Its been one week today that I switched over to 12/12 and the sex parts aren't really noticeable. I can see the pistols on one of them and the balls on another 2, but all the rest show no sign of sex. Someone brought it to my attention that I may not have enough light. I have 2 T5 4ft fluorescents for a total of 4 bulbs. Is that enough or should I start looking into other lighting and would it harm my plants to switch? Uploaded with ImageShack.us
When you say other lighting do you mean like HID or just switch to 2700k? cos right nows when id do either of those things, im sure with some Cfl side lighting woud do you just fine but if you go HID remember to keep em a lil farther as to not have burnt, bleached tops n shit.
Well someone gave me a link on a different post of mine for HPS lighting. Would that be better than what I have now? HTG Supply - FLORALUX 150w HPS Mini Grow Light With the current lights I have would I be able to get my plants to bud and finish my grow or is there going to be a problem? And is it normal for it to take longer than a week to show sex?
I would say it can take from 2-3 weeks of flowering in 12/12 until the sex reveals itself, also keep in mind the males typically reveal themselves a week or two before the females do. It can be a generalized statement and partially true depending on plant genetics etc. But after your males have shown themselves it is a pretty safe assumption that the rest are females, but this is not always the case. Hope this helps, good luck
Also you may want to look into another lighting system for flowering. I had my seedlings under a T8 fixture in 160z cups until I transplanted into 2.5 gallon pots and then continued to veg them under my 600w HPS, I then switched the lighting to 12/12 to induce flowering and it took them a decent amount of time(about 3 weeks I want to say) to show just the males, the females for me took considerably longer.
Thank you very much Closetgrassman, you put my mind at ease lol. I would like to invest in better lighting but I have to wait until I have some money saved up. I probably will go with HPS lighting, after reading the posts on this forum it seems to be one of the best light sources.
Not a problem, yes HPS especially the 600w if you are going with HID lamps are the best bang for your buck in terms of electric bill. Also of course depends what you are growing. If you did go 600w HPS I would make sure you are actively cooling it and have tempered glass panel over it so your plants can get pretty close to it.
yo dont use one of those 150's if u ever think ull upgrade to 400 or even 250. i grow with 2 150's and they dont really use 150w,good results sure, the lights are good, but draw far to much power, actually closer to 400w i have a thread that i showed power consumption of a sunsystems hps150 ill post it when i find the link, if power consumption aint no thang, shit go for it..... but at 37% efficient, you can do better, and some electronic ballasts have a 99% powerfactor and all that jazz, wont really save thaat much but its better to think forward too imo.
ive heard alot of people say its taken that long or longer too, were the plants sativa dominant? or what? i personally have kept with the sour d as far as genetics unless im bagseeding it and i have never had to wait that long, nothing wrong with it im just curious as to how that works if its a phenotype/strain/genetic thing ?
I believe yes it has to do with genetics and possibly even the overall set up light/temp/air flow. My current grow is bagseed, so unfortunately I am unaware of the genes. I can make a pretty good guess of some kind of mix, since the leaves appear to have some indica traits.
it'll happen. just keep 12/12ing it and you'll be fine. make sure you have NO light leaks, as these can add stress, resulting in lower yields or prolonged, agonizing wait periods before pistils appear. my first plant took about 2 1/2 weeks. it also seemed like once i address light leak issues, it began to flower within 24 hours. good luck.