Help out a Noob please

Hi all

This is the first grow I have done with all the proper equipment and it's going very well i think.

I am exactly 4 weeks in from when they started popping out of the soil from seeds.

The shortest is about 13in and looks very healthy and has very little space between the nodes. The tallest also looks pretty healthy and is about 16-17in tall.

I bought feminised seeds which cost a bomb. I got 5 Lemon Skunk and 5 Flying Dragon and all but 1 worked. I am using a 400W HPS and have given them a small splash of Bio-Grow canna nutes.

I think I will put them into flowering (which I have never managed to get to before!!) so I am reading up on it and I read that maybe I should clone them to find the sex before flowering.

My question is can I just put them onto 12/12 (I have be giving them 16/8 from the beginning) and keep an eye on them. I can't see ANY sign of early sexing and I am not keen on cutting/cloning them really. (especially as I have a baby on the way (due Jan 2010) and will not be growing my next lot for at least another 6month - 1yr anyway.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated.

thanks,

(ps sorry no photos but i dont even have a camera or phone )

You can induce flowering by switching to 12/12 anytime. I like to do mine at about 9-12 inches. Keep in mind that they're going to stretch as much as 2-3x their present size. Now would be a good time to get some bloom nutes if you haven't already.

If you bought feminized seeds they should be female.

abberation said:

If you bought feminized seeds they should be female.

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Good good, but they can become Herm i think and then destroy the rest of them. Maybe I am being over the top, Idont know. The thing is that I spent so much on seeds, electric, etc etc etc etc that I do not want a male pollinating the rest of my plants.

Any advice (how much of an issue is this???)

I think the only reason you would take clones is to carry on that strain or to have mother plants to clone from, thats what I do anyway. You only want the one grow so stick them on 12/12 and what the show. Remember they will at least double in size from the point of flowering, if I let mine get to 50cm in veg they reach a crazy 1.2 meters by harvest.
You will find out if all your femed seeds are female in a week or so.

Good luck mate

Thanks for all the quick replies and help. I cant wait to find out if they are all fem's. Hope so. Has any1 bought feminised seeds b4 and if so what sort of ratio did you get from them?

Cheers

I've done a few grows with fem seeds and all sexed as promised. The only way you'll get herms is if you stress the shit out of your plants or if they were from poor genetics. Pretty sure DNA wouldn't do you like that.

Cr8z13 said:

I've done a few grows with fem seeds and all sexed as promised. The only way you'll get herms is if you stress the shit out of your plants or if they were from poor genetics. Pretty sure DNA wouldn't do you like that.

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I got them from Greenhouse Seeds in proper packets so I think they are from good genetics as far as I know.

This all sounds good I can't wait to be puffing on that citrus flavour

Some strains are more trouble free than others.

tokealone said:

Thanks for all the quick replies and help. I cant wait to find out if they are all fem's. Hope so. Has any1 bought feminised seeds b4 and if so what sort of ratio did you get from them?

Cheers

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100% mate, all fem seeds turned out female, however 1 didn't sprout.

If ya treat them right, they'll be fine. The only time a plant turns hermie is under major stress as well as a inconsistent photo period. Keep it 12 hours light and 12 hours dark and it should be fine. Try not to break up the dark cycle and enter your grow room when it's dark turning lights on to see.

Good luck

cheers, what will happen if you are 5-10 minutes out on switching the lights off>?

tokealone said:

cheers, what will happen if you are 5-10 minutes out on switching the lights off>?

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If you meen you are turning the lights on and off manually then I strongly suggest getting a timer so that its the same hours every dark/light cycle.
Theyre cheep and save a lot of hassle