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lighting indoor lighting

Balduvian

Balduvian

Was just wondering what everyone does for lighting.
i have 3 6500k 85W cfl bulbs and 1 2700K 55W cfl bulb
i run them 16 hours on and 8 hours off
 
my question is, what does everyone else run them for lengths?
is longer better?
ive heard of people doing 12/12 and 24 hours a day, does to long hurt growth?
 
 
In my 1st year of experience here i did whatever i wanted. 16 on 24 on. Whatever i felt like that week lol. I dont know if your goal is to put them outside but that was my goal and they are all outside now doing great. Do what you want, is my answer.
 
18-6 is a good middle of the road ratio with good growth rates but also allows some dark time to mimic nature.
24hr light will give you the fastest growth rates but not by much and you will also have the highest running cost and shortest bulb life using this ratio.
I also like to try and mimic nature to some extent when using lights and unless you are growing in the Arctic or Antarctic you are unlikely to get 24hrs light and naturally Chillis are from near the equator and evolved using 12-13 hours of light so take your pick and go for it.  If you wanted to go the 24hr way you could run lights over night and use nature during the day to cut down electricity usage.
 
I go 24 hrs straight-on with younger plants for the first couple of months.  My philosophy is that I want them to maximally veg out and am not concerned with blossoms.
 
At this point, I'm putting them outside if it is growing season.  If I'm overwintering mature plants, I give them 18-6 with 2-4 hours of fan.  My plants still come to fruition on this regimen, which I've found is difficult to do indoors, but I'm not convinced it is optimal either.
 
I use mainly 5.7K 100W CFL bulbs simply because that is what is available to me at my local hardware store.
 
i have a lot of my plants outside just kept 6 inside for now, i think eventually when weather is better ill move them all outside not 100% tho, if the summer is shitty i might keep the 2 i really want indoors
 
I start my plants around Halloween every year. Under 400w MH, they get roughly a month of 24/0, a month of 16/8, then 14/10 until it's time to bring them out in early April.
 
my plants are anywhere from 60 days to 72 days old from sprout, was just wondering if it was best to keep 18/6 which ive done since day one or lower it to 12/12 or higher, but your opinions have helped still up in the air, they seem to be use to 18/6 and do fine so maybe ill keep it there
 
They can flower and set pods fine under 18/6. I just drop mine to 14/10 because it's closer to what they'll get when they go outdoors, and by then they're developed enough to handle it. Also it cuts down a bit on the electricity I use. I only grow indoors to extend and increase my outdoor harvests. Like Oski said, do what you want. Make gradual changes and experiment with them until you figure out what works best for your setup and schedule.
 
Scarlet Fire said:
They can flower and set pods fine under 18/6. I just drop mine to 14/10 because it's closer to what they'll get when they go outdoors, and by then they're developed enough to handle it. Also it cuts down a bit on the electricity I use. I only grow indoors to extend and increase my outdoor harvests. Like Oski said, do what you want. Make gradual changes and experiment with them until you figure out what works best for your setup and schedule.
Click to expand...
 
I've had indoor production under 18/6 lights and 4 hours of fans.
 
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