When to flower??

I have watched several threads about flowering, including the most recent. Opinions appear to vary greatly as to when to flower. My plants are growing like crazy right now, but enclosed are a couple of picts from a very days ago. I would say they have increased in size about 50% in the last 5 days. If I took the same picture now, you would not be able to see the dirt of the sides of the container. They are very bushy and very thick.

I have no idea the type, as this is my first grow I wanted to try with bag seed. Looks like Indica to me, but feel free to comment. They have been grown under 6500k CFLs. I will switch to 2700s for flowering.

I have read here that they will double in size during flowering. If this is the case, I should flower soon and they are half the highth of my growing box. I have also read the will increase by about 30%.

So, when to flower? Where there is 50% room left for growth or 30%? I want to the best yield and the best bud (don't we all). Thoughts?

Thanx for you your replies...

-ngtybear

Good job on your healthy plants. They are Indica or and Indica-Sativa mix but mainly indica. You can tell by the wide leaves. As far as flowering you can really do it at any time, but most say to wait till the plants are about a foot tall and then flower. Larger plant have more budding sights then a small plant. It does look like a small space there, so I don,t think you have much choice when to flower because if you flower now they are going to take up all that space before they are finished unless you tie them down. I would try to find another space that has more height, may be work with what you have now to make more room.
I hope this helps.

okay I put this in 1 other thread, put this in perspective.......

1ft. for the pot
1ft. for the light
1ft. for between the light and ceiling
1ft. for in between light and plants

therefor if you only have 8ft. of heigth, you should veg until 24" if you plan on the plant doubling its size because the above is 4ft. of space needed w/o the plant

The system I built allows for expansion for height when required, but I do not want to go beyond the two boxes. Here, is the box since expanded.

I am using CFLs, so I can grow until they are right up against the lights. Before moving them down this last time, the plants where about 1cm from the lights. No signs of burn (until 1 leaf actually touched the lights).

I am working on a new lighting system design which will actually allow for the lights to be in the midst of the plants with cooling. Not sure I will have the bugs worked out before this grow is done though. Excited about this idea. It will be interesting to see how they do with lights inside the canopy.

On commentary note, I have not had this much fun on a "project" for a long time. Where else can I combine 3 things I love and see results. Pot, engineering, and creating something new.

So, I will plan on 12" of additional growth while flowering, which will allow for about a 40% increase in height. Unless someone posts something here to convince me otherwise, I will start flowering at about 12" which should be in about a week. As soon as they sex I will thin out the males and replant into athe base. I am hoping for about 6 plants to take to harvest. I currently have 11.

One new development, which I think is very cool. Never seen a thread on the subject. They are developing multiple main branches. I am sure there is a proper term for what they are doing, but branches are coming from the bottom and joining the canopy. I assume the new branches will create bud also.

Thanks for the replies. Many more are welcome. It's like bringing the kids out to show company.

-ngtybear

Dude nice set up. Lookin good!

I love the creativity in this one... I give you mad props... i think i may try to recreate this... can you give a post just on your set up...

Btw about flowering... your plants will grow twice as much during flowering as they did during veg.. so one foot plants should grow to be about three feet by the end of flowering...

hope that answers your question

Doe$tax, I have a couple more modes and then I will push something out. I am working on a design to add about 10,000 lumens of low temp light IN the canopy, and I want to add it to this system. Once I do, I will send the details out in a new thread.

What is the total amount of Lumens and watts you got there? How old are they?

ngtybear said:

So, when to flower? Where there is 50% room left for growth or 30%? I want to the best yield and the best bud (don't we all). Thoughts?

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When to flower depends on a number of different variables, only one of which would be the height theyll be when finished. They look very Indica dominant to me, either pure Indica or Indica dominant Sativa crosses, and those should stay reasonably small, but you should still expect them to double or triple in size at the end of their flowering period. So you need to be prepared for 3 foot tall plants.

How old are they? Flowering doesn't just depend on size, but on maturity as well. Older sexually mature plants contain more cannibinoids than younger immature ones and these plants reach sexual maturity at 8 weeks old. Ideally, you should be looking to flower them at a minimum of 6 weeks old if grown from seed. So as a yardstick, I'd suggest either 6 weeks of age or 12 inches in height - whichever comes soonest.

There are 260w of CFLs and 90w of floros. Give me just under 20,000 lumens at 6500k. I just took a new photo. As of today, they are about 6 weeks since planting. They started a little slow, but are going crazy now. I will go to flowering very soon.

