i am planning on doing a seed run and trying to save as much electricity as i can for male plants. What is the least amount of light i can give my plant and still have if flower for me?

[supermanlives]

yes it will. you wont get anything and the plant will prob die. 12 hours maybe even 10. anything less is a waste IMHO 10 does work tho

[OrganicBuds]

I would use lower wattage and keep 12/12

damn so i wouldnt get any pollen if i did this?

[GrassRoots]

Wish I could help more, just never done what you're asking. But I agree with the idea of just using lower wattage for your males and a more typical lighting schedule. 60 watts worth of cfs will cost you next to nothing.

12hours x 60watts = .72KWh x 45 days = 32.4KWh x $.15KWh (a high price for electricity) = $4.86.

So $4.86 to run 60 watts of cfls for 45 days. That should give you plenty of time to get some pollen and it's pretty cheap.

[delta9nxs]

editing to remove duplicate post

[delta9nxs]

hi, i've been running 8 hrs on, 4 hours off, 8 hours on, 4 hours off or 16 total hours per day in veg for a long time. with anything less than that i have had some plants with strong auto tendencies initiate flower.

if you are looking for pollen there is a breeding technique using low power flo's called the "bonsai sultan technique". i can't remember where i saw it right now but if you google it in quotes like above you should get several hits.

[Grobot2010]

Bonequicha, definitely try to go the low wattage route others have suggested here. I don't know what the particulars are of your situation, but 23 off, 1 on is going to be a disappointment in the end.

Hey delta9nxs, what caused you to go with this light schedule, and how do you feel your growth rate is compared to one period of 16 hours on followed by 8 off?

[delta9nxs]

Originally Posted by Grobot2010

Bonequicha, definitely try to go the low wattage route others have suggested here. I don't know what the particulars are of your situation, but 23 off, 1 on is going to be a disappointment in the end.

Hey delta9nxs, what caused you to go with this light schedule, and how do you feel your growth rate is compared to one period of 16 hours on followed by 8 off?

sorry for the delay but i just saw this again.

essentially by measuring the light actually received by the plant and computing the daily light integral for each session.

i feel the breaks give the plant time to process the photosynthate.

the growth rate is very good. i reach the same size with the same plant in about the same amount of time measured in weeks as i do with either 24/0, 18/6, or 16/8. an 8 hour period with the 1k hortilux at 16" gives the plant a little over 32 moles per session or 64 moles per day.

the most sunlit places on earth rarely get 64 moles per day. at the u. of ariz, in a 13 year period, the highest moles/day figure recorded was 70.

everyone who is serious about growing needs a quantum meter.

[datruth]

male plants can be removed from the grow and flowered using ambient light. i set some near my window and they continue to flower. i let em flower till some good balls showing then remove. us males dont like to stop what we are doing and like to finish LOL. havent had one male revert or stop flowering with this method.