Just curious but do you run lights during sunlight hours. Or do you start the light cycle at sunset and run through the night? Advantages disadvantages? If I wanted to switch to running lights during the night but already on a light schedule for during the day what can I do?
@Smokin_ernie I run my lights at night. I do it to allow me to look in on them during their daytime, I am at work while they sleep. If I lived in an area that was hot it would also be good for temperature control.
As far as changing, if you were still in Veg, I would have a really long day until the new sunset then start the new cycle. If they were in flower I don’t think I would mess with them. I am a new grower, don’t know anything from personal experience, lots of reading so far.
Yeah I was talking with buddy and he says to run a night. I not really sure why I went with running during the day.
You gave some good advice. If heat is an issue or electric rates are lower it would help.
My electricity is cheaper of a night plus it helps with my temp to have lights out during the day and lights on at 10 pm
Ok so how do I switch from day to night? Without stressing out the plants. They are a few weeks old.
Just like what @merlin44 said, have a really long day then switch. In my area, you get a discount on electric from 9p to 9a myself, I’d love to have day time during the day so I can set my plants in the sun. But, heat is also an issue here
I don’t have any discount on the electricity where I am so I run my day cycle 8:00am to 8:00pm so they sleep while I sleep. With this timeline I can take care of them in the morning before work, torture them with LST after work, and then on the weekends I can do whatever I want to them - which tends to be a lot
I run my lights at night they come on at 4pm and go off at 4 am in flower or 10am in veg
I do this for a few reasons
- It works best for my work schedule lol
- In summer light run during the cooler nights helping me keep Cooling costs down
- In winter the light run when temps are the coldest
So win win win
Thanks everyone for the input and it seem like a no brainer and to switch to night time running.
So you say just leave lights on longer however the manufacture of the light say not to run them more then 16 hours. Could I go dark for a longer period of time? I would think it would be better then going short on light.
some places charge more for power during work hours daytime also outside temps are cooler at night helping to offset any cooling expenses
If disturbing their light cycle is an issue, half and half it, as in, leave lights on a little longer than have night a little longe. Then set your timer up how you need it. But honestly, either in vegg or flower, I don’t think an extra long day will hurt
quick and painless works best leave lights off at next light cycle program timer in the dark so they don’t come on until you want plants sit in dark for 24hr’s
The misconception is that more dark is bad it won’t do anything plants are photo sensitive (light) so adding longer light interferes they don’t know what time it is only that when the sun is up we make hay and if it’s only up half the time we make flowers
I run mine at night for the temps but seen no other difference when I’ve ran during the day just getting cool colors at running them at night 55-58 off 63-67 on up 10° if I run them during the day
During the day, electricity is better and nothing to be heard
Actually, an extra long dark period is what puts them in flower mode. So don’t do that. Just run your lights for 16 hours, turn them off for an hour to cool off, then turn them back on for as many hours as you need to get to the new night-time schedule. You can take a few days to do this. Extra light hours will not hurt the plants. Some people run 24/0!
I run mine from 8 PM to 8 AM just for the heat at night. Have not turned on the furnace all winter! I’ll do the same in summer, except I’ll vent the exhaust air outside. That will keep things cooler in the grow chamber.
Ok so I am going to flip to night time running. This is what I was going to do and wanted to run it by everyone. The plan let lights go for 14 hrs on then let cool for 2 hrs off then run for 14 hrs on then 7 hrs off then set to final time to start. It will take a couple light cycles so going to do it this weekend. Hope it is not to confusing.
I agree other than saving $ on cooling costs and if a smart meter is in play at running at night will
Save as well sue to lower cost per kw in some regions
No difference when growing indoors running lights at night or day time ive done both