-ngtybear

ngtybear said:

There are 260w of CFLs and 90w of floros. Give me just under 20,000 lumens at 6500k. I just took a new photo. As of today, they are about 6 weeks since planting. They started a little slow, but are going crazy now. I will go to flowering very soon.

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Those are some nice looking plants, well done so far. If they're 6 weeks old now, put them into flowering.

Lose the tin foil, it's not helping to reflect any light, either get some mylar or put in some flat matt white panels, they'll do a far better job than tin foil.

baby gro,

Thank you for both of your replies.

I am planning to paint the foil or cover to with something else once I pull the plant to repot them. The foil is provided stealth more than anything at this point. When the top is open the world around gets very bright.

What are your thoughts on pruning? I have another thread open on the topic, but being your are posting....

Also, next grow will be with purchased seed. Any suggestion? I would love to buy something which grows low, is very strong, and tastes great when smoked. I know, it's like finding a golden unicorn.

-ngtybear

just wondering on my second grow just wondering is it normal for yellowing 2 to 3 weeks into flowering??

also does anyone know about the nite cls are they any gud???

ngtybear said:

I am planning to paint the foil or cover to with something else once I pull the plant to repot them. The foil is provided stealth more than anything at this point. When the top is open the world around gets very bright.

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By stealth I assume you mean not letting light out rather than reflecting it back. Even still, tin foil is an extremely poor reflector of light, even more so when it gets crinkled, which it does a lot, and the small crinkles that form simply fragment the light in all different directions - usually not in the direction of your plants! As I said, plain matt white anything, painted board, cardboard, paper even as long as it's flat will do a far better job of reflecting light back as well as stopping light getting out.

ngtybear said:

What are your thoughts on pruning? I have another thread open on the topic, but being your are posting....

Click to expand...

Unless you know exactly what you're doing - don't do it - it's counter-productive. People snip off large fan leaves to get more light to the lower areas, all they do is remove the plants ability to process light via photosynthesis and co2, this stresses the plant and plant growth slows down because it can't produce the necessary levels of chlorophyll, carbohydrates and sugars to continue healthy growth. Pruning lower smaller branches will concentrate auxins and growth hormones into the higher branches which will simply make the plant concentrate it's growth in the higher branches - forcing it to get taller - not really what you want is it?

Once you're more experienced at growing you can experiment with topping and fimming on one or two plants and small amounts of pruning to see the effects, but I really wouldn't get involved with it in your first grow. Get the basics right first, then start experimenting a little.

ngtybear said:

Also, next grow will be with purchased seed. Any suggestion? I would love to buy something which grows low, is very strong, and tastes great when smoked. I know, it's like finding a golden unicorn.

Click to expand...

You need to concentrate your searches in the pure Indica or Indica dominant varieties of which theres quite a lot. Avoid Sativas and Sativa dominants, they grow tall and take longer in flowering. Take a look at some strains like Afghani, Mazar, Sensi Star (the one I'm growing) Northern Lights, the Kush and Shiva strains. Indicas tend to stink a lot more than Sativas which is one of the downsides to them.

where do you get those bulbs?? nice plants and set up. Would love to have more details.

babygro,

Thank you for taking the time for a great reply. Once I get them sexed and thinned out I will cover the sides with something white. I wanted to use mylar, but have had a tough time finding it.

I will keep it simple for now... Not LST, or pruning. Just learn how to keep them alive. I think I have done OK so far. Flowering should be fun.

I like the "stink" and have a good filter system. One of the benefits of a closed garden. Controlling the smell is not a problem.

I started another thread about flowering with CFLs. I will start in a couple of days and keep a "grow log" in the thread. I look forward to your comments and words of wisdom.

i know pruning can make things worse but i once fried a few plants (extractor timer fooked up)well threw most of them but one decided i felt sorry for her she had hardly any green leaves left so i nutured her back pruned the dead and because of her wierd shape wen i did flower her she repayed me for all the love and atention cos her yeild was amazing buds were everywere on her!!! and gud size too

I have done the same thing will all 4 of mine. We will see how they recover. I am going to take a couple of photos now so I can see how they develop, if they survive.

-ngtybear

NGTYBEAR: I grew with CFLs and Floros too as we talked about on my thread. My plants doubled in size quickly once on 12/12. One plant outgrew the space and I had to tie down the main cola just to contain it. This did give me a chance to see what LST is about as the lower branches have grown up and formed nice buds. Nice setup and from my recent experience you should see some nice results. 60sToker