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Some growers use a special method known as the “12-12 From Seed” technique that completely skips the traditional vegetative phase. But what is it exactly and how does it work?
Indoor cannabis growers are always on the lookout for new, faster ways to grow high-quality bud indoors despite the obvious space restrictions. Some growers use a special method known as the “12-12 From Seed” technique that completely skips the traditional vegetative phase.
THE “12/12 FROM SEED” LIGHTING METHOD
Photoperiod cannabis strains flower based on their light cycle. In order to replicate these conditions, indoor growers use different light cycles to keep plants in their vegetative phases and later force them into flowering.
Hence, they’ll usually use a 18/6 light cycle to keep their plants in a vegetative phase for roughly 2-4 weeks and then switch to a 12/12 cycle for the flowering phase.
This has been the standard for indoor growing for centuries. However some growers use a grow technique known as the “12-12 From Seed” method.
As the name suggests, it involves skipping the original vegetative phase and immediately pushing plants into flowering once the germinated seed starts to protrude the soil.
This method is particularly appealing for growers who are working with serious space restrictions. Because these plants are robbed of their vegetative phases, they grow much smaller and are much more manageable than a regular plant that’s been in a vegetative phase for a number of weeks.
Plants grown using this method also have considerably fewer branches and tend to be noticeably less “bushy” than regular plants.
Another major benefit to this technique is that it allows you to produce 1-2 more harvests per year In fact, some growers are able to produce up to 7 annual harvests using this technique.
This makes the 12-12 method extremely attractive for growers that are pressed for time. Instead of having to wait out a full vegetative cycle plus a full flowering cycle, these growers can skip the vegetative phase all together and harvest their buds much sooner.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Like many other cannabis grow techniques, the 12/12 method isn’t without its critics.
The main criticism of this technique is that by robbing plants of their vegetative phase they are unable to produce budding sites and consequently produce smaller harvests. Others also claim that the bud from these plants has lower concentrations of THC.
However, some growers swear by the 12/12 technique, claiming to produce enviable harvests of sticky, stinky and, most importantly, potent weed. Some growers on forums even claim to be able to produce 1 gram of weed for every watt of lighting the plants receives, producing over 8 ounces on a single 250 watt HPS light.
Whether these rumors are true is hard to verify. Either way, the only way to test them is to try this technique out for yourself. We know we will.
