The thing about autoflowering cannabis and light cycles, one of the easiest ways to increase your yield is to give them all the light they can in order to continue to grow even during the full flowering phase. Ok so here is the thing about 24/0 if you think about it, the reason that autoflowering cannabis actually autoflowers is due to its geographical location in relation to the equator. You see cannabis that grows in lower hemisphere has the benefit of gradually changing seasons and a gradual lowering of the light cycle. Plants that grow in the upper latitudes don't get that benefit, and literally go from 24 hours(ish, its actually closer to 22/2) to nothing. You see these plants get basically 24 hours of light for 90 days or so during the summer. So when people say that plants need to "sleep" I say nature doesn't do it so why should I mess with what mother nature has already perfected. They don't sleep in the wild therefore I do that lol.
All autos want to do is grow, and do as much growing as possible in the predetermined time frame that have to do it. It is the good ole Darwin's theory of natural selection, adaptations to environments and such.. That gives us the basic blueprint to use. It is up to us to try and find out all of the subtle growing conditions and variables growth varibles that exist in nature and not only duplicate them but also improve upon them. The best part about growing autos is the fact that the cells can continue to use the photons from the sun during flowering(lol duh Derek everyone knows that) to grow. If you think about it like this, every day if the lights are out for 4 hours per day, each week you lose a total of 28 hours of photosynthesis and each month you lose 112 hours or 4.6 days and for a whole growth cycle it is 9.2 days per growth cycle that you are robbing the plant of the ability to do what nature wanted, to grow as big and healthy as possible. So the next generation has a better chance of survival and so on. Me personally I know how much growth occurs in a 10 day period so I want to give them everything they want, which I believe is two main things, lots of lighting for 24 hours a day and AIR to the roots(anyone who knows me, knows my thoughts on air to the rootzone)
I know this sounds like I am rambling, but I do believe that having all of your growth variables maxed out is the way to grow(just my own personal feelings) And the lighting cycle is right at the top of that hierarchy of needs for the cannabis, along with o2 to the max. I hopepy G I didn't ramble too hard lol. Happy Growing my friend
