Growth Vs Big Bills

Do the benefits of running 24 hour light cycle outweigh the added cost to your electricity bill?

  • Fuck yeh

    Votes: 1 6.3%
  • Fuck all

    Votes: 8 50.0%
  • Fuck knows

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .

Please join our community to continue reading

Forgot your password?
Don't have an account? Register now

ShellzShuff3

Vegetating
User ID
2903
I just grabbed the Photone app for my phone and use that - nowhere as accurate as a dedicated meter but I reckon itโ€™s close enough for my needs - also has a DLI setting if you want to avoid doing the calcs โ€ฆ
Sweet - thanks mate!
 

veritas629

Blooming
User ID
1002
What is this DLI you speak of??
Daily light intake I'll guess?
How is it measured?
I should probably look it up! ๐Ÿคฃ
I have noticed plants don't for me anyway seem to grow any faster from 18h onwards to 24h so I just run 18h maybe I'll drop it to 16h next run and see if I notice any difference!
DLI = Daily Light Integral. In short, its a cumulative measurement of light over 24hrs. The idea is that plants can use a certain amount light per day and anymore is a waste. Different than a typical PAR measurement that measures how much light emitted in a second. Like everything in cannabis growing, some people swear by it and others say bullocks!
 

Pixie

Baked
User ID
2043
Outdoors ๐Ÿ˜† Sun comes up. Sun goes down. You don't have to worry about all that shit. You've only got to worry about mould, copper's, grass hoppers, fence hoppers , caterpillars and shit like that ๐Ÿ˜† but the Sun is free ๐Ÿ‘
 

Porky

The Dwarf Hermie King
User ID
17
DLI = Daily Light Integral. In short, its a cumulative measurement of light over 24hrs. The idea is that plants can use a certain amount light per day and anymore is a waste. Different than a typical PAR measurement that measures how much light emitted in a second. Like everything in cannabis growing, some people swear by it and others say bullocks!
Yeah interesting!!
I'll have a look into it!
This been around for a while or is it a newer thing?
 

Yamumzbum

Curing
User ID
1301
I shouldn't say "haven't noticed a difference" as they were all with comparable DLI.

I have however had generally unhappy plants running 20 or 24 hours, and leggy plants running 12/12 before I got a Meter and adjusted intensity accordingly.

This was an amnesia auto grown at 12/12 in an 80x80 under a 200w quantum board.
View attachment 29176
And here's two week stretch at 14 hours with a GDP auto and a blackberry gum auto in a 2x4 with a 240w quantum board.
View attachment 29177
The benefits of autos can come when you have an underpowered light. For example with a 100w quantum board in a 70x70 at 16" and 20 hours you could reach a dli of 40 easily, whereas a small quantum board just wouldn't have the footprint to hit 800-1000umol/s over the whole canopy in a 12 hour period, and would require a lighting upgrade.

For example here's an ak420 auto that was grown in a 2x4 with a 130w quantum board which equates to 16w per square foot. Would not have been possible to cover that area with enough intensity to reach DLI at 12 hours, hence it needing a 20 hour schedule.
View attachment 29178
Sorry mate you did make clear your dli levels when running those tome cycles.
This is all great information thanks for your input.

Can you tell me what sort of sensors you use to get your DLI leves?
It's something I'd like to invest in.
 

Yamumzbum

Curing
User ID
1301
all plants need a rest including autos
even just 4 hours of darkness will allow the plant to deal with stress and recover somewhat during the downtime
It only makes sense doesn't it.
It's been well proven that we humans do much of our repairing during our sleep.
I think generally the repercussions lacking sleep is more cerebral (is that the right word) to begin with, things like slowed reactions and difficulty concentrating and it's mainly with long term sleep loss that it starts effecting us physically.. could plants be the same and their vitality towards the end of life (flower) suffers along with the yield perhaps.

All due to not getting their precious sleep!!

Bloody women ๐Ÿคฃ
 

Old fox

Customs Avoidance
Community Member
User ID
28
Too many variables to be certain of best approach. But in cold winter, keeping lights on 24 hours creates/maintains heat in grow space. Too much cold temps will slow down veg growth. So there's an added advantage in winter, but its unquantifiable.
 

