Does a SOG grow take longer to finish?

Hey guys I did a small scale SOG grow with 2L pop bottles in 4 plants/sq ft..

I bought northern lights from a local seed bank but I am unsure if I got crappy genetics (sativa phenos) or the lack of light in the SOG grow is slowing down the maturation rate in my grow box.

I am at week 9, and approaching week 10 this friday. I honestly was hoping for a 8week strain like NL is known for but my plants were to give it an additional week or two anyways. But approaching 10 weeks, my "sativa" looking plants look like they need another 3 weeks to go, 90% white hairs and still popping more out along with the whole fox tailing ordeal, while a few of my indica plants have tons of brown hairs and are super crystally but are lacking amber trichomes.

I did howevcer read that NL always continue to grow white pistils no matter its maturation? And it will continue past ripeness? Anyone else hear this?

Dont use sativas in sog next time. What lights are you using?

Like buds said, SOG works best with compact short indicas. Generally SOG is the fastest way to grow but there is definitely a difference between using seeds versus clones. If you go 12/12 from seed, or anywhere close to it, the plants will take longer before going into flower. They will essentially still veg for a week to three in 12/12 until they feel ready. Clones on the other hand, or larger plants past the age of ~3 weeks, will start to flower much more rapidly. They will still have two weeks of stretch but it should be a legitimate two weeks versus four to five.

weksos said:

Hey guys I did a small scale SOG grow with 2L pop bottles in 4 plants/sq ft..

I bought northern lights from a local seed bank but I am unsure if I got crappy genetics (sativa phenos) or the lack of light in the SOG grow is slowing down the maturation rate in my grow box.

I am at week 9, and approaching week 10 this friday. I honestly was hoping for a 8week strain like NL is known for but my plants were to give it an additional week or two anyways. But approaching 10 weeks, my "sativa" looking plants look like they need another 3 weeks to go, 90% white hairs and still popping more out along with the whole fox tailing ordeal, while a few of my indica plants have tons of brown hairs and are super crystally but are lacking amber trichomes.

I did however read that NL always continue to grow white pistils no matter its maturation? And it will continue past ripeness? Anyone else hear this?

Click to expand...

they can go a few weeks over the estimates but if you can, use a pocket scope to check the tiny trichomes, the trichs WILL go brown/clear/milky unlike the pistils in your case, which is why pistils are only 1 of the ways to determine ripeness. Sometimes the pistils will even brown off completely with clear/milky trichs.

but in answer to your general question, no plants shouldn't take longer in SOG.

Next time grow some mothers if you have the space, that way you can choose the most 'indica looking' one as a keeper to take clones from in the future, if she's indica in veg chances are it will be indica in flower, not all the time mind you but you will find out if you do some research on the strain for example, super lemon haze tends to look very indica in veg but when you flower she sativas right up... weird XD

*BUDS said:

Dont use sativas in sog next time. What lights are you using?

Click to expand...

Northern Lights is commonly known as a heavily indica strain, he probably got them and they turned out to be a more sativa pheno, not his fault entirely.

Gastanker said:

Like buds said, SOG works best with compact short indicas. Generally SOG is the fastest way to grow but there is definitely a difference between using seeds versus clones. If you go 12/12 from seed, or anywhere close to it, the plants will take longer before going into flower. They will essentially still veg for a week to three in 12/12 until they feel ready. Clones on the other hand, or larger plants past the age of ~3 weeks, will start to flower much more rapidly. They will still have two weeks of stretch but it should be a legitimate two weeks versus four to five.

Click to expand...

good point on the contrast between seed and clone, 12/12 from seed will take a lot longer to start flowering than 12/12 from rooted clone

*BUDS said:

Dont use sativas in sog next time. What lights are you using?

Click to expand...

600W HPS along with some supplemental lighting , 4x23W CFL and 2x20W T5 tubes, supplemental lighting in 6500k for a mixed spectrum.

And using a sativa in a SOG is a big no-no, had no intentions of that and picked NL for the sole reason that it is a indica plant.

Gastanker said:

Like buds said, SOG works best with compact short indicas. Generally SOG is the fastest way to grow but there is definitely a difference between using seeds versus clones. If you go 12/12 from seed, or anywhere close to it, the plants will take longer before going into flower. They will essentially still veg for a week to three in 12/12 until they feel ready. Clones on the other hand, or larger plants past the age of ~3 weeks, will start to flower much more rapidly. They will still have two weeks of stretch but it should be a legitimate two weeks versus four to five.

Click to expand...

