A question from a fellow grower:
I have a question. I’m using a Vispar spectra LED with the veg and flower switches. I have a plant ready to flower, but I also have two plants about 3 weeks old in the same 3x3 tent. If I turn on the flower switch will I be doing any harm to the young ladies. WW Autos. 1st time in a tent.
This person can flip the flower switch but as far as i know it wouldnt make a difference until the timing of the lights changes.
Are all your plants autos. If so no you won’t harm them but you also don’t have to switch lighting schedules if all are autos if you don’t want to
I run 2 450w vipars in my 3x3, by week 3 I have both lights going full blast (mine have dimmers instead of switches)…
If they are autos it will not matter. Next time make sure you turn on both your veg and your flower switches for the whole grow, you will thank me.
Hey @Aolelon would you keep both switches on for a photo plant too?
Yep , I definitely would, viparspectras give off way too much blue spectrum in my opinion with just the veg switch on.
I keep both switches on from start to finish I personally think autos grow better under 12/12 light cycle 
but will grow under any light schedule
All autoflower. This is a new adventure for me. I moved into the city from my rural digs about a year ago. I’ve always grown my own but always outdoors. Now I have to conceal my grow so I bought a tent. This is my 1st grow using autos. I appreciate the helpful response and the forum.
I love my autos I have done a lot of work with them you can pull 4 ounces off of one it just takes love please fill free to ask any questions
Well now I’m flipping on my bloom 
day 21 is never too late, how about intensity. I’m at 75/100 at 26 inches VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control Series VT450 450W LED @Hogmaster @Aolelon
That should be fine, I had the 450 par viparspectra, and ran it with the dimmers around 75% during veg and flower I turned them up to 100%
When did you typically have bloom on? Did you run both the entire time or Veg for a short period? I’m growing an Auto.
Well I didnt have the bloom switches on mine, it was controlled by dimmers, but same principle. I suggest keeping both bloom and veg switches on the whole time, and raising the light of intensity is too much, then during flower you can drop the light to around 18-20"
Sounds good to me thanks 
Most of my research found 18/6 and 20/4. I chose to go 20/4. But until yesterday I was only using the Veg lights. If you go 12/12 does it take longer for an auto to get to maturity ?
The kind tip is appreciated.
Most reading I recall seeing that Auto flowers are not altered by time schedules. So essentially decreasing the light permitted during the flower cycle is only taking away from potential yield. Say your specific auto flower takes 100 days takes to fully mature. Taking away those (x) amount of hours of light from those 100 days would just decrease yield. Not prolong life. It’s the same reasoning as to why you can’t clone an auto, because it’s on a set time schedule as the mother auto and That’s it. All you can do is nuture it and maximize growth during that allotted time. Hope that helps, Happy growing!
I never read about it but I actually have grown probably 40 autos plus and more than half of them of been under 1212 and no it does not slow them down it makes them bigger because they do most of their growing at night when the lights are off everything needs to sleep And you save on power but what ever works for you
I run 3 of the 450 lights. I always run both switches on from day 1. I can’t say this is true yet. I have been reading that running at least the 18/6 light schedule will give you denser buds. I ran 12/12 on my last grow. One plant had nice buds. The other a little fluffier. I am doing an auto right now on the 18/6 and from what I can see. The buds do look better. it is a different strain than I just finished. I plan on doing another plant like the one I finished to see if there is a difference or not. I am still learning, most of the others have been growing for a long time and hopefully will let me know if I am wrong here.