Using the right light cycle when growing cannabis can significantly impact the overall health of your plants. Light deprivation is a method that exposes your cannabis to predetermined amounts of light and darkness that alternate throughout the harvest season. This technique offers many benefits, including accelerated flowering, better control of harvest timing, and increased yield potential.
Here’s a closer look at the best light cycles for flowering cannabis plants and how to implement them effectively:
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What Is A Light Cycle?
When we say “light cycle”, we’re referring to the amount of light and darkness your plants receive on a daily basis. The proportions of light and dark within this cycle correlate directly with the progression between growth stages. Growers can “trick” their plants into flowering more often or in greater volume by simulating these seasonal changes in a controlled environment, such as a greenhouse.
Why Darkness Is Important For Cannabis Plants
Implementing the best light cycle for flowering cannabis plants is essential for ensuring you yield a maximum harvest, and most cannabis growers know darkness is as important as light. You may not think of the principles of yin (dark) and yang (light) when planning your light deprivation schedule, but savvy growers understand the dual needs of cannabis. And whether your greenhouse sits in the Pacific Northwest under long summer days or in the hotter climates of the Central Valley, it’s essential to balance darkness and light for a maximum bud harvest.
Related Article: 5 Benefits of Light Deprivation Greenhouse Growing
Why Is Implementing the Best Light Cycle For Flowering So Important for Cannabis Plants?
Cannabis is a photoperiodic plant that responds to seasonal changes in light. That means when the days grow shorter, the plant’s life cycle is nearing its end, and flowering occurs for reproduction. In nature, male cannabis sacs release pollen to pollinate female plants in blossom. The result is seeds, which allow the plant to produce the next generation.
As a cultivated plant, cannabis still responds to light changes. Depending upon the strain you’re working with as well as your environmental demands, your light-to-dark ratio will vary a bit. If you’re new to the strain (or growing), talk to old hands about when to end the vegetative phase and trigger your plants’ flowering phase. That timing is critical to maximizing your yield.
What Is The Best Light Cycle For Flowering Cannabis?
As we’ve mentioned earlier in the article, cannabis requires specific lighting conditions throughout its life stages. Everything from the amount of light exposure, to its timing and duration, has the potential to influence yield.
The Vegetative Stage Of Cannabis
During the vegetative stage (when there’s a rapid pace of growth), cannabis plants thrive with longer periods of light exposure. Cannabis in this stage needs at least 13 hours of light per day. In fact, indoor growers commonly use an 18/6 light to dark ratio to encourage faster growth and emulate those long summer days. This extended light period provides your plants with the energy they need to develop healthy leaves, branches, and root systems. (Note that most indoor growers vegetate their plants 4 – 8 weeks.)
The Flowering Stage Of Cannabis
When you are ready for your cannabis plants to flower, they will require a different light cycle to trigger the transition from vegetative growth. Most growers switch to a 12-hours of light and 12-hours of darkness schedule as the standard. This ratio signals to the plants that it’s time to start flowering, as the light convinces them that Summer is coming to an end.
How Much Darkness Is Needed?
Light deprivation is ideal for producing a high-quality harvest. A light deprivation system helps to control exactly how much light is exposed. Daytime parts of the cycle provide the energy the plants need. Nighttime provides darkness, keeping cannabis on somewhat of a natural clock. This is why indoor growers need to make a deliberate effort to not only create long, bright days but also emulate dark cycles for cannabis to grow large full buds.
Here are a couple of tips that may help make your next project easier:
Keep To Your Chosen Schedule
If you decide on the classic 12/12 light dep schedule where you cover your plants at 7 p.m. and uncover them at 7 a.m., be consistent with that schedule. Keep in mind that this schedule requires adequate ventilation, so some growers will choose to uncover their plants at night once the sky is completely dark.
Uninterrupted Darkness
What many growers don’t realize is that the best light cycle for flowering demands an uninterrupted dark cycle. Just as your good REM sleep would be interrupted if a light popped on at 2 a.m., cannabis doesn’t fare well when any light disturbs it during its dark “sleep” cycle. The moon and stars don’t bother cannabis, but any artificial light can stop its bud growth. In fact, light interrupting its dark cycles can make cannabis so stressed and irritable that it can lead to hermaphroditism. That can pollinate females and ruin your plants.
Is There A Way To Simplify Light Deprivation?
Light deprivation tarps are an effective solution for controlling the light cycle during the flowering stage. These tarps do an awesome job of blocking out all external light, ensuring that your plants receive the uninterrupted darkness they need to flower properly.
But covering and uncovering your greenhouse on a set schedule, day in and day out can be extremely time and labor intensive. Pulling tarps is a lot of work, but using the right tools and products makes all the difference. To improve your harvest, you need to provide ample, reliable darkness for your cannabis, a good light deprivation cover and a tarp puller system will help you maintain your light deprivation schedule.
Related Article: Solutions for Light Deprivation Tarp Growing Challenges
Recommended Products For Light Deprivation Growing
Americover offers a range of high-quality light deprivation covers and tarp puller systems to make your life easier as a grower and achieve the best light cycle for flowering:
BOLD® Black Out Light Deprivation Tarp: The top-selling greenhouse cover of its kind nationwide, consisting of two sheets of high-strength virgin polyethylene film laminated together with a third layer of molten polyethylene. The cover is scrim-reinforced for superior tear resistance.
BOLD® EZarm Tarp Puller: The BOLD® EZarm allows one person to easily cover and uncover a greenhouse without additional help, making light deprivation so much easier.
Get Started On Your Light Cycle Project With Americover
As an Americover customer, you will receive the personalized support of a dedicated account manager to simplify the ordering process and ensure the best solution for every one of your projects.
Our friendly, knowledgeable staff is here to answer your questions and fulfill orders Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. For more information or a free sample, call us at 760-388-6294 or visit our Contact Us page.