We have spent the last couple months discussing the Light Cycles for Growing Cannabis Indoors. We ended up covering quite a bit of material, so we decided to publish this article to serve as an overview and as a directory to all of the articles on this topic.
As we have written about during this series, there are two different light cycles for growing marijuana indoors. The first is the vegetative light cycle, followed by the flowering light cycle. Each is important in its own regard and provides a different type of stimulus to the plants.
There are also unique tasks and objectives that you, the grower, must achieve during these two light cycles in order to come out with the best outcome possible at harvest time.
The 18/6 Light Cycle for Vegetative Growth
The first of the two light cycles is what causes the plant to grow, grow, and grow. During this early stage, you want to give the plant much more light than darkness, so that it grows as much as possible.
When Does the 18/6 Light Cycle begin?
You can start the 18/6 light cycle as soon as you have sprouted your seeds or rooted your clones. To get the full run down on vegging your clones and seedlings, check out our article:
How long does the 18/6 light cycle last?
We generally recommend five to eight weeks, depending on your goals and grow space restrictions. Check out our article:
As far as what tasks you should be attending to during this time, check out our articles on Topping and Training, as well as defoliating during veg.
For a comprehensive guide to the vegetative period, check out our Week-By-Week Series on the Vegetative Period.
What Stage of the Seed-to-Harvest Cycle uses 12/12 light?
Once you have grown your plants to sufficient size, and had opportunity to finish your chores, such as topping and defoliating, it’s time to switch to the 12/12 light cycle.
Now, get ready for the real fun! Your plants will go through some major developmental changes these first few weeks. Check out the following articles
The most common question that everyone wants to know is how long until the plans start producing bud! We have covered that question as well in our article,
The next question is determining how long to keep your plants under the flowering light cycle. Generally, flowering light cycle lasts about sixty days, depending on the strain. However, if you are looking for a weekly checklist, we have got you covered.
We published a Week-by-Week Guide to Flowering Cannabis that has photos and videos of the weekly changes these plants go through.
Harvest Time: Read our Guide
After the flowering period is over, you will need to harvest your cannabis. This process involves drying your plants, allowing the buds to cure, and then trimming them so you have a finished smokeable product.
There is a lot that goes into the process of harvesting marijuana, so we decided to write a long-form guide:
This guide takes about 25 minutes to read, and is fairly comprehensive (although, there’s always more that could be included).
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