I'm about to make the transition to a 12/12 cycle. I'm using MH and HPS lights. Should I continue to use the MH throughout the stretch, or switch over to the HPS right away?
Above question still stands. Also here's a pic of the plants. Do they look like they're ready for the switch? They're 5 weeks old. Left column are Cheese. The foreground plant grew a bit slower than its sisters. The center column are Blue Cheese. The foreground plant is looking like a beast. The loner on the right is a Critical Plus. It was a slow starter and a mutant that topped itself at the first node.
Yeah hey look ready and I'd switch the bulb now when you change the timer. Most people these days are using an led board where you just flick the switch on the board lol and it changes the light spectrum automatically. Sent from my SM-G900FD using Grasscity Forum mobile app
"Ready" for the switch is relative..it depends on the height you want after the stretch and if the plants are sexually mature (alternating nodes)..I NEVER flip before Maturity as yields/potency can suffer. I only grow with LEDs, so I can't answer the lighting part.
Ah, that's something I hadn't considered. Looking at them, the largest plants are still immature, while the smaller plants are alternating already. That seems backwards to me, but stranger things have happened. Guess I'll give them another week to grow out another node and see what happens.
It's gonna get crowded in there. Your plants can double to triple in size during the stretch. I personally veg my plants longer, but I only run 2-3 plants usually. But, you can flip. Some will wait until the plants have alternating notes and are sexually mature. I'd just swap to the hps at flip. Your pots seem a little small too. What size are they? You may want to up-pot and add some fresh soil and let them get acclimated before you switch. When they go into stretch, they will use up a lot of nutes, so a boost of fresh soil will benefit the plants and keep them from stripping its nutes from the fan leaves too early. You can go with smaller pots when using fabric pots because of air pruning, but a small pot has less soil. Less soil = less available nutes, more frequent waterings etc. Now, that I've rambled on, I must tell you, nice looking ladies you got there.
They're in 3 gal pots at the moment. I've got a bunch of 6 gals on standby. I'm dreading repotting them though. Seems like it'll be tough to get them out of fabric pots without everything coming apart. Also the roots have grown through the bottom and sides to soak up the dew underneath, so pulling them out will mean some root damage.
It is what it is as when it comes to damaging some roots. If roots are growing out the side, they will die off anyways. As long as you don't shred the whole root mass, you'll be fine. It is a bitch to transplant from fabric sometimes but can be done. Just take your time. The bigger the root, the bigger the fruit.
They seem to have filled out the tent nicely after a little LST. I'm a bit concerned about a couple of the plants though. They seem to be suffering from some sort of deficiency that's affecting the newest growth. It affected one plant initially, but it seemed to grow past it and it and only left a few leaves with slightly withered tips. Now I'm having the same problem with a different plant. In both cases it only is/was affecting only a single node. I'm pretty sure that the plant will grow past it, but it would be nice to stop this from happening again since it does stunt the growth a little. My only thoughts are that because my soil ph tends to be on the high side before I water, it could be a Boron deficiency. Not sure though. It would be good to get a second opinion.
I'm a little worried about the state of my plants at the moment. They are just over 4.5 weeks into flower. The period of stretching has finished and all the bud sites have formed. The Critical Plus in the first photo seems to be progressing nicely, but the 3 Cheeses and 3 Blue Cheeses seem to have stalled. They have grown bud sites, but they look a bit ratty, especially higher up the stems. The lower bud sites are actually starting to frost a bit and look how I would expect, it's just the upper halves of the plants that seem to be suffering. A few in the centre of the tent grew a bit close too close to the light, so I've taken steps to move them away because they got a bit of heat damage. But other than that, I'm at a bit of a loss for what could be causing this? The plants in the second picture aren't heat stressed and all systems seem to be in order with regards to nutrients, PH, watering, humidity, etc. Really need some pointers on how to fix this. They are so close and for them to fail now would be a real shame.
After looking at the flowering times for the strains, it appears that the Critical Plus should be ready in around 2 weeks, which seems reasonable for what the plant looks like. The Cheeses seem to have a bit of a longer flowering time. Around a week and a half longer. That gives the plants the better part of a month to bulk out. Looking at the pic you can sort of see how it might shape up if it does bulk. It's just worrying because they look so scraggly at the moment. I've spent the last five hours searching the internet for anything that might point me in a good direction to give these girls the best chance of filling out, but I can't find anything that seems relevant. The closest I've managed to find are pictures of other cheeses in mid/late flower that look different enough to suggest that something isn't right with mine. I'm reaching out here. If anyone can point me in the right direction and get these girls back on the right track I'll name one after you so I can show my gratitude each time I roll.