so I have 1 plant I am trying to sex it has been on 12/12 for about 2.5 weeks and no signs, my veg area was 30' tall so I let the plant veg for about 2.5 weeks 5 nodes the total hight was about 7" (the last one I flowered in this box shot up to 25" and was getting fryed by the light) and I put it to 12/12 from 18/6, from cfl/led veg to hps and cfl flower. it is now growing nicely but no signs of sex, it is a papya strain from nirvana. I now have 48" height and a glass hood to keep the temp down. do I need to put the plant back to veg then to flower again? if so how long? was it too young to flower?
need some help please
- Thread starter serrated
- Start date
pauliojr
Well-Known Member
Well you can pretty much flower whenever you want. 2.5 weeks should've been O.K. for vegging. It will probably take a little longer since you did veg so early. I have also waited this long before. You just have to keep checking on them everyday. They will surprise you one day with 2 lovely white hairs.
babygro
Well-Known Member
Not true. You should put the plant into flowering when the plant is sexually mature enough to flower and that's usually when the nodes start alternating or after about 8 weeks vegetative growth. Just because people pretty much 'please themselves' when they put their plants into flowering does not make it the genetically correct time to do so for the plant.
2.5 weeks vegetative growth is simply not long enough when growing from seed when you ideally need around 6-8 weeks vegetative growth to bring the plant close to sexual maturity. Just because people please themselves how long they veg plants for before switching to flowering does not make it the right genetic time for the plant.
I veg my already sexually mature clones for longer than 2.5 weeks before switching to 12/12 for gods sake!
videoman40
Well-Known Member
I agree with what baby says here except, I think what was missed is that his 8 weeks of vegging, is more than likely under CFL's , and as such his 8 weeks is more probaly the same as vegging for 4 weeks under HID lighting.
I bet if they were put side by side they would be almost identical.
Peace
I bet if they were put side by side they would be almost identical.
Peace
babygro
Well-Known Member
Hiya serrated
Your plant isn't sexually mature enough to have been put into flowering and this will increase the amount of time it can take for sex to show. The less time you veg the plant for the longer it can take to show sex during flowering. Now you've switched the plant into flowering it would be silly to switch back to vegetative growth because that will confuse and stress the plant - you have to continue in 12/12. Here's a few tips to ensure your plant starts to flower -
1) Make sure there are NO light leaks in your flowering chamber. Any light leaks, even small ones can stop the plant from entering flowering stage - this is even more important with yours due to it's immaturity.
2) Make sure your light source is predominantly a red spectrum one. The pigments in the plants chloroplasts that act as the plants 'internal clock' that tells it when the day length is shorter and it's time to start flowering is highly reactive to red spectrum light - that's why flowering is induced faster with predominantly red spectrum light sources such as HPS's.
3) You could try forcing the plant to enter flowering by giving it double or triple the usual dark period. ie if your on a 12/12 schedule, try giving the plant 24 or 36 hours of darkness and then back onto 12 hours of light 12 hours of darkness schedule. This will effectively 'reset' the phytochrome pigment that reacts to the red spectrum light, but this will have no affect if there are any light leaks in your flowering chamber, so sort those out first before trying this.
babygro
Well-Known Member
Not at all.
The 'amount of growth' is irrelevant to sexual maturity which is governed by age or weeks and months - or amount of time it takes for the nodes to start alternating.
Sexual plant maturity is reached by age in days - not by the amount of growth or type of light source or anything else. Same variety plants reach sexual maturity at the same time whether grown under sunlight, cfl, fluorescent or HID.
2.5 weeks vegetative growth simply isn't enough when being grown from seed regardless of the light source. I give my clones longer than 2.5 weeks veg and they're already sexually mature because they've taken their 'genetic age' from their mother.
pauliojr
Well-Known Member
Well even though you are saying that it is not "genetically correct", it is POSSIBLE to begin the 12/12 lighting cycle that early. On my first grow I didn't know exactly what I was doing and I did this around the same time. A few weeks later I started seeing little white pistils. I researched some more and decided to put them back into vegging (16 / 8 ) and all went back to normal until I decided to flower 1.5 months later. So even though you really should wait it out longer, you could indeed flower ALMOST anytime you wanted!
videoman40
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't count nodes. There are 2 features that distinguish
mature veggie plants from immature ones. They are alternating
nodal arrangement and leaves with 5 or more blades. You can
flower before those features are present, but the plants perform
a whole lot better if you wait. Most strains except for some equ. sats
have these by 12" or so.
I reach this point in about 30 days or so.
Peace
mature veggie plants from immature ones. They are alternating
nodal arrangement and leaves with 5 or more blades. You can
flower before those features are present, but the plants perform
a whole lot better if you wait. Most strains except for some equ. sats
have these by 12" or so.
I reach this point in about 30 days or so.
Peace
babygro
Well-Known Member
Yeah, keep us informed and as I said earlier - ensure there are no light leaks during the dark period because if there are - that can stop the plant from switching to flowering.
There's one good thing to come out of this by the way - males usually show first and females later on, so the longer it goes on the more chance you have of getting a female.
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