Can you leave grow lights on 24 hours a day?
When growing plants indoors, it becomes your job to provide all of the things Mother Nature would in the plant’s natural habitat. cannabis grow lights is one of the most important things you must provide and like other needs, requirements vary from one plant species to another.
Indoor growers are always looking for ways to increase the health, growth, and output of crops. One method many growers use to accomplish this is to allow grow lights to stay on 24 hours a day. But is that the best option for your plants?
It is not recommended to leave your grow light running for 24 hours straight. Twenty four hours of light can prevent a plant from effectively carrying out the respiration process. Too much light in various growth phases can interrupt a weed plant’s natural process of growth and dormancy. Worse, light exposure for a whole day can damage and kill your plants.
It is ideal to keep a grow light on for about 12 to 18 hours.
If your plant is not responding to 12 or 18 hours of light, you may need a stronger grow light or you may need to feed your plant nutrients. Also consider whether you need to adjust your grow light hang height.
Propagation – sprouts and clones – 24 to 36 inches
Early Veg – 24 – 36 inches
Veg – 24 – 36 inches
Pre-flower – 24 inches
Flower – 18 to 24 inches
Why Plants Need Both Light and Darkness:
In nature, plants thrive when they take root in advantageous locations. Plants that need 8-12 hours of daily sun will perform poorly, or even die, when they take root in a shady location.
Growing plants indoors provides the benefit of controlling the elements a plant requires for optimal growth, namely food, water, and light. But why is exposure to light critical?
There are biochemical processes that occur in plants that directly relate to growth. Altering these can inhibit a plant’s natural growth pattern.
During the day, photosynthesis enables plants to absorb the sunlight and turn it into an unstable energy source. At night, the respiration process turns that unstable energy into carbohydrates which the plant stores for later use.
Photosynthesis cannot occur without light exposure. While respiration can occur at any time, darkness will trigger this reaction as this is nature’s way telling a plant to eat, rest, and store enough energy to tap during photosynthesis the next day.
When growers expose plants to light 24 hours a day, they prevent normal respiration from happening, which can lead to unhealthy plants. Although it’s not guaranteed, repeated 24 hour grow light cycles may ultimately end up affecting your cannabis yield. Not to mention, your LED grow lights would enjoy a rest too, despite being efficient!
Furthermore, the end product that comes from a plant grown in cycles which involve darkness (18/6, 12/12, 14/10, etc) is of better quality, especially considering cannabinoid & terpene levels (both indicate the quality of the plant and the product – the more the better).
How long you will leave grow lights on would depend on factors such as the type of plant, growth stage, temperature, and grow space.
If you want to become a successful indoor grower, you have to invest in learning how to maximize equipment such as grow lights.
- Samsung LM301H 6500K+3500K with OSRAM white+660nm led source, the lighting is most suitable to the indoor or greenhouse planting growth. With 2pcs UV& IR supplemental lighting bar.
- Top grade driver-Inventronics driver be certificated by authority, providing the stable and long time protection to the lights.
- Slim frame and light weight designed, flexible and simple to use, plug and play.
- Good heatsink by multi-tier finned aluminum, during strict temperature test, no harmful no noisy, longer life span.
- Inside hook design, fast installation and a plug and play, 100% safety for hanging.
- Whole light is designed with IP65 waterproof, aoviding all usage risk.
BENEFITS OF UV
- Increases resin production
- Improves taste and smell
- Causes more branching and less stretching
- Increases root mass
BENEFITS OF FAR-RED
- Increases plant biomass
- Triggers flowering
- Enhances flower size
- Improves efficiency of overall spectrum
To sum it up, leaving grow lights on for 24 hours could impact a plant’s health. Like humans, plants need to rest as well.
Remember, only the vegetative state can tolerate 24 hours of light exposure. But all phases have recommended on-off cycles to let weed plants undergo photosynthesis and respiration.
Likewise, turning off grow lights for a few hours lessens operational costs, but without sacrificing plant yield.
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