Buds fattening and quality with light or darkness?

I' ve found this video on the tube, https://youtu.be/dQlOJ1zvoPI The author compares three photoperiods on lattuce, at same DLI: 12/12, 16/8, 20/4 And the result is that 20/4 have in absolute the best production, but 12/12 have relative best quantity (wet weight product) at the best cost, but even at the best quality (low burnings). 18/6 isnt a lot different than 12/12. The photoperiod of this kind of lettuce is similar to cannabis. Anyway, It 'd be nice to see a a specific comparison for autofowering with 20/4 and 12/12 photoperiod. I bet that 12/12 is not 9nly the more convenient, but not so far lower in productivity than 20/4. Maybe the less is more

Your plants consume sugars a lot at night, I get great results with autos on 12-14

fuck yeah, @m0use! "20/4 for best prodcution" with no context is just something said by a person that doesn't actuallyknow what they are talking about. photons per second, which umol/s of PAR is, is a rate. How long that rate is applied matters. There's a limit to how much energy a plant can receive in 24 hours. it is relative to several other factors - Temp, RH, ambient CO2 (these three all local to each leaf's surface), and delivering a proper ratio and concentration of dissolved minerals (npk et al) relative to rate of growth. All of this is compartmentalized across leaf surface of entire plant. areas that get too much will show light damage over time. Through trial and error you can find this "max" point. unless you tightly control everything, it will fluctuate a bit. Changing hours of use will have a proportional effect on resulting DLI. Dimmer will be dependent on how the equipment works at various loads but can be thought of as mostly proportional. Distance from canopy can also be used to reduce DLI in hotspots and spread it out more evenly in general. Distance probably wastes the most watts, but in common sense contexts it's arguably worth it. Few more photons miss plant and or absorbed by walls with increased number of reflections -- which also give wider angles of attack on lower areas of plant, which is why it can be worth it as opposed to diming or adjusting hours of use. i use 16/8 to better slot into the 12 hours of reduced electricity costs at night during the plant's vege phase. DLI is what matters. trial and error to push that boundary. take notes on power and distance from canopy.. even temp/rh is useful info to recognize / avoid any patterns of light damage.

your target should be a set DLI vs a standard light schedule. Hit your DLI then alter your schedule aorund it within moderation. 18on 6off or 12on 12off with a DLI of 40 for each photoperiod is the same energy input for growing potential in a plant, just compressed. Light intensity is increased or decreed "dimming" for the allocated time be it 18 or 12. kinda think like battery charging but fast charge "12" and slow "18" other things to note, a 600W inefficient light on for 12hrs vs a 600W super efficient light on for 12hrs will have very different DLI stats. This has limits though, giving a DLI of 40 in 4hours on and then off 20hrs would burn the plant to a crisp and not work well. The darkness period is where other things happen, more so in photoperiod plants, autoflowers also need sleep just can tolerate less of it thus 18/6 vs 12/12. Autos get their traits from cannabis ruderalis, they are native to a northern climate where they are getting up to 18hrs a day of light and flower on their own, so no switch to 12/12 is needed like photoperiod plants. It's why some ppl think more light is better, if they use light to grow, then giving them light 24/7 is a no brainier, bigger plants right... sadly its not the case and not that simple. You can grow with 24/0 but the plants don't do as well and are stressed. I do max 18/6 and try and hit aorund a 40DLI, a bit under is better then over for me. going over 40 without c02 is stress on the plants and going under by a good chunk, like 20 total is just not as efficient, it will still produce though. You can go over 40 DLI but you need extra stuff in your environment so it can thrive. mainly CO2 and nutrients. So in short. 20/4 or 12/12 is all dependant on how strong/efficient your light is. I still prefer to grow autos on a longer photoperiod vs shorter, I'd like to see if there is any documentation showing they do better or worse with the same lighting inputs but compressed into 12/12 vs 18/6. or what their lighting spectrum and intensity is like in their native areas vs a grow tent. Good Luck!