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Cole_Robbie · February 14, 2015

It's funny, when I try to look it up, every other web page says something different.

The intensity of the light involved may play a factor as well. When we are starting seeds under fluorescent lights, they are getting a tiny fraction of the light that would be hitting them in the summer sun.

Here is a research paper from 2005 which found that using fewer lights on a 24-hour cycle was more efficient than using more lights on an 18-hour cycle:
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/...2/374.full.pdf

That is obviously not the same thing as proof that tomatoes never need a dark period, just an example that seedlings can grow well in 24-hour light.

If I had to guess, if there was a need for a plant to have a dark period, then that need would probably be closely related to the intensity of the light involved.

February 14, 2015	#23
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	It's funny, when I try to look it up, every other web page says something different. The intensity of the light involved may play a factor as well. When we are starting seeds under fluorescent lights, they are getting a tiny fraction of the light that would be hitting them in the summer sun. Here is a research paper from 2005 which found that using fewer lights on a 24-hour cycle was more efficient than using more lights on an 18-hour cycle: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/...2/374.full.pdf That is obviously not the same thing as proof that tomatoes never need a dark period, just an example that seedlings can grow well in 24-hour light. If I had to guess, if there was a need for a plant to have a dark period, then that need would probably be closely related to the intensity of the light involved.