@mingleme that was a most enlightening explanation.
Here is my temp/humidity with lights on and off - Iām going to go to 24hr and see if the humidy stays consistent
Right. Although one should also consider the cost of 25% increase in light vs the value of 10% more weed. At $150/zip an extra ounce would cover operational cost and consumables of an entire grow for me. While a 25% increase in lights on time would cost me about .13/day or $4/month, or $12-$16 per grow.
Iām not advocating one way is right or wrong. Just in some cases 25% cost increase can be very small price to pay for 10% increase in harvest weight.
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Iām a firm believer in less risk, if running your lights 24 hours to minimize problems the thatās your answerā¦ there are no downsidesā¦ cost shouldnāt even be a concern or a thought after having weeks if time invested.
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This is very true, but there is another side to that coin, after spending +25% over four crops you have gained +40% harvest weight, but if you had used that combined 100% grow light extra cost savings to fully pay for your fifth grow, you would get +90% harvest from that fifth grow for the same cost 
Really no right or wrong, LEDs really lowered the cost making 24 hours of light over 18 economical and low cost so many will push the limitsā¦
And of course, my example numbers were hypothetical, the harvest with 24 hours might actually return a better return on investment for some setups as light hours is only one variable, if the plants donāt have enough nutrients/water then extra light might be a total waste as the limiting factor is not the lightā¦
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I like the way you think. The only problem with running a 5th grow is the additional time required, and itās the one thing you canāt just throw money at.
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I have a question regarding 24 hour light schedule for outdoor Autosā¦
Will outdoor Autos produce seeds if they are exposed to outside lighting during the dark cycle ( natural night time ) The winter sun ( in Durban SA ) rises @ 06:30 and setting around 17:45 at the moment but we have a few solar flood lights keeping the property lit up all night.
All the photos I have grown outdoor have produced seeds from light exposure during the dark cycle.
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Running 24 hrs of light for veg is perfectly acceptable. I do it all the time with photos. It might not be the greatest for autos, they can be tempermental to get blooming initiated. I always use molassis to feed my soil medium when doing so, since the plants wont be having a dark cycle to do it in.
@Medicineman33 Can you explain the molasses? Why and how you use it lol
I would caution against blaming the flood light exposure, more likely they are getting pollinated by a nearby plant, or have unstable genetics causing some to gendering bend and pollinate each otherā¦
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When I say produced seeds, I meant a few seeds ( not like seeds you find in bush weed lol )The genetics are all good, I know this because they have all been clones from my indoor grows that have been pheno selected by me through many seed runs from reputable seed banks.
I was asking because ive had light leaks in my flower room and ended up producing a few seeds after finding nannersā¦
Been considering buying some autos and letting them go outside, Ive only grown Autos indoors when i first started growing and had some good results ( by major luck ! ) Also totally ruined a few too
That to me would indicate likely some wind carried pollen from something in the areaā¦
As a general rule, cannabis plants wonāt make a seed without pollination, the question is where is that pollen coming from and/or are some parts of some plants gender-bending and making pollen? Or was some genetic defect passed down causing that line to make entirely unfertile seeds without pollination at random? IMO some light leak is not going to cause a normal auto plant to gender bend and make random seeds, itās far more likely that, the few seeds are a result of pollination from somewhere elseā¦ You said you have grown them indoors without this issue, to me that highly suggests environmental pollen outside is causing your issuesā¦ The fact you say itās only a few seeds to me suggests wind-blown pollination from a distanceā¦
Again IMO autos wonāt gender bend and make seeds from light leaks and itās unlikely that the intensity of light from floodlights at night would make any difference at all to autosā¦
Well, ill try Autos for an outdoor in the ground grow. The photos ill do in Coco and wheel inside the garage for their dark cycle as its pitch black in there.
If they get pollinated then so be it, cant control natures intent.
I still have primo indoor to fall back on lol
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Switched to a 24hr light scheduled after being unable to keep my RH down while the lights were off - will update with how the plants react
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It will cause no harm, do what you have to and keep mold away.
Adjust lighting intensity to compensate for the extra hours.
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I mix it in to water/nutrient solution. When you run 24 hrs of light the soil doesnt get fed. When a dark cycle occurs the plants relax, breath, and essentially poop. Yes they kind of poop out through their roots which feeds microbes in the soil which digest nutes from the soil into substances the plants can readily use
We have a time of use meter now so I make sure tent lights are off from 1PM to 7 PM. We could have opted out but then you are charged a monthly fee for not getting with the āprogramā. Same with garbage. Use the Cityās provider or opt out with a monthly fee.
Since I am lucky enough to have an outdoor run of 12 plants each summer with free sunlight I donāt have to worry to much about indoor yields.
Since changing to a 24hr light schedule the temp has stayed at 77 and the humidity has stayed between 47-50, right where I wanted it
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How about running 24 hrs on 60%? My space is too small for using my light at 100.
Is fine at 60%