I'd go for the fourth node. Get the newest growth. But I've never done it before, just been reading about it because I plan to next time, so take that with a grain of salt. lol
That's where I was leaning towards too. I had read somewhere to do it at the third node, but that may have meant as soon as there is a third node. I've done it with other plants but that was more of a "prune when you're knife is sharp" kind of thing. Or after flowering to promote a second set of blooms. This is much more deliberate to promote more tops. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
Looking healthy!!! Can't tell if you started LST on Twisted Sister but if so you should spread her out in all directions and flat as possible. Looks really bushy whatever strain it is.
I have, but in those #2 pots there isn't a lot of room. I'm hesitant to transplant again until I get some idea on sex as my space is limited. What do you mean by "spread her out in all directions"? By topping rather than LST or both?
Well Hell...power has been out since midnight (ice storm) and the temps are a dropping. But my biggest concern is the extended darkness. If this goes on too long are my plants going to switch to flowering? Not as worried about the autos as I am the photo periods. Guess we'll see...
It might stress them a bit but I don't think it'll be a problem. It takes a week or two of 12/12 for them to really start flowering and they can always be re-vegged by returning the photo period to 18/6+ so a day or so of extended darkness won't hurt I don't think.
Ah. Gotcha. I'm going to take a magnifying glass down there and check for any preflowers in a bit, if it's female I might go to that effort. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
Found pistils on the Northern Storm Autos, but I knew they were females. No sign yet on any of the bag seeds.
So, with me having autos and photos in my grow room, the photos are going to get a nice long veg. Not a problem, but when should I switch my light from MH to HPS? Since I am seeing pistils on the auto's I'm thinking I'll switch this weekend. Maybe even give them a 24-36 hour dark period first. Any thoughts?
I'd go longer with the MH. The autos could (in theory) go all the way through harvest on the MH.... and the MH will help keep stretch down on the photos. If height isn't an issue.... maybe go ahead. Will the autos have problems if you switch to 12/12? Never grown them.... On the dark period... I've done this and found that it helped sex the plants earlier... if weeding out the males quickly is important, then do the dark period. Otherwise, I don't think it helped that much. Definitely contributed to stretch a little. If you do a dark period, do 36 hours.
The autos prefer (and yield better) with longer light periods. I'm planning on running these at 20/4 all the way to harvest. Hence the long veg for the bag seeds. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.
My understanding, with no personal experience, is that any of them can run all the way through with MH. Maybe you could go switch the HPS once they really start budding up? A nice long veg period for the photos should make for nice big plants and hopefully nice big buds when you flower them.
It was my understanding that the HPS was better for flowering, I'm gonna switch at some point. Just not sure when would be best. Maybe waiting until there are some developed colas then?
Flowering under HPS is generally considered better. First of all it produces more lumens/watt..... secondly it mimics the natural lighting the plant would receive outside toward the end of summer. Some people keep the MH in for the first few weeks of flower to keep the stretch to a minimum. MH light reduces stretch compared to HPS. It really doesn't matter much when you switch. Plants can be grown to harvest under MH. Depends on your goals.....
Dang it. To cap off a rather crappy day it seems one of the feminized autos has gone hermie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are the female preflowers. And these are male. I went ahead and snipped them (my first castration) and thoroughly checked the rest of the plants and nodes but didn't find any others. Sent from somewhere over there. No, not there...over THERE.