LadyGray

Hi,

I have my plants on 24 hour lights, but right now with vacation time coming about, I'm not sure whether I can cut back to 18/6 without creating a flowering situation. The tallest plant is 10 1/2 inches, the other three, around 6-8 inches. If it has to be 12/12, that's great, but what - if anything - should I expect by cutting the light back at this point.
Also, I'm planning on keeping the heat on if I go to 18/6, because it gets cold at night without it. If I keep the light on, it'll maintain a temperature of about 75 degrees without the heater. I'm using a second bathroom, which is small and out of the way.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

art alexander

You can go to 18-6 without inducing flowering. But if you're having no trouble with 24 hour light, why change?

When you go to 12-12 you'll induce flowering, but you don't want to do that until the plants are mature enough. One way to tell if they're ready is if the new growth is asymmetrical (sp?).

LadyGray

Well, my plants have emerged with seven leaves on both sides for the last three levels/nodes,so tell me what do think? Also, the reason I was thinking of cutting back was due to the fact that this is a 400 watt MH, and has been on for two months yesterday, and I'm a little afraid of coming home to a dead bulb! I wanted to wait until I got back before changing anything,that way I'd get more info on the progress. I may have to buy another bulb tomorrow just to play it safe, but I was thinking if I cut back on usage, it'll be fine.
The other side of the coin is that the turning off and on of the bulb may speed up its demise at this point, just like normal light bulbs.


Yesterday the tallest plant reached the two month stage,with the other three a little slow - but they were late germinators. My seeds are from Emery, so I'm going to check out what his time table is for these seeds.

If anyone has used Emery, here's what I'm using: KGB/Purple Haze, and Blueberry/Thai.

Thanks for the help. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Holidays for me are a pain, but I just love the weekend!

slow rollin

hey lady.
you've been given good advice.if its fine,leave it be.but being the ambicious grower that i am,i understand the wanting to change things around alittle.your current lighting cycle of 24hrs is fine.however you can go as low as 16\8 without too much pre-flowering.anything under 16/8 will induce alot of pre-flowering.
your bulb is good for atleast 24,000 hours which turns out to be like 30 months.you should change bulbs every 3rd-4th grow because your bulb does loose its lumens over the months.
hey lady,you said that one of your plants is already 2ft tall and the others,i assume,are atleast within 6in. of this right.start your flowering.as it stands now,you are looking at a 4ft tall plant with that 2 footer of yours.this might solve your worry of the bulb.go directly to 12/12.make sure no light leaks.

hope it helps

keep on rollin............

art alexander

Asymmetrical growth is where instead of two new growths appearing on each side of the main stalk, there is one, followed a half inch up or so by another.

If your bulb is only 2 months old, I wouldn't worry about it yet. HID bulbs are rated for much longer lives than incandescent.

LadyGray

Thanks SG and Art for the advice. Unfortunately, SG, my tallest plant is only close to a foot tall at this point, so I'll be waiting a little longer to flower that baby! I only hope it's a female, because right now it's beautiful. I may keep it anyway, because it looks so good. I'll have to check the down side of having this as a plant - other the obvious downside that is.

That's interesting info on the asymetrical growth, Art. I've pinched all but one plant (that plant is the tallest one). So, you're saying that at some point there won't be leaves growing on both sides, but one left then right? How old are the plants at that point?

Also, I've removed some of the bottom leaves from my oldest (regulating water and feeding you're bound to lose some leaves, I've decided), and they smell very interesting. Not quite weedlike, but weed-like. I wonder if there are any studies on the correlation between maturity and smell before flowering?

Hey, if I just went too deep, forgive me!>;-)

art alexander

Yup, at some point there'll be one left then one right. Or one right then one left. Or one back then one forward.

Generally this happens at about 6-8 weeks old.

Closet freak

I have a question that I do not know where to post. I was hoping that someone would answer this one for me. What is a ballast used for when using metal hallide or hps bulbs? This is very unclear to me. Is it a continuous flow of power to the bulb or what? Please help the FREAK

TonDerudesKa

The process that Art is describing is alternate branching. This is a sign of your plant being sexually mature. Also, do a search on male and female preflowers ( check out http://www.erowid.com ) for pics so you will know what to look for. Preflowers and alternate branching tells you it is time for flowering phase.

Your bulb should be fine..they are rated for many thousands of hours. If things are going well...you won't need to change anything.

freak.....a ballast regulates the line voltage by means of a wire coil wrapped around an iron core.....by employing this core, the lamp is assured of having a constant and even supply of elctricity.

Knowledge is Power
cy

art alexander

Yo caj,

I was just at erowid and I didn't see any images labeled "preflower". There are some very good images showing the differences between male and female for the newbie.

Would you consider preflowers to be the little tiny "twigs" that appear at the internodes? I've always thought of preflowers as what shows up right after the start of 12/12, just before sex is definitely shown.

Freak, what caj said about ballasts but simpler: HID lamps need more complicated electronics in them than regular incandescent lamps. They have a socket like regular lamps, but the more complicated electronics is what people call the ballast. Different types of HID lamps require different ballasts. I took a dead HPS lamp once and found a transformer, a fairly big capacitor and a circuit board, not too complicated but nothing I'd want to build myself.