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any info on these strains from Ace - Panama - Malawi - Malawi x Panama

airplane

Active member
going to veg these for 2 weeks at 12/12 then flower them at 11/13 _ have also read that giving these plants a 24-36 hr dark time before flipping to 11/13 (this is to shorten flower times) _ Thoughts ??
 

Mitsuharu

White Window
Veteran
What are all these threads for!? ;)




 

airplane

Active member
What are all these threads for!? ;)




Thanks a bunch
 

Old Fogey

Well-known member
Flowering is induced by the lengthening of nights/dark periods, or the shortening of day length if you want to look at it that way (and, of course, when thrown straight into <12hrs of light/>12hrs darkness per day).

If you were to give the plant an extended dark period prior to commencing flower, the first night/dark period of the flip will be shorter than the previous night/dark period had been. This is sure to confuse the plant and I would say it delays the onset of flowering by a couple of days at least during a critical phase of preparing for bud-set.

I step my plants down from 18hrs to below 12hrs in chunks of 20 to 60 minutes less light/extra darkness per day over a period of a week to a fortnight, depending on how much extra stretch I'm wanting or can accommodate. It is critical that each dark period is longer than the previous had been, all the way until light hours are finally at or below 12hrs per day.

I've been doing this for at least 5 years and I can say that the plants show/commence flowering on exactly the same schedule as previously grown plants of the same strain thrown straight into sub 12hr light.

Peace
 
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Keif Cake

Active member
Veteran
Flowering is induced by the lengthening of nights/dark periods, or the shortening of day length if you want to look at it that way (and, of course, when thrown straight into <12hrs of light/>12hrs darkness per day).

If you were to give the plant an extended dark period prior to commencing flower, the first night/dark period of the flip will be shorter than the previous night/dark period had been. This is sure to confuse the plant and I would say it delays the onset of flowering by a couple of days at least during a critical phase of preparing for bud-set.

I step my plants down from 18hrs to below 12hrs in chunks of 20 to 60 minutes less light/extra darkness per day over a period of a week to a fortnight, depending on how much extra stretch I'm wanting or can accommodate. It is critical that each dark period is longer than the previous had been, all the way until light hours are finally at or below 12hrs per day.

I've been doing this for at least 5 years and I can say that the plants show/commence flowering on exactly the same schedule as previously grown plants of the same strain thrown straight into sub 12hr light.

Peace
Soooo... if they commence flowering on exactly the same schedule whether you flip directly sub 12 or step it down over a period of up to two weeks, then aren't you just doing busy work for the sake of doing busy work?
 

goingrey

Well-known member
lantern method might be the method - if I remember right ! need to check -
The lantern method is when you have a lamp on for one hour during the night to keep the plants in veg with minimal energy consumption.

This gradual reduction of daylight hours.. well usually it's just called something like that, what it is. An aquarium company GHL calls it "seasonal light simulation", that's a pretty good term.

Soooo... if they commence flowering on exactly the same schedule whether you flip directly sub 12 or step it down over a period of up to two weeks, then aren't you just doing busy work for the sake of doing busy work?
And using extra electricity! Well maybe it will be put to good use by the plant.

Some people say it's less stressful, plants won't herm. But if they herm that easily, I'd rather know.
 

Keif Cake

Active member
Veteran
The lantern method is when you have a lamp on for one hour during the night to keep the plants in veg with minimal energy consumption.

This gradual reduction of daylight hours.. well usually it's just called something like that, what it is. An aquarium company GHL calls it "seasonal light simulation", that's a pretty good term.


And using extra electricity! Well maybe it will be put to good use by the plant.

Some people say it's less stressful, plants won't herm. But if they herm that easily, I'd rather know.
You and me both, having a herm plant isnt the end of the world unless it really is a full on herm. I agree, if a single sudden change of increasing darkness causes issues id love to know what I'm working with goes south that easily.
 

Old Fogey

Well-known member
Soooo... if they commence flowering on exactly the same schedule whether you flip directly sub 12 or step it down over a period of up to two weeks, then aren't you just doing busy work for the sake of doing busy work?
Hmmm. Well, on the first day of stepdown they get 7+ hours more light/energy than they would have had on 12/12. The second day they use 6 or more extra hours of light ... and so on across the entire stepdown period without delaying the onset of flower.

And it mimics nature, if somewhat crudely.

That's extra growth hours at the same time as inducing flower. Across a full fortnight of steady decline in light hours you will have given the plants roughly 42 hours of extra light/energy during the flip ... that's 3.5 days (at 12/12) of extra energy during a high growth period that the plant would otherwise have not utilised.

This allows for extra stretch, the formation of extra bud sites and gives plants more opportunity to overcome any nute deficiencies, rootzone problems or other issues that may be troubling the plant without having to delay your growing schedule, particularly for folk in my position of having a defined growing season indoors because of being unable to grow for the entire 12 months each year. I only have 7 months or so per year to work within. That's two grows max ... I'm on a schedule and stepping plants down into flower is a significant advantage.
 
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Keif Cake

Active member
Veteran
Hmmm. Well, on the first day of stepdown they get 7+ hours more light/energy than they would have had on 12/12. The second day they use 6 or more extra hours of light ... and so on across the entire stepdown period without delaying the onset of flower.

And it mimics nature, if somewhat crudely.

That's extra growth hours at the same time as inducing flower. Across a full fortnight of steady decline in light hours you will have given the plants roughly 42 hours of extra light/energy during the flip ... that's 3.5 days (at 12/12) of extra energy during a high growth period that the plant would otherwise have not utilised.

This allows for extra stretch, the formation of extra bud sites and gives plants more opportunity to overcome any nute deficiencies, rootzone problems or other issues that may be troubling the plant without having to delay your growing schedule, particularly for folk in my position of having a defined growing season indoors because of being unable to grow for the entire 12 months each year. I only have 7 months or so per year to work within. That's two grows max ... I'm on a schedule and stepping plants down into flower is a significant advantage.
Ok, I can see a good use case for that in a lot of hybrids and indicas where all the extra light you can get helps since the stretch is over such a short period.
I can also see where it benefits you being able to squeeze in extra growth time.
 

Old Fogey

Well-known member
Ok, I can see a good use case for that in a lot of hybrids and indicas where all the extra light you can get helps since the stretch is over such a short period.
I can also see where it benefits you being able to squeeze in extra growth time.
The first fortnight of the flip is a critical phase in a cannabis plant's development. Under 12/12 a plant receives 168hrs of light. Using a stepdown over 14 days delivers 210 hours of light. That is a 25% increase in light energy across this important two week period without any delay in flowering. I think that's significant irregardless of genetics.
 
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Keif Cake

Active member
Veteran
The first fortnight of the flip is a critical phase in a cannabis plant's development. Under 12/12 a plant receives 168hrs of light. Using a stepdown over 14 days delivers 210 hours of light. That is a 25% increase in light energy across this important two week period without any delay in flowering. I think that's significant irregardless of genetics.
Possibly so, but these sativas I've been running aren't lacking in growth throughout the 7+ week post flip stretch, we are generally running less than 12 hours of light of day because the stretch can already be quite a contender to deal with.
 

dubi

ACE Seeds Breeder
Vendor
Veteran
Hi @airplane first of all, thanks for your support :yes: great selection of strong solid ACE sativas :)
Are you growing the regular or feminized versions ?

going to veg these for 2 weeks at 12/12 then flower them at 11/13 _ have also read that giving these plants a 24-36 hr dark time before flipping to 11/13 (this is to shorten flower times) _ Thoughts ??

As you can see in the official thread of each strain, growers have had great results with Malawi, Panama, Malawi x Panama under 12/12 from seed, veg for only 2 weeks like you said, 4 weeks until they reach sexual maturity or with more extended growing periods, it just depends on the indoor space, growers' timing and growing preferences.

These 3 strains can be flowered from start to finish under 12/12 photoperiod without any problem, they are very tamed for indoor growing, you can lower down to 11/13 at the end if they are reflowering a lot/taking too long. In my experience, to flower these 3 strains directly under 11/13 helps to shorten flowering times and early flowering stretching, but it's detrimental for yield. If there

Regarding whether to provide an extender dark period prior to flowering helps to lower down flowering times/stretching or not. It makes sense since the plant may accumulute more flowering hormones and quicker, hence ripening faster. To be honest i don't know for sure, i never had good results introducing such dark periods in plant's life, quite the opposite, it's usually stressing for the plant and i prefer not to interrupt the circadian cycle of the plants. But it's a really interesting topic worth to investigate ... maybe there are even papers published about it.
 

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