Yamumzbum

Curing
User ID
1301
Too many variables to be certain of best approach. But in cold winter, keeping lights on 24 hours creates/maintains heat in grow space. Too much cold temps will slow down veg growth. So there's an added advantage in winter, but its unquantifiable.
Oi buddy you still gotta vote alright ๐Ÿคฃ

A simple FUCK will suffice old fox haha

Hey mate I was the lucky winner of some autos and one of the bags had your DNA all over it.. in ink of course Lol what's the AGG stand for?20230104_070647.jpg
 

Old fox

Customs Avoidance
Community Member
User ID
28
Oi buddy you still gotta vote alright ๐Ÿคฃ

A simple FUCK will suffice old fox haha

Hey mate I was the lucky winner of some autos and one of the bags had your DNA all over it.. in ink of course Lol what's the AGG stand for?View attachment 29235
Alien Gorilla Glue. My vote is for sitting on the fence, as I don't know the most economical approach. Lol
 

Pixie

Baked
User ID
2043
I'd love to grow some monstrosity outside Pixie but I'm 3 stories up and my balcony is a stingy size.
Unfortunately I can't grow monsters anymore. I'm in the middle of town on the main road plus there's too many people that live here now ๐Ÿ‘Ž . But I do have a 6 ft fence and a cattle Dog ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿ‘
 

VinDeezle

Baked
Community Member
User ID
2953
I
Sorry mate you did make clear your dli levels when running those tome cycles.
This is all great information thanks for your input.

Can you tell me what sort of sensors you use to get your DLI leves?
It's something I'd like to invest in.
I use a uni-t ut383 Bluetooth lux Meter and rent an apogee to get a rough idea on how accurate it comes out. If I multiply lux by 0.016 it gets PAR withing 3-5% of the apogee. With my 301b board it's 0.016, with my 281b boards it's closer to 0.015 due to differences in spectrum.

You can use it as the sensor for the ppfd app as well which makes it far more accurate at gauging intensity, and it calculates DLI for you. Without the uni-t Meter my oppo wouldn't read over 35k lux/570umol/s at all and was next to useless.
 

Yamumzbum

Curing
User ID
1301
I

I use a uni-t ut383 Bluetooth lux Meter and rent an apogee to get a rough idea on how accurate it comes out. If I multiply lux by 0.016 it gets PAR withing 3-5% of the apogee. With my 301b board it's 0.016, with my 281b boards it's closer to 0.015 due to differences in spectrum.

You can use it as the sensor for the ppfd app as well which makes it far more accurate at gauging intensity, and it calculates DLI for you. Without the uni-t Meter my oppo wouldn't read over 35k lux/570umol/s at all and was next to useless.
I use the ppfd app for very approximate readings although I was never really sure how accurate it was.
I was curious about the sensor option in the app and you've cleared that up for me also.

Much appreciated
 

veritas629

Blooming
User ID
1002
Yeah interesting!!
I'll have a look into it!
This been around for a while or is it a newer thing?

It's been around for a few years. Since PAR meters got more affordable. I'm not sure the science is settled. My understanding is that if you're using typical PAR levels and the common 18/6 + 12/12 cycles, you're already in the zone.

Another theory worth reading up on, is that the dark hours are important for terpene production. Again, like all things cannabis, there are varying opinions here. But I do know my own plants are more aromatic later in the dark cycle and first thing during lights on. This data just comes from my nose! Consequently, I don't let my lights turn on for 18-24hrs just before harvest. Try sniffing your plants at different times of day, its fun!
 

Indy

Misfit
User ID
57
I just grabbed the Photone app for my phone and use that - nowhere as accurate as a dedicated meter but I reckon itโ€™s close enough for my needs - also has a DLI setting if you want to avoid doing the calcs โ€ฆ

View attachment 29189

Yeah, i was using this as well, and i eventually found i was hitting my girls with too much light intensity with a Android device. But they do say ios devices are a lot more accurate with the Photone app.
 

Indy

Misfit
User ID
57
What is this DLI you speak of??
Daily light intake I'll guess?
How is it measured?
I should probably look it up! ๐Ÿคฃ
I have noticed plants don't for me anyway seem to grow any faster from 18h onwards to 24h so I just run 18h maybe I'll drop it to 16h next run and see if I notice any difference!
A quick wiki summary, mate.. Daily light integral
 

Madmick

Baked
User ID
2412
I think I went through something similar on osa without all the big words.
Basically the plant shuts down even though it's still daytime

So to try make the most of available light try changing your cycle to 6 on 2 off

Again without all bullshit , your plants will love it and you will be utilising more of the amount of light hours available

So instead of using say for example 10 or 12 hrs of your 18 hr cycle , breaking it down will give you 14 to 16 hrs of photosynthesis
 
Top Bottom