Decreasing Photoperiod - All at Once?

[summit]

Quick and easy question. With temperature sundews like pygmy sundews that are grown under artificial lighting; how quickly should I shorten their photoperiod to trigger gemmae production? Once the temperatures start cooling off just drop them down 2-3 hours at once? Or slowly like a hour each day?

 

[hcarlton]

Try 15 minutes to maybe a half hour a week; natural photoperiod doesn't suddenly drop, so they will likely not appreciate such a sudden change either, and it only changes a few hours one way or the other across half the year. If you dropped the photoperiod an hour a day for the whole time they expect a decrease to be occurring, even if you started with lights on for 24 hours you'd end up with total darkness only after a couple weeks.

 

[summit]

Try 15 minutes to maybe a half hour a week; natural photoperiod doesn't suddenly drop, so they will likely not appreciate such a sudden change either, and it only changes a few hours one way or the other across half the year. If you dropped the photoperiod an hour a day for the whole time they expect a decrease to be occurring, even if you started with lights on for 24 hours you'd end up with total darkness only after a couple weeks.

Thank you Carlton, I believe my timer does 30 minute intervals so I'll do 30 minutes a week. Could you suggest a time to start decreasing the light time? Now perhaps?

 

[hcarlton]

If it's 30 minute intervals, I'd go with every other week. starting now if you haven't. And I increase and decrease photoperiods throughout the year in time with the actual change of seasons. Australian species will be more apt to produce gemmae/flower/wake up at the right times if this gradual decrease results in a winter low of under 10 hours of light a day, and then lengthen to 14-16 or so in summer.