Flowering 11/13 & 13/11

[Marzcanna]

Its not surprise to any veteran & new grower that we switch our plants from veg to flower by switching the light cycle to 12/12

The light cycle is important because plants need light to photosynthesize. The more light we can give them, the better they are. With photoperiod plants, we are limited to only 12 hours of light during the flowering stage. However, there is confusion in the growing community about the duration of lighting that works best for flowering

11/13 Flowering Light Cycle: Can it Improve Your Grow?

When growing photoperiod marijuana, it’s a standard practice to give it 18/6 in veg and 12/12 in flower. However, there are growers who use a shorter photoperiod and swear by it. Let’s review the existing studies and anecdotal evidence and see if 11/13 flowering light cycle and similar light schedules really work.

What Does Science Say on Flowering Under 13/11?

 

It’s notoriously difficult to find any peer-reviewed scientific publications on the subject of cannabis cultivation. The question of using 11/13 for flowering is no exception. There’s one major paper that studied the effects of light (intensity, spectrum etc.) on cannabis production. It only briefly states that shorter photoperiod potentially leads to smaller yields*. Well, it’s expected, and this is the same thing as growers on forums say.

Another study actually focused not on medical marijuana, but on hemp grown for fiber. It also noted that shorter photoperiod causes earlier flowering**. The researchers observed little difference in flowering times if days lasted 13 h 40 min or less. However, if light hours were at 14 h 40 min or more, this significantly delayed the beginning of flowering (and the harvest time).

Well, hardly any real-life grower has ever experimented with a 14/10 cycle, so this doesn’t give us much insight. It’s interesting that both 12/12 and 13/11 fall into the “13 h 40 min or less” category, and the scientists didn’t find the difference statistically significant.

And in case you’re wondering what’s the maximum length of day at which most cannabis plants start to flower indoors, it’s 13.2 hours (and 10.8 h of dark)***. So not only the ‘11 on 13 off flowering’ light schedule, but also the opposite (13 on 11 off) can be used for flowering. At least, for indicas and indica-dominant strains.

And that’s it in terms of reliable scientific data. Let’s hope we get more in the future

 

More Controversial Findings on 11/13 Flowering Light Cycle

Perhaps, the list above didn’t inspire you to try less than 12 hours of light during flowering? Well, here are a few extra points that’ll probably change your mind.

At least two celebrity breeders—the legendary DJ Short of the Blueberry fame and Swerve from Cali Connection—recommend to shorten the day during flowering. DJ Short believes that this method is great for breeding. It’s because it increases the expression of sativa genes in a hybrid. This affects the plant structure and the shape and the texture of buds (e.g. foxtailing). More importantly, it also influences the high. Presumably, the standard 12/12 cycle makes the effect more couch-locky. And if you want more of the cerebral sativa energy, you better make light hours shorter and darkness longer. The effect of 11/13 grown buds also tends to be a creeper, according to anecdotal reports.

Some people say that they’ve noticed less stretch on 11/13 during flowering. Which means that you should give your plants a longer veg than normal if you want the same final height.

There’s much controversy about whether the 13/11 flowering time produces more trichomes or less. Some think less light equals less THC. Others say THC gets degraded by light, so more hours of darkness means more potency. Anyway, if you want more resinous buds, the 11/13 method doesn’t seem like a good idea. You may want to try the extended dark period before harvest instead.

The same goes for 13/11, the logic behind it is that cannabis can flower with more than 12 hours of light and less darkness but to a certain point. Buy maxing the amount of light you can give during flower (which is believed to be 13) You can potentially increase your yields.

 

 

I have tried both 11/13 & 13/11. I didn't see much of a difference except a slight bigger bud on 13/11 and more resin in 11/13, but not that much. What i have adapted from the above test and article is a 13/11 for the first 2 weeks of flower, 12/12 during mid flower & 11/13 during the last weeks followed by 6/18 and 36hrs of complete darkness on the last week of flower.

 

I'm keen to hear everyone s take on this.

 

ARTICLE SOURCES: 11/13 Flowering Light Cycle: Can it Improve Your Grow?

                                   Benefits of 13/11

                                   13/11? Or 14/10?

 

[Prom]

Depends a bit on the strain, how they can handle light.. so might also be some strains having no issue with 13/11. If I would have 2 flower tents.. might try it ^^ but I stick to 12/12 till then.

 

Thanks for posting

[CreX]

29 minutes ago, Marzcanna said:

Ive tried both 11/13 & 13/11. I didn't see much of a difference except a slight bigger bud on 13/11 and more resin in 11/13, but not that much. What i have adapted from the above test and article is a 13/11 for the first 2 weeks of flower, 12/12 during mid flower & 11/13 during the last weeks followed by 6/18 and 36hrs of complete darkness on the last week of flower.

i think you may be doing it the wrong way around. (should have gone longer dark cycle over a longer light cycle at the end)

i have heard a lot of people try different light methods with limited success, but the one which showed the greatest promise, was the following.

so in natures grow cycle, spring and summer have loooong day light hours and shorter night time hours, which is how we grow our veg plants... with longer light hours, and then when the nights get longer and the days get shorter, the outdoor plants start to flower. and by the end of flower, night times are very long and day times are shorter.

so if you were to mimic natures cycle you would go from high light veg cycle of 15 hours plus, to the flip day where you go to 12\12, and then what i have heard does wonders is if you change the light cycle to 14h dark, and 10 hours light, and you do this 2-3 weeks before you harvest

during the last 2 weeks of a plants flowering to ripeness, the longer dark period makes the plant think that the end of the season is here, and what this means for indoor plants that have not been pollinated, is that they must now try even harder to find a mate, which is where they bulk up and supposedly become ultra resinous.

so in your write up, its more of a - you go from veg, straight to the cycles you mentioned which i dont think would be the best way to try it

[420SA]

@Marzcanna any particular reason why this was posted under conspiracy theories? 

[Nope]

Interesting topic which I'm sure will be the root of much debate.    

[Marzcanna]

49 minutes ago, CreX said:

i think you may be doing it the wrong way around. (should have gone longer dark cycle over a longer light cycle at the end)

i have heard a lot of people try different light methods with limited success, but the one which showed the greatest promise, was the following.

so in natures grow cycle, spring and summer have loooong day light hours and shorter night time hours, which is how we grow our veg plants... with longer light hours, and then when the nights get longer and the days get shorter, the outdoor plants start to flower. and by the end of flower, night times are very long and day times are shorter.

so if you were to mimic natures cycle you would go from high light veg cycle of 15 hours plus, to the flip day where you go to 12\12, and then what i have heard does wonders is if you change the light cycle to 14h dark, and 10 hours light, and you do this 2-3 weeks before you harvest

during the last 2 weeks of a plants flowering to ripeness, the longer dark period makes the plant think that the end of the season is here, and what this means for indoor plants that have not been pollinated, is that they must now try even harder to find a mate, which is where they bulk up and supposedly become ultra resinous.

so in your write up, its more of a - you go from veg, straight to the cycles you mentioned which i dont think would be the best way to try it

I'm Increasing the dark period as the weeks go by. My normal routine was actually what you mentioned above, going from 12/12 to 10 hours light to 14 hours darkness with 36hrs of complete darkness before chop. Now I switched it up abit with 13 hours of light / 11 hours of darkness for the first 2 weeks and work up to 36hrs complete darkness. So all im doing is increasing the dark period from early-mid-late flower

[Marzcanna]

53 minutes ago, 420SA said:

@Marzcanna any particular reason why this was posted under conspiracy theories? 

Because I'm expecting people to come at me with pitch forks and touches we all now the normal 12/12 and 10/14 but not to many people have heard or tried the 13/11 or 11/13 thats why I decided to post under conspiracies  

[CreX]

also - the slow change from day to day in outdoor plants, makes plants grow the way they were ment to grow.... which to the indoor grower, is very strange growth.

so in veg, the plant puts out tons of vertical and lateral growth and large sun catching leaves.... and then in flower it stops making leaves, and puts effort into flowering. that is the ideal way to do it - which unfortunately does not happen in nature - the slow change from veg to flower, means that the plant also changes slowly from veg to flower, which is why outdoor plants have so many more leaves and a terrible leaf to bud ratio.

which is why i use an outdoor light to trick my plants into staying in veg until i decide its flowering time - thus my outdoor bud to leaf ratio is much better than average outdoor.

so using that logic...it would lend itself to assume that a similar slow change in season at the end of flower would affect a plant slower than artificially inducing a later season light cycle such as 10\14. and the change that happens faster, is the natural senescence of a plant.

so basically by changing to a longer night time cycle, is telling the plant to finish up now its almost time to die

[CreX]

3 minutes ago, Marzcanna said:

Because I'm expecting people to come at me with pitch forks and touches we all now the normal 12/12 and 10/14 but not to many people have heard or tried the 13/11 or 11/13 thats why I decided to post under conspiracies  

LOL you cant think like that tho hahaha.... these timings are like different shades of the same colour.... its not like 12\12 is green 11\13 is blue and 14\10 is red

its all one colour, so 10\14 is light light blue 11\13 is light blue 12\12 is blue 13\11 is dark blue 14\10 is dark dark blue kinda vibes

[The_StonedTrooper]

What I've understood, the plant produces flowering hormones in the dark, and the longer the dark, the more hormones to flower, and anything greater than 10 hours dark, can be too much hormones and start them flowering. (Photo plants)

So yes, you can do longer darker periods, as the plants flower, and it will help with promoting flowering.

As long as you give enough light in the light on period, the DLI, you are fine and not hampering your growth or flowering. 

So slowly bring the tent more into darkness, will help simulate the natural effects of season change.

This is why an 2 hour power out, in the middle of the light on, can mess with the plants, and give to much of the flowering hormone.

Again, what I have discovered and can be wrong too.

[Prom]

17 minutes ago, The_StonedTrooper said:

What I've understood, the plant produces flowering hormones in the dark, and the longer the dark, the more hormones to flower, and anything greater than 10 hours dark, can be too much hormones and start them flowering. (Photo plants)

So yes, you can do longer darker periods, as the plants flower, and it will help with promoting flowering.

As long as you give enough light in the light on period, the DLI, you are fine and not hampering your growth or flowering. 

So slowly bring the tent more into darkness, will help simulate the natural effects of season change.

This is why an 2 hour power out, in the middle of the light on, can mess with the plants, and give to much of the flowering hormone.

Again, what I have discovered and can be wrong too.

The main issue is that they only grow when they have light. So with the right flowering stimulators in the feeding.. you can skip the dark and just go light. I wouldn't get the idea to go 11/13.. that just makes no sense. I still believe that the more light the better the result.. hence, why I prefer autos over all.. but.. you can't pheno hunt autos.. the breeder needs to do a proper job.. and most out there don't do that and just release asap.

Checking a strain for the minimum dark period, makes sense.. but also another factor to go wrong. Worst is a re veg.. that hormone change in grow function leaves marks in the plants substance and weakens the plant over all.