understanding light

[Luci_ferson]

it works with all plants if you know the time of year it is meant to flower.

if a plant flowers in the summer of the uk.
then its trigger is usually around the 12 h light 12 hr dark
if it naturaly flowers slightly earlier in the year then you adjust accordingly.

same principal for all plants. its how they know the time of the year, light and temp.

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if the plant originates elsewhere , find out when it would naturally flower and you've got the begginings of knowing how to force it to flower.
ideally you extend its hours to 18hrs
most plant under 18 hours of light will not reach a flowering stage, and stay in permanent vegetation stage.

this can be used to get plants a lot bigger and a greater root ball.
(you plant them earlier but with extended light )

by the time they are ready to flower naturally your plants are now twice as large as the ones that were just planted at the right time.

but that's only one example of light maniplulation. theres many.
colour is just as important as duration, as is intensity.
a plant that flowers in the summer of England would require close to 12 light and 12 dark
theres other countries that's plants would be the same, but the light colour would be different.
you need to match the colour also.

as a rule its usually plenty of powerfull deep blues and whites when its only a seedling (flurescents )
and as you flower it you switch to orange coloured light (HPS sodiums)

obviously without electricity colour couldn't be done through bulb types so it would have to be done through coloured filters.

as for intensity that's a lot more difficult, since al plants have different requirements.
some low light some high light.

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12hr light and 12hr dark with orange light would make a plant assume it is late autumn , not summer.
it would assume it has missed its ideal flowering time, and so stop concentrating on growing and instantly flip into a late flowering mode.
causing forced flowering within around 2 weeks of the light change.

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The result would be more denser concentration of fruits.
as it tried its hardest to create as many fruits as possible before it was due to die.

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theres many books out there on the subject, but I found Mr G.Mayfields the easiest to absorb for the average person.
he only uses the technical terms if it is absolutely necessary.
he tries to leave out the complicated stuff, but still show you the hows and whys.
its easier to understand and learn something if you have the how and why.