar.
What if DLI is a myth..😶
I think that the horticulture industry as a hole has spent plenty of money researching what is the lighting schedule that provides the most efficiency. Granted, different plants have different requirements, but they are all based off of the 24 hour light cycle. Particularly growing outdoors, it only makes sense to follow natures cycle. Indoors, you can extend things, but at Coach Steve mentioned, DLI (daily light integral) is the measurement of how much light the plant can benefit from in a 24 hour cycle. Too much light will produce diminishing returns. Cannabis, with proper lighting will reach the desired DLI within the 24 hour cycle, so extending the cycle doesn’t make practical sense. Plus, in a commercial atmosphere, you have to consider the power bill.