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lighting under lights 24hours ?

Ok, straining to remember a botany class I had, but I think most plants need some dark to properly process and use the sugars and starches produced during photosynthesis. This has nothing to do with photoperiod, it's more to do with basic plant physiology.

And, niggling at the back of my mind is that giving pepper plants more than 20 hours of light a day does not increase yield and causes problems with the leaves, but I have no idea where I read that, so I can't swear that it's accurate.
 
I believe its in here somewhere Pam I think it was Willard who had mentioned that Peppers especially are not light sensitive for growing ...
thinking where the thread was .....:think:
 
chiles are day-neutral, ie, fruiting is not affected by photoperiod

http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=1903

I have also read that peppers are day neutral, meaning their flowering is not related to the amount of sunlight or darkeness they receive. But I have also read that they are long day plants, meaning they need longer days of sunlight before they will flower. An experiment is needed to support this hypothesis however
 
LUCKYDOG said:
chiles are day-neutral, ie, fruiting is not affected by photoperiod

http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=1903

I have also read that peppers are day neutral, meaning their flowering is not related to the amount of sunlight or darkeness they receive. But I have also read that they are long day plants, meaning they need longer days of sunlight before they will flower. An experiment is needed to support this hypothesis however
Click to expand...
this is a job for Mythbusters(tm)!!!!
 
I have done some experimenting with photoperiod and note little difference in production between 10 hrs/day lighting and 18 hrs/day lighting. That is the range of my test. I grow in hydro and this will surely influence the results.

Where chiles are native, there is 16 hrs of daylight more or less.
 
LUCKYDOG said:
chiles are day-neutral, ie, fruiting is not affected by photoperiod
Click to expand...

Yes, but what I'm referring to isn't the same thing as photoperiod/fruit and flower production. It's the underlying photosynthesis process which provides the energy for the entire plant. Putting peppers on 24 hours of light supposedly doesn't increase pod production, and can actually damage the leaves. I want to say it causes necrotic spots on the leaves, but I'm not 100% sure on that. if you do enough damage to the leaves, it seems like pod production would be adversely affected.
 
i noticed when i changed the lighting on my peppers to 12 hours i started to get pods like crazy. i compared to separate groups of peppers one with 12 hours and the other with 16 hours and the 12'ers grew more pods faster and earlier than the 16's
 
I leave the lights on for about 14 - 16 hours and get optimum results but like Willard, I grow hydro so that might influence the results.
 
Pam said:
Ok, straining to remember a botany class I had, but I think most plants need some dark to properly process and use the sugars and starches produced during photosynthesis. This has nothing to do with photoperiod, it's more to do with basic plant physiology.
Click to expand...

Actually, its a misconception that plants need dark to properly process sugars. There are photo-dependent (light) and photo-independent (dark) reactions that take place during photosynthesis. The "dark" reactions are a misnomer, as they do not require dark but merely do not require the presence of light.

But yeah, some plants require darkness for different reasons. Some need darkness for flowering, others, such as certain cacti, only absorb CO2 at night, keeping the stomata closed during the daytime to reduce water loss. However, the actual food production of the plant goes on indefinitely under light I believe.

And a nice little chart for ya:





Extra info for those who care: Carbon fixation is the process whereby CO2 is converted into organic compounds. Plants fall into one of 3 categories based on how/when they accomplish this:
C3: Most plants, including peppers, are C3 and absorb all their co2 during the day.

C4: plants from hot, bright climates also absorb co2 during the day, but do so much quicker and thus lose less water through transpiration.

CAM: plants from arid regions, ie: cacti, absorb CO2 at night and convert it to organic acids, which are converted back to CO2 during the day when the stomata are closed. These are the most water efficient, since all transpiration takes place at night when it's cooler.
 
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