Flowering

The the plant will be induced to fruit or flower with dark cycles of 11-13 hours that
simulate the oncoming winter in the fall as the days grow shorter. As a consequence, it
works out well indoors to have two separate areas; one that is used for the initial
vegetative state and one that is used for flowering and fruiting. There is no other
requirement other than to keep the dark cycle for flowering very dark with no light
interruptions, as this can stall flowering by days or weeks.
Once a plant is big enough to mature (12" or over), dark periods are required for most
plants to flower and bear fruit. This will require putting the lamp on a timer, to create
regular and strict dark periods of uninterrupted light. In the greenhouse, the same effect
can be created in the Summer (long days) by covering it with a blanket to make longer
night periods. A strict schedule of covering the plants at 8pm and uncovering them at 8am
for 2 weeks will start your plants to flowering. After the first 2 weeks, the schedule can be
relaxed a little, but it will still be necessary to continue this routine for the plants to
completely flower without reverting back to vegatative growth.
Outdoors, Spring and Fall, the nights are sufficiently long to induce flowering at all times.
Merely bring the plants from indoors to the outside at these times, and the plants will
flower naturally. In late Summer, with Fall approaching, it may be necessary only to force
flowering the first two weeks, then the rapidly lengthening nights will do the rest.
Give flowering plants high P plant food and keep them on a strict light regimen of 12
hours, with no light, or no more than a full moon during the dark cycle. 13 hours light, 11
dark may increase flower size while still allowing the plant to go into the flowering mode.
Use longer dark periods to speed maturity toward the end of the flowering cycle if speed
is of the essence. (8-10 days) This will however, reduce total yield.
Two shelves can be used, one identical to the other, if strictly indoor gardening is desired.
One shelf's lights are set for 12-13 hours, and one is lit continuously. Plants are started in
continuous light, and are moved to the other shelf to flower to maturity after several
weeks. This flowering shelf should be bigger than the "starting" or "vegetative" shelf, so
that it can accommodate larger plants. Or, some plants can be taken outside if there is not
enough space on the flowering shelf for all of them near harvesting.
A light tight curtain can be made from black vinyl, or other opaque material, with a
reflective material on the other side to reflect light back to the plants. This curtain can be
tied with cord when rolled up to work on the garden, and can be velcroed down in place
to make sure no light leaks in or out. If the shelf is placed up high, it will not be very
noticeable, and will fit in any room. Visitors will never notice it unless you point it out to
them, since it is above eye level, and no light is being emitted from it.
Flowering plants like very high P level foods, such as 5-50-17, but 10-20-10 should be
adequate. Nutrients should be provided with each watering when first flowering.
Trace elements are necessary too; try to find foods that include these, so you don't have to
use a separate trace element food too. Home improvement centers sell trace element
solutions rich in iron for lawn deficiencies, and these can be adapted for use in cultivating
the herb. Prices for these mass produced fertilizers are significantly cheaper than the
specialized hydroponic fertilizers sold in indoor gardening shops, and seem to work just
fine.
HYDROPONIC FLOWERING SOLUTION, per gallon:
1 tspn high P plant food, such as 15-30-15, or 5-50-17, etc.
1/2 tspn epsom salts
1 tspn Oxygen Plus Plant Food (Optional)
1 tspn Trace Element food
I cannot stress enough that during the FLOWERING PHASE, the dark period should not
be violated by normal light. It delays flower development due to hormones in the plant
that react to light. If you must work on the plants during this time, allow only as much
light as a VERY pale moon can provide for less than 5 minutes. Keep pruning to a
minimum during the entire FLOWERING PHASE.
A green light can be used to work on the garden during the dark period with no negative
reactions from the plants. These are sold as nursery safety lights, but any green bulb
should be OK. It is best to keep the dark hours a time when you would normally not wish
to visit the garden. Personally, I like my garden lit from 7pm to 7am, since it allows me to
visit the garden at night after work and in the morning before work, and all day long, while
I'm too busy to worry about it, it lies unlit and undisturbed, flowering away...
Flowering plants should not be sprayed often as this will promote mold and rot. Keep
humidity levels down indoors when flowering, as this is the most delicate time for the
plants in this regard.
Early flowering is noticed 1-2 weeks after turning back the lights to 12 hour days. Look
for 2 white hairs emerging from a small bulbous area at every internode. This is the easiest
way to verify females early on. You can not tell a male from a female by height, or
bushiness.
3-6 weeks after turning back the lights, your plants will be covered with these white pistils
emerging from every growtip on the plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are
the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the plant. Some plants will do this
indefinately until the lights are turned back yet again. At the point you feel your ready to
see the existing flowers become ripe ( you feel the plant has enought flowers), turn the
lights back to 8-10 hours. Now the plant will start to ripen quickely, and should be ready
to harvest in 2-3 weeks. The alternative, is to allow the plant to ripen with whatever
natural day length is available outside, or keep the plants on a constant 12 hour regimen
for the entire flowering process, which may increase yield, but takes longer.
Plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors, even if the days are too long for
normal flowering to occur. Once the plant has almost reached peak floral development, it
is too far gone to revert quickly to vegatative growth, and final flowering will occur
regardless. This will free up precious indoor space sooner, for the next batch of clones to
be flowered.
Look for the white hairs to turn red, orange or brown, and the false seed pods ( you did
pull the males, right?) to swell with resins. When most of the pistils have turned color
(~80%), the flowers are ripe to harvest.
Don't touch those buds! Touch only the large fan leaves if you want to inspect the buds, as
the THC will come off on your fingers and reduce the overall yield if mishandled

