When to flower?

[andyc94]

Hi everyone im on my first grow i have got 2 plants (1 Delicious Cotton Candy (mainly sativa) and 1 Royal Queen Special Kush #2 (Indica)) growing in a 2ftx3ftx6ft wardrobe under 3 23watt 6000H CFL bulbs on an 18/6 veg cycle. They have been veging for 2 weeks now and are about 6 inches tall with the 3rd set of leaves coming through. They seem to be growing just fine but I am just wondering when i should flip to 12/12 as I do not want giant monstrous plants and I have only recently read on the site where i purchased the seeds that they can grow to 4meters tall. I know I should have read this prior to purchase but i did not think. If i flip them to 12/12 now will they have a minuscule yield? and what height would that put them at harvest time?

Any information you can give would be very helpful
I will try to post some photos when they begin their day cycle

[Donzo]

hi andy dont worry your plants wont reach 4m mate, you'll need better lights..lol..if you wait till there about 12" to 16" tall then flip they will be very controlable but to get a nice yeild you will have to up your lights and have a good fan & CF. hope this helps buddie.

[budsmoka1]

Hi andy make sure you have got preflowers before you start12/12.If you flower too early when the plant isnt mature you will risk stressing your plants and they may turn hermy on you.Also if you flower before preflowers show the plants will still go through a preflower stage on 12/12 and flowering will take longer than normal.Preflowers generally emerge after 6 to 8 weeks from seed or after 3or 4 weeks veg time...veg starts at roughly 3weeks after germination.hope this helps mate

[Poet]

Hi andy make sure you have got preflowers before you start12/12.If you flower too early when the plant isnt mature you will risk stressing your plants and they may turn hermy on you.Also if you flower before preflowers show the plants will still go through a preflower stage on 12/12 and flowering will take longer than normal.Preflowers generally emerge after 6 to 8 weeks from seed or after 3or 4 weeks veg time...veg starts at roughly 3weeks after germination.hope this helps mate

Thats a new one on me. So what happens when you go 12/12 from seed?

[budsmoka1]

Thats a new one on me. So what happens when you go 12/12 from seed?

Hi poet how u doin.What is it you disagree with? is it the fact that you know that plants can be flowered from seed without turning hermie? that is so ive seen it myself.or is it the preflower thing? i dont know alot about flowering from seed and maybe you do mate but i was highlighting the impotance of preflowers before 12/12 on a normal grow.Take it easy mate

[Budmore]

Budmore awaits Poets paddle..

Hi Andy.
Think of your maximum height that you`d like the plants to get to at harvest then devide it by 2, grow it to that height & put to flower m8

If you aint topping & got 6ft id let them get to about to 2ft then put them to 12/12, preflowers or non but personally i think you`l be ok through to preflower. Dont worry about the 4m bit it is the height they are capable of growing to if circumstances/lightcycle allow it your in control of that so they wont reach 4m.

All the best m8.

[andyc94]

Thanks for all the advice guys Just got a bit worried lol And Donzo how many more light do you think I will need? and also what are preflowers? Sorry for such newbie questions just wanna gain as much knowledge as possible

[Budmore]

Have a read of this m8, it will help you along

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=f...vantes&f=false

Preflowers appear on the main stem at the 4, 5, 6th branchset bang "Preflowers" into google images & you will see what i mean & id do away with your low wattage CFL`s & get either a HID light setup, High wattage cfl or T5 flouro

[goodbuddy]

You've got a nice enough space for those plants to grow to be a good 5ft high, but, unfortunately, your lights aint gonna cut the mustard at all for flowering.

With the CFLs you have, kept close (<4") they will grow fairly slowly, and not too stretchy for the next 5 weeks or so of vegging. They probably won't be the biggest, phattest leaved plants around, but otherwise they'll be fine. When you switch to flower though you will need something a little beefier. Have you got any other lights sorted yet? If not have a look at this light distance chart thread for a start to see how much you will need for your space

As to your original question, well the ideal time is when the plant is sexually mature, showing preflowers as stated earlier and starting to push out assymetrical branches, this is anything between 5 and 9 weeks into vegging depending on the strain. (Autos are different but not photoperiod). This way you can count flowering time from day 1 of flip. As a lot of growers can't let a plant go it's own way to the full due to time or space, then the height rule tends to apply. Veg the plants till about 12" or so high then flip to 12/12. Don't start to count flowering until you see lots of pistils forming to help you stop harvesting too early. If it's an unknown strain then pencil in a 3x difference in hight by end of flowering, plus a foot for your lights and work off this. Only experience in you own particular set up will get it properly dialled in but that's a good starting point.

[andyc94]

Another problem guys The leaves on my plants are starting to curl up at the edges but are not turning yellow. I was wondering if it is just the plant "going to sleep" or is it some kind of problem