The plants were ALL rooted clones, given about 5-7 days veg just to reduce transplant shock into their pots.
I tried my best to go by the rules for SOG with numerous hours or even days wasted (not exactly wasted ) going into research for the ultimate first grow, do it right or dont do it at all right? Maybe its just my OCD but I like to be overkill for everything my first time around.. =\

Matchbox said:

they can go a few weeks over the estimates but if you can, use a pocket scope to check the tiny trichomes, the trichs WILL go brown/clear/milky unlike the pistils in your case, which is why pistils are only 1 of the ways to determine ripeness. Sometimes the pistils will even brown off completely with clear/milky trichs.

but in answer to your general question, no plants shouldn't take longer in SOG.

Next time grow some mothers if you have the space, that way you can choose the most 'indica looking' one as a keeper to take clones from in the future, if she's indica in veg chances are it will be indica in flower, not all the time mind you but you will find out if you do some research on the strain for example, super lemon haze tends to look very indica in veg but when you flower she sativas right up... weird XD



Northern Lights is commonly known as a heavily indica strain, he probably got them and they turned out to be a more sativa pheno, not his fault entirely.



good point on the contrast between seed and clone, 12/12 from seed will take a lot longer to start flowering than 12/12 from rooted clone

Click to expand...

Thanks! Im glad you noticed the disappointing phenos I tried mentioning. How exactly does light affect the flowering rate of a plant? I was thinking that since the plants are a bit more packed, they are receiving less light overall and the only light asorbed by the plant are from the top canopy which led me to believe that SOG may grow a bit slower than the theory of it?


anyways a bit more info,

had 2x 5pk of seeds from toronto420 seedbank, the owner said they purchased their seeds from a local hippy dude who claims to have been growing the strain for the past 15 years so when I heard that I was a bit nervous but I wasnt quick to judge. Out of my 10 seeds only 9 germinated and from there I found out about the SOG method and cloning. Took about 6-7 clones each plant and killed off the mothres to save space but did take extra clones incase I want to grow it out and keep that specific pheno.

Out of my 9 possible keepers, any indica looking plant has low yield but looks high quality , and any high yielding plant looks sativa, which is extra tall, lanky, and not as dense. Not favourable for me since I picked NL for the Indica body stone.

This does kind of suck because I only had a 1 time shot at this and I was hoping to do this and collect enough bud to put me off from spending $ for the next year at least. Dont think Ill be doing a second grow .. maybe a 1 plant scrog jsut to continue this cool hobby.

Here is a pic of some bud at 9 weeks, how much longer would you guys estimate on just the overall appearance? I will be checking trichomes again tonight and Ill probably get an update at week 10, but I have a feeling it will need another 3-4 weeks before harvest (50% amber).



ps you can see my ghetto box as I had to extend the heigh another few feet to compenstae for the tall lank mofos that grew!! Was hoping for the plants to stay under 20", didnt expect my 6" clones to stretch 7x their original heigh though. And the leaves look a bit yellow because Ive been starving them expecting a harvest ... I should feed them again ...

From the looks of them I would say a couple more weeks. But you say they are 50% amber? Or are you saying you want them 50% amber? You realize amber is degraded THC right? Highest THC levels would be 100% cloudy about to turn amber. If you are seeing amber now then they just might be ready to harvest regardless of pistil color.

^ sorry I meant I want them at about 50% amber when harvested. I enjoy the more couchlock high since Im more of a nighttime smoke before bed.

I cant imagine waiting another month I was so eager at week 8, but after deciding to give it an extra week or two, time has been going by SUPER SLOW! another 2-3 weeks is going to feel like an eternity lol

Light only affects the plants in the sense that too little is shite XD leaves are not solid and light energy though you might not see it, does pass through the leaves to the lower ones, that's why higher wattage generally means more penetration because the intensity can travel through more leaves, so believe it or not your plants are getting more light than you think!

But they look lovely! don't worry bout the extra few weeks it'll be worth the wait!

AND don't give up this hobby lol I love growing I find it better or at least more addictive than smoking it (well that's a bit of a no-brainer)... and there's just something about smoking your own hard work that just makes it soooo much better XD next time go to a seedbank that has some good rep and get a proper strain (not dissing yours) just something that they didn't buy from an old hippy whose been growing for years lol, that would have put me right off, it may well be a northern lights but who knows what crosses he's made it with and just called it NL or whatever

as gastanker said if you're seeing amber now they could well be ready sooner than you think, I usually go for a 30% amber 70% milky when I can, as this gives just enough time for all the clear trichs to go milky from clear and I get a heavy couch lock stone off of most of my indica's and hybrids!