I bet that post hurt huh? lol

Thankyou for the useful information, not sure why you posted it but it couldn't have come at a better time, Thankyou!! I do have a few questions though that maybe you could answer for me... My plants have been vegging outside for about 6-7 weeks now and they are 1'8", 1'6", and 1'4". The Tallest of the three is doing the best in my opinion, little mite damage, but the bottom leaves have turned yellow and curled up. Is this due to the lack of sunlight in the lower regions or is my plant a little sick? To give you a better view of the area, it is surrounded by trees and bushes and the upper 80% of the plant is exposed to sunlight.
The middle of the two is my biggest concern, it has moderate mite damage, and the next to top two leaves have this YELLOW border around them, I moved the plant to an area with more sun hoping this would help and it has reduced the discoloring a little. The other plant next to it, the shortest of the three... I have noticed there is a small discoloring on the edge of the leaves, only some of the bigger fan leaves though. I have not given my plants any nutrients yet and am headed out to the store to purchase the correct flowering ratio formula. IF you could give me some tips or solutions to my three babies health, I would greatly appreciate it.

Yes you should buy some ferts, could be a slight lack of nutrition that is affecting the leaves, and also the light. that is the problem going outdoors, not much besides tying down that you can do to get light to the lower growths. Try to fert it, make sure you dilute the fert a bit, get something along the lines of 10-15-10 and tell me how they do. Also get something like 10-50-10 for when they begin to flower.

yoo i got a question i got my plants going and over here in mass its gettin kinda cold at night and my plants are outdoors.. they are about 3 feet tall and are beginning to flower. (started a few weeks late into the growing season) they are male unfortunately but its my first time growin and im tryin to get some good practice in so i can focus on next season. (thought id give u some background on my plants so yall kno whats goin on..)
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so yeah im not too strict with my plants (since its my first time growing) but i remember reading up on this and i juss remembered now, so my question is..

am i saposed to be doing something to the plant to prevent the buds from flowering? cuz right now the buds are bout a week old with white hairs on it and i was told that the buds arent gonna be getting any bigger (from past experience) and the yeild is somethin like 1 joint or maybe a bag! ionno wusssup with that but can someone let me know what i should be doing right now if there is anything i can do at this point to help get my buds

You are not going to get any yield whatsoever from those male plants. You might as well chop them down now bud because the only thing your going to get is pollen. You really don't want to try to smoke pollen there isn't any chance of you getting stoned...

Get some seeds on the go for germination by march first and you will have nice 1'' plants to plant outdoor for april... (this way no deer or larger animals come over and make a nice snack of your girl because it will be to big and they like the smaller vegetation.)

Just my oppinion, good luck mate.

i put my plants outside in early april , im in cali my plaNTS ARE ALREADY FLOWERING ANY REASON WHY, COULD BAD WETHER BE THE CAUSE ,WILL THEY GO BACK TO VEG. GROWTH WHUT DO I DO WITH THE LITTLE BUDS THAT ARE GROWING, I CANT SEEM TO FIND ANY HELPFUL AWNSERS IF I EVEN GET A REPLY..........