Do autos really need absolute darkness at "night"?

No autoflowers dont need darkness... Some plants do benefit from "night time" but weed/hemp/marijuanna is not one of them. Usually plants that benefits from darkness/night are big plants that lives multiple seasons while small plants that only lives for one season dont really need darkness and can benefit from 24 hours of light. Photoperiods on the other hand, have their flowering triggered by the amount of light they get (and wavelengths) as they are bred from plants that used to grow in areas with distinguished seasons. with that being said.. it is not necesary to provide 24 hours of light. If the light you provide is strong less can be more than sufficient. theres a maximum amount of light that the plant can absorb and giving it more wont increase its growth but just provide you with a larger energy bill. Look into PPFD and DLI for more information about Daily Light (index) for autoflowers.... On my diary growdiaries.com/diaries/201897-danestrains-grow-journal-by-vantheman/week/1143631 i have made some measurements on the light output of my lamps to get a pointer on how long my lamps should be turned on to provide enough light for a plant in flowering.

Simple answer "no" This is why autos are recommended to new growers as they take the complication of photoperiods "light cycles" out of it. but they can add in a whole new set of complications from autos just being autos. Autos don't require darkness to enter flowering stage likes their photoperiod counterparts. Flowering hormaons only build up in darkness in the Photoperios plants as the light disregulates one part of the hormones being formed. Autos do this normally regardless of light, how? I don't fully know but they do. A note on darkness, Darkness for plants is not absolute zero photons. The moon casts a bit of light. One simple test is this. this was suggested by dr.Brusebugbee a cannabis researcher, if you hold a 10pt text book from your face at arms length and you can clearly read it, there is to much light. Our eyes are great at seeing small amounts of light and making it work, aka moon light, but shit with bright lights and registering the intensity. that dr has a whole set of youtube clips on lighting in cannabis, debunking green light does not trigger photosynthesis and alike. He has a number in PPF that has to be below for the cannabis plants he studied to be considered night. I can't recall it. but the book test is a good no tech test. With that said, the plants that grow outside get uninterpreted darkness normally in the wild unless their is human involvement with street lamps and such, I have been in the country side where there is no town or city for miles aorund and it gets pitch back dark moons helps a bit but again we are great at seeing in low light conditions but ulta low light not do much, need cat eyes to do that. there is a good point about the Calvin Cycle, I myself can say I don't know much about it and will look into it, it seems to be describing how the plants use co2 and turn it into sugar. I am a firm believer in giving plants darkness so they can rest and do their own thing. I have seen many plants on 24/0 not looking so hot, and then when the grower switches to 18.6 or 20/4 they start to bounce back and look healthier. nothing else was changed just the light schedule. Take from this what you will. outside of your question, I find it interesting a greenhouse would grow 4000 autos at a time when photoperiods are much better yielders and can tolerate more stress without fucking up. can also clone them for stability in a mass crop and quality. Maybe that greenhouse does breeding or photo hunting or can't provide the darkness levels required for flowering. Very interesting non the less. I'd be curious to know why autos vs photos though. Good Luck!

Simple answer "no" This is why autos are recommended to new growers as they take the complication of photoperiods "light cycles" out of it. but they can add in a whole new set of complications from autos just being autos. Autos don't require darkness to enter flowering stage likes their photoperiod counterparts. Flowering hormaons only build up in darkness in the Photoperios plants as the light disregulates one part of the hormones being formed. Autos do this normally regardless of light, how? I don't fully know but they do. A note on darkness, Darkness for plants is not absolute zero photons. The moon casts a bit of light. One simple test is this. this was suggested by dr.Brusebugbee a cannabis researcher, if you hold a 10pt text book from your face at arms length and you can clearly read it, there is to much light. Our eyes are great at seeing small amounts of light and making it work, aka moon light, but shit with bright lights and registering the intensity. that dr has a whole set of youtube clips on lighting in cannabis, debunking green light does not trigger photosynthesis and alike. He has a number in PPF that has to be below for the cannabis plants he studied to be considered night. I can't recall it. but the book test is a good no tech test. With that said, the plants that grow outside get uninterpreted darkness normally in the wild unless their is human involvement with street lamps and such, I have been in the country side where there is no town or city for miles aorund and it gets pitch back dark moons helps a bit but again we are great at seeing in low light conditions but ulta low light not do much, need cat eyes to do that. there is a good point about the Calvin Cycle, I myself can say I don't know much about it and will look into it, it seems to be describing how the plants use co2 and turn it into sugar. I am a firm believer in giving plants darkness so they can rest and do their own thing. I have seen many plants on 24/0 not looking so hot, and then when the grower switches to 18.6 or 20/4 they start to bounce back and look healthier. nothing else was changed just the light schedule. Take from this what you will. outside of your question, I find it interesting a greenhouse would grow 4000 autos at a time when photoperiods are much better yielders and can tolerate more stress without fucking up. can also clone them for stability in a mass crop and quality. Maybe that greenhouse does breeding or photo hunting or can't provide the darkness levels required for flowering. Very interesting non the less. I'd be curious to know why autos vs photos though. Good Luck!

I work in the greenhouses where we plant about 4000 autos at a time. The closest thing to a dark period they ever receive is when the lights shut down for a few hours in the middle of the day when plenty of IR spectrum bleeds through the walls. They grow fine.....some of the biggest plants you'll ever see lol. Instead of listening to people on the internet who want to attribute human characteristics to plants like "rest" or "sleep", familiarize yourself with the Calvin cycle and C3 and C4 type plants. You'll learn more and be better informed.

You shouldn't give an auto 24hrs of light or any plant for that matter Dark rests put the stop the photochrome. (Plants photosynthetic reaction). Plants take 2 hrs 2 fall asleep and in doing so they build up energy reserves to push your plant when the light comes back on. If using the light 24-7 your plant will have no bursts of energy. Growth will be slow & stressful.. Autos run on a system of DLI LIGHT PPF + HRS GIVEN GIVING U A DLI you should implement with autos. I would say this also. Yes, plants tat are put 2 sleep should have no uv rays hitting them. Use a phototone app to see if any lux is hitting your plant during the dark hrs. Look up DLI & how autos work But not good 2 run autos 2

autos don't need absolute darkness and can continue flowering under a 24hr schedule however they do better with a rest between 18/6 and 20/4 schedule

Not "absolute" darkness, but un-interrupted darkness.....that is, no waking them up with bright light when they are "sleeping".