Hello, I recently watched an interview with DJ Short and he was describing how when you flower plants in a 11 on 13 off cycle you get more terpene expressions from the palnt. Does anyone have expirece doing this? I’m testing it out currently but I started that cycle about 3 or 4 weeks in and I haven’t noticed any difference from previous runs.
I run my light cycles like this
Seedlings 20/4.
Veg at 18/6.
In the run up to ‘flip’ I’ll lower the hours 1hr a day until reaching 12/12.
Then after a they finish stretching into flower, usually around 2 weeks, I’ll lower to 11/13.
And in the final 2 weeks I’ll drop that to 10/14.
Thats usually what I do, but cant say I’ve tried it in a side by side to show definitive differences.
I have heard a few different people talking about flowering cycles like this and why 12/12 isn’t the best for most modern varieties though.
I think mostly equatorial varieties will be suited to flowering in 12/12, but anything else, not so much.
I believe SnowHigh talked about it on an episode of the Potcast.
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That’s an interesting schedule 
, I will give a try in this run, thanks for sharing… 
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My guess is that comes from bioscience university. Maybe right, maybe wrong, but anecdotal evidence is worth what it’s worth when making claims like that.
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Yeah, and the value is exactly 1 good story.
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I don’t think there is any definitive proof that 11/13 lighting = more terpenes. Another train of thought is that it may initiate flower sooner, I haven’t noticed that to be true. I run 11/13 but just to save an hour of electricity each day.
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I think if anything is remotely viable it would be what @SonsOfAvery brought up with what base varietals are used ie a tropical vs rural mountain range and their natural light cycles. But at the same time there has probably been enough selection/evolution to manipulate what a plant wants in terms of light cycles.
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Thinking of doing this…need my.pla ts to finish sooner.
Have not heard of this before…very interesting. 
My suggestion is to listen to him 
I think Bruce Bugbee was asked this question but I cannot recall which interview.
I feel like this would be the talk of the town if there were any scientific data to back it up. I still assert that 11/13 schedule merely saves some electricity
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11/13 is good for longer flowering plants. Many people in the dj circle run 11/13 for flower. Ive been running 11/13 for a couple years now and have noticed my flower time cut down by 5-7 days.
I know JD switches it up depending on what he’s running. Could be 11/13 or 10.5/13.5
Really it’s all about where the plants genetics have come from on what the best light cycle for flower is
So in very basic terms, we know that 12hrs of darkness (or there abouts) induces flowering.
And we can still flower plants with 10hrs of light.
So I think the more interesting light cycle experiment would be running them at 10/12 (on/off)
So over the course of a week you’d save 14hrs.
I personally don’t have the routine at the moment where I could be switching lights like that manually, and I do t have the timers capable of doing it.
But surely someone with an app or programmable timer could set this up.
Provided your DLI is correct and plants are receiving the optimal intensity of light, could they potentially go to 9/12? And save 21hrs over course of a week?
Or is all of this scientifically speaking, nonsense. Due to their circadian rhythms.
If you don’t respect the 24 hours cycle, the day/night conditions (humidity, temperature…) would be different along the days with that 2 hours shortage, I think it would be a mess and confuse the plants … 
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I’m dying to find out though 
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djs seems to have some unique viewpoints on growing/breeding, and maybe thats because he doesnt grow a large variety of genetics (or anything other than his own?). but he is experimenting with these light cycles on berry strains and when you grow many things outside they get a slight berry taste, soo maybe with the bberry lines specifically less light at the end of flower helps bring out the twerps. just a stoned thought.
ive always done 16/8 at seedlings, the logic iirc is that it simulates the pre-solstice boom plants get outside. also i think its part of the kushman method as well. have you experimented with 16/8 as well or seen some science on 20/4? im all for having a bias for less time with lights on lol.
at present running that cycle 11/13 - your “late” start is OK --. I start seeds at 12/12 then in 3-4 weeks I switch to 11/13 ( landrance/heirloom strains). have to wait till harvest for results, also using this cycle can shorten your flower time. are you running 100% sativa’s or hybrids ?
I’m curious if people ever do non 24 hr cycles, like 10/10 or something. could a plant be tricked into seeing more tent days than calendar days?
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Ive actually pulled off 13/11 with success but that was like 8 years ago. Right now im scurred
To donit again so i just rock the typical 18/6 - 12/12
When trying to best mimic a given region, somewhere in the tropics for example, I always wondered why the choice is always a static figure instead of following the specific sunrise and sunset of a given place across a season. I think it will provide more of the necessary resources to express those antiquated type of regional traits than a set day length and night length across the entire season.
That paired with a similar approach towards lighting spectrum is something I’d enjoy seeing. A mover that arcs the lamps would be cool as well. Different angles of light across the day. I think they are all signals to the plants, especially the heirlooms and landrace types.
Just sort of thinking aloud. I appreciate the thought provoking conversations going on in this thread. Much love
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Actually most varieties of cannabis will flower under 14.5 hrs light, believe it or not. 12hrs has long been adopted as the “standard”.
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