Can you make plants grow faster by speeding up the light/dark cycle? If you give them all the nutrients.......

Question

and water they need, but set up sunlamps, and have say 3 hours light/3 hours dark to cut the growing season down to 1/4 of what it would ordinarily be...?

Would grain, fruit or vegetables grow faster? Would they be stunted or inedible or not contain the right vitamins and minerals? Could I get a maple tree to produce beautiful autumn leaves all year round...?

I don't have the facilities to do an experiment, so please don't tell me to try it and see.

Anybody ever tried anything like this? PLEASE, NO POT-GROWING STORIES! That's not what this is for. Any links to scientific studies that have actually tried this?

Thanks for all your serious answers!

9 SEPT 07, 1755 hrs, GMT.

Answer 1

It is not about speeding up the light dark cycle, but increasing the exposure to light. Essentially you want them lit up around the clock -this allows the plants to undergo photosynthesis continually.

They would not be stunted, inedible, nor contain right vitamins and minerals (assuming the same quality of soil).

You should look for some pictures of vegetables from alaska - the summers up there provide 23 hours of sunlight on the longest days the correspondingly the plants can grow quite large.

Answer 2

in my opininon all plants grow well in soil. But not in 5 days. You could get a sprout though what ever seed you pick 1 in deep in a dark space for 3 days then out , but the key is temp. Any type of bean haft to be planted in 60degreeor better dirt or will rot. Best to keep ur sed @that temp too not too hot or dry 5 days you should se a sprout