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24 hour light cycle

C

Captain Capsaicin

Most people seem to be doing an 18/6 cycle. Is there any reason not to leave the lights on 24 hours a day?

Also, the consensus seems to be a minimum of 3K lumens per square foot for peppers. Where could I expect to reach the point of diminishing returns with a 6500K light source? I'm guessing that the answer to this last question would be "it depends" but I thought that I'd ask just in case.

Thanks in advance for any help.


Edit: Doh! I just read AJ's post where he stated that 24 hrs a day was good for the first 6-7 weeks and that 20/4 was ideal after that. Never mind that first question.
 
there are aspects of the process of photosynthesis that either only occur in the dark or are enhanced by having a period of dark.

no clue on your second question.
 
I used the eye hortilux "blue" once and it did great, but it was also a 400 watt bulb so I had a ton of power behind it.
 
I use 24/7 for the first fews weeks, once the seedlings get potted up those lights get put on an 18/6 schedule. The constant light at the beginning seems to help the seedlings from becoming "leggy"
You will have to water more often with that cycle. I back down to the 18/6 for the rest of the grow.....that's always worked for me. ....and my electric bill...!

Greg
 
I'm also using 18/6. I have a cheap timer just to make sure that I stay on track, which is really useless because I'm checking on them every few hours or so.

I'm heating up now, that was my 100th post, yay me ...lol
 
i've always done 20/4... i read somewhere (no idea where at this point) years ago that 4 hours was minimum amount of dark for photosynthesis to occur properly.
 
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