how does one tell when its time to cut the light to 12/12 for flowering?

Just wondering what the stages or "signs" were to tell when its time to flower? can I keep the plant in veg. and keep growing till its gets to a size I want? could I force flower early? or can I wait longer to flower to get a bigger plant? also when and how to tell if you have a male or female? I have heard mixed things... my bro. (who I don't trust soooo much, but does know some things here and there) says you can tell almost right away... and others have told me you have to wait till after it starts to flower....

Even though this information is out there I'll tell you anyway. First of all you can flower directly from seed, it's not recommended cuz of small yields. Next you decide when to flower, it all depends how much room you have. So if you have height restrictions keep in mind that once you induce flowering your plant will double maybe even triple in size. As for showing signs of sex you must first switch to 12/12 and it will be from 3 days to 2 weeks till it shows sex, all depending on the strain and maturaty of the plant

Buddingbishop said:

Even though this information is out there I'll tell you anyway. First of all you can flower directly from seed, it's not recommended cuz of small yields. Next you decide when to flower, it all depends how much room you have. So if you have height restrictions keep in mind that once you induce flowering your plant will double maybe even triple in size. As for showing signs of sex you must first switch to 12/12 and it will be from 3 days to 2 weeks till it shows sex, all depending on the strain and maturaty of the plant

Click to expand...

pretty good info right there.. the only thing that i disagree with is that you can sex a plant in veg if you let it veg for a long enough period of time.. usually after about 6 or 8 weeks from seed, a plant will start to show preflowers, even in 24 hours of light.. you can sex it from the preflowers..
your brother is also kind of right that a lot of times you can simply tell a male from a female plant by looks.. not always, but a lot of times, males will be taller and thinner than girls, but you can't bank on this all of the time..

i like to wait till i see one of two things if not both of them before i start flowering since i have plenty of room for tall girls.. the first is preflowers.. like i said earlier, once they get big enough and old enough, you will start to see preflowers.. preflowers are a good sign that they are reaching sexual maturity and can be flowered at any time..
the second thing i look for is what is called uneven nodes... if you notice, when a plant grows from seed, the branches, or nodes, come out evenly on one side of the main stem, just across from each other, that gives the plant that typical xmas tree shape... but as they age and get closer to sexual maturity, they will start to put out uneven nodes, meaning one on one side of the main stem, and instead of one right across from it, you'll have about an inch or so than you'll have another node on the other side of the plant.. than another inch or so and back to the other side again..
this is a sign that the plant is getting closer to sexual maturity as well..
like budding said, you can flower anytime you want, but 12 /12 from seed is going to decrease your yields greatly.. the bigger the plants are before flowering, the more they are going to yield for you in the end... i like to look at plants like people.. even though a 12 year old girl can physically have a kid, it's not always the best idea.. no job, probably no loving baby daddy and no schooling are all going to hold back that baby.. now, say a 22 year old has a kid.. more than likely she's going to be well established, have a good job, a loving baby daddy, etc.. the baby to the 22 year old is more than likely going to be better off than the one born to a 12 year old.. same with plants.. even though you can start flowering the day the seeds break the surface of the soil, the plants aren't going to be as well off as they would have been if you had waited for signs that the plant was ready to be flowered, ie, uneven nodes and preflowers..

Bud and Racer have given excellent advice. On my first couple of grows, I vegged them for a minimum amount of time that I thought was "proper" based on my "research", which was about 4 weeks. What I would suggest now is vegging them for closer to 8 weeks. I've found that the yield is increased and with a bit of nice sculpting, y'get bigger main nugs versus many smaller ones.

Just my observations, nothing scientific about it. I think patience is the key to a successful grow.

Ok so one last time, I get about when to flower and all, but how do you tell the sex? on the nodes little hairs, or little balls?

Did you even try looking this info up in the forum? It sounds to me as if you just don't want to, and would rather someone else just tell you. I know for a fact that there are several threads loaded with this exact information. In fact, it's as easy as typing "sexing" into the search bar. You'll end up with at least 17 pages with 325 threads overflowing with info. There's also a very good thread floating around with pictures and excellent details showing both sexes.


Happy hunting.

should have searched most of this is in stickys

Until I started visiting this site regularly, I had never hear of anything so ridiculous as going 12/12 from seed!!!
What moron decided to spread this information???
I have a feeling this BAD information is spread by clowns wanting to appear to be clever when in fact they are nothing more than, well, you choose the adjective after reading more.
Why ridiculous and moronic?
Ok, Yes, you can go 12/12 from seed but SHOULD YOU? NEVER
Heres why.
Plants grow by a process called photosynthesis, this needs 3 elements, CO2, water and LIGHT. Reduce the available light and you reduce its potential for growth. A plant can and will grow without a dark period, so its avalable light time is 24/0. By going 12/12 from seed, you are halving the available light, therefore, halving the potential for growth.
This will also cause the plant to stretch in search of light, which many new growers mistake for growth.
Real growth is numbers of internodes. 2" between nodes and potential bud sites is stretch, dont mistake this for growth.

A plant CANNOT flower UNTIL it reaches sexual maturity, FACT.
Sexual maturity is signified by pre-flowers but more importantly ALTERNATING NODES (as mentioned by racerboy). Until these appear, your plant CANNOT flower. Therefore, by giving your plant 12/12 from seed, this could be 6-8 weeks of half the light it could have had. Effectively HALVING the potential bud sites.

If we put it this way, if I asked do you want half the bud this plant is capable of producing, would you go for it? WOULD YOU HELL!!! So, DO NOT GO 12/12 from seed.
Apologies if I sound harsh but this is a message new growers need to hear.

Buddingbishop said:

Even though this information is out there I'll tell you anyway. First of all you can flower directly from seed, it's not recommended cuz of small yields. Next you decide when to flower, it all depends how much room you have. So if you have height restrictions keep in mind that once you induce flowering your plant will double maybe even triple in size. As for showing signs of sex you must first switch to 12/12 and it will be from 3 days to 2 weeks till it shows sex, all depending on the strain and maturaty of the plant

Click to expand...

you dont have to switch to 12/12 for your plant to show sex.most plants will at around the 5 week mark even in veg.

resinousflowers said:

you dont have to switch to 12/12 for your plant to show sex.most plants will at around the 5 week mark even in veg.

Click to expand...

I am quite aware that plants will show sex in veg, I didn't share this information with him because most newbies are eager to see if they have a lady, and depending on his setup he might not even be able to grow a plant that big

I am very eager to see if I have a lady, plant has been in veg for about a month and a half now... still no signs but the growth looks pretty good. sorry no pics yet.. maybe in a couple of hours when i get home.... i guess if during the bloom phase it gets twice as big i should start budding soon as i am not out of room yet but approaching that halfway mark. I started them on a 2ft. 2 bulb floro and have just purchased a secon 4 ft 2 bulb and have them both on the babies.