Help! When should I go into flowering (PICS)

Hi all, can anybody suggest when I should be putting my plants into 12/12 cycle. I have included two of them for you to check out. They are 26 days old and have been on the 18/6 cycle and to me they look like two different strains, however the seeds came from a single bag of fantastic weed but I do not know what type/strain they are.

I am growing in a grow tent (100 x 100 x 180) with a 600W hps and would value your thoughts.

Cheers people.

Are you only doing the two plants? I would say when they are roughly 60cm tall. I think it would be about the perfect size for yield when it's done growing.

Hey, try jamming four in there next time.

keep in mind that during flowering cycle, the plants double(indicas) and the sativas can easily triple in size.your height is 180cm, so you can do the maths

Many thanks for your replys. I actually have 16 on the go and wanted to make sure that I get at least 6 females to fill my grow space. My thoughts are that I would try and grow them tall rather than short and bushy.

Would I be wrong to think this?

Many thanks again.

yeh thats true the taller they are the less compact the bud usually though, light and fluffy ones

dibble65 said:

My thoughts are that I would try and grow them tall rather than short and bushy.

Would I be wrong to think this?

Click to expand...

The tallest you want your plants to reach in bloom is equal to the maximum optimum depth (downward distance) your lighting is capable of minus 1 foot (approx) for the space from light to plant. I know that might sound a little confusing so I'll explain.

With a 600w HPS (and for this example) we'll say 5 feet is the maximum, optimum depth for this light. Remember, we're talking about a straight, downward distance to figure out a maximum plant height. (Personally I would only go 4 but I'm a real stickler for maximizing optimum. Some might even go 6 but that's pointless with a 600w in my grow book.)

With that 5 feet, we have to subtract 1 foot for the space between the light and plant. I don't think I need to explain why, but I will say that the 1 foot is approximate, depending on how good your ventilation is and whether or not you're using a cool tube etc. The measurements don't need to be precise anyway; I'm just trying to give you a decent example.

This leaves us with 4 feet as the maximum height we want our plant(s) to reach in bloom. With that in mind you can decide how tall you should grow the plants in veg before starting flowering. It helps a lot if you know the strain (have grown it before) but you absolutely have to remember that your plants will at LEAST double in size during bloom. With a 600w they will more likely triple, and if they are Sativa dominent could even quadruple. If you use 'triple' as your guideline then the plants should be vegged to a maximum height of 16 inches. (3/triple x 16 inches = 4 feet.) Personally, with a 600w I would not veg any taller than 1 foot to maximize bud production from top to bottom, but that's up to you.

Taller is not better unless your lighting can handle the height; otherwise, you're simply wasting time. Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation it is very helpful. I am afraid I do not know what strain of seed I am using (except for two lowryder#2's I have) so I think I will err on the side of caution and let the plants grow for another week and then I will change the cycle to 12/12.
I have an extractor fan and carbon filter pulling air out of the tent and a large fan keeps the plants moving and circulating the air inside. I do not have a fan pushing air in because I simply cannot afford any more expense.

My tent has side vents which I leave open and the whole tent is situated within a large cupboard so I leave the cupboard door open so that new fresh air can circulate. The temp seems fairly stable at around 79 degrees although I cannot raise the humidity above 30 %. So far all my plants seem to be doing ok with the exception of one that took on a very yellow colour that you could see moving up all along the viens of the new growth. I have put this down to me stupidly watering it with tap water that had not been sitting for 36hrs, but it continues to grow and the new growth seems unaffected.

My new larger pots should be arriving in a couple of days so I am looking forward to transplanting them and perhaps some thining out but I still need to do my homework on this.

Many thanks again for your time and advice, I do appreciate it.