My first ever grow

Sorry Patrick , some these labs members get over zealous with there comments. They like to prove there way is best, but just remember it’s what works best for you. Most the people on here are helpful. LOL good luck growing.

Hey all is good everyone has there own preference I’m just trying to find mine I just want best quality I really want to try and find where I can get some real girl scout cookie seeds

More than one way to skin a cat :stuck_out_tongue:

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Yes, nothing really wrong with lights on 24/7 from seed to until ready to induce flowering with a schedule like 12 on and 12 off, because cannabis is a C3 plant and can’t uptake CO2 without light.

And actually the scholars, experts, and studies have shown that all C3 plants, including cannabis, do not need a dark period during the vegetative growing cycle and will benefit from increased growth under 24 hours of light, to a certain extent.

In short, cannabis does not need a dark period, except to induce flowering in non-auto flowering strains.

The only advantages to a dark period is electrical efficiency (saving on the electric bill), and temperature regulation, and possibly sex expression when growing from seed and/or sexual reversals, i.e. hermaphoditism.

Here are some relevant quotes from some of the books by some of the most advanced experts and studies on photoperiods and cannabis:

"It’s been established for many many many years now that cannabis is a C3 plant. It does not need a dark period. C3 plants gather CO2 only during the light period when they are photosynthesizing. As long as the light is on, C3 plants gather and use CO2 for photosynthesis.

Some growers practice a version of anthropomorphism with their plants. They believe that since people need rest, plants do as well. Concerning cannabis, this is not true.

Every grower can make a personal choice about light cycle. They can save on their electric bill or prolong ballast/bulb life. 18/6 can be less of a “shock” when changing over to 12/12 for flowering than 24/0 or heat issues can be addressed by fewer hours of light, but basic botany has proven long ago that cannabis needs no dark period."

–Robert Clarke “Marijuana Botany: An Advanced Study”

And:

"Marijuana plants photosynthesize as long as they receive light as well as water, air, nutrients and suitable temperature. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use the energy from light (primarily in the blue and red spectrum’s) to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) to make sugar while releasing oxygen to the air.

Plants use sugars continuously to fuel metabolic processes (living) as well as for tissue building. The plant combines nitrogen (N) with the sugar to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. They are the substance of plant tissue. When the light is off, the plant’s metabolic processes, respiration and growth, continue.

The plant can photosynthesize continuously so it produces the most energy and growth when the light is on, continuously. Continuous light does not stress the plant, which reacts somewhat mechanistically to it.

Plants under an 18-6 light-dark regimen are producing sugar only three quarters of the time. They are thus growing at only 75% of their potential. Leaving the light on continuously will result in bigger plants, faster, which leads to higher yields."

–Ed Rosenthal “Marijuana Grower’s Handbook”

And finally this excerpt as well:

"Many environmental factors can cause intersexes and sexual reversals. These include photoperiod, low light intensity, applications of ultraviolet light, low temperatures, mutilation or severe pruning, nutrient imbalances or deficiencies, senescence (old age), and applications of various chemicals (see bibliography on sex determination).

The photoperiod (or time of planting using natural light) is the most important factor to consider for normal flowering. In 1931, J. Schaffner (*) showed that the percentage of hemp plants that had confused sexual characteristics depended on the time of year they were planted. Normal flowering (less than five percent of the plants are intersexes) occurred when the seeds were sown in May, June, or July, the months when the photoperiod is longest and light intensity is strongest. When planted sooner or later in the year, the percentage of intersexuals increased steadily, until about 90 percent of the plants were intersexual when planted during November or early December.

Marijuana plants need more time to develop than hemp plants at latitudes in the United States. Considering potency, size, and normal flowering, the best time to sow for the summer crop is during the month of April. Farmers in the south could start the plants as late as June and still expect fully developed plants.

If artificial light is used, the length of the photoperiod can influence sexual expression. Normal flowering, with about equal numbers of male and female plants, seems to occur when the photoperiod is from 15 to 17 hours of light for a period of three to five months. The photoperiod is then shortened to 12 hours to induce flowering. With longer photoperiods, from 18 to 24 hours a day, the ratio of males to females changes, depending on whether flowering is induced earlier or later in the plant’s life. When the plants are grown with long photoperiods for six months or more, usually there are at least 10 percent more male then female plants. When flowering is induced within three months of age, more females develop. Actually, the “extra” males or females are reversed plants, but the reversals occur before the plants flower in their natural genders.

Some plants will flower normally without a cutting of the photoperiod. But more often, females will not form thick buds unless the light cycle is cut to a period of 12 hours duration. Don’t make the light cycle any shorter than 12 hours, unless the females have not shown flowers after three weeks of 12-hour days. Then cut the light cycle to 11 hours. Flowers should appear in about one week.

Anytime the light cycle is cut to less than 11 hours, some intersexes or reversed plant usually develop. This fact leads to a procedure for increasing the numbers of female flowers indoors. The crops can be grown for three months under a long photoperiod (18 or more hours of light). The light cycle is then cut to 10 hours. Although the harvest is young (about five months) there will be many more female flower buds than with normal flowering. More plants will develop female flowers initially, and male plants usually reverse to females after a few weeks of flowering.

Of the other environmental factors that can affect sexual expression in Cannabis, none are as predictable as the photoperiod. Factors such as nutrients or pruning affect the plant’s overall health and metabolism, and can be dealt with by two general thoughts. First, good growing conditions lead to healthy plants and normal flowering: female and male plants occur in about equal numbers, with few (if any) intersexes or reversed plants. Poor growing conditions lead to reduced health and vigour, and oftentimes to confused sex in the adult plant. Second, the age of the plants seems to influence reversals. Male plants often show female flowers when the plant is young (vigorous) during flowering. Females seven or more months old (weaker) often develop male flowers after flowering normally for a few weeks.

Anytime the plant’s normal growth pattern is disrupted, normal flowering may be affected. For instance, plant propagated from cuttings sometimes reverse sex, as do those grown for more than one season."

*Schaffner, J.H. 1931. The Fluctuation Curve of Sex Reversal in Staminate Hemp Plants Induced by Photoperiodicity. Amer. J. Botany 18:324-430. [For similar studies, see Ohio J. Sci. 25 (1925):172-176; Ecology 4 (1923):323-324; Botan. Gaz. 71 (1921): 197-291.]

Hope this clears things up, lol.

Happy growing,

MacG

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Day 15 looks real good I’m excited

This is my other ak47 on day 7

I’m turning this 55in TV into my sprout to veg stage

All gutted out in going to turn the bottom into just plastic and screening with supports and a drip try under the whole TV that I can pull out and clean

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My two babies today getting so big but I see other people’s plants at two weeks and they are way bigger than mine

I know, right? Like what are they doing to get them so big?

Giving them the best environment both above and below. A lot to be learned here from some great people. I generally don’t like people.

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Yes everyone is very helpful I’m doing a poor man grow lol cheap 32 watt led and regular potting soil only for a little bit next week I want to upgrade my light I really want to stick with led for the electric bill I have a pretty good deal on a 800 watt led for 100 dollars also have a good deal 150 on a 1000 watt mh/hps so stuck on what one to choose but I really thing I’m going to stay with led

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Move the babies closer to the light, avoid the stretching.
Transplant them into something deeper, free root growth will stimulate vegetative growth.

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I just got done saying I should transplant lol I think I should did you guys see the TV I want to use as veg stage what do you think I could fit 4 10 gallons in it