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12/1 lighting--Any truth or banana in the tail pipe?

St3ve

Member
I personally am all for lowering the electric bill.. but not at the expense of yield.

I tried this for two runs in veg.. and YES it does slow down the growth. I've grown these same strains for EVER so I can tell pretty easily if something changes each run.

I've gone to a declining scale of light in veg now. Meaning root clones under 24hr, once they are growing hard I start them at 20hr and reduce an hour each week until they are flipped. Which is at 14 or 15 hours. I do that because the first week is under flourous.. then 3 weeks under a single 400w, then the last two weeks under two 400w. So, I'm still saving some electricity, but not sacrificing the growth. In flower.. I keep them at 12/12 until the last two weeks. Then I take off a half hour for the last two.

Can somebody tell me how I set a timer to do 12/1. I can't pm..

It depends on what type of timer you run. They are all very different.
:peacock:
 

St3ve

Member
I would also like to add.. I would NOT do this if I was vegging in the same room as I flower. I would stay at 20/4 because that is what I've found to yield the fastest growth.

With only ONE room.. you are under the time pressure of vegging and have to veg as quickly as possible. It doesn't make sense to have to add a week of veg because of the slower growth.
 

gingerale

Active member
Veteran
Nope, my yield hasn't changed at all....my growth rate in veg may have slightly slowed, but the reduced power draw and better plant structure is more than worth it. After a few months of testing, I'd say 12/2 is a winner for me.
 

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
Supermanlives,
You're right. If getting the most growth possible is what you need, then maybe 12/1 isn't for you. In my set up, I need to control growth during veg, and 12/1 helps me do that. I believe that pruning for height just before, during early 12/12 affects yield, so keeping stretch to a minimum is a plus in my set up. -granger
 

supermanlives

Active member
Veteran
hey if it works for you .. rock on . i am going back to sog so i need fast growth as possible. keep up your experiment . i wont dis ya for experimenting.
 

badmf

Active member
Can somebody tell me how I set a timer to do 12/1. I can't pm..

I have a grow ready to run

For the sake of explanation we'll use a common pin timer. set on time and off times 12 hours apart now pick an in between for the 1 on. like 4 hours later than the off on for an hour then off til your first on time. :dance013:
 
If you have a digital hydrofarm type you have up to 8 programmed times. Hit program, hit hour and minute of time you want to turn ON, hit program again when done, now enter time to turn OFF, hit program again, you are now in the #2 program time and just repeat process. Just make sure MTWThFSaSu is showing so it will run properly 24/7.

Don't forget about AM and PM, just keep hitting that hour button.
 
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homebaked

Member
All I have used is 12/1. Did it mainly for the reduced power consumption aspect of it. Cant speak so much for less stretch, that might be more strain dependent.

I have a perpetual cycle going and they either veg for 5 or 7.5 weeks before flower. I cant give a comparison for yield or stretch, as it works fine for my situation and all I plan on using. I can get my 10-12 clones from each mature mom every 2.5 weeks.

I haven't had any problems with nanners, all strains run 9-10 weeks. Have run 15 strains this way so far.
 

Lammy

Member
I think a lot of the haters aren't getting (or are starting to get) that different things work for different set ups.

First not everyone here is running a closet grow. I tried 12+1 on my 12+KW Med grow.

One main reason I tried this was so I could run my flower lights and veg lights opposite (mostly) each other. I want that because I don't like running near the capacity of my electrical system for very long.

The second reason was to reduce stretch. Wow, did that work! To good really. I want a little bit of stretch, but there was none. I'm going to veg a little longer this time. (I'm not that worried about saving power, if that is what you're thinking. I just don't like to have more than 12KW of lighting burning for very long.) I've been trying to grow fewer/larger plants. My perpetual setup allows me more than enough time to veg to whatever size I can handle.

The third reason was for heating and cooling. It is easier to maintain a constant temp in the garden with a balanced load. I use the air from the hoods as the single source of heat for my home in winter and this helps balance that temp as well.


There are several things that have been reported by others that I did not notice in my garden:
1. Start flowering faster - did not see that at all. I was hoping for it. But after thinking about it I don't know what I wanted. To see flowers faster?? At the expense of yield?? So I guess what I really wanted was a shorter flowering period with equal or greater yield. I did not see that. They flowered in the same time. I can't comment on yield as I ran smaller plants on that round than I normally do.

2. OK so I don't really remember any thing else right now. But I have seen no nanners.
 

toastfighter2

Active member
I was at a floral trade show the other day, and noticed that they had a light that was specifically made to break up the light cycle. It is called the beambreaker. I was originally interested because the hood itself rocks back and forth, but it basically is a regular wing hood(similar to adjust a wing), but has a extra shade on the bottom that only lets light out of a two inch gap along the sides.
 

Blaz3

Member
This is an EXTREMELY interesting topic..wow,Im glad I found it.Im the type that likes to experiment..so if I do a next run (clones of KoKush,Herijuana,Ak48)..Ill do a 800w vertical coco stadium..using 12/1 technique..I have some questions before I begin:

1.Can I use a mechanical timer for this method,or does it have to be a digital timer?..If so,how would I program this?...

2.Does it take off flowering time?..say if I have a 10-12week sativa..will it be done in 8-9 weeks?

3.Does the yield remain the same?

4.Can I do a 24/0 veg..but do the flowering times per the 12-1 technique?
 
K

krest

Nope, my yield hasn't changed at all....my growth rate in veg may have slightly slowed, but the reduced power draw and better plant structure is more than worth it. After a few months of testing, I'd say 12/2 is a winner for me.

Did you also use the reducing light schedule in flower? I have found, in my room with my strains, the reduction of the light's on time in flower greatly reduces final yield.

What strain did you grow?

krest
 

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