veg hours

[journeyquest]

Whats the least amount of hours i can veg my plants without them flowering? 14? 15? 16? No one in the hydro section could answer this. Seems like a simple question.

 

[ColBatGuano]

I would have to think that would depend on the plant. I've found that organic soil growing teaches that the plant does what it wants, it is up to you to feed the soil and provide light. beyond that, it is out of your hands. Take it slow.

I wish I could give a concrete answer, but I don't think there is one. All plants are different. The 12/12 rule we hear about is a general range of light and dark which plants all seem to respond to. Tweaking that pattern a bit could probably affect the plants for better or worse, but 12/12 is a "rule of thumb" for a reason.

Perhaps you can experiment once your plants are ready to flower. Run the cycle for a bit at different ratios: 17/7, 16/8, 15/9, and so on until they flower. Then you'll know how long that particular plant can go without light before it wants to show itself.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

It's going to vary with genetics, but the daylength that keeps plants in veg is shorter than most people think. I'm guessing that for most genetics, it's around 13-14 hours. But, that being said, I have had clones of certain plants that were very reluctant to return to complete vegetative mode even under 16 hours, which is what I currently use.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Changes from strain to strain and plant to plant. 12/12 is flowering for dummies. Few if any plants require 12 hours of dark but, given 12 hours of dark, you'll flower regardless of strain.

 

[journeyquest]

Reason i ask is i just took clones last night and want to slow the growth of the parent plants while the clones take root. Then put them together and flower all 6 at the same time. Ive been vegging at 18hrs. Any problem with this idea? These pics were taken yesterday. You can check out my progress if you go to my photos.

 

[darookie2000]

Reason i ask is i just took clones last night and want to slow the growth of the parent plants while the clones take root. Then put them together and flower all 6 at the same time. Ive been vegging at 18hrs. Any problem with this idea? These pics were taken yesterday. You can check out my progress if you go to my photos.

I use T5s to slow my growth. I think longer veg time is actually better for slowing growth (it has been in my experience, anyway) - my plants tend to stretch more at night. I tried something similar to what you are trying, but it's damn near impossible to root a clone and grow it out quickly enough to catch up with any type of yield, IMO. You're at least 2 weeks from being ready with those clones and that's a long wait for the two moms.

 

[journeyquest]

Well maybe i could let them flower longer after i harvest my big plants. I dont have space to have a seperate veg and flower room. I just want to try and get some small cola buds off the clones. I wil set them up closer to the light. Right now i have a cfl on 18hrs. and shut off the 400w until flower. I can wait anouther 10 days or so. I have anouther 3ft to play with. The big plants are just over 2ft tall. This is my first attempt at cloning.

 

[Hank Hemp]

I go 18/6 veg, 12/12 flower. Works for me. No 24 on, I have not noticed any difference between 24hrs. and 18/6. But that's just me.

 

[MMAJAY]

I would think that if you shorten the amount of light you normally give your plants it might cause them to go into flowering.

 

[sparkjumper]

The reason its hard to answer is because different plants will react differently to photocycles but indoor they will almost always flower with 12 hours of darkness.I have vegged at 15/9 and even 14/10 and my plants stayed vegging without any signs of flowering.Some plants may want to flower at 14/10.I like looking at it in terms of dark hours because thats what matters.So my plants stayed vegging with 10 hours of darkness.I never tried vegging with 11 hours of darkness thats just cutting it too close I think.I know 10 hours of dark(14/10)always kept my plants vegging