Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

From what I could find out I believe flowering plants require night. Would vegetables like lettuce/spinach grow well with 24/7 light or would it just be a waste of electricity? I know they'd be fine without it but if it would increase their growth rate then it might be worth it. On a similar note how do you think cherry tomatoes would fare?

Technically, I think all vegetables grow during the night...

Most veges/fruits etc.... are triggered to flowering/fruiting/seeding... by day length... specific to species, but in general all follow some quantifiable pattern...

Thanks for the input, I decided to put the lights on a timer to give them ~6hrs of night. A little less than the least amount we get in the summer.

I know chilli seedlings require 'night' I was growing mine using heat mats and a grow lamp on a 12 hour cycle. The maximum 'day' period as I understand it should be 18 hours for these seedlings.

I can only assume other plants would have similar requirements.

I know studies have been done on some plants about what day/night cycle is most efficient etc. I don't know much about the details of such but I'm sure you can find some info by searching the internet. From my brief glance at a few of those studies, I think I concluded that at least 4-6 hours of dark made sense for my set up and since the light was in my appartment, I think I went with 8 hours of dark so that I wouldn't need to worry about keeping my door shut to sleep.

Turning the light off for a period at night will also help with the temperature differential some plants need to help them set flowers and fruit. Tomatoes are one of the plants that likes a differential of temperature between night and day to set flowers and fruit.

http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/phytochrome.htm

Vegetables grow great in the Alaska summer... no night!

Not all plants are entirely driven by light. A lot of plants require a Vernalisation period - a period of time above or below a certain temp - but most would actually work off a combination of the two.

Complicated response that isn't really an answer - sorry!

Chatty

Thank you everyone for your input I've decided to use the lights to extend the day but will give them at least 6hrs of night. I think that will make the Tomato/Lettuce/Spinach plants happy. I'll look into it a bit more further into the season so see if I need to adjust it for the Tomatoes.