Lessening stretch in flowering. What are your thoughts?

[Guest African Shaman]

Heya fellow gardeners.

 

A lot of people are going for the whole dual spectrum lighting in flowering now to lessen stretch although there is not a lot of solid tests yet that can confirm if this improves yields yet (dual spectrum over HPS), any thoughts on this would be great, thanks. I am thinking of doing first two weeks MH for the first two weeks of flowering, then switching to HPS for last 6 weeks. So my dilemma is - Do i go dual spectrum in flower (for entire cycle) or rather first two weeks MH then switch to HPS? Anyone have experience in this? I also supplement my hps with LED's for more UV and blue spectrum lighting during flowering.

 

Much love

[Guest kimcarsons]

Stick to m/h in the first two weeks. Also if you're running 18/6 to 12/12 a lot of stretch comes from that long night. Don't bother with dual spectrum. Try ditch 18/6 for 12-1. Also do your LEDs have UV spectrum, ofc only UVB is really worth it, and a LED with UV wavelength sounds scary... Fluros?

[Guest African Shaman]

Thanks for your input kimcarsons. I was also leaning towards doing MH in the first two weeks.

 

Are you doing the 12/1 lighting schedule? I would like to hear more about it as I believe its not very popular yet and I don't know of anyone doing it. Can you please give me some details on your experiences with 12/1?

 

Wrt LED, i just try mimic the sun as closely as I can by supplementing with LEDs and it works for me as well as many others too. It is the blue of the sky that plants grow towards, even in winter there is blue in the sky, so why not add it to your lighting spectrum? People have been experimenting with different light recipes for ages already. That''s why i have created this post, so I can learn more and find the prefect light recipe for my grow as I'm sure all our requirements are different.

 

Why is UVB only worth it? I would love to know more, thanks for the advice.

[Dabtzar]

Hey Bud.

 

Stick with the MH for the first two weeks of flower.. it DEF helps...

 

Regarding the 12-1. Im a strong advocate of the technique. But you need to try it and do at least 3-4 full grows with the schedule, just to dial in the hours you want. either 12/12 to 10/14 or 12/12 to 8/16.

 

They all do different to the production of trichs, bud size, stretch etc.

 

Besides to get top shelf you want trich cover. And remember Quality is always over quantity.....

[Guest African Shaman]

Thank you 4207365 for the advice. I was actually thinking of changing it up and trying something new. Its my first grow with my current setup so just want to dial in everything before I switch lighting schedules just yet. Which one would you suggest for the best quality? I agree with you that quality comes first with top shelf bud.

[Guest kimcarsons]

Errrrr... UVA and UVC aren't exactly something you want burning close to your plants or body. UVB even should be used minimally. Chat to Reaf, he used it to some degree with some positive and negative effects. All I think is a UVB LED would be helluva strong??? As for growing to the sky.... Hmmmmmmmm..... Photosynthesis is fascinating when looking at the chloro cells and their interaction with differently charged photons. Part of the reason the sun has it's efficacy is the charges of particles.... Light is helluva complicated ime.

[Guest African Shaman]

Thanks kimcarsons. I will take your word on that. I had a spare LED panel lying around so thought I might as well give it a bash and see which results I get.