Lighting Cycles for your crops? (HID)

vnggg

Hi everyone,

I read on BusinessInsiders that:

Quote:

Because the lights are never turned off, the growing process continues through the night. As a result, FarmedHere's produce has a much shorter growing cycle than traditional agriculture.

Leafy greens grow in 14 to 16 days, whereas traditionally farmed arugula takes 50 days, Hardej claims. Similarly, basil's growing cycle is 20 to 22 days compared to the 48- to 60-day growing cycle at a traditional farm.

I don't know if this is completely true. I thought the optimal lighting cycles for crops are:

Seedling Stage: 24 hrs on
Vegetative Stage: 18 hrs on / 6 hrs off
Flowering Stage: 12 hrs on / 12 hrs off

Has anyone had any luck doing 24 hrs HID lighting cycles to speed up their production of crops?

Yavimaya

If you are talking about weed, then yes, those are the standard timings.
normal crops would not need the light cycle shortened during flowering/fruiting.

BenBrewcat

24 hours is OK for some plants' veg, not for others'. As mentioned cannabis is one that'll take all the light you can pour on it and have explosive growth :flower:

. A 6-hour dark cycle is reasonable for mixed plantings... I actually change my timer cycles for seasonal variations, I feel that it gives the orchids and other seasonally-blooming plants a sense of where they are in the year

.

I bet there are other plants (production plants) that would not miss the dark cycle though. Sounds like basil and arugula at least are working for the cat quoted in the article... give it a whirl.

Chewy4480

http://www.youtube.com/user/aquaponicgardening has some good info on lights.

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Lighting Cycles for your crops? (HID